Whether a competitive swimmer or you just swim for fitness, you may have been advised to do exercises designed for your sport. Sports specific training is currently very popular. You may have seen movements that claim to be a swimming exercise. But if it is not an exercise you do in the water, beware! You may be wasting your time. Bicep curls, bench presses and reverse fly's may appear to work the muscles you use for swimming, but not in the same way you will use them in the water. Even some movements in the water may not be helping your sport. Muscles developed for performing one activity, such as the bench press, will not necessarily perform any better when in the water. This is the phenomenon know as state-dependent learning which dictates that in which the retrieval of newly acquired information is possible only if the subject is in the same environment and physical state as during the learning phase.

By far the most effective way to improve you swimming is to ..swim! Attention to how well and efficiently you move in the water is more beneficial than spending time doing a swimming exercise. You need to work on your swimming fitness and this is best done in the water. Your muscles and coordination will develop and condition themselves during the act of swimming without the need for a separate swimming exercise. However, it is important that your action is efficient. It is common for swimmers to try too hard when training for speed resulting in inappropriate actions - ultimately wasted effort. Let's see what Aleksandr Popov, Russian Olympic Swimmer has to say

The water is your friend.....you don't have to fight with water, just share the same spirit as the water, and it will help you move.

If you think this sounds a little too touchy feely for your swimming style have a look at what Pieter van den Hoogenband said after winning the gold medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics

I was so surprised. Then again, I was so relaxed in the water, it felt amazing.

When you can learn to move efficiently in the water and use it to work with, amazing things can happen. You don't need a swimming exercise to improve you front-crawl if you can swim in The Zone like van den Hoogenband. How you perform a technique and how much effort you use depends on how you have done it before. The process of repeating a technique many times lays down the pattern at a subconscious level until it can be executed with minimal thought. You may be developing poor movement habits by doing your swimming exercise.

But can you be sure that what you have learnt is the most efficient? Once it's a habit not only is it difficult to change, it's almost impossible to see it for yourself. Time spent on a swimming exercise program with weights can re-enforce the habit of trying too hard. I believe The Zone is a place where you can discard such habits and participating in your sport becomes almost effortless and enjoyable again.

Ian Thorpe Australian Olympic gold medallist said, People ask me "what was going through your mind in the race?" and I don't know. I try and ...let my body do what it knows Ian Thorpe Australian Olympic gold medalist.

Thorpe has shown again and again that his body does know what its doing. We can assume, due to his phenomenal success, his learnt movement patterns at a subconscious level are efficient so he can let [his] body do what it knows. Of course this does not prevent him from continuing to learn and develop his skill.

In common with most sports, the top swimmers often attribute some of their best performances to being in a relaxed state. Pieter van den Hoogenband's experience of winning the Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medal perhaps shows us how best to perform. When the body is relaxed in the water, or put another way, absent of inappropriate muscular tension, the reflexes that control coordination of the limbs are able to function unimpeded. We share many reflexes with water-bound creatures, in fact one is called the 'amphibian reflex' which aids movements such as swimming, crawling, walking and running.

If you are 'fighting the water' it is possible you will be adding unnecessary tension to your neck and shoulders. The muscles at the base of the skull (sub-occipitals) are the most sensitive in the body and carry messages to the central nervous system to help coordinate movement. If the head is pulled back by excessive tension, caused by your attempt to push harder, it prevents the muscle spindles in the deeper sub-occipital muscles giving feedback on the changing position of the head.

Why should the position of the head be important? Dr David Garlick, the late medical scientist and Alexander teacher explains

The effect of neck muscle inputs [on movement] are comparable in importance to the inputs from the organs of balance in the inner ear (semi-circular or vestibular canals). The head contains the important special sensory organs of sight, hearing, smell and taste. As stimuli act on these senses, the head is turned to detect better a particular stimulus. Any movement of the head is detected with exquisite sensitivity by the neck muscle receptors. The strong inputs from the neck muscles then affect the muscles of the trunk and limbs to prepare the person to respond to the stimulus.

When you next swim or do a swimming exercise see what you want to do with your neck and shoulders. Do you build up tension in anticipation of swimming?

Work on your coordination and develop you fitness in a way directly beneficial to your sport without compromising your health. When you are in the water see if you can maintain an awareness of where your head moves on your spine. Ask yourself, whilst swimming, am I allowing my skull to move from that point (obviously the movement will depend on your stroke) or am I stiffening the neck and twisting unnecessarily. Try to remove some of the effort you are applying and see if you can imagine moving through the water without fighting it. Maintain an awareness of the location of the shoulder and elbow joints; the hip, knee and ankle joints and see if you can keep them free to move.

If you were going to 'cheat' to make it feel easier, what could you do? Experiment and don't be afraid to slow down or do less whilst learning in the water. If you can focus on the efficiency and economy of your movements the speed will come. All this can help to improve your body awareness and ultimately improve your performance with the need to do a swimming exercise

I'll leave the last word to USA swimmer and Olympic medalist, Scott Goldblatt who wrote

Mainly, I like to have fun. Swimming is all about having fun, and I am firm believer that you should keep swimming as long as you are having fun, but I can say that it becomes much more fun as you get older and learn more about the sport, life, and especially more about yourself.

Roy Palmer is a teacher of The Alexander Technique and has studied performance enhancement in sport for the last 10 years. In 2001 he published a book called 'The Performance Paradox: Challenging the conventional methods of sports training and exercise' and is currently working on a new project about The Zone. More information about his unique approach to training can be found at http://www.fitness-programs-for-life.com