This upper-body routine is best for swimmers or triathletes who are using overhead arm movements in their sport. As a sports medicine physician, I really like this workout because too often we see injuries in the arm or shoulder or even into the hand that off oftentimes stem from issues with properly moving the scapula or upper back muscles.
Ideally, you would perform this workout two to three times a week. It’s most beneficial in the off season, but you can use it year-round to prevent any shoulder or upper-body injuries from swimming.
Make sure you focus more so on form as opposed to weight. There is no need to increase the weight over time; this is all about retraining the muscles around the scapula and shoulder and upper back to work in a more uniform or biomechanically advantageous way to prevent injury.
Workout of the Week: Upper Body Swim Prehab
Warm-up
6 min. arm bike (3 min. forward/3 min. backward)
If you don’t have access to an arm bike, do arm circles.
2 sets:
30 sec. small forward arm circles
30 sec. large forward arm circles
30 sec. small backward arm circles
30 sec. large backward arm circles
Main set
3 × 10 ea. Side-Lying External Rotation
Use a light dumbbell.
3 × 10 Scapula Push-Ups
Elbows remain in a fixed position and body only moves up and down at the shoulder level.
3 × 10 Cable Face Pulls
Squeeze the shoulder blades at the top of the movement and release slowly.
3 × 10 ea. Single-Arm Lat Pulldowns
Perform kneeling on the floor or sitting at a lat pulldown machine.
3 × 10 ea. Isolated Cable External Rotation
Start with your arm in a 90-degree position.
3 × 10 ea. Isolated Cable Internal Rotation
Start with your arm in a 90-degree position.
2 × 1 min. Farmer’s Carry
Use dumbbell on one side at a time, keeping body and shoulders level and continuous.
Cooldown
30 sec. each side Subscapularis Stretch
30 sec. each side Sleeper Stretch
