Swimming Anatomy Read online

  Swimming Anatomy

  Mcleod Ian

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  CHAPTER 1 - THE SWIMMER IN MOTION

  Freestyle

  Butterfly

  Backstroke

  Breaststroke

  Dryland Training Programs

  Dryland Training for Young Swimmers

  CHAPTER 2 - ARMS

  Standing Double-Arm Triceps Pushdown

  Dumbbell Kickback

  Close-Grip Push-Up

  Close-Grip Bench Press

  Medicine Ball Chest Pass

  Tate Press

  Barbell Biceps Curl

  Dumbbell Biceps Curl

  Concentration Curl

  CHAPTER 3 - SHOULDERS

  Forward Dumbbell Deltoid Raise

  Lateral Dumbbell Deltoid Raise

  T Exercise

  Dumbbell Shoulder Press

  Bent-Over Reverse Dumbbell Fly

  Prone T, Y, A (Blackburn)

  Scapular Push-Up

  Scapular Dip

  Internal Rotation With Tubing

  External Rotation With Tubing

  Crabwalk

  Overhead Single-Arm Bounce

  CHAPTER 4 - CHEST

  Push-Up

  Feet-Elevated Push-Up

  Medicine Ball Push-Up

  Barbell Flat Bench Press

  Dumbbell Physioball Bench Press

  Barbell Incline Bench Press

  Dip (Chest Version)

  Standing Double-Arm Medicine Ball Throw Down

  Supine Medicine Ball Partner Pass and Catch

  Wheelbarrow

  CHAPTER 5 - ABDOMEN

  Hollow Hold

  Watch TV

  V-Up

  Flutter Kicks

  Physioball Crunch

  Cable Crunch

  Seated Physioball Abdominal Hold

  Russian Twist

  Kneeling Chop

  Physioball Prayer Roll

  Physioball Upper-Trunk Rotation

  Physioball Jackknife

  CHAPTER 6 - BACK

  Chin-Up

  Pull-Up

  Lat Pull-Down

  Standing Straight-Arm Pull-Down

  Double-Arm Seated Machine Row

  Bent-Over Single-Arm Row

  Standing Zeus

  Lumbar Extension

  Physioball Back Extension

  Physioball Prone Superman Progression

  Physioball Prone Streamline

  Physioball Bridge

  CHAPTER 7 - LEGS

  Back Squat

  Single-Leg Squat

  Dumbbell Step-Up

  Lunge

  Standing Hip Internal Rotation

  Standing Hip External Rotation

  Romanian Deadlifts (RDLs)

  Physioball Hamstring Curl

  Leg Curl

  Leg Extension

  Band Lateral Shuffle

  Standing Hip Adduction

  Inversion and Eversion Ankle Band Strengthening

  CHAPTER 8 - WHOLE-BODY TRAINING

  Single-Arm Lawn Mower

  Burpee

  Block Jump Start Into Streamlined Position

  Band-Resisted Start

  Box Jump

  Diagonal Cable Column Lift

  EXERCISE FINDER

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  McLeod, Ian.

  Swimming anatomy / Ian McLeod.

  p. cm.

  ISBN-13: 978-0-7360-7571-8 (soft cover) ISBN-10: 978-0-736-09385-9 (soft cover)

  1. Swimming--Training. 2. Swimming--Physiological aspects. 3. Aquatic sports injuries. I. Title.

  GV837.7.M37 2010

  797.2’1--dc22

  2009016094

  ISBN-10: 978-0-736-09385-9 (print)

  ISBN-10: 0-7360-8627-7 (Adobe PDF)

  ISBN-13: 978-0-7360-7571-8 (print)

  ISBN-13: 978-0-7360-8627-1 (Adobe PDF)

  Copyright © 2010 by Ian A. McLeod

  All rights reserved. Except for use in a review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying, and recording, and in any information storage and retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher.

  This publication is written and published to provide accurate and authoritative information relevant to the subject matter presented. It is published and sold with the understanding that the author and publisher are not engaged in rendering legal, medical, or other professional services by reason of their authorship or publication of this work. If medical or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought.

