Don't Let These Dryland Training Mistakes Sink Your Performance

Introduction

Whether you're slicing through pool lanes or riding ocean waves, your performance in the water is heavily influenced by what you do on land. Dryland training has become an essential component for swimmers and surfers looking to enhance their strength, endurance, and technique. However, many athletes unknowