5 Reasons Your Land Training Sessions Aren’t Helping Your Swimming Performance
If you’re a competitive masters swimmer putting in the hours in the pool but not seeing improvements in your race times, the issue may not be your swim sessions—it’s likely your land training. Strength and conditioning (S&C) is critical for enhancing performance, improving stroke efficiency, and preventing injuries. But if your land training isn’t translating to better performance in the pool, it’s time to assess where things might be going wrong.
Here are the five most common reasons your land training sessions aren’t delivering results—and what you can do to fix them.
🏊♂️ 1. Generic Plans Without Personalisation
Many masters swimmers fall into the trap of using one-size-fits-all training plans downloaded from the internet or copied from a generic fitness program. While these plans may provide a starting point, they rarely address the specific needs of a competitive swimmer—let alone a masters swimmer with a unique training background and injury history.
✅ Solution:
Your land training should be swim-specific and tailored to your individual goals. At OXOLT, we create bespoke strength and conditioning programs designed to target the muscle groups, movement patterns, and energy systems most relevant to your swimming performance. This ensures that every session you complete contributes directly to improving your times and resilience in the water.
🏋️♀️ 2. Neglecting Fundamental Movement Patterns
A successful strength and conditioning program should be built around the fundamental movement patterns that underpin athletic performance. These include:
Squat
Lunge
Hinge
Push
Pull
Rotate
Brace
If your land training is missing these essential movements, you’re likely not developing the strength, stability, and mobility needed to enhance your swimming performance.
✅ Solution:
Incorporate exercises that strengthen these foundational patterns, such as squats, deadlifts, rows, and planks. These movements not only improve power and stability but also reduce the risk of common injuries such as shoulder impingements and lower back pain—issues that frequently plague masters swimmers.
⏱️ 3. Poor Recovery and Lack of Periodisation
Masters swimmers often have demanding training schedules, balancing pool sessions with work, family, and other commitments. Without adequate recovery between sessions, your body doesn’t have the time it needs to adapt, grow stronger, and reduce injury risk.
Similarly, if your land training lacks periodisation—the structured variation of intensity and volume over time—you may be overloading your body or under-training key aspects, both of which can hinder progress.
✅ Solution:
Prioritise recovery strategies such as mobility work, stretching, and adequate sleep to allow for optimal adaptation. Also, ensure your land training follows a periodised plan that balances strength, power, and endurance phases to complement your swimming calendar.
📅 4. Training Without a Plan or Clear Progression
Without a structured plan or clear goals, it’s easy to end up doing the same exercises week after week with little progression. Random workouts may keep you moving, but they won’t lead to long-term improvements in strength, endurance, or injury resilience.
✅ Solution:
Follow a progressive training plan that gradually increases the intensity, volume, and complexity of your workouts over time. Structured progression ensures that your body continually adapts to new stimuli, leading to measurable improvements in swimming performance. At OXOLT, we design periodised programs that track your progress and adjust based on your performance goals.
⚡️ 5. Ignoring Mobility and Injury Prevention
Masters swimmers often overlook mobility work and prehabilitation exercises in favour of focusing solely on strength or endurance. However, ignoring mobility can lead to decreased range of motion, poor technique, and a higher risk of injury—especially in the shoulders, hips, and lower back.
✅ Solution:
Incorporate regular mobility work and prehab exercises that target key areas prone to tightness and weakness in swimmers. A well-rounded land training plan should include foam rolling, dynamic stretching, and specific mobility drills to maintain joint health and optimise movement patterns in the water.
🎯 How OXOLT Can Help You Build a Performance-Focused Land Training Program
At OXOLT Performance, we specialise in creating swim-specific strength and conditioning programs that address these common issues and are tailored to the demands of competitive masters swimmers. Our services go beyond just S&C—offering bi-monthly nutrition workshops, injury prevention clinics, and ongoing performance feedback to ensure you stay on track and achieve your goals.
✅ Why Choose OXOLT?
Personalised Training Plans: Customised to your individual goals, strengths, and weaknesses.
Swimming-Specific Movement Patterns: Focused on enhancing power, endurance, and efficiency in the water.
Expert-Led Nutrition Workshops: Guidance on fuelling for optimal performance.
Injury Prevention and Recovery Support: Access to consultations with experts to reduce injury risk and accelerate recovery.
🔗 Ready to Take Your Swimming Performance to the Next Level?
If you’re ready to optimise your land training and finally see the results you’ve been working for, OXOLT is here to help. Explore our performance services for masters swimmers and unlock your full potential in the pool.
👉 Check out our programs for masters swimming land training and strength and conditioning programs.