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  CHAPTER 1

  THE SWIMMER IN MOTION

  Swimming Anatomy is both a visual guide to the role of the musculoskeletal system in the four competitive swim strokes and a catalog of swimming-oriented dryland and weight-room exercises. The exercises in the text will help you maximize your performance and gain a competitive edge. Specific examples will help you choose exercises that target the most-used muscles for each stroke, starts, and turns to ensure that you are getting the best results from your program. Included are exercises that may help you prevent injuries by strengthening key stabilizing muscles and decreasing muscle imbalances. To help you understand how these exercises enhance performance, descriptions of the roles that various muscles play in propelling a swimmer through the water and guidance in using selected exercises to target those muscles are included. This chapter features an overview of the primary muscles used in the kicking motions and during the pu
ll-through and recovery phases of freestyle, butterfly, backstroke, and breaststroke. The chapter also addresses some strength and conditioning principles and how they relate to designing a swimming-specific dryland program. Chapters 2 through 8, organized according to major body parts, each contain exercises with accompanying illustrations and easy-to-follow descriptions and instructions. The anatomical illustrations that accompany the exercises are color-coded to indicate the primary and secondary muscles and connective tissues featured in each exercise and swimming-specific movement.

  Primary muscles

  Secondary muscles

  Connective tissues

  Swimmers face several unique challenges that athletes in most land-based sports do not encounter. The first challenge is the total-body nature of all four competitive strokes, which involve movements of both the upper and lower extremities. A coordinated effort of the musculoskeletal system is required to keep each body part moving correctly to maximize efficiency of movement through the water. To visualize this coordinated effort, think of the body as a long chain and each body segment as a link in the chain. Because all the segments are linked together, movement in one segment affects all the other segments. This linkage, commonly referred to as the kinetic chain, allows the power generated by the arms to be transferred through the torso to the legs. But if a link in the chain is weak, a loss of power transfer can occur, bodily movements can become uncoordinated, and the risk of injury can increase.

  Another unique demand of swimming is that swimmers are required to create their own base of support. Unlike land-based athletes, who have a stable surface to push off from, you have to generate your own base of support, because most training takes place in a fluid environment. The key to linking the movement of the upper and lower extremities in the water, and at the same time generating a firm base of support, is a strong and stable core. The core is best thought of as the foundation on which the muscles of the upper and lower body are built. Even a strong and well-designed house will eventually deteriorate if the foundation is weak.

  Without a doubt, swimming itself is the most effective way to become a better and faster swimmer, but several components outside the water play an important role in how you develop as a swimmer. One of those is a well-designed dryland program based on an appreciation of the relationship between the body’s muscular framework and stroke mechanics. While engaged in swimming, muscles primarily function as either the mover of a body segment or a stabilizer of a body segment. An example of a muscle functioning as a mover is the latissimus dorsi, commonly known as the lats, moving the arm through the water during the propulsive phase of all four competitive strokes. The near-constant activity of the core abdominal musculature is a prime example of a group of muscles functioning as a stabilizing mechanism. Both functions are vital to proper stroke mechanics and efficient movement through the water. Descriptions of the muscle recruitment patterns for each of the four strokes are categorized as those that are active during the propulsive phase, the recovery phase, and kicking.

  Throughout the exercise descriptions in the subsequent chapters you will see a series of five icons, one for each of the strokes and one for starts and turns. The purpose of these icons is to identify the exercises that are particularly well suited to a specific stroke or starts and turns.

  Freestyle

  As the hand enters into the water, the wrist and elbow follow and the arm is extended to the starting position of the propulsive phase. Upward rotation of the shoulder blade allows the swimmer to reach an elongated position in the water. From this elongated position, the first part of the propulsive phase begins with the catch. The initial movements are first generated by the clavicular portion of the pectoralis major. The latissimus dorsi quickly joins in to assist the pectoralis major. These two muscles generate a majority of the force during the underwater pull, mostly during the second half of the pull. The wrist flexors act to hold the wrist in a position of slight flexion for the entire duration of the propulsive phase. At the elbow, the elbow flexors (biceps brachii and brachialis) begin to contract at the start of the catch phase, gradually taking the elbow from full extension into approximately 30 degrees of flexion. During the final portion of the propulsive phase the triceps brachii acts to extend the elbow, which brings the hand backward and upward toward the surface of the water, thus ending the propulsive phase. The total amount of extension taking place depends on your specific stroke mechanics and the point at which you initiate your recovery. The deltoid and rotator cuff (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis) are the primary muscles active during the recovery phase, functioning to bring the arm and hand out of the water near the hips and return them to an overhead position for reentry into the water. The arm movements during freestyle are reciprocal in nature, meaning that while one arm is engaged in propulsion, the other is in the recovery process.

