how to get swimmers activating without nagging!

You are writing up the set on the whiteboard and you look over your shoulder to see all of your swimmers activating, with focus, great technique and complete independence. That is what we want and it just happens, right? 

Unfortunately it is rarely the reality and more commonly a bug bear for coaches, “the swimmers don’t activate properly.” Coaches understand the benefits of activation and swimmers know why they should activate. So can we we shift from nagging with frustration to admiration of independence?

Absolutely! I have had it. I walked arrived into a meet to see all the swimmers activating in time with the leading captain. They hadn’t even been asked. How did we get there? 

1. Let’s get clear on the start time!

When I first came across from gymnastics to swimming it took me a bit to get around the start time. In swimming the advertised start time is when we dive into the pool. In gymnastics the advertised start time is when warm up begins, the equivalent of a swimmers activation, not when apparatus training starts. If we shifted the start time to include activation would it be taken more seriously and respected as being part of training? 

2. What level are they at?

Often when a swimmer moves into the squad program they have had little or zero exposure to swimming dryland. So whilst they may be a squad swimmer in the water they are a learn to swim athlete on dryland. This gap for most swimmers grows bigger and bigger the longer they wait to start dryland. And from what I am witnessing, they are the athletes with less athleticism, body awareness and durability resulting in more injuries down the track. Just a little reminder as to why we need to push through the frustration every single session. Please do, it really is worth it…and yes 10-15minutes is enough to make a difference.

It is the 10-15minutes that will develop a culture within the swimmer that of course you activate before you dive in. It is part of training. However, the expectation of independence cannot be the same. Yes in the water they can swim each stroke but in dryland they don’t know what exercises to do…they need to be taught first, just like in learn to swim. 

3. Do they have a toolbox of exercises?

Swimmers need exposure to a wide variety of exercises to build an activation toolbox. Currently the junior squads at St Andrews are doing 20 different shapes and exercises in 15minutes before they dive in. Each exercise flows into the next and whilst the base routine stays the same a new one is thrown in every week to keep things interesting but also to enhance exercise exposure. I preface this by saying moving well is more important than getting more done, at the start we struggled to get through 10 exercises in 15minutes. Setting the foundation of valuing technique is paramount. Then increase exposure to improve athleticism and coordination. (there is a library of activation videos in the swimnastics gold and silver membership). 

After 1 year these swimmers are great at grabbing their mat, theraband and slider before we start but would we place the expectation of them to lead activation themselves? No, because this is a huge teaching opportunity. Yes, because we eventually want them to develop independence in taking their own warm up. How do we find the balance?

4. Developing independence…

Start by giving them choices between exercises. For example you can do thread the needle or bow and arrow, whichever feels best for your body today.

Move towards 5minutes of independent work and slowly stretch out the time as they get better at it. 

This doesn’t have to be every session but a drizzle here and there will lead to autonomy within the swimmers you are coaching. 

There are times I dive in without activating so here are a couple of ways to have fun with activation once the swimmers have a toolbox of exercises. 

• Assign a captain to lead the squad. Maybe they follow a written sheet of exercises to start and eventually move towards designing their own using the tools they have. Could change the captain each week or session.

• Group competition could get those that race well going. Put them into groups and see which group does the best dryland that day. Could be a competition for a whole term, week or for the day.

• Create a dryland routine. In gymnastics at the end of term we would often let them make up their own floor or beam routine. We can do this with activation. Put them into groups and get them to make up their own 5min routine. They could even teach the rest of the squad, after all teaching enhances learning.

“We can only expect once we have taught. How they are activating may be a reflection of our own teaching.”

Want to access the swimnastics activation library? There are videos and PDF’s. Put the video on the screen or use the coaches notes to lead it yourself. Start getting the advantages of doing a good activation.