Cardinal Performance Swimming

05/09/2026

Does resisted swimming actually make you faster? 👀🏊‍♂️

Yes — when it’s used correctly.

Resisted swimming can be a powerful tool for developing the qualities that contribute to faster swimming:

💪 Increased force production
🧠 Improved mind–body connection and proprioception
🏊 Better awareness of how you’re actually moving through the water
🔍 Increased ability to feel technical flaws in your stroke
⚡ Improved explosive power

The resistance gives you more feedback from the water. It can make it easier to identify where you’re losing connection, slipping water or failing to apply force effectively.

But there’s a BIG catch…

Too much resistance = slower swimming.

If the resistance is so high that your stroke completely breaks down, you aren’t teaching your body to produce force effectively at speed. You’re simply practising poor technique under load.

Resisted slow swimming isn’t automatically going to make you faster or stronger.

Think about resisted swimming in the same way you would plan a heavy or explosive pull-up in the gym:

➡️ High quality
➡️ Short efforts
➡️ Plenty of recovery
➡️ Maximum intent
➡️ Stop before technique deteriorates

The goal isn't to make swimming harder.

The goal is to use resistance to develop more force, better awareness and the ability to produce that force explosively — while still maintaining the technical qualities you need to swim fast.

Save this for your next swim session and share it with a swimmer or coach who uses resisted swimming. 🔥

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04/09/2026

How to build a muscle up for swimming performance. 💪🏊

The muscle up is a fantastic explosive exercise for swimmers — combining pulling strength, speed, coordination and control through a large range of motion.

But you don't need to be able to muscle up on day one.

Build it step by step:

1️⃣ Master the pull-up
Build the strength to control your body through the movement.

2️⃣ Make your pull-up FAST
A muscle up requires explosive pulling strength. Think about getting your chest towards the bar, not simply getting your chin over it.

3️⃣ Fast pull-up → chest over the bar
This is where the transition starts. You need enough speed and height to get your chest above the bar.

4️⃣ Press through the bar
Once your chest is over, drive through your triceps and press yourself into the top position.

Struggling with the explosive pull?

Use a band-assisted muscle up. It can reduce the load and allow you to practise the speed, transition and movement pattern while you're still developing the strength needed for a strict muscle up.

Why use muscle ups for swimmers?

⚡ Explosive pulling power
💪 Upper-body strength
🏊 Improved connection and control
🧠 Coordination at high velocity
🎯 Developing the ability to produce force quickly

There are also some interesting similarities between the muscle-up movement and swimming — particularly the connection between the hands, upper body and trunk while producing force and controlling your body through space.

The goal isn't just to perform a cool gym exercise.

It's to develop qualities that can transfer into faster swimming.

Save this reel and send it to a swimmer working towards their first muscle up. 👊

Want structured swim + S&C programming designed for swimmers?

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02/09/2026

3 reasons swimmers should train overspeed. ⚡🏊

Overspeed training isn't just about swimming faster than you normally can.

It's about teaching your body what FAST actually feels like.

1️⃣ Technique transfer
Can you maintain your catch, streamline, body position and stroke mechanics when velocity increases? Overspeed gives you an opportunity to practise your technique at speeds beyond your normal training pace.

2️⃣ Neurological adaptations
Moving at higher velocities challenges the nervous system to coordinate rapid muscle contractions and movement. We're teaching the body to switch on quickly and move with speed.

3️⃣ Body position
Higher velocity exposes inefficiencies. If your body position isn't working, you'll feel it quickly. Overspeed can help you learn to maintain a streamlined, efficient position while moving fast.

The goal isn't to make every swim an overspeed session.

It's about using it strategically to expose the body to higher velocities, then transferring those sensations back into normal swimming.

Fast swimming should feel familiar.

If you want to swim faster, you need to practise swimming fast. 🚀

Save this reel for your next training block and send it to a swimmer who needs to add more speed to their programme.

Want structured swim + gym programming designed around performance?

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01/09/2026

Power pulling isn’t about pulling harder. It’s about catching more water. 💪🏊

If we want to swim faster, we need to become more efficient at creating force and moving that force into the water.

One of the ways we can do this is by developing our “power diamond” — creating a strong connection between the hand, forearm and upper arm to give us a bigger surface area to catch and push against the water.

Think:

🤲 Catch more water
💪 Create more force
⚡ Apply force quickly
🏊 Move further with every stroke

The goal isn't simply to increase how hard you pull.

