WEB EXCLUSIVE While many may expect a swim team to practice in a pool, the Convent & Stuart Hall swim team met up in the workout room for their first dry-land practice today.

“We targeted our lower body and core,” junior Estie Seligman said. “We also worked on stretching because even though I think swimming makes you less sore than other sports, you still need to be flexible to do the strokes.”

Muscles used while swimming include arms, legs and core. The purpose of the land workouts are to further strengthen these muscles and maintain balance in the body according to Strength and Conditioning Trainer Barclay Spring.

“The point of the strength and conditioning land workouts are to activate the body,” Spring said. “We are working on being more athletic, more stable in the core, and activating our muscles in different ways.”

Exercises included squats with a dumbbell, jumping over hurdles and core. Spring instructed swimmers to be explosive on the jumps to replicate diving of the blocks for a race or pushing off the wall after a flip turn, according to Seligman.

“Swim meets are often won by seconds so if you can jump further on the dive you may be able to make up for that extra second,” Spring said. “In order to be a good diver you have to have strong legs, be explosive and have core strength. Coordinating those actions was a main part of the exercises we worked on.”

The swim team will continue to have biweekly dryland practices with Spring on Wednesdays and Fridays and will have practices at the Hamilton Recreation Center on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.