Here, he answers some common questions on what to expect in open water.

What are the dangers of open-water swimming?

“Jumping straight in and just going for it is the dumbest thing you can do because a lot of the hazards in open-water swimming are hidden,” says Conway.

“What to be wary of depends on if you’re in the sea or a lake. If it’s the sea, the main dangers are sharp rocks, eddies, tides and rips that can drag you out to sea. Remember that currents that don’t seem strong at first can feel very powerful when you’re tired.

“Lakes have fewer hazards, but whenever you swim in open water, keep tabs on your hydration. At a pool you can stop and drink when you want, but in open water it takes longer to get back to shore.”

Read more articles on swimming

What else I should be careful of?

“Just because you can swim a kilometre in a pool doesn’t mean you’ll be able to do the same in open water,” says Conway.

“As well as currents and waves, your body will use energy just to keep warm. Do short swims at first so you don’t run into problems. And although there are no predators around the UK coast, there can be jellyfish.

“I grew a beard to stop getting stung in the face, but that was because I sometimes had no choice but to swim through them. As long as you have a wetsuit you’ll be fine.”

Do I need a special wetsuit for open-water swimming?

“Yes. Wetsuits for swimming – often sold as a triathlon wetsuits – are more flexible, particularly in the shoulders, and have a slick external layer to reduce drag.

“Thicker wetsuits will keep you warmer, but the extra buoyancy can elevate your legs so you end up kicking air, which means less power. Goggles and a cap are also a good idea .”

Will I have to adapt my swimming technique for open-water swimming?

“The essential principles of swimming are the same whether you’re in a pool or open water, but it can be easy to go off-course in the latter,” says Conway.

“To check where you’re going without slowing down, periodically look just above the water line as your leading arm enters it and begins pulling down.

“If you can see any tall objects on the horizon, pick one and use that to help you stay on course. Some people do this – called ‘sighting’ – every tenth stroke, some people every 20th. Do whatever works best for you.”

Sam Rider puts the Shaw Method into practice

Improve your open-water swimming with the Shaw Method

Whether you want to do laps of the pool or dive into a lake, you can improve your technique with some expert coaching, as Sam Rider finds out…

I can swim – in theory. I got all my swimming badges at school. But nowadays I can barely manage two lengths without slumping over the side, gasping for air.

Trouble is, I have only one mode: flat-out churn. Not ideal when you’re caught in a strong offshore current, as I was on holiday last year, before a fisherman plucked me to safety. 

Others aren’t so lucky. The UK National Water Safety Forum found that men aged 20-34 were the most likely people to drown, possibly because of overconfidence in the water.

In a follow-up survey by swimming charity STA, 88% of men in this age range think they’re able to swim, yet 55% were found to lack critical water-safety skills, such as treading water for a minute and swimming for 25m. 

Learning the Shaw Method

After my near miss on holiday, I vowed to seek proper tuition for front crawl. This led me to the Shaw Method, a form of swimming tuition that encourages greater body awareness, prevents strain and injury and improves your performance. 

Other methods can also be effective, but at the cost of aching muscles and mental strain. The Shaw Method, developed in 1987 by former competitive swimmer Stephen Shaw, reduces muscular and mental tension and prioritises enjoyment for everyone from hydrophobes to veteran open-water swimmers.

I meet coach Rui Duarte of Love Swimming, a former pro swimmer, for my first session at London’s Dolphin Fitness Club. He first asks me to swim a couple of lengths while he films me above and below the water.

“Your body is too low and you don’t rotate enough in the water,” he says, while playing back video footage of me almost dragging my feet along the bottom.

“Your head’s too high and not aligned, your back’s arched. You’re fighting against the water, not swimming with it.”

I’m suddenly keenly aware that just four weeks might not be sufficient time to repair a lifetime of bad habits. 

Front crawl basics

There are three stages to learning the front crawl. The first, body rotation, starts out of the water.

“The core of the stroke is your body, not the arms or legs. For long-distance swimming, 90% of your propulsion should come from your upper body. The legs are primarily for balance.

“You use your hips to rotate your body to one side and back to the centre with each stroke.”

We rehearse this rotation in front of mirrors beside the pool to visually reinforce the movement.

