Comments on: How to ‘Work Your Abs’ While Swimming

By: Terry Laughlin

Terry Laughlin — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 23:38:49 +0000

I think of my imagery phrases as intended mainly to stimulate others to develop their own visualizations and descriptive phrases. I’m delighted to see you’ve done exactly that.

By: Judy

Judy — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 02:23:37 +0000

I love the imagery you used to help us achieve positioning and correct core use. I thinking about me being the thread and threading the needle. Reminded me of your fitting through a smaller hole.

By: Terry Laughlin

Terry Laughlin — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 22:55:09 +0000

Martin
Thanks for your suggestion. Can you explain in modest detail how to do this, for those who aren’t familiar with the term? Any connections we can create between swim and yoga practice is worth pursuing. I know that bandas are “locks” but even after 16 years of practice I confess to a lack of greater familiarity.

By: Martin Elliott

Martin Elliott — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 22:37:29 +0000

How about swimming with a light Uddiyana Bandha applied – this is not a tension, but rather an intenrnal energetic “lock”.

Never tried it myself while swimming – but will tomorrow.

By: Terry Laughlin

Terry Laughlin — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 01:55:35 +0000

Esperanza
This is enlightened advice. You’re exactly right that an intention that centers on whole-body integration, such as you suggest, is a better choice than an intention to tighten any muscle. Are you a yoga instructor now, or simply an avid yogini?

By: Tony

Tony — Sun, 10 Oct 2010 02:17:45 +0000

Hi all

Another thing that will cause the spine to arch this way is tight hip flexors.

For many people, the only way they can get that nice straight spine in the lower back (even when standing up) is to tighten their abs and glutes to overcome the tension at the front of the hip joint. This is the problem I am working on right now – I swim much better when I give attention to my glutes.

I suggest stretching the hip flexors to reduce the tension needed from your abs (and glutes). Google finds plenty of good ideas on how.

By: Esperanza Alzona

Esperanza Alzona — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 20:53:50 +0000

From my training as a professional dancer and, lately, my work in yoga, I find it’s more helpful rather than thinking of tightening or tensing ANYTHING rather to think of lengthening the spine. Envision pressing the top of the head towards the opposite wall and lengthening the lower back and the abdominals will naturally float in and up. Consciously tensing will restrict the breathing and make for a less relaxed stroke. More relaxed breathing also helps in better breath control. A slow, long exhalation helps give the feeling of lengthening and it stretches out the spine, reducing the counter-productive lower back curvature.

By: Georgiana

Georgiana — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 20:02:55 +0000

I find swimming and yoga to be an ideal combination for many reasons. But in terms of this article, core strength is one of the most elemental.

I realized at some point that I was getting lazy and one of the results was relaxing my abs. And using core toning — not tensing — abilities practiced in yoga to maintain balance and fluidity (sound familiar?) worked beautifully.

Right on, Terry!

By: Alan

Alan — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:28:16 +0000

Spot on Chief!

By: Tom

Tom — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 02:20:39 +0000

I’m not an expert at this at all, but I’m just wondering if the “massive abdominal tension” you’ve been applying might have created more problems than it’s solving. Tough to be fluid with that much energy focused on your core. I think just being aware of your core–”paying attention,” as Terry Advises–while following Katie, Alan, and Suzanne’s key points might do the trick. “Awareness” to me is “attention without the tension” (my aphorism of the day….). It would seem that you’ve become so focused on the core, you’re probably reflexively tonifying it quite a bit already without even trying. Just an amateur’s thought…