SwimPath Blog

Hello, I'm Charlie Attwood, former GB international swimmer and breaststroke specialist. In 2013 I qualified for my first international junior team where I would compete at the European youth Olympic festival held in Utrecht, Netherlands. I came away with a bronze in the 200m breaststroke and then in the 100m breaststroke I ended up winning Gold.

Later, in 2015 I qualified for the European Games held in Baku, Azerbaijan where I won bronze in the 100m Breaststroke and then silver as part of two relays. The same year I competed at the 2015 world junior championships held in Singapore, this meet didn’t go as planned but I did make the final my events which I was happy with.

I then moved training programmes from my home club Taunton Deane to the British swimming national centre in Bath where I would be training alongside Olympians and world medallists ahead of the 2016 Olympic year. I didn’t make the Olympic team, but I did end up competing at the 2016 European championships in London the same year.

My favourite achievement was winning my individual medal in Baku at the European games. I am now working with SwimPath to help other swimmers achieve their goals. A top tip for you breaststrokers to aid your catch is to scull as much as you can in training, as this will strengthen your in sweep and out sweep to maximise your pull.   

Over time Swimmers will perform Millions of Shoulder rotations and arm movements, while expecting our Shoulders to deal with it and just power through. Unfortunately our shoulder's are very unlikely to deal with this amount of stress without proper strengthening and stabilising of our Scapulas.

The majority of Swimmers will experience Shoulder pain during their careers and there's nothing more frustrating then missing out on a competition or only being able to Kick in training due to an injury. 

Strengthening and stabilising the Scaps will allow swimmers' Training to be more consistent. Stronger Shoulders and Scaps allow swimmers to create more power while pulling and travel faster through the water with less energy! 

Scapula exercises can easily be done anywhere around training sessions to improve stability:

Pre- pool workouts- activates the muscles we want to use while swimming to reduce stress on the shoulders, increase Power from our pulling action, decrease chance of injury and missing training.

Around Pool sessions- Increase strength and stability of the shoulders to maximise performance in the pool and reduce chance of injury and pain.

Exercises can be done for a small amount of time each day and is definitely worth it for all of those swimmers with goals and who work hard everyday!

Thera bands are a great tool for training the shoulders and can be found here- Thera bands! Video for exercises to follow!

Good Core Strength is very beneficial for swimmers and their performance. Core training should be included in all swimming programmes to help swimmers get the best out of their training and become more efficient in the pool.

The Core Muscles are used in all four strokes, as well as holding streamline position off the turns and the start. Here are some reasons swimmers will benefit from having good Core Strength:

- A good Core stability allows swimmers to be able to hold the correct body positions while travelling through the water. Holding streamline after pushing off the wall or blocks is essential for travelling faster with less energy.

- Swimmers will create less drag through the water by being able to hold a good body position and swim faster with less energy. Without the Core muscles being able to control an efficient body position the arms and legs use up high amounts of energy trying to pull and kick through the water resistance.

- The connection between the Core and the other muscle groups used in swimming such as Arms, Back, Chest and Legs allows swimmers to generate more power while swimming, if the Core muscles are activated.

- Strong Core muscles help massively with injury prevention and over all body strength. A good Core stability helps support hip, back and shoulder strength especially while training and allows athletes to train at higher intensities and see improvements without injuries.

The Core can be trained at home and almost anywhere with simple exercises such as the plank, side plank, leg lowers and more! Even for just 10 minutes a day, any swimmer can fit in a bit of core training to help improve their performances in the pool. 

Check out my demonstration of how you can use an Ab Roller effectively in a core strength exercise routine:

Check out the Spokey Twin B Ab Roller here