The second focuses on the arm action. Duarte talks about the ‘crouching tiger’ and ‘flying eagle’.

The tiger is the coiled, loading phase of the stroke, which helps you return to centre. The eagle is how your arm comes out of the water, long and straight, during every stroke. Gradually, Duarte is ironing out all the creases in my technique. 

Two weeks in we finally get to breathing. “Don’t gulp for air,” says Duarte. “Don’t hold your breath. Allow the spreading of your chest as you bring your arm out of the water to open your lungs and draw air in.”

Alongside the one-on-one technique classes I’m doing group fitness sessions with Duarte’s other pupils. These involve switching between even-paced swims of 400m and fast ones of 50m, with short rests.

I can’t keep up with the others for more than 100m. While they glide on length after length, I need frequent timeouts to catch my breath. 

Learning proper body alignment

How to breathe while swimming

Towards the end of the second week, though, something clicks. I find a rhythm, I slow everything down, I gently kick rather than thrash.

At 300m, I realise I’m not out of breath. It feels like discovering a hidden talent I never knew I possessed. 

Over the final two weeks I continue to put Duarte’s teachings into practice and get the hang of bilateral breathing (to each side, every three strokes) which keeps you balanced. I start to relish the group sessions, knowing the good they’re doing my fitness levels.

The Shaw Method has certainly helped me improve technically and rediscover my confidence in the water. The next challenge is to leave the relative comfort of the pool and get outdoors, with a triathlon now in my sights.

All that’s left is to find a good running and cycling coach.

Fundamentals of the Shaw Method for swimming

1. Body alignment

The head, neck and back need to be long, aligned and relaxed so muscle tension doesn’t build up. 

2. Smart swimming

Save energy by letting the water do some of the work. During a kick, push down but let the water help you push up. 

3. Passive breathing

Try to breathe steadily and calmly. Duarte recommends turning to breathe every third stroke. 

4. Enjoyment

It’s important you enjoy the learning process. You’ll reach your goals faster and relish time spent in the pool.

For more, visit artofswimming.com

RELATED CONTENT:

1. 17 ways to get better at swimming 
2. 7 best swimming gadgets for pushing performance in the pool
3. Adam Peaty interview

The post How To Get Better At Open Water Swimming appeared first on MensFitness.

Complete the following exercises as a circuit, doing 45-60 secs of each and resting 15 secs between moves.

Aim for 4 rounds in total. 

Adam Peaty: Bodyweight Workout

• Kettlebell swing
• Alternating V-Up
• Countermovement Jump
• Press-Up
• Feet-Elevated Crunch
• Lunge

1a. Kettlebell Swing 

Why: To create an explosive hip drive and strong glutes. 

• Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and push the kettlebell off your body to start the swing.
• As you lower, hinge at the hips by pushing your glutes back.
• When you feel a stretch in your hamstrings, drive your hips forward, swinging the kettlebell up.
• Don’t worry too much about how high the kettlebell gets – the snap at the hips and drive through the glutes is more important than air time.

1b. Alternating V-Up 

Why: To build core strength and single-limb proprioception. 

• Lie on your back with legs out flat and your arms extended overhead.
• Keeping your arms close to your ears, contract your abs to press your lower back into the ground.
• Point your toes and, squeezing your quads and glutes, lift one leg and upper back off the ground, while reaching your opposite hand forward to meet your foot.
• Keep your core engaged as you slowly lower to the starting position.
• Repeat on the other side.

1c. Countermovement Jump 

Why: To build explosivity and train the fast-twitch muscle fibres in the lower body. 

• Stand tall. 
• Drop into a quarter squat, then immediately extend through the knees and hips to jump as high as possible.
• Land softly, reset and repeat.

1d. Press-Up 

Why: To build strong shoulders and pecs, plus a stable core. 

• When you lower, aim to keep your elbows tucked into your body. If you let them flare out it will place extra strain on your elbow joints, which could lead to injury.
• Make sure your hips are level throughout the exercise.
• If you let them sag it’ll put strain on your lower back. It’s also a sign that you’ve lost core control, so keep them up to make sure that you’re staying stable.

1e. Feet-Elevated Crunch 

Why: To build core strength. 

