Life Time Fitness : Resource List - Swimming

Winter Kids Programs at Life Time Fitness

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:16:35 GMT

Sign Your Kids Up for Winter Swim Lessons with the U Swim School

The U Swim School at Life Time Fitness gets kids on the path to swimming success faster, at a low price and winter is a great time to get your child involved in swim lessons. The weather is always the perfect temperature at our indoor pools and you can get a jump start on swim skills for Spring Break or Summer.

The U Swim "Smarter Swim School" at Life Time Fitness is for kids ages 9 months and up. Group lessons start at $40 for the first child and you receive a 25 percent discount for each additional child.

To enroll in swimming lessons with Life Time Fitness follow these steps:

1. Complete the U Swim School Registration Form for all locations — except Berkeley Heights, Burr Ridge, Florham Park, Loudoun County, and Old Orchard — or contact the Aquatics Department of your Life Time Fitness.

Complete the U Swim School Registration Form for Select Club for the Berkeley Heights, Burr Ridge, Florham Park, Loudoun County and Old Orchard locations.

2. Return the form to your club's Activity Center or send via fax.

3. Expect to receive a phone call from your club's Aquatics Department within 24 hours to confirm class assignments.

Not sure which class level is right for your child? View our progression chart for the skills covered in each level of U Swim lessons or attend a free swim assessment held on every Saturday from 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the indoor pool. Reservations are not required.

Questions? If so, check out the Frequently Asked Questions resource about the U Swim School.

"Smarter Swim School" Registration Forms, Program Details and FAQs for Select Clubs

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:02:01 GMT

To access a registration form, program details and FAQs for the "Smarter Swim School" at the Berkeley Heights, Burr Ridge, Florham Park, Loudoun County and Old Orchard clubs, download the PDF attachment below.

"Smarter Swim School" Registration Forms, Program Details and FAQs

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:21:54 GMT

To access a registration form, program details and FAQs for the "Smarter Swim School," download the PDF attachment below.

Life Time Fitness introduces a "Smarter Swim School" to all locations

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 17:18:40 GMT

Life Time Fitness began its introduction of a "Smarter Swim School" to Life Time Fitness clubs in Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Tennessee, Missouri and Nebraska on Aug. 10.

Following the introduction of the program, Life Time Fitness launched the program to clubs in Colorado, Illinois and Kansas on Aug. 17 and clubs in North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Utah on Aug. 24.

Clubs in Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey and Virginia will be the last to launch the "Smarter Swim School" on Sept. 14.

For more information about Life Time Fitness' new swimming lesson format, check out the "Smarter Swim School's" Registration Forms, Program Details and FAQs resource.

Starting Block Fitness: Getting Your V-Shaped Back

webmaster@lifetimefitness.com — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:45:33 GMT

Produced by Nathan McDonald, personal trainer and endurance coach for Life Time Fitness in Troy, MI.

The strength of the latissimus dorsi, aka the Lats, in a swimmer is essential to having a strong pull in the water.

This is why almost all competitive swimmers you see have a “V-shaped” body. The “V”

is created by the lats sticking out on the sides.

I still remember my professor in college referring to the latissimus dorsi as “the swimmer’s muscle.”

But before I explain an exercise that can help you build “the swimmer’s muscle,” I want members to take a closer look at how they perform each exercise they inherit thr

ough Starting Block Fitness.

Each exercise that you ever do is primarily a core exercise that secondarily works the prime movers. With this in mind, you have to always make sure that your core is activated so it creates a posture that can support the stressor that you are about to expose to it.

As soon as your posture goes and your form becomes sloppy the exercise becomes useless.

It is also important to make sure to work the resistance both eccentrically and concentrically, meaning you need to make sure you have the same control of the resistance during the first half of the exercise as the second half. It is important to always control the weight and to not let the weight control you otherwise you won't be getting the most out of the exercise.

With that said, here is one exercise to help you get the “V-shaped” swimmer body you’re looking for and a stron

ger pull in the water:

Traditional Lat Pull Down: In Troy, MI, there must be at least 15 lat pull down machines on the weight floor, so it can be hard to determine which one is best for you. The one that I see most people use is the traditional lat pull

down with the cable attached to a long bar.

