EditorialOp-Ed

The reality of swimming during Covid-19

The Covid-19 pandemic has created a big pause in everyone’s daily routine. One of the main pauses that has been created are with sports. Between all sports, swimming has had a different approach when it comes to this problem. Almost all gyms/trainings were closed along with the quarantine lockdown across the world. However, when some gyms slowly started to re-open and the trainings began, it raised the hopes of all swimmers that the pools would also be open. Other sports such as soccer, basketball, volleyball, and tennis were allowed to start and re-open their trainings. Many believed that sports involving open-field trainings were allowed to re-open because of the availability of an open-air environment. This meant that there would be more space for people to practice social-distancing even during trainings. Sadly, swimmers were not still not allowed in the pool due to the lack of open-field trainings. Because most pools were indoors and people had almost zero social-distancing, the government re-opened the pools much later than the open-air fields.

Wall-stretching excercises all swimmers must do Photo courtesy of Athletico 

The closure of pools worried many swimmers because once they stopped swimming for a while, all of their postures and techniques, lung capacity, and the ability to pull the water would go downhill. That is when the idea of doing swimming techniques at home became popular among swim athletes. Although the swimmers were not allowed to physically go to the pool and swim, they were still able to do dry-land workouts and practice the techniques at home. For example, they would continue to do the swim workouts at home by doing planks, sit ups, pull ups, and weights.

Basic dry-land workouts all swimmers do Photo courtesy of Imgur (Pinterest

Other than doing home workouts, swimmers would also do some stretching that would help them stay flexible for the re-opening of pools. Swimming required people to be flexible yet strong, which was a big key to swimming. Without flexibility, the swimmers would not be able to move forward as much as they could. Strength was as important as flexibility. If someone was flexible but had no power to pull the water, they were pretty much useless in the pool. The flexibility to move your body and the strength to go forward was something that all swimmers needed. Doing home workouts made sure that swimmers would stay in shape. However, it did not help maintain the strength of a swimmer’s lung capacity. The only way to practice this was to fill up your bathtub and practice holding your breath. Even though it sounds simple and easy, it is of much difficulty to do. With all these convenient and helpful home workouts, swimmers could still maintain most of their swimming abilities, even in difficult times like Covid-19.

Featured Image — A man at a swimming pool with a mask on during Covid-19 Courtesy of Getty Image 

By Lucy Kim