  Several muscle groups function as stabilizers during both the propulsive phase and the recovery phase. One of the key groups is the shoulder blade stabilizers (pectoralis minor, rhomboid, levator scapula, middle and lower trapezius, and the serratus anterior), which as the name implies serve to anchor or stabilize the shoulder blade. Proper functioning of this muscle group is important because all the propulsive forces generated by the arm and hand rely on the scapula’s having a firm base of support. Additionally, the shoulder blade stabilizers work with the deltoid and rotator cuff to reposition the arm during the recovery phase. The core stabilizers (transversus abdominis, rectus abdominis, internal oblique, external oblique, and erector spinae) are also integral to efficient stroke mechanics because they serve as a link between the movements of the upper and lower extremities. This link is central to coordination of the body roll that takes place during freestyle swimming.

  Like the arm movements, the kicking movements can be categorized as a propulsive phase and a recovery phase; these are also referred to as the downbeat and the upbeat. The propulsive phase (downbeat) begins at the hips by activation of the iliopsoas and rectus femoris muscles. The rectus femoris also initiates extension of the knee, which follows shortly after hip flexion begins. The quadriceps (vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius, and vastus medialis) join the rectus femoris to help generate more forceful extension of the knee. Like the propulsive phase, the recovery phase starts at the hips with contraction of the gluteal muscles (primarily gluteus maximus and medius) and is quickly followed by contraction of the hamstrings (biceps femoris, semitendinosus, and semimembranosus). Both muscle groups function as hip extensors. Throughout the entire kicking motion the foot is maintained in a plantarflexed position secondary to activation of the gastrocnemius and soleus and pressure exerted by the water during the downbeat portion of the kick.

  Butterfly

  The primary difference between freestyle and butterfly is that the arms move in unison during butterfly whereas reciprocal movements take place with freestyle. Because butterfly and freestyle have the same underwater pull pattern, the muscle recruitment patterns are almost identical. As with freestyle, the swimmer’s arms in butterfly are in an elongated position when they initiate the propulsive underwater portion of the stroke. Muscles active during the entire propulsive phase are the pectoralis major and latissimus dorsi, which function as the primary movers, and the wrist flexors, which act to maintain the wrist in a neutral to slightly flexed position. The biceps brachii and brachialis are active as the elbow moves from being fully extended at the initiation of the catch to approximately 40 degrees of flexion during the midpart of the pull. Unlike in freestyle, a forceful extension of the elbow is emphasized during the final portion of the pull, resulting in greater demands being placed on the triceps brachii. As in the freestyle stroke, both the rotator cuff and deltoid are responsible for moving the arm during the recovery phase, but the mechanics are somewhat different. Butterfly lacks the body roll that aids the recovery process during freestyle; instead, an undulating movement of the torso occurs, which brings the entire upper torso out of the water
to aid in the recovery process.

  Again, the shoulder blade stabilizing muscles are extremely important, because they function to provide a firm anchor point for the propulsive forces generated by the arms and help reposition the arms during the recovery phase of the stroke. Although butterfly lacks the body roll present in freestyle, the core stabilizers are still important in linking the movements of the upper and lower extremities and have an important role in creating the undulating motion that allows the swimmer to get the upper torso and arms out of the water during the recovery process. The undulating movement is initiated with contraction of the paraspinal muscles that run in multiple groups from the lower portion of the back to the base of the skull. This contraction results in an arching of the back, at which time the arms are moving through the recovery process. Contraction of the abdominal muscles quickly follows, which prepares the upper body to follow the entry of the hands into the water to initiate the propulsive phase of the stroke.

  As with the arms, the muscles used in generating the kicking movements during the butterfly kick are identical to those used during the freestyle kick; the only difference in kick mechanics is that the legs move in unison. The propulsive downbeat begins with contraction of the iliopsoas and rectus femoris, acting as hip flexors. The rectus femoris also initiates knee extension, and associated firing of the quadriceps muscle group further aids in extension of the knee. The gluteal muscle group drives the recovery phase of the kick. Concomitant contraction of the hamstring muscles also works to extend the hip. The foot is maintained in a plantarflexed position through a combination of the resistance from the water and activation of the gastrocnemius and soleus, acting as plantarflexors. The dolphin kick that is used at the start of the race and off each turn wall recruits a larger group of muscles than the smaller, more isolated kick tied into the arm movements. Besides the movements generated at the hips and knee, the dolphin kick ties in the undulating movements of the torso through activation of the core stabilizers and the paraspinal musculature.