It's to make every stroke count.

More force + better connection + greater efficiency = faster swimming.

And this becomes even more important as we increase speed.

Can you maintain your power diamond when swimming at race pace?

That's where the real challenge begins.

Save this reel for your next swim session and send it to a swimmer working on their catch. 👊

Want to improve your swimming with Cardinal?

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31/08/2026

Early season is the perfect time to SWIM FAST. ⚡🏊

So why do so many swimmers wait until the middle of the season before they start working on speed?

Speed is one of the hardest qualities to develop — so why wouldn't we start building it from September?

After some time away from the pool, fatigue is lower, the body is fresher and swimmers have an opportunity to hit high speeds without carrying months of accumulated training fatigue.

That makes early season a huge opportunity to:

⚡ Develop speed
🏊 Learn to hold technique at high velocity
🧠 Build neurological adaptations to fast movement
🎯 Establish race-pace skills early
💨 Create a foundation for the season ahead

The foundation of great swimming is speed.

But it's not just about swimming fast once.

Can you maintain your technique while swimming fast?

Can you hold your catch, body position, stroke rate and underwater skills when the velocity goes up?

That's the skill we're trying to build.

And that's exactly why we spent two weeks working with Estonian National Team swimmer Aleksei Denissov at our Cardinal Pre-Season Camp.

The goal wasn't simply to get fit.

It was to prepare Aleksei for the fast swimming he has planned for this season.

September is where the foundation gets built.

Don't wait until you need speed to start training it.

Train fast early. Learn to control it. Then build the capacity to hold it.

That's how we move the dial. 🚀

Want to train with Cardinal?

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Save this for your September training and send it to a swimmer who needs to start swimming faster. 👊

24/08/2026

A little late to the party… but ma.ttswims European Championships deserved a moment. 🇨🇮🇪🇺

After a fantastic Commonwealth Games, Matthew headed straight into European Championships preparation, and we were incredibly proud to be part of the journey.

Here’s a look back at some of his standout swims:

🦋 100m Butterfly — 3rd fastest swim of Matthew’s career, with his 1st and 2nd fastest swims coming just the week before at the Commonwealth Games.

🦋 50m Butterfly — just 0.08 away from his PB. A fantastic performance at the end of a demanding period of racing.

🏊 50m Freestyle — only 0.04 away from his best time. And then, during the finals warm-up time trial, Matthew dropped a huge 0.30 PB to move into the low 22s! 🔥

🏊 100m Freestyle — a solid swim against an incredibly stacked field and a great display of maturity and racing experience.

All in all, a fantastic European Championships from Matthew.

What stands out most isn't just the times. It's the ability to travel, race, recover, adapt and continue performing at a high level across two major international competitions.

We were honoured to support Matthew through his preparation and be part of the journey. 🇨🇮💪

Now we take everything we've learned and keep moving the dial forward.

Onwards. 🚀

21/08/2026

Does swimming less actually make you faster? 👀🏊

Yes… and no.

Swimming less can reduce fatigue.

But simply swimming less doesn't automatically make you faster.

The real question is:

What are you doing with the swimming you are keeping?

To swim fast, you need to train fast.

And to train fast consistently, you need to manage fatigue.

The goal isn't simply to swim fewer metres.

The goal is to swim as fast as you can, as often as you can, while creating enough recovery to actually adapt.

This is where training intent becomes so important.

Imagine you can build towards 20 high-quality race-pace efforts every week.

That's 20 opportunities to practise moving at the speed you actually want to race.

20 opportunities for your nervous system to adapt.

20 opportunities to refine your technique at race velocity.

That's a huge amount of race-specific training.

And ironically… you might still be swimming a lot of metres.

This is why I prefer looking at training volume through race-pace repetitions rather than simply counting metres.

10,000m of swimming doesn't tell us how much race-specific work you've actually completed.

20 quality race-pace efforts tells us much more.

The goal isn't:

"How little can I swim?"

It's:

"How much high-quality, race-specific work can I consistently absorb?"

Train fast.

Manage fatigue.

Recover.

Repeat.

That's how you move the dial.

If you're a senior or Masters swimmer looking to swim faster, our swim + gym programmes are built around purposeful training, race-specific work and managing your total workload.

📩 DM
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🔗 Follow the link in our bio to join our programmes.

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Save this if you're rethinking how you measure your swimming training. 👊

18/08/2026