11/13/2025
This is part 2 of our swim free injury prevention program for swimmers.
Part 2 focuses on improving lower body flexibility to improve the streamlined position and flip turn positions in particular to make our athletes more efficient during their swim stroke and more powerful coming off the wall during their turn.
The first stretch is a calf stretch that we recommend performing for 30 seconds with side to side hip wiggles to make sure all aspects of the calf are addressed. This helps swimmers with their on-ground training to perform better deeper squats so they can better translate that on ground squat training to the pool.
The next stretch is called the bretzel which focuses on improving hip/glute, rectus femoris, and thoracic spine mobility to decrease foot, drag and improve a swimmer's ability to reach and get a bigger pull.
The next stretch is a partnered stretch for full depth squatting that's performed with a 3D hip shift to help swimmers get deeper into their tuck for their flip turn which will allow them to turn faster and push more explosively off the wall following their flip turn.
The last stretch of our lower body focused mobility for swimmers is an exaggerated lunge with posterior overhead reach. This further helps decrease foot drag by improving hip extension and extension of the whole spine.
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