Matej Grožaj
SWIMMATT
Personal coach
Z-Health Practitioner
Bratislava

COMPENSATORY SWIMMING IN SPORTS

Compensatory swimming in sports represents a training concept that uses a modified technique of swimming crawl freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke, with the aim of improving the athlete's health.

The water environment makes it possible to compensate the training load from the dryland very effectively.

Straightening the spine, reducing excessive muscle tone, increasing the range of motion, fitness, reducing or eliminating pain, feeling free, learning new movements and improving the mental state are among the main positives that athletes will definitely appreciate.

This state can be achieved by mastering an effective breathing technique and a modified technique for the crawl, backstroke and breaststroke swimming methods.

Special post in the blog section:

Read about the use of a specific compensatory swimming exercise for several people - children and adults - with different reasons for compensatory training:

TRAINING VIDEOS:

CP in hockey

In the case of a hockey player, we currently use the crawl kick and pectoral arms technique

CP in judo and gymnastics

In the case of the judoka and the gymnast, we currently use the crawl kick technique

and breaststroke technique.

CP in dances

In the case of the dancer, we are currently using the technique of breast swimming

and the crawl kick technique.

Movement technique

As a result of excessive training load, deformation of the technique of movement expression occurs over time. The negative is usually high muscle tone, which results in a change in the position of bone structures. In the long term, this change can cause deformation of the spine (various forms of scoliosis), decline in fitness, limitation of mobility, performance stagnation, changes in the position of joint surfaces and a number of other changes.

In the case of the sensory systems, negative changes in the balance and vision systems can be expected.

So the question for athletes is:

Are they aware of these changes?
Are they able to perceive when and in which part of the body their technique breaks down?
How long does it take for their technique to lose effectiveness due to high intensity?
How long are they able to perceive their technique in the maximum load zone?
How much time do they need to recover, when are they able to perceive and control their technique again?

In practice, athletes can use two strategies, thanks to which they are able to maintain the effectiveness of movement.

The first strategy is to do that with feeling increasing fatigue, they naturally slow down, while still being able to maintain a high degree of movement efficiency. These are often athletes with a higher degree of mental maturity and rich training experience, thanks to which they can prevent the deformation of their own movement expression.

The second strategy is to do that with the feeling of increasing fatigue they are unable to slow down. Their suffering continues even at the cost of worsening movement. These are mostly athletes who are either younger or have not yet reached a sufficient level of mental maturity, thanks to which they would be able to appreciate the effectiveness of movement.

Compensatory swimming consists of training preparation on dry land and in water.

The ability to move effectively in various situations depends on understanding, sensitivity, control of one's own movement and rich practical experience. Choosing the right exercises and their dosage during training in water and on land is key to achieving the compensatory effect of the water environment on the human body.

Dry training

Warm-up

The first phase of training preparation for the dry season uses extensive warm-ups of the whole body. By continuously escalating the load, we will prepare the cardiovascular, respiratory and muscle-tendon-ligament system for the training load in the water environment.

Thanks to high-quality dry preparation, we can detect hidden problems and weaknesses of individual systems in time. It will allow us to effectively adapt the warm-up.

During warm-up we monitor and develop:

The quality of breathing mechanics and its performance
Range of motion
Movement control at the minimum and maximum range of movement
Control of movement speed at the minimum and maximum range of movement
Level of fitness and coordination
The ability to perform a movement in one part of the body in isolation
The ability to combine movements into one movement
Speed of learning new movements
The ability to learn a new movement based on a mirror movement
The level of perception of one's own body

Swimming imitation exercises

The second phase of training preparation for dry land is aimed at mastering specific swimming exercises on dry land, which represent the imitation of the movement of the human body in water. Familiarizing yourself with a new movement in dry conditions has many benefits. Calmness, stability, conscious control of movement, fluidity of breathing and other factors create a prerequisite for proper understanding and mastering of a new technique. In the water, we avoid unnecessary frustration from not understanding movement in an unstable medium. We will thus create a prerequisite for effective and smooth progress in the process of learning swimming technique.

Training in water

The training preparation in the water is focused on the use of knowledge from the preparation on dry land. Thanks to this knowledge, it is easier for many athletes to start new movements in the water and thus get the first and very important feeling of moving the body forward without submersion.

The key factor will be the perception of the position of the body on the surface and the degree of its release.

However, the athlete must first master the ability to relax at higher and lower speeds while moving in the water.

One could say that training in the water is a game of speed combined with the perception of the degree of relaxation of one's own body.

The importance of compensatory swimming lies in the fact that it should help in acquiring the technique of individual swimming methods, which will take into account the current state of health and specialization from the dry. In this way, we prevent unwanted overloading of the human body and enable it to move efficiently in the water environment.

The goal of compensatory swimming is to help athletes acquire such knowledge that they will be able to use movement in the water to improve their health without the presence of a coach.

Correct evaluation of the state of health, state of physical and mental fatigue, as well as previous - upcoming sports activities must be taken into account in the process of choosing exercises and their dosage on dry land as well as in water.

Only under these conditions will compensatory swimming fulfill its purpose and thus become a full-fledged supplement on the way to sports success.