Train Harder

Another season is upon us and you need to be better than you were last year, better than your competition! “What can you do differently?” you may ask? Here are some tips to help you train for the upcoming season!

1.  In order to achieve your goals, you need to make them! It’s important to create both long term and short term goals. You can do this by thinking of where you want to be by the end of the season, and create ‘short-term’ goals or milestones along the way. This will allow you to reach small goals which will motivate you to keep pushing!
   
2.  Now that you have created your goals, share them with your coach, friends and family. These individuals want to see you succeed and will help you do so. If you start drifting away from your goals, these people will reel you back in. Plus by saying them out loud and letting them be known, you are more likely to reach them!
   
3.  Surround yourself with people that have common interests. Be sure that they have the same goals and have positive attitudes. We often change our mentality based off those we surround ourselves with. If someone is skipping workouts, or always having a negative mindset this can drag you down.
   
4. If you struggle with one area of your swimming, focus on improving it this season. If you don’t think you have somewhere to improve, think of the one thing you avoid training. Even if you don’t feel that you have a weakness, there is always something to improve on – nobody is perfect! 

As always, The Lifeguard Store offers the best quality at the best price!

Sustaining Strength

Do you often feel sluggish right in between seasons? You know you need to take a break from the pool, but you need to keep your strength for next season. What are you supposed to do? There is nothing worse than going into the upcoming season with muscle soreness and fatigue so you need to focus on maintenance! 

One way to sustain your strength for next season is to hit the gym! This is the most obvious way to incorporate many strength exercises into your routine. If you are satisfied with simply maintaining, you won’t need to exert much energy to build. There are many exercises that you can complete that use only your body weight like pushups and lunges. If you are focusing on building and getting stronger, there are many compound strength training exercises such as squats, deadlifts, etc. 

If you aren’t familiar with the gym and you aren’t sure what to do, stick with what you know. It’s important you do exercises you are familiar with so you can minimize any risk of injury. Performing exercises with the proper technique is one of the most important parts about training. If you aren’t, you can cause serious damage to your body and joints. I return, this could put you out for a week or more!

As always, stretching is such an important activity that everyone should be doing. It helps loosen tight muscles and increases flexibility. Remember not to stretch cold muscles and hold the stretch for about 20 seconds. This will also help your recovery time, so you don’t miss a workout! 

If you are looking for a way to incorporate exercise into your swimming routine, be sure to check out StretchCordz or aerobic equipment. The Lifeguard Store can even help with your barbell routine!

Benefits of Staying Hyrdrated

Water makes up 60-75% of the human body. That’s crazy right? Water is not only used for your blood, bones, and muscles, but also your brain! Your brain happens to be 75% of water. What happens when you are dehydrated and you’re not giving your body enough water? Your body functions begin to slow down, not allowing your body to perform optimally. Be sure to drink at least 8 cups of water per day minimum or try aiming for half your body weight in ounces of water daily.

Dehydration

Do you ever feel really tired, but find that drinking water helps? Without water, dehydration causes the enzymatic activity in the body to slow down. In return, this causes you to feel tired and fatigued. When you are dehydrated, your body retains as much water as possible in case it is needed. In addition, your body will automatically produce more cholesterol to prevent water loss from the cells resulting in high cholesterol. Believe it or not, dehydration can aid in high blood pressure too! When you are hydrated, your blood is typically 92% water. If you are dehydrated, your blood pressure will rise because of the blood thickening due to extra resistance to blood flow. Some other problems that can arise are skin disorders, digestive disorders, bladder/kidney problems, constipation, joint pain, weight gain, and premature aging. 

 Benefits

If you are feeling sluggish, tired, or you have common headaches, the cause might be dehydration. Water serves an important role in our lives and our body. Water allows for efficient cell repair, allows red blood cells to carry oxygen more efficiently through the body, slows down aging, lubricates the joints, and helps remove bodily waste and toxins. Water also is essential for sweating which happens to be another way the body removes toxins. You wouldn’t run a car without gas, so don’t run your body without water.

 Upping your Intake

• Drink a glass of water upon waking up. This wakes you up and kick starts your body after a nights rest!
•  Carry a bottle of water with you! If it’s in front of you, you are more likely to drink it.
•  Try drinking herbal teas. This naturally flavors water- tricking your brain into thinking you are drinking something other than water.
• Cut up fruit like lemon, limes, or berries and infuse your water with it. Try freezing the fruit and it’ll help keep your drink cold too!
•   TIP: It’s been said that drinking 2 8-ounces of water before meals aids in weight loss.

Product Spotlight: AntiWave Racing Lanes

 ForeRunner Racing Lanes

AntiWave's most popular line of racing lanes, the AntiWave ForeRunner Racing Lanes, are designed after their wildly successful 6-inch Maximum Lanes, which were used in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. AntiWave's racing lanes use hydromatic propulsion to disperse the waves along the lane line then down to stop all momentum, creating perfectly tranquil water. AntiWaves' lanes’ disk diameters are 4.75 inches, which provide even greater wave-quell capability than the standard 4-inch lanes offered by in the industry. With AntiWave's production facility in Sanger, Texas, they are capable of meeting all of your production needs quickly, where they are consistently out performing their competition in price and value.

• Disc Diameter: 4.75 inches
• Made of UV stable resin plastic which reduces the risk fading and deterioration caused by long term exposure to sun light.
• Equipped with the unique Supertensioner®
• Molded and assembled in their Sanger, Texas facility
• Come with a limited 3-Year Warranty
• Available in 17 colors (custom colors at orders of 720 ft. or more)
• Available in standard or custom lengths.

Maximum 6” Racing Lanes

 

Antiwave's Maximum Racing Lanes are the most effective racing lanes in the world. Having been used in the 2000 Sydney Olympics where the Australian Olympic team coach declared the pool to be "a virtual millpond" and 15 World Records were set, showing that Antiwave's racing lanes are truly the best. 

AntiWave's racing lanes use hydromatic propulsion to disperse the waves along the lane line then down to stop all momentum, creating perfectly tranquil water. 

• Are equipped with the unique Supertensioner®
• Made of UV stable resin plastic which reduces the risk fading and deterioration caused by long term exposure to sun light.
• Are molded and assembled in their Sanger, Texas facility.
• Come with a limited 3-Year Warranty
• Available in 17 colors (custom colors at orders of 720 ft. or more)
• Available in standard or custom lengths.

2.5” Mini Lane Divider Kit

The Mini lane dividers are designed to be a cost-effective, lightweight yet durable demarcation system. Although not intended for competitive swimming use, the Mini lane dividers are ideal for marking off areas in community pools, lakes or beaches. With some wave-quell effect, they are a marked improvement over the conventional buoy/rope lines.

• Disc Diameter: 2.5 inches
• Equipped with the unique Supertensioner®
• Made of UV stable resin plastic which reduces the risk fading and deterioration caused by long term exposure to sun light.
•  Molded and assembled in their Sanger, Texas facility
• Come with a limited 3-Year Warranty. 
• The Lifeguard Store offers 12 colors
• Available in standard or custom lengths

About AntiWave

AntiWave was founded in 1977 by a former professional water polo player, Anton Kajlich. Having been used extensively in national and international swimming competitions around the world, their first Olympics were in the 1972 Munich games. AntiWave has since been featured in several other Olympic games included Sydney’s in 2000 where we contributed in breaking 15 World Records. They have also been featured in over 50 internationally recognized events. With an approach founded on an insistence on quality, value for money, service and innovation, AntiWave continues to challenge competitors and consumers alike: how good do you want to be?

Shop Antiwave Now!