• Lie on your back, pressing your lower back into the floor, with fingers on temples.
• Maintaining this position, lift your feet off the ground.
• Now raise your upper back, too.
• From here, bring your knees and elbows in to touch somewhere above your chest.
• Maintain tension in your abs as you lower back down – without letting your feet touch the floor.

1f. Lunge  

Why: To improve proprioception, hip mobility and lower-body strength. 

• From standing, take a big step forward with one foot. 
• Now bend at both knees, so your back knee drops towards the floor and your front leg forms a right angle.
• Make sure your front knee doesn’t extend beyond your front toes.
• Drive through your front heel to step back to standing, then repeat on the other leg.

Aim to complete 4 rounds of this bodyweight workout from Adam Peaty.

Adam Peaty is wearing the latest Castore Spring/Summer ’22 collection in this workout. Visit castore.com 

Photography: Ben Lumley / Castore

RELATED CONTENT:

1. Adam Peaty interview: “You’ve got to be willing to go get it every single day”
2. Weights vs. bodyweight: which is better?
3. Build lean muscle with this reverse Tabata dumbbell circuit

The post Train Like Adam Peaty With This Home Bodyweight Workout appeared first on MensFitness.

Peaty first made a splash outside of swimming circles at the Rio 2016 Olympics, where his 100m breastroke victory made him the first British male gold medal-winning swimmer since 1988.

Five years on, he defended his title at the delayed 2020 Games in Tokyo, becoming the first British swimmer – male or female – ever to retain an Olympic gold. 

But while Olympics exploits captured national attention, Peaty’s year-on-year performances on the less-publicised swimming circuit are the real mark of his greatness.

A three-time Commonwealth Champion, 16-time European Champion and eight-time World Champion, very few athletes have so utterly dominated their discipline over such a long period of time.

It’s not a case of simply beating the next-best man, either; Peaty isn’t so much in competition with the unfortunate athletes in the same pool as him, as he is with himself.

It’s a point proven by the remarkable stat that at one stage in 2021, he held each of the 20 fastest times ever recorded over 100m breaststroke. 

Check out more of our interviews with top athletes

Pursuit of perfection

Clearly, such success is founded on a huge amount of natural talent. In fact, Peaty’s physiology means he was virtually born to swim breastroke.

Standing at 6ft 3in, with size 12 feet and shovel-like hands, he’s able to pull himself through the water with uniquely powerful strokes. Add to that double-jointed knees and ankles that allow him to kick more effectively, along with monstrous lung capacity, and you have the blueprint for brilliance. 

However, ability is nothing without application, and though all professional athletes possess greater drive than most, it’s difficult to imagine anyone with a more unwavering commitment to continual progress.

Despite all he’s achieved, Peaty is far from satisfied. 

“It’s about relentless effort in the pursuit of excellence,” he says, when I ask how he continues to stay motivated – for the 5am alarms and relentless training – after winning virtually all there is to win.

“For me, especially over the past seven or eight years, I’ve always found a way to get better – to get faster, stronger, fitter.”

It’s a lifestyle, he admits, which “comes at a cost” (Peaty has a young son with long-term girlfriend Eirianedd Munro), but though two years of coronavirus lockdowns allowed more time at home, he remains “addicted to this way of life.” 

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A post shared by Adam Peaty OBE (@adam_peaty)

Adam Peaty’s cast iron mindset

Such a cast-iron mindset is something he’s seemingly always had. Youth swimming gets a bad rap in popular culture – overcompetitive parents and reluctant kids are common tropes – but speaking to Peaty provides the clearest possible sense that he simply loves what he does, and has done for as long as he can remember. 

“I’ve never really been into team sports,” he says. “I think it’s because I know that my performance is solely in my hands – I like my own standard and my own results. I enjoy going hell for leather – heart rate up at 200 – and pushing myself to my limit.”

That passion may have been a constant, but soon after turning pro Peaty was also quick to recruit the help of a sports psychologist to help him realise his true potential. In 2014, he started working with the world-renowned
Bill Beswick – who has Manchester United on his list of clients.

“Funnily enough,” says Peaty, “it was around then I started to get good.”

On their first meeting, Beswick gave the account of a rugby game between France and the New Zealand All Blacks.

