How to Improve Your Shoulder Mobility for Swimming

This month, I’ve been getting a lot of requests in my triathlete classes for shoulder exercises, as many of my clients are suffering from stiff shoulders having cranked up the swim miles for the swimming and triathlon race season. Here are some practical tips to help with this issue.

What causes stiff shoulders after swimming?

In my experience, it is stiffness in the thoracic spine that is often causing the shoulder pain and stiffness. If the thoracic spine is stiff, then the body cannot rotate well in the water and this means the shoulders have to work harder to compensate for the lack of rotation.

When swimming, you want to maximise the reach and pull of each stroke, and without good rotation of the spine you will have to work harder to achieve this.

Poor posture, sitting at a desk and long hours spent in an aero position on the bike can cause the thoracic spine to stiffen up. If you’re stiff before you get into the water, then this will affect your swimming mechanics, hence those shoulder niggles.

Here are 4 exercises to get your spine and shoulders moving to help improve the effectiveness and efficiency of your swim stroke.

Shoulder exercise 1: Arm arcs and angels on foam roller 

Shoulder exercise for swimmers 1

Technique:

Lie on your foam roller with your head and bum both on the roller. If you are using a towel, roll this up and lie down along the towel. Take some deep breaths in once lying down to settle the spine into the roller.

1. Reach your arms up into the air and then shrug the shoulders up and down. As the shoulders reach up, let the ribs drop back.

2. Take your arms up and over your head and then down towards your hips. Try and take the arms as far overhead as you can while keeping your ribs touching the foam roller. If the ribs are lifting, they are doing the work rather than your shoulders. 

3. Take your arms out to the side opening the chest and making a ‘T’ shape. Pause and then close the arms back in again. Try and keep the back of the ribs into the roller.

4. Take the arms by your hips and turn the palms up to face the ceiling. Open the arms out into the ‘T’ shape and keep going to form a ‘Y’ or as far as you can go without the ribs lifting off the foam roller. Bring the arms back down to your hips.

5. Do 4-6 reps of each variation.

This is a great exercise to help open the front of the chest and to work on increasing shoulder range of motion by resisting gravity.

Shoulder exercise 2: Spine rotation and circles

Shoulder exercise for swimmers 2

Technique:

Start in 4-point kneeling with head, shoulders and pelvis level. Place the back of your right hand onto your forehead. 

1. As you exhale rotate to your right taking your eyes with you, move from the centre of your chest and think of taking your elbow as far out to the right as you can. Rotate back in and take the right elbow to touch your left elbow. Keep the head level with the spine as you rotate. Repeat 4-6 times and then swap sides.  

2. Draw a circle with your right elbow. Start by taking it forwards in front, then up to the ceiling and behind you and back to the start. Make the circles as big as feels comfortable for your spine. Repeat 4 times, then swap direction.

This is a great exercise for increasing thoracic rotation and getting more movement into the spine.

Shoulder exercise 3: Prone scarecrow

Shoulder exercise for swimmers 3

Technique:

Lie on your front and bring your arms into a ‘E’ shape. Hover your nose off the floor, then follow the stages below. If you get to one stage and that feels enough for your shoulders, just keep practising to there and then slowly progress.

1. Exhale as you pull your hands into the floor to allow your head and top of the chest to lift up to get a stretch into the front of the chest. Lower your head back down again. 

2. Lift your hands and forearms off the floor pressing the elbows down, and then lower back down again.  Think of pivoting at the elbows.

3. Lift the hands and forearms off the floor and then the elbows too. Think of reaching the elbows as far away from each other as you can and then lower back down again.

4. Lift hands and forearms off the floor, then elbows and then lift the chest up into extension too. Slowly lower everything back down again. 

5. Lift hands, forearms and elbows off the floor, then lift up the chest. Reach your arms out in front to a Y shape keeping the hands higher than the elbows. Bring the arms back in again and hover, then take the arms back out again 4 times before lowering everything back down.

Shoulder exercise 4: Mermaid side reaches

Shoulder exercise for swimmers 4

Technique:

Sit with your legs crossed or just out in front. Arms straight out by your side and sit up tall with your head and shoulders over your hips.  

1. Tip over to one side reaching one arm up into the air and bringing the other arm down to the floor. Ensure your bum is still touching the floor.

2. Push into the floor with your hand while reaching the other arm over your head to increase the stretch down your side.

3. Come back up into your starting position and go the opposite direction.

4. Repeat 4-6 times each side.

When should I do these shoulder exercises?

• You will see the biggest results if you do one or two of the exercises daily. 

• If you already have a core or stretching plan that you follow, add these into the start of it.

• If you are doing long training sessions this weekend add these in as part of your post training recovery.