Live well, swim well – a holistic approach

Fuelling your workouts, balancing your hormones and getting good quality sleep with all improve your performance, says personal trainer Vivienne Rickman

We all know how important our training in the water is. But more and more, we’re realising that our swim training isn’t just about recording times and distances. To really make the most of our time in the water, we’ve got to take a more wellrounded approach to fitness and recovery. We want to swim faster or with better technique, or be able to swim further with greater ease, but we also want to be able to do that without injury. Good sleep, balanced hormones, eating well, and staying strong and mobile outside the water are the building blocks of training. Work on each of these consistently will see progression, not just in your swimming, but in everyday life too.

Sleep: our secret recovery superpower!

While we sleep our bodies recover from the previous day, the repair and reset. Our muscles rebuild during deep sleep and our brains consolidate things they have learnt during the day (hard swim training session trying to nail that front crawl breathing? It’ll be processing it here!).

Lack of sleep leaves us sluggish, and more likely to pick up bugs and injuries. Poor sleep messes with hunger hormones, making it harder to fuel properly (and easier to say yes to that extra slice of cake!). Think of sleep as part of our training – who doesn’t love an excuse for an early night? – aim for 7-9 hours of quality sleep per night.

Hormonal balance: the quiet performance hero

Hormones sit quietly in our bodies controlling everything from how we feel in the water to how we recover between sessions. When they’re balanced, we feel great, full of energy, focused, and strong. When they’re unbalanced, everything – from endurance, how hot or cold we feel, how we digest our food, our mood, to name just a few – can feel off too.

If you are swim training, the stress hormone, cortisol can be an issue. It can rise from overtraining, poor sleep, or not enough recovery, and leads to fatigue, muscle breakdown, and performance plateaus.

However, on the other side, healthy levels of testosterone, estrogen, and thyroid hormones support energy, metabolism, and muscle repair.

To support hormonal health, focus on consistent sleep, balanced nutrition, and managing stress levels.

Nutrition: fuel and recovery for your workouts

Giving your body the nutrition it needs to be able to function is super important. You can’t expect it to perform at its best if you don’t give it enough of the kind of food that it needs.

Carbs are the body’s primary energy source – it’s beneficial to eat these around training sessions.

Protein supports recovery and muscle repair – especially straight after training sessions.

Healthy fats for mental focus, reducing inflammation and aiding recovery.

Hydration is often overlooked by swimmers, especially when swimming outdoors in cold water, stay hydrated to help keep fatigue, and muscle cramps away and maintain your speed and focus.

Strength training: our power behind the stroke

Swimming builds our cardiovascular fitness and technical skill, and strength training builds our power. It gives us strong joints and muscles capable of the repetitive movement needed in swimming, improving our stroke efficiency and protecting us from injuries.

A strength training program will include full-body exercises such as squats, pull-ups, rows, and core moves, performed 2-3 times per week. Be consistent and focus on good form, being strong will help you move through the water with more control, speed and efficiency.

Mobility training: the essential element for swimmers

Better mobility is what allows you to move more efficiently – not just move more. Mobility exercises are controlled movement through your full range of motion. Spending just 10-15 minutes a day on dynamic stretches (legs swings, arm circles, hip circles), mobility exercises (yoga), and active rangeof- motion movements (flexing and extending ankles, shoulders – lift arms forwards, sidewards, overhead) can help improve your swimming, reduce the risk of injury, and make your strokes feel smoother and more efficient.