Before the game, the All Blacks performed their traditional ‘Haka’ dance, which had the desired effect of intimidating the already-underdog French team – and it showed. France went on to get resoundly thumped.

However, in the next meeting between the two teams, the French vowed to face the Haka down and show no sign of weakness. Staring the All Blacks directly in the eyes, a member of the New Zealand team eventually looked away. What followed was a famous French win.

“Bill told me,” Peaty concludes, “that’s what you need to do: you need to look the challenge head on and say, ‘Not today.’”

Adam Peaty on motivation

But is that refusal to be beaten all that spurs him on, or are there other motivating factors? Well motivation, it turns out, is a weak motivator…

“David Goggins [former Navy SEAL turned ultra-endurance athlete] once said, ‘Motivation isn’t strong enough to get you through the tests of life,’ and I completely agree.

“Motivation can be a useful thing, but there’s no way around it, you’ve just got to be willing to go get it every single day. It comes down to dedication and respect: that I’ll always show up and give 100% both for the coach and myself.”

Performance in training is one thing, but what about when he’s lining up at the start of an Olympic or World Championship Final – how does he stay composed enough to put the thousands of hours of training into practice? 

“Pre-race I will imagine every single possible scenario,” Peaty tells me, “so before the breastroke final in Rio, I had swam that race thousands of times in my mind. When I actually swam it, it felt easy, because I’d already been there.

“In the pool, it’s all muscle memory. I will have done that race thousands of times and trained it pretty much every day for the last 15 years. I’ll just be thinking about the fine details to do with technique, as well as awareness of where I am in the water, then towards the end it’s fight or flight, going as hard as I can.”

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A post shared by Adam Peaty OBE (@adam_peaty)

Mental strength and ‘hard graft’

However, in sport a powerful mentality can do little with a weak body, and Peaty’s commitment to mental strength is bettered only by his commitment to, in his words, “hard graft”.

In the pool, that means 55,000m each week – length after endless length, perfecting every aspect imaginable.

Out of the pool, it’s about building the strength and mobility to move as powerfully as possible through the water. And that’s the stuff he loves.

“Strength and conditioning, for me, is the fun side of training,” Peaty admits. “I love putting my headphones in, with a bit of Metallica, and just going for it. I love the challenge of it.

“Swimming is extremely hard, but I’ve been doing it all my life, so I can always find a way to do it. If I’m doing new exercises in the gym, it’s a fresh challenge.” 

Barbell complex routine

He gives the example of a barbell complex (essentially doing all the exercises without putting the bar down) recently introduced to his routine: 6 x hang clean, 6 x front squat, 6 x shoulder press.

“Do that five times,” he says, “and it absolutely hammers you. I’m less used to this type of stuff, so it’s building a completely new side to my fitness.”

On Saturdays, he also cycles through a high-intensity bodyweight circuit – “these exercises are easy for anyone, but it’s all about intensity. Much better to do a 15-minute intensity block than 30 minutes half-arsed.”

Regular readers will remember our interview with strongman Eddie Hall a few months back. Hall credited much of his superhuman strength to years spent swimming competitively as a teenager.

Towards the end of the conversation with Peaty, I ask if he agrees that swimming can be a useful complement to work in the gym.

The short answer: yes. “Swimming creates flexibility,” he says, “and if you’ve got flexibility in your joints and muscles, you have a very good base from which to build muscle and strength.” 

But for anyone tempted to dip their toe in, Peaty brings the main benefit back to the mind. “To progress in any sport,” he says, “you have to be willing to push through when you feel like you’re going to break.

“For me, the main thing is that swimming makes you a grafter.”

RELATED CONTENT:

1. 17 ways to get better at swimming
2. 7 best swimming gadgets for pushing performance in the pool
3. 15 minutes with… GB swimmer Ben Proud

The post Adam Peaty Interview: “You’ve Got To Be Willing To Go Get It Every Single Day” appeared first on MensFitness.

There’s a strong case to be made for swimming being the ultimate physical activity. With correct technique, it provides a full-body workout and taxes your cardiovascular system, with a fraction of the injury risk of land-based sports.

Which begs the question: why don’t more of us do it?

Despite the endless list of benefits, for most men, heading to the pool is secondary to the gym or other exercise. Many hit the pool to cool-down or recover, rather than using swimming as the main event.

Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a leisurely swim, but doing the same thing week in, week out isn’t going to do anything for your general fitness.

But once you’re truly comfortable in the water – and know how to structure your sessions effectively – a whole new world of strength and cardio gains are at your fingertips.

Here’s my best advice for pushing progress in the pool…

1. Time it right 

Generally, public leisure centres offer regular-lane swimming sessions throughout the day. Morning sessions between 7am and 9am and early evening before 7pm are usually the busiest.

It’s worth trying different session times to work out what type of swimmers are swimming and when. You don’t want to be heading to the pool during a family session; conversely, often the last lane session of the day is empty, so you can make the most of your time in the water. A 30-minute session can be enough. 

2. Get good kit

One of the best things about swimming is that you don’t need masses of expensive gear. Which is why it always surprises me how little people invest in the few pieces of kit they do need.

One pair of decent goggles, that fit correctly, can completely transform your experience. Buy a pair you get on with, then look after them like your favourite pair of sunglasses.

A good pair of goggles should fit the size of your head, and frame of your face and eye sockets without leaving heavy marks around your eyes.

3. Warm up

Because swimming is low impact, it’s easy to overlook a warm-up before getting in the pool. But it’s still a good idea to wake up the muscles and raise your heartrate gently – your performance will benefit.

Start your warm-up before you get in the water, focusing on the shoulders, chest, head, neck, lower back and legs. Aim for five minutes out the water, before getting in and doing a mix of strokes at a gentle pace.

DO THIS:
The shoulders are most prone to injury, so the following drill will warm up the delts and rotator cuffs

• Hold your hands up, with elbows at right angles (as if at the bottom of a shoulder press).
• Now bring your elbows together, to meet in front of your chest.
• Bring your elbows back to the start, then bring your hands behind your back, clasping your fingers and extending your arms.
• Return to the starting position, and repeat the sequence 6-8 times.

4. Remember to breathe 

Breathing is the biggest obstacle for more first-time swimmers. Mastering it is also the quickest way to make real progress in a short space of time.

“Your swimming breathing should be the same as your land-based breathing,” advises Keri-Anne Payne, two-time ten-kilometre open-water world champion, and an Olympic silver medallist. “If it is different, you will struggle.”

Often people take large gulps of oxygen with big movement, then explosively breathe out. You wouldn’t do this with any other activity. Breathing should be calm and relaxed.

DO THIS:

• Learn to breathe out through your nose when you’re face down in the water, before taking a small breath in, with a small movement, as your head comes up.
• A common mistake is to try to breathe both out and in during that short time between strokes.

5. Learn the strokes

Most people will switch between breaststroke and front crawl – these are the easiest and most common strokes people master. Butterfly is the most demanding, and will burn the most calories – if you have the space and skill, it’s a great workout.

That said, front crawl is equally beneficial if you push yourself, and you won’t upset your fellow pool users quite as much.

6. Break it down

Breaking your chosen stroke down to component parts and working on them individually is the best way to improve your overall performance.

When you learn to swim, a teacher will tend to look at your whole stroke, then each part, then whole again to see the improvement. This is an effective way for you to focus your solo sessions, too.

• Do a gentle warm-up, then break the stroke down into arms, legs, breathing and body.
• At the end, pull it altogether.
• Time yourself on your first whole stroke length, then at the end to see the progress – it can be really satisfying.

7. Focus on form

Like lifting weights at the gym, if your technique is sloppy, you’re going to be more prone to injury and you won’t get the maximum benefit from your swimming.

Experienced swim coach and teacher Paul Fowler runs 100% Swimming. He says:

“Choose good form over speed or distance. Always swim well, practice good technique and be the best that you can on any given day.

“Technique will support long distance or faster swimming speeds, so short sessions at the pool, focusing on your form, can be more beneficial overall. Build up correct form and speed, and the distance will follow.”

8. Be consistent

Swimming once a week is better than nothing, but you won’t see much benefit or progress. Frequent, short swimming sessions will see a more sustainable improvement over time.

If you can aim for three swim sessions a week, perhaps dedicate each session to either a different part of your stroke or a different stroke entirely. Working on just arms or legs isn’t reserved just for the gym.

