Welcome to the freestyle installment of our BridgeAthletic swim building blocks. While every swimmer pumps out countless yards of freestyle, those who compete in freestyle events the most require stroke specific exercises. Sprinters and distance freestylers may have different tempos, distance per stroke, and breathing patterns, but the basic biomechanics of their stroke remains the same. Incorporate the following exercises into your dryland training to harness more power in your freestyle.

Outside the practice field, the weight room is a second home for football players. Strength training plays a significant role in the development of a football team. A successful strength and conditioning program can be the defining factor for harnessing raw young talent into true athleticism. In a sport that demands a capacity for both agility and power, a dynamic training plan to accommodate athletes’ needs should be well documented to track athletic development within multiple growth areas.

Okay, so you’ve fully acclimated yourself to the heat and mastered your hydration plan. You’re almost ready to take on the blisteringly hot, swelteringly humid conditions of competition. A discussion on heat training would not be complete without addressing cooling methods and early identification of exertional heat-related illness.

Building a Nationally Impactful Swim Club

Every day at BridgeAthletic headquarters, we hear tales from organizations across sports of coaches building better programs, athletes training smarter, and teams coming together to set new records. These are stories of championships won, obstacles overcome, and goals achieved. It’s what keeps us doing what we do every day, striving to build better athletes across sports and around the world. Instead of keeping these tales of glory and greatness to ourselves, we’d like to share them with you through our #BridgeBuilt series featuring a team or athlete that has achieved great results while using the BridgeAthletic platform. 

This month’s edition of Sports Psychology builds on the Plan stage of the Learn, Plan, Perform Model, discussing how mental training through the practice of imagery is a fundamental part of achieving long-term skill goals.

The BridgeAthletic Building Block Series is a set of 5 exercises that can be performed by swimmers of all levels on the pool deck. This post will dive into butterfly-specific movement patterns that require full-body engagement and connectivity from toes to fingertips.

It’s that time of year again. The good vibes that accompany long summer days, offseason training, and vacations are replaced by excitement and fear as the imminent return to school approaches.

Part II: Hydration

The month of August brings the commencement of major international competitions and Fall sports practices. August also brings with it some of the hottest and most humid days of the year, which makes for a well-timed continuation of the discussion on how to optimize performance when training and competing in the heat. Part one focused on the benefits of heat acclimatization on thermoregulation for optimal performance, but proper hydration can truly make or break an athlete come game day. In this article, I will discuss why hydration is so important and then provide simple hydration strategies before, during, and after exercise.

4 Steps to Better Championship Preparation

Championship season is the time of year when you put even more focus into swimming your fastest. As the physical demand of training lightens, how you manage the remaining hours in your day becomes more critical. Making your meets a priority doesn’t mean skirting other responsibilities—it just means planning ahead and practicing your best habits outside of the pool. Here are four ways to optimize your time as you prepare for a championship: