Pool with swimmer

Whether you swim for fun, exercise, or to compete, you can celebrate the sport of swimming this Swim a Lap Day. It takes place on 24 June and is a chance for everyone to have some fun at the pool, reminding us that even just one lap is better than remaining sedentary. For the beginners among us who are looking to become more competitive, practising your laps is essential to becoming a winner. So let’s look at how you can improve your times.

Getting out of your comfort zone

When you first swim, you should be comfortable. If you enter the pool and go full blast in a training session that’s too advanced, you’ll find yourself in a lot of discomfort and you’ll definitely feel it the next day. If you’re comfortable at first, you’re less likely to become discouraged and put off by the progress you still need to make. However, there will come a time when you need to put your comfort zone behind you.

It’s when your sport asks more from you that you need to put mind over matter. As you move out of your comfort zone, to train harder, and progress faster, you must be mentally strong enough to ignore the voices saying, “why did I do this? Let’s just go home and watch Netflix. I HATE swimming!”.

When you leave your comfort zone, you make more mistakes, you push your body to get better, and you learn much faster.

Cross-training

Cross-training is an important part of any training plan. For swimmers, spending time in the water alone might not be enough to get you where you want to be. Swimming is a low-impact sport which is great for rehabilitation and people with weaker joints. But trying something new can allow you to work different muscle groups.

You can try a fast-paced game like squash which can increase your reaction times. This is important to get you off to a great start in a race. Yoga has exercises dedicated to swimmers, helping increase flexibility, strengthen bones, and improve body alignment. Gymnasts also have amazing core strength from twisting and flipping which is great for easy rotation in the water. They are also flexible through the ankles and shoulders, essential for powerful strokes.

All the gear

A great swimmer doesn’t underestimate the power of having the right swimwear. Not all swimwear is equal, and different brands, shapes, sizes, and straps will affect your flexibility, streamline, and power. Make sure you choose a swimming costume that allows easy rotation of your shoulders and keeps you comfortable so you can perform your best.

Swim a lap, then another, and then another, until you’re ready to compete. But, don’t forget that swimming is also designed to be fun this Swim a Lap Day.

At Maru, we've spent years perfecting the design of our costumes to ensure they offer you the perfect combination of comfort, flexibility, colour, and power. With a huge number of strap, back, and leg designs to choose from, you’ll find the perfect competition or training costume on our online store.