Kettlebells For Swimmers – 2 Drills to Transform the Swimmer Into a Torpedo in the Water!

Swimming is a highly demanding physical activity. As a serious swimmer looking to improve your time in the water you must seek out every available opportunity and resource in order to get the most out of your performance. I have included 2 land-based drills here in this article with kettlebells to increase your explosive ability in the pool and improve every aspect of your performance and ability in the water.

1. Single-Arm High Pull: This is a hell of a drill to perform for anyone, but for swimmers this is a golden exercise! To perform this drill, you must understand the dynamic and proper form behind the single-arm swing. This is done by you standing straight with the kettlebell in one hand. Allow the bell to hang straight down in front of your body at your groin. From here you will want to execute a staple technique involved in kettlebell training known as the hip snap. This is done by you flexing and extending at both your hips and knees back and forth and in a continuous and fluent motion.

This “hip snap” allows you to build momentum to allow the kettlebell to begin swinging in an arc back and forth from between your legs and up to your chest level. As you single-arm swing the bell make sure that you rotate your hand thumbs down at the bottom of the swing between your legs and rotate it back to a palms down position at the top of the swing. Now when you implement the high pull motion you simply want to allow the bell to come up lateral to and at your shoulder level at the top of the arc of the swing. You should pull the bell straight up by really engaging the hip snap to get the bell to come up lateral to your head and shoulder and simply descend back into the normal arc.

2. The Overhead Snatch: This is definitely one of the best drills a swimmer can perform in order to achieve superior core strength, an explosive core, amazing shoulder strength, and overall power! This is basically executed as the next step after the high pull. So to perform this drill you must be familiar with the single-arm swing and high pull first. To perform the snatch you simply execute the high pull, but instead of allowing the bell to descend from the high pull you will want to allow the bell to smoothly transition over and around the top of your wrist by “punching your palm” to the sky at the very end of the motion.

This allows you to lock the bell out overhead completing the snatch lift! This is a power move that is sure to help swimmers in the water. With so much shoulder and core movement that is required for you to swim in the water, this drill is sure to help you build the Herculean strength you need to abuse and move through the water like a torpedo!