To perform the exercise, start with your hands slightly wider then the width of your shoulders and grab both ends of the bar.

Pull down the bar in front of your head toward your chest. Pulling the bar in front of your head, as opposed to behind your head, helps prevent you from straining your neck.

After pulling it to your chest, slowly return the bar to the start position, maintaining the same control of the resistance you had when pulling the bar down.

Perform three sets of 10 to 15 reps with 1 to 1½ minutes of rest between sets.

Pool Games: Gator

webmaster@lifetimefitness.com — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 14:13:01 GMT

To play Gator, you’ll need a larger group of people in the pool.

Choose one person out fo the group to be the “Gator.” During the game, that person will tread water in the deep end of the pool while all other players stand outside of the pool.

To start the game, one of the players standing outside of the pool will yell “Gator” and the non-gator players have 30 seconds (or more depending on the size of the pool) to jump in the pool, swim across to the other wall and get out of the water without getting tagged by the Gator swimming in the pool.

Anyone who is tagged in the first round has to join the Gator and try to tag swimmers in the following rounds.

The game continues until there is only one player left who hasn’t been tagged.

Keeping safety in mind, Gator should only be played in the deep end of the pool since players will be jumping in and swimming frantically to get to the other side of the pool. Players should also avoid jumping on the Gator during play.

Starting Block Fitness: Understanding Streamline

webmaster@lifetimefitness.com — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:48:37 GMT

Produced by Nathan McDonald, personal trainer and endurance coach for Life Time Fitness in Troy, MI.

After reviewing previous articles of Starting Block Fitness, it occurred to me that I have been writing under the assumption that most Life Time Fitness members know what streamline is.

With this in mind, I thought I should take a step back and explain in detail what streamline is and what it has to do with swimming. Streamline is the base of all competitive swimming styles, both long axis (Freestyle and Backstroke) and short axis (Butterfly and Breaststroke).

Streamline is the fastest position in the water and should be the starting position whenever you are pushing off the wall.

The most important part of streamline is the locking of the hands. If you do not lock your hands, your arms will end up creating enough drag to bring you to stop after just a few feet in the water.

To properly lock your hands for streamline, place one hand on top of the other hand and rap your thumb around the hand on the bottom (see images on right).

Next, reach both hands over your head and squeeze your arms together toward your head. Stand as tall as you can with your feet together and point your toes. This position is streamline.

When in streamline, you should feel like someone has grabbed your hands and feet and are pulling you in both directions, sort of like a Stretch Armstrong doll, in a way that makes you feel taller then you ever thought possible.

To implement streamline into your starting push-off of a pool wall, start by placing both feet on the wall and one

hand holding onto the wall/gutter. Your other hand will be out in front of you stretched out.

Let go of the hand on the wall and lock it with the hand that is stretched outward. Once underwater, push off the wall, point your toes and cut through the water (see image below).

You can start kicking as soon as you push off the wall. As you begin to slow down, take your first three strokes.

Repeat this push-off as many times as you need to perfect your streamline.

Pool Games: Monster's Water Dodgeball

webmaster@lifetimefitness.com — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 21:24:52 GMT

Monster’s Water Dodgeball requires at least four players and some small, water-safe balls (Splash Bombs work well).

With four players playing, you’ll need three balls. For more players, you’ll want to keep a similar “three balls to four players” ratio. So with six players, you’ll need four balls; with eight players you’ll need six balls.

Have all players go to a side of the pool except for one. That one player is the “monster” who starts with all the balls in hand near the middle of the pool.

The object of the game for the remaining players is to make it from one side of the pool to the other without getting hit by a ball the monster throws. When the monster calls out “Go,” the remaining players must try swimming to the other end of the pool without getting hit.

If a player chooses to try swimming underwater to avoid getting hit, they must surface at least twice to allow the monster a chance of throwing a ball at them.

The monster will get just one opportunity to throw each ball. Once the monster throws all the balls, he or she must wait until all players have reached the other side of the pool before retrieving them.

If the monster hits one of the evading players, that player must become a monster and assist in the next round.

Keep playing the game until there is just one “non-monster” player remaining. The remaining player is the winner.

