4 group drills to be tried out with your teammates

Although swimming is basically an individual sport, today we will show that you can also train in a group in the pool!

Let’s take a look at some training drills that will both improve your fitness and boost the team spirit.

PULL

The good old “pull along your partner” drill, either with or without a pulbuoy between the legs of the person doing the pulling, is the most familiar exercise.

The person at the front uses their arms only, while the person behind grabs their teammate’s ankles and uses a leg kick only. This drill can be performed using the freestyle or breaststroke, paying careful attention to coordinating your arms and legs.

You can also try the “combined” version with the person in front swimming with backstroke arms and the person behind doing a freestyle leg kick.

CHRISTMAS TREE

Using the same pull method, we can form a sort of “arrow” or “Christmas tree”. The person in front uses their arms only with two people behind each grabbing their teammate’s outside ankle with their inside hand, and so on with more teammates. Since the swimmers in the middle cannot move their legs, forward motion comes exclusively from them swimming freestyle using their free arm only. The last swimmers in the row can grab the swimmer in front’s ankles with both their hands and kick with their legs.

ONE AGAINST ONE

Another drill for pairs is one-against-one. The swimmers face each other holding onto a board or two boards placed together and then push against each other using a freestyle leg kick (or butterfly or breaststroke)

TUG-OF-WAR

Another alternative is a test of strength using a rope and kicking with your legs only, a sort of tug-of-war in the pool.

So, who said swimming is a boring sport? All you need is a bit of imagination!