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Including skill work during the warm-up is an effective strategy for improving your skills over the time, as well as setting yourself up for a great workout.<\/strong><\/p>\n Carefully selected and intentionally-executed technical exercises performed in the warm-up can enhance the outcome of every workout. It\u2019s a simple and easy way to positively improve performance.<\/p>\n While most triathletes take advantage of this opportunity, very few triathletes take advantage of an equally important opportunity \u2013 the warm-down (or cool-down).<\/p>\n After you work hard during a workout, your skills aren\u2019t going to be quite as clean or quite as crisp as when you started, no matter how focused and intentional you are. That\u2019s important because, for better or worse, your brain and body tend to best remember the last motor skills you performed.<\/p>\n As a result, if you finish each workout with relatively sloppy skills, those are the skills you will retain, not the superb skills you\u2019re hoping to develop.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re constantly ending your workouts with substandard swimming, you\u2019re not going to learn as quickly as you\u2019d otherwise could, and you\u2019re going to be starting each workout a little rusty.<\/p>\n Fortunately, there\u2019s something you can do about it \u2013 warm-down with the intention to improve your skills. By practising pristine skills after the hard work, you can re-establish those skills that will improve your swimming.<\/p>\n This will ensure that your skills are in a great place when you start you next session.<\/p>\n Whenever you\u2019re performing recovery swimming, whether in between sets or at the end of a hard workout, really focus on trying to improve your skills.\u00a0At a minimum, focus on swimming freestyle with precision<\/strong><\/a>, working on the important aspects of your stroke.<\/p>\n Better still, perform technical exercises targeted at the skills you\u2019re working on improving. If you\u2019re focused on improving your body position<\/strong><\/a>, for example, include some time spent working on Active Jellyfish.<\/p>\nWhy you need to finish each session strong<\/strong><\/h2>\n
How to improve your skills in the warm-down<\/strong><\/h2>\n