The Benefits of Yoga for Swimmers

If you were to survey a group of professional swimmers, the common consensus would likely be that yoga is always a good idea. Yoga for swimmers has become a popular practice among athletes of all levels to help prevent injury, strengthen the muscles, and aid recovery. The majority of swimmers will use yoga as a pre-race warm up and again after a swim to stretch out stiff muscles. In fact, many swim clubs across the country have even started incorporating yoga into their dryland routines.

Regardless of your end goal in the water, practicing yoga a couple times a week has a handful of benefits.

Strength

In the sport of swimming, having a strong core is often underestimated.

While yoga strengthens a wide range of muscles, both upper and lower body, it is most commonly known for engaging the core. Having a stronger core benefits swimmers in so many aspects of the sport such as in the turns, streamlines and stroke technique!

Flexibility

Range of motion is huge in the water, especially if you're a butterfly or breaststroker. By doing yoga just a couple times a week you can increase your flexibility, which will ultimately increase mobility and efficiency, and helps to lengthen your muscles.

Injury Prevention

In any sport, stretching is extremely important. By encouraging body awareness and recognizing vulnerabilities in your muscles, you can help recover from past injuries and prevent any future damage.

Recovery

When you have sore muscles, one of the best things you can do is move and shake out your tight limbs. While some people may opt for an easy jog or a quick swim, yoga is a great, low-impact option. Every good yoga practice should incorporate restorative postures and also help swimmers practice relaxation.

By using yoga for recovery, you are stretching and loosening out the tight muscles without putting much additional strain on them.

If you're interested in trying out yoga, but don't know where to start, check out these yoga for swimmers intro videos produced exclusively by Swimmer's Edge Yoga for SwimOutlet.com (below).

Get acquainted with the basics of yoga in a workout that focuses on the particular strength and mobility requirements of swimmers: shoulders, back, core, hips, and legs. You will learn techniques for good alignment as well as several key yoga poses that will serve as a foundation for your future swim-specific yoga workouts. All levels welcome.