Dedicate short sessions to arms, legs, body and breathing – paying attention to form. Look at your swim plan over a month, rather than by week, and you could see a huge difference.

9. Get help

Your local leisure centre will have a list of teaching staff who can help with the basics for each stroke, and help you identify areas to work on. If you can’t sustain front crawl for more than 25 meters, you need help.

Understanding where you’re going wrong and how to make changes will make swimming more enjoyable and comfortable. If you’re more advanced with your swimming, try using a coach who can help you set and reach more targeted goals.

10. Watch yourself 

Get a waterproof case for your smartphone and take a mate swimming with you. Get them to film you swimming towards them, from the side, below and above.

Often our brains tell us we are doing one thing, but our bodies are doing something very different. Over crossing arms with front crawl is common and puts a strain on the shoulders – being able to clearly see it on camera can help you adjust.

Look at your catch and kick: are you swimming as efficiently as you can? If taking any camera to a pool area, seek permission from the lifeguard/pool manager, as there are safeguarding procedures in place at all pools – and only ever film yourself.

11. Use optional extras

There is a plethora of swim accessories you can take to the pool, though in my experience it is best not to take them all at once and the basic offer is often the best. Different toys do different things.

The most common equipment you will find at your local pool is a kickboard – simply a flat rectangular float. There are several drills you can do with one. They can help with a leg session, body positioning and breathing technique. If your pool doesn’t have one, they are inexpensive to buy and a worthy investment.

Other than that, there are pool buoys, paddles, gloves, fins – the options are endless. Seek advice and do your research to get the most out of your equipment.

RELATED: 7 Best Swimming Gadgets For Pushing Performance In The Pool

12. Do more drills 

Simply, drills are a way to work on your technique and fitness. They are a way of incorporating swim accessories into your swimming, and can help increase speed and power through the water. They’re a useful way to teach your body how it should feel during a certain technique.

Drills are great for creating habits, so your body moves naturally, rather than you having to think about the movement too much.

13. Fuel up 

Swimming uses a lot of energy, so it’s common to leave the water feeling ravenous. Ensuring you have something in your body before you start swimming will enable you to perform better, but too much food and it can be uncomfortable.

Choose easy-to-digest foods: wholegrains, yogurt, nuts and fruits are all good. If you can’t face food before a swim, make sure your last meal had a good portion of slow-release carbohydrates.

14. Drink plenty

You don’t notice or feel the discomfort of sweating in the water, so can easily forget to hydrate. Thirst can also be supressed by water flushing in and out of the mouth.

It’s always surprising how few water bottles I see pool-side when I’m swimming, but you wouldn’t head out for a long run without water. If you suffer with cramp in your legs or feet while swimming, mixing in a hydration tablet or gel with electrolytes can help.

15. Set tests

You’ve mastered your technique and are maximising your swim sessions, but now find you’re getting bored, set yourself challenges to engage and motivate.

They could be as simple as being able to swim faster or further, but you could also look at pool and open-water events.

TRY THIS:

Swimathon takes place at over 450 venues across the UK, and offers distances from 400m to 30.9k. It’s a popular annual event and can be done individually or as a team.
Find out more at swimathon.org

16. Get strong

Improvement can be made outside the pool with strength training and exercises that enhance your time in the water. Personal trainer and open-water coach Viv Rickman encourages swimmers to reach a level of ‘zen’ in the water.

“For me,” she says, “it’s the moment when my breathing, arms and body are aligned. When my rotation feels perfect, when I have that cool abyss of nothingness below me, my rhythm just flows and my focus is in the here and now.”

DO THIS:
Viv Rickman recommends strength training to aid swimming form, and the cable woodchop is the perfect core strengthener.

• Attach a handle to the top setting of an adjustable cable machine. Stand next to the machine with your feet shoulder-width apart.
• Extend your arms upward and grab the handle with both hands above one shoulder.
• With your arms fully extended, pull the handle down and across your body to your opposite side. Allow your hips and torso to rotate, and keep a slight bend in your knees.
• Slowly reverse the movement to return to the starting position.

17. Take it outside

Another brilliant way to challenge yourself and make swimming more interesting is to leave the confines of the pool. There’s a reason outdoor swimming is increasing in popularity and people get all evangelical about it. Beathing fresh air, exercising in natural daylight and immersing in nature boosts the physical and mental benefits of swimming.

Swimming in open-water also requires new skills and ability. Not being able to see the bottom or push off the end of a pool can feel totally different. There are plenty of open-water venues across the UK, offering safety, support and facilities, as well as marked distances to tackle.

Words: Ella Foote

The post 17 Ways To Get Better At Swimming appeared first on MensFitness.

If slipping into some trunks and hitting the pool isn’t high on your fitness priorities, it probably should be.

Regular water-based workouts can help build endurance, improve muscle strength, increase muscle mass and turbo-charge your cardiovascular fitness.

Related: 17 Ways To Get Better At Swimming

If you’re brave enough, wild swimming and colder-water dips also deliver mental health, immune system and big heart health benefits.

There’s plenty of swimming tech and gadegts to help you find your water wings, too. From coaching trackers, to pool-friendly heart rate monitors and headphones, we dive into the latest swim tech to help you fly along in the fast lane.

Best Swimming Gadgets

MF BEST BUY

Form Smart Swim Goggles

BUY IT NOW:

From £18 per month, goggles included / uk.formswim.com

A good multisport GPS watch will track swim stats, but having the data on your wrist makes it hard to check your vitals mid-crawl, without messing up your flow.

Bluetooth doesn’t play nice in water so audio updates over headphones aren’t an option either. So the moment you dip a toe in the water, you’re swimming blind.

Form’s augmented reality goggles change that. They look and feel like regular goggles but they automatically track your efforts in the pool. Stats monitored include distance, duration, split time, length count, pace per 50 or 100m, interval time, rest time, stroke rate and count, distance per stroke and calories burned.

Waveguide optical display technology – specially designed to work underwater – beams these pleasingly simple dot matrix readouts into your eyeline, overlaying up to 12 real-time metrics on your goggle lenses fighter-pilot style.

You get 18 hours swim time from a single charge, and open-water swimmers can also pair them with top-end Garmins and an Apple Watch to get enhanced outdoor swim stats and heart rate monitoring.

Plus, you can link them with Polar’s goggle-worn, swim friendly Verity Sense HRM to get real-time effort readouts to guide your training.

Design: 4
Benefits: 5
OVERALL: 5

MF RECOMMENDED

Polar Verity Sense

BUY IT NOW:

£76.50 / polar.com

On dry land, the optical heart-rate-tracking Verity Sense is a comfortable alternative to chest straps that can be worn on your forearm, wrist or bicep. But where things really get interesting is in the pool.

The tiny sensor comes with a clip that attaches to your swim-goggle straps to track your real-time heart rate from the temple. That cuts out the inaccuracies you can get when movement through water interferes with chest straps and wrist-based trackers.

It packs a 20-hour battery, 16mb memory and 150m broadcast range; and pairs with watches, smart goggles or direct to the Polar Beat app.

Design: 4
Benefits: 4
OVERALL: 4

Finis Smart Goggles

BUY IT NOW:

$199 / finisswim.com 

Another set of smart goggles that beam your real-time vital swim stats onto your goggles, these cheaper-feeling goggles have a removable Smart Coach sensor that clips into the side of the eyepiece. It can be swapped between compatible goggles, making it easier – and cheaper – to replace your eyewear.

You get six hours of swim tracking on a single charge and the detailed Finish app tracks total swim time with breakouts for active time and rest time.

Plus pace, distance, lap count, lap splits. It also breaks down your sets with time, distance and average splits for each set.

Design: 3
Benefits: 4
OVERALL: 3

Triton 2

BUY IT NOW:

From $16 per month / tritonwear.com

Plunging a little deeper into the serious end, this head-worn swim tracker is used to eke marginal gains out of medal-chasing Olympians. But there’s plenty here for mortal pool-goers, too.

The sensor sits under your swim cap and serves up an impressive suite of swimming metrics including distance, stroke type and count, lap splits and pace along; and also going deeper with killer stats such as distance per stroke, push off strength and even breath count per length.

It works offline, so you can track and sync later and boasts 15 hours of swim time.

