SwimPath Blog

SwimPath have introduced a new gym range from Spokey, that can help swimmer's and individual's work on their strength, stability and more in the comfort of their own home. 

Land training can have a big impact on swimmer's performance in the pool. Fitness components such as Flexibility, Strength, Core stability and Speed can be trained on land in ways they can't in the pool. 

With the Spokey Gym range there's no excuse to be missing out on land training. For those Club's that find it difficult to access facilities or find time for land conditioning, these gym products can be used at home or anywhere in your own free time. The range includes equipment such as Gym balls, Thera Bands, Push up bars, Skipping ropes and more that swimmer's and individuals can use to improve:

- Strength

- Stability

- Flexibility

- Endurance

- Core strength + stability

- Recovery

- Injury Prevention

All of these components can help improve Body Position in the water, Speed and Power, and technique efficiency, as well as general fitness.

Stay ahead of the competition with Spokey's Gym range and give yourself the best chance of reaching your personal goals.

After racing in the 200m Butterfly over 100 times, I still had some doubt that I may not finish the race. Seems crazy!?

Any swimmer that swims a 200m Butterfly knows how difficult this event can be and especially if you get the pacing wrong. Pacing the 200m Butterfly can be very tricky to get right, which sometimes I still struggled with after years of experience. Even at major events, such as the World Championships, I messed up my pacing and ended up missing medals, finals and hurting a lot! It happens to even some of the most experienced swimmers. 

However, those times you do manage to get that pacing right, there's no better feeling than smashing your best time, qualifying for an event or even winning a medal! Those are the feelings that keep us swimmers going. 

Here are some of my tips to increase your chance of having a great 200m Butterfly swim:

• Have a plan and stick to it. It can be very easy to get excited, go out too fast and then die off at the end. Believe in your plan and don't let emotions get in the way.
• 1st 50m- Long, Strong and Relaxed. Saving energy in that first 25m is crucial in preventing that 'dying' at the end. In a race no swimming should ever be slow, there's no time for that, you want to have that 'easy speed'.
• 2nd 50m- Build, keep those arms relaxed and start to increase your speed slightly into that second turn.
• 3rd 50m- Increase the legs, start to kick harder and increase that stroke rate slightly.
• 4th 50m- The Last turn wants to be the fastest as well as fast fly kick off the wall, building again to a MAX finish, keeping hold of the water every stroke.
• Nail every turn by spotting the wall 10m out. Hitting the wall too close or too far away can mess up the whole swim and cause you to use up more energy, spot those walls and finish on a full stroke.
• Save the legs for the second half of the race.
• Never expect a 200m Butterfly to be easy, it's always going to hurt, slow or fast!
• Believe in yourself and try to look forward to it, dreading the race will only make it harder.
• Probably the most important.... do the right amount of training for a 200m Butterly, aim to do main sets on Fly and get the hours in the pool!
• Butterfly can be down to mental strength, it will feel harder then Front Crawl, but how good can you be and want to be?

Chloe Golding qualified for her first Commonwealth Games after posting a lifetime best in the 200m Backstroke at the Swim England National Championships in December. Chloe, only 19 years of age, swam a sub 2.10 for the first time and got herself a place on the England team for the Games in the Gold Coast this April. 

Chloe who trains at Manchester, has been part of the Jowe sponsored team for almost a year and has recently been improving her best times, getting closer to being one the best the Britain. Chloe is really looking forward to the Games and is excited for her first Senior team.

"I'm so excited to be going and competing at a high level. It's my first senior team so I'm not feeling loads of pressure, which I think is a good position to be in. But I don't want to be content with just going, I'm aiming to go and swim fast, to do a PB and make a final. Hopefully I can use the experience to help start my senior career really well."

Chloe will be heading out to Australia at the end of March with the England team in preparation for the Games that starts April 4th. She will be competing in the 200m Backstroke and hoping to get the Final! Watch out for Chloe's results! 

Chloe is wearing the New Jowe swimsuit- Northern Lights. Available on SwimPath soon! 

SwimPath now stock products to help aid your recovery from training and racing from 2XU and More Mile! 

2XU (Two Times You!)

More Mile

SwimPath now stock More Mile products such as 'The Beast Foam Roller' which is a great tool to help aid recovery, increase and maintain range of movement and prevent injury. More Mile's Rolling Massage Stick is another great tool for helping with recovery, the Stick Roller is great for reaching areas that are difficult to reach with the Roller. More Mile's Beast Foam Roller and Stick Roller are high quality for money and offers these benefits:

-Improves Circulation

-Reduces Muscle Spams and Tightness

-Deactivates Muscle Trigger Points

-Improves Flexibility

-Helps Recovery from Training and Injuries.

See how you can improve your recovery and performance with 2XU and More Mile at SwimPath!

Swim training during winter is one of the hardest parts of the year for swimmers and can be the most critical for having a successful season. Early mornings during Winter become very challenging as the weather in Britain gets colder and darker, making it very tempting to stay in bed especially as your body becomes more tired from training hard for months.

One of the worst parts of being a swimmer is not being able to swim! As a hard working athlete, your immune system is reduced and the chances of getting ill are highly increased. It's very frustrating for an athlete to be ill, miss training and having to just rest while team mates are in the pool training hard! 

The right nutrition during training periods and winter is so important to help avoid getting ill and to get the most out of each training session.

Post Training:

The Window of Opportunity!

Immediately after a training session muscles are primed to accept nutrients that help muscle recovery, growth and strength. It's critical to fuel your body straight away after a workout; the best way to do this is to be prepared every session, take snacks in your swim bag which can be eaten while getting changed or stretching.

It's best to get food in immediately and make sure you can get a good meal in within 2hours of your session finishing. Make sure your fuel includes Carbohydrates and Proteins! Doing this will allow your body to get the benefits from your training, increase the chances of consistent performance throughout each week, reduce the chances of getting ill. 

Benefits of immediate post training nutrition:

- Decrease chances of getting ill & injured!

- Increase recovery,

- Increase muscle gains, strength,

- Reduce muscle soreness,

- Maintain performance throughout the week.

Vitamin D:

The very little amount of Sun we get in the UK in Winter massively affects our stores of Vitamin D especially in hard working swimmers! Training at high intensity and volumes decreases your stores of vitamin D more than the average person. Consuming foods that contain Vitamin D, taking a Vitamin D supplement during Winter can help maintain healthy stores and have similar benefits to the post workout eating window!

Low Vitamin D levels can:

- reduce muscle strength, power,

- increase chances of getting ill,

- increase chances of getting injuries.

Keep on top of the little things and turn your hard training into the results you want!