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Latest news
Our summer clinic is now available to book! The theme is ‘SPEED’.
We also have a regular presence on the SwimSwam page, so watch out for some extra content there.
This month, we hosted a roundtable discussion with our team members: Chris Webb, James Marshall, Dan McCarthy, and Andy Stone. In this snippet, you can hear the team discuss what might happen over the next 12 months as we look to improve the service we offer.
Dryland Training for Youth Swimmers: The GAIN Swim Approach
GAIN Swim exists to build a culture of daily physical preparation — developing swimmers who understand the wisdom of their own bodies and can solve movement problems, both in and out of the water. Here’s a look at the thinking behind our dryland training methodology, plus a real sample session you can try with your own 10-&-under swimmers.
(Curious who’s behind this methodology? Meet Chris Webb and our team.)
Mission
To instil a culture of daily physical preparation that develops swimming athletes who understand the wisdom of their bodies and can solve movement problems.
Objective
Physical limitations are eliminated and the swimmer is ready — technically, tactically, physically and psychologically — to compete and win.
Our Guiding Principles
- Dynamic postural alignment and balance are the foundation for all training
- Train movements, not muscles
- Train fundamental movement skills before sport-specific skills
- Train postural (core) strength before extremity strength
- Train body weight before external resistance
- Train joint integrity before joint mobility
- Train strength before strength endurance
- Train power before power endurance
- Train speed before speed endurance
How We Think About Movement
Connect toenails to fingernails, with the core as the centre of the action. Link the shoulder to the hip to more effectively hold water.
Exercise execution is as important as exercise choice — performing exercises badly does little to improve swimming ability, and it increases the risk of injury.
The volume of core work rises rapidly and holds high through the taper. The highest volume of leg work precedes the highest volume of kicking. The highest volume of upper body work precedes the highest volume of swimming.
Everything must be in context: what a swimmer does today follows from the previous session, and links to the next.
Nothing Is Guesswork
Before we write a single rep, we take stock of what a program actually has to work with: the space available — weight room, pool deck, hallway, bleachers; the resources — who’s coaching, what equipment exists, what budget there is for more; the time a club is willing to give up, and when; the age and group size of the athletes; and their current fitness and movement literacy — can they squat, lunge, push, pull, brace, bend, and rotate?
We also look at a program’s injury history and its coaches’ readiness for change. None of this is guesswork. It’s assessed, planned, and integrated before training begins.
Why Dryland and Swimming Have to Work Together
It’s essential to integrate the dryland and swimming programs so both point toward the same outcome in the water. Synergy is the backbone of the program — dryland training is never allowed to take on a life of its own and compete with what’s needed in the pool.
One idea underpins all of it: super-compensation.
When the body is put under physical stress, it tires and performance dips. Given the right recovery — complete rest, a different training modality, or lighter training — energy stores and performance return to baseline. Before the next similar stimulus is applied, the body briefly rebounds above that baseline: it super-compensates. This isn’t only a physiological response — it’s psychological and technical too.
Time the next stimulus to land inside that window, on land and in the water, and training on land actually transfers to performance in the water.
The Full Program
This is the surface of a program that runs much deeper. The complete GAIN Swim methodology covers Program Assessment & Design, the full arc of Training Phases — Foundation, MAX Strength, Basic Strength, Strength Endurance, Power Endurance, and Hybrid — a structured Exercise Library spanning warm-up, lower body, total body, upper body, and core work, and specific guidance for Age Group Considerations from 8 to 18. It’s not a cookie-cutter plan — applied correctly, it’s built to produce real results.
What This Looks Like for 10 & Unders
For our youngest swimmers, dryland isn’t about strength — it’s about movement. In line with our principles, junior work is built around body weight, fundamental movement skills, and postural control, before any of it becomes swim-specific or loaded. Sessions are short, playful, and coach-led, laying the movement foundation that strength and power work will later be built on.
Here’s a real one you can try:
Sample Session: 10 & Under, 10-Minute Dryland
You will need skipping ropes and some mats/soft surfaces for the tuck backs and space to work in. Each round follows a similar progression, but with different variations on the exercises. The children’s brains and bodies have to work in harmony. It is high on engagement, discovery and fun.
Round 1
Jump rope x 25 Straight arm clapping jacks x 10 Hip to heel squat x 5 Chest touch push up x 5 Forward lunge knee touch x 2 L/R Sit up and reach to sky x 8 Rocking in tuck x 5
Round 2
Jump rope x 25 Straight arm clapping jills x 10 Hip to heel squat w/ 180 pivot x 5 Chest touch push up spiders x 5 Rev knee touch lunge x 2 L/R Tuck and extension x 8 Rock back toe touches x 5
Round 3
Jump rope x 25 Skipping foot grab and reach to sky Hip to heel squat w/ 360 pivot x 5 Chest touch push up frogs x 5 Forward lunge to rev lunge x 2 L/R Slow bicycle x 8 Rock back to frog x 5
Want the full guide to save or share with your team?
[Download the free GAIN Swim Dryland Training White Paper (PDF)
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