Starting Block Fitness: Rolling to Better Axial Rotation

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:26:45 GMT

Produced by Nathan McDonald, personal trainer and endurance coach for Life Time Fitness in Troy, MI.

When you swim, you swim primarily on the sides of your body.

With that fact in mind, it is important to monitor your axial rotation in the water because axial rotation is the movement from the hips and core that drives an entire stroke.

When I evaluate a new client in the water, the first thing that tells me they have been coached before is their rotation.

Most people start out generating the rotation from their pull and that leads to a separated freestyle stroke where their upper body is doing one thing and their lower body is doing another.

This leads to a position in the water that is less than perfect streamline.

However, when you generate the roll/rotation from the hip, the body is in a more efficient position in the water and the body will rotate as one.

Here are two drills for the pool that will help you develop the proper roll/rotation that comes from your hips:

12-Kick Roll: This drill is all about balance, stability and the axial rotation in the water. This would follow in progression after the Side Kick drill that was mentioned in Starting Block Fitness: Balancing for Breaths. You will start in the same fashion as in the Side Kick.

I would recommend that beginner swimmers perform this drill first with long fins. This will make the movement a bit easier to get down. Once you establish a stronger kick, you can go from long fins to short fins (aka zoomers) and then to no fins at all.

To start the drill, push off the wall in streamline and turn your body to the side. One shoulder should be pointing down to the bottom of the pool, the other is pointed to the ceiling and your body should be facing the wall.

The bottom arm is up in streamline and the arm on top will come down to your side as if in your pocket. Your eyes will be looking at the line at the bottom of the pool.  Kick on your side in this position for about 12 kicks or until you feel well balanced.

After about 12 kicks, rotate to the opposite side. The rotation should be generated from your hips, not your arms. Imagine pressing your topside hip toward the bottom of the pool.

Your arm that is up in streamline is going to pull as the opposite arm is going to reach over the water and stretch out into the water into the streamline position. Your arms will swap positions as well as the rest of your body.

Keep in mind this drill is not about pulling but rather about driving the stroke from the hips. If you do the roll properly, your body will move as one. This should be a smooth movement with minimal splashing.

If your arms drive the rotation and not your hip, then your body will move in two segments: your upper body and your lower body. This is much less energy efficient and creates more drag.

Kick about 12 more times and repeat.

6-Kick Roll: The 6-Kick Roll is an identical drill but it decreases the time spent on the side by half. This drill will bring the movement closer to your standard freestyle so that you can implement it into your swimming technique.

Pool Games: Swimming Pool Bowling

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:03:43 GMT

To play Swimming Pool Bowling, you’ll need at least 12 people. You can use less, but the game may not be as fun.

The only equipment you’ll need for the game is some kind of flotation device, such as an inflatable ring or mattress.

Get everyone into the shallow end of the pool. Choose one person to be the “bowler” and another to be the “bowling ball.” The rest of the players will act as “pins.”

The bowler helps the bowling ball player onto the flotation device. The two of them stand about 8 feet away from the pins.

The rest of the group clusters together, in near-bowling pin formation, and when instructed to by the bowler, will do a synchronized handstand in the water. With their heads in the water and legs sticking out of the pool, the players will look like pins.

At that point, the bowler pushes the flotation device, with the bowling ball player on it, toward the pins. The bowler gets points for knocking the pins over. To do so, a pin’s knees must go underwater either from the flotation device running into them or by their own fatigue.

Make sure you give all players a chance to be the bowler and bowling ball.

Keep the pins toward the middle of the shallow end so no one hits their legs on a pool wall when knocked over.

U Swim School Details

gfelder@lifetimefitness.com — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 15:53:56 GMT

The U Swim School at Life Time Fitness is designed with your child’s success in mind.

Our interactive instructional approach utilizes warm water, zero-depth entry, in-pool benches and islands, and floatation tools that help children transition from instructor support to independent movement. This approach familiarizes children with the water, connects them with their instructors, enables independent skill development and propels them forward.

Swim instructors are positive role models who undergo a stringent certification process that includes 21 hours of instruction, first aid and CPR. We also feature the lowest instructor-to-child class sizes to ensure each child receives the attention he or she deserves.

Enroll your child in the U Swim School today!