Tip #2: Train Lower Leg Flexion for More Resilient Breaststrokers
Lower leg flexion, notably leg curls like the machine hamstring curl, swiss ball hamstring curl, valslide hamstring curl, and a handful of other variants regularly take the backseat in targeted hamstring training to hip hinging variations like the Romanian Deadlift (RDL), Trap Bar Deadlift, or Good Morning. This training deficit should not go unchecked, particularly in a population predisposed to knee pain, as is so common in breaststrokers.
By adding lower leg flexion training to a swimmers dryland routine, the swimmer will get the added benefit of stimulating both the long head, as well as the short head of the biceps femoris. Hamstring strength is regularly (though not always) inversely proportional to knee pain. By stimulating both the long and short heads, an athlete may see a reduction in knee pain and will certainly see a reduction in the likelihood of sports injuries; the most common of which, with breaststrokers, are ACL tears and strains.
In the attached dryland workout you’ll see that our swimmers had some slam ball hamstring curls in their primary strength complex for the day. x10-x15 is a reasonable rep range but you can easily work into much higher rep ranges on this exercise. As this was the first pass at this exercise for most of our swimmers, I wanted to keep the volume relatively subdued.
In addition to this incorporation into our strength work, both our male and female breaststrokers are expected to hit a weekly total on swiss ball hamstring curls. Currently our breaststrokers are expected to perform 80x of those per week in addition to any other hamstring work we may be happening to engage in. The volume of reps on the weekly total exercise will closely mirror training volume with the intent of having stronger and more resilient breaststrokers come championship season.
If skill level or muscle soreness is a factor, consider using resistance bands and having the swimmers perform isometric hamstring curls for sets of :20-:90, depending on skill level, training level, etc..
Lower leg flexion should be a focal point for not only breaststrokers, but any athlete predisposed to knee pain like distance runners, CrossFit athletes, cyclists, and on…