Design: 4
Benefits: 5
OVERALL: 4

Shokz OpenSwim

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£139.95 / uk.shokz.com

Bluetooth and water don’t mix, so if you need music to ease the monotony of incessantly lapping that 25m pool, these 30g water-resistant, bone-conduction headphones are your best bet.

You won’t get the big bass or perfect audio of regular headphones, but they feature a built-in MP3 player with 4GB storage – that’s enough for around 1,200 songs.

A drag-and-drop console makes it easy to sync tunes from your laptop. There’s also an eight-hour swim-time battery life and that IP68 rating keeps them safe underwater up to two metres for two hours.

Design: 3
Benefits: 3
OVERALL: 3

INCUS Cloud Swim

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£199.99 / incusperformance.com

Worn on the spine in a sports-bra-like bib, this capable tool packs a powerful ten-axis motion sensor to capture all the micro movements that reveal form and efficiency in the pool. Swim stats include body roll, pitch angles, stroke rate, drag and kick and independent stroke analysis.

Haptic feedback guides your training brilliantly in real time in the pool, coaching pacing and cadence. An excellent training tool for honing your swim technique, but you’ll need confidence to pull off the look.

Design: 3
Benefits: 4
OVERALL: 4

Garmin Swim 2

BUY IT NOW:

£219.99 / garmin.com

While many Garmin watches track swimming, if you really want to dive into your swim training with serious intent, the Swim 2 goes much deeper. Its raft of swim-specific metrics and training tools include open water and pool swim modes; pacing alerts; drill logging; automatic rest tracking; Critical Swim Speed, which estimates your anaerobic threshold speed; and a big selection of workouts to follow.

You get 72 hours of swim time in pool mode and 13 if you’re using GPS to track open-water dips. It’ll also track outdoor running and cycling, making it a good option for triathletes.

Design: 4
Benefits: 4
OVERALL: 4

Words: Kieran Alger

The post 7 Best Swimming Gadgets For Pushing Performance In The Pool appeared first on MensFitness.

With the powerful physique to prove it, Proud is a sprint specialist whose success is based on explosive starts and serious speed through the water.

But while in-pool work forms the chunk of his training, reaching peak performance also depends on plenty of gym-based conditioning, as he explains…

Ben Proud’s Typical Training Week

‘Swimming is one of the few sports that can target every aspect of fitness, strength and mobility. Once you become familiar with the water, you can make small changes to sessions and train completely different aspects of your health – from high-intensity intervals to low-and-slow relaxation. It can be a dynamic form of yoga.

‘I can be training up to 20 hours a week – a mixture of pool and gym sessions. As a sprinter my focus is on short, sharp exercises with perfect form. On a big week, 15 hours are spent in the pool and around six in the gym.

‘I’ve always believed consistency and time are your greatest friends. To make a true impact on your body and health, it’s best to have a slow and steady approach, and avoid rushing through a new programme.

‘My favourite method of training is choosing three to four compound lifts (bench, deadlift, squat) and arranging them over two to three gym sessions a week. They will be done for either 5 sets of 5-8 reps, or 3 sets of 1-3 reps, starting with the higher workload and tapering down as the year goes on. It’s important to mention that I rarely ever work at 100% capacity, as we like to focus on form and avoid major fatigue.

‘Whenever I’m starting a new cycle of training it typically takes four weeks to get into the swing of things: week one movements feel awkward and weak; week two I start to get familiarised with the exercises; week three I find my body’s natural ranges; and by week four feel confident and ready to push my boundaries.

Ben Proud on Nutrition and Intuitive Eating

‘I love food and fortunately swimming requires a high-calorie diet, so much so that often the battle is providing my body with the right amount of energy to keep up with the workload.

‘I’ve found a huge amount of value in learning to listen to my body. For example, when I’m craving a pizza I’ll ask myself why: am I needing extra calories? Do I need extra fat in my diet? Is there a nutrient my body is lacking? Often you’ll find that a craving is just your body’s way of asking for what it needs.

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Ben Proud is the 50m World Short Course Champion and Commonwealth Games Champion. He’s also an Aquasphere athlete and Dare to Dream ambassador for airasia.com

The post 15 Minutes With… GB Swimmer Ben Proud appeared first on MensFitness.