Jazz Carlin: how to get the most out of your time in the pool

We all have to start somewhere, even if you are a total beginner, so whatever you feel capable of is the first step. Build up your swimming with each session. Each time, you should start to feel a bit stronger in the pool and be able to build up how much you swim.

Remember to start on land – before your training sessions you should activate muscles, and afterwards you should stretch to remobilise.

Make sure you mix it up with different strokes. Swimming is a great whole-body workout because it targets muscles in a way that you can’t replicate in day-to-day life. By mixing up different strokes, it allows you to work on your whole body.

Also try to use different bits of equipment. Fins are a great way to work on leg strength and hand paddles are great for your upper body. By trying out different equipment, you can work on specific parts of the body and then target any weaknesses. Kick, in particular, is always a tough exercise to do, but it is great to focus on your lower body and to strengthen the kick part of your stroke.

Remember to mix up your session with different speeds: this will allow you to spike your heart rate, which in turn will help you achieve better fitness gains.

For example, try 10 x 100m, doing the first 25m as hard effort, then 75m easy to medium.

When working on your endurance fitness, change up your intervals and test yourself to see what times you can achieve. Try to have only 5-10 seconds’ rest between repetitions.

For example: 100m/75m/50m/25m x4, with 5-10 seconds’ rest between each.

Always go into your session with a plan: if you turn up to train and don’t know what you’re aiming for, it can feel quite tedious and boring. Mix it up each week with different types of training.

If you have access to a heart-rate monitor, use it in the session and you can work in different training zones, it will also give you an idea on how different strokes/speeds can spike your heart rate.

Working out your BBM (beats below max)

The general rule of thumb is that your max heart rate is 220 minus your age. For example: If I was 35, my max heart rate would be 185.

In training, I work in these zones:

60-80 BBM: recovery/easy swimming

I normally use this heart rate (which for me would be 118-138BPM) to allow my body to recover after a tough session. This could be a set of:

200m freestyle swim
3 x 100m – one just kick, one just “pull” (arm strokes), one normal swim
Repeating this 2-4 times

40-50 BBM: aerobic swimming

(For me: 148-158 heart rate)

200m freestyle – backstroke
4 x 100m alternating one kick, one pull
4 x 50m mixed strokes depending on how confident you are.
Repeat this accordingly and try to keep heart rate 40-50 beats below max

20-30 BBM: threshold

You can make big endurance and fitness gains in the pool by working your heart rate in this zone. It is quite tough, so it’s always best to start small and build up.

200m freestyle with fins
3 x 100m IM (individual medley: comprising breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly stroke and freestyle)/mixing strokes

4 x 50m with paddles
Repeat 2-4 times depending on how comfortable you feel.

10-15 BBM: anaerobic swimming

This is the hardest zone we train in. This would typically be what race-pace swimming falls into. As it is such a hard zone to train in, you will need to take some rest and easy swimming to recover and have more rest on each repetition.

4 x 50m race pace/ heart rate
100m easy
2 x 100m race pace/ heart rate
100m easy
Repeat this 2-4 times

Mixed session

Another great way to get good training benefits is to do a session mixing all of the training zones. So you would descend speeds and efforts.

This would look like:

200m at aerobic (50BBM)
3x100m at threshold 20-30BBM
4x50m at heart rate/race pace

My top freestyle swimming tips

• Keep a relaxed arm on your recovery phase (when your arm is out of the water). This enables you to use less energy when you are swimming.
• Never cross over the centre line of your body with your arms. If you cross the centre line of your body it will force your body to swim a bit like a snake as you are not pushing water in the direction you want to travel in.
• The last bit of your underwater pull should finish around your hips. This will enable you to keep a long stroke, which will in turn be more efficient.
• Try to keep your body as streamlined as possible while swimming freestyle. You don’t want to have your feet dragging across the pool and be swimming in an upwards angle. To make this easier, you need to work on your freestyle kick to allow a more streamline stroke position.

My favourite gym exercises

Pull-ups: Either with a band or just using your bodyweight. Keep your body inline and switch on your core and glute muscles.

Press-ups: On your knees or in press-up position. Keep your body in line and slowly lower it to the floor.

Leg press: Using a leg-press machine, slowly lower your legs to a 90° angle.

Lunge/weighted lunge: Either using your bodyweight or using dumbbells either side of you, making the movement as dynamic as possible.

Jazz has been encouraging Brits to get back in the water with her #SwimWithJazz campaign, working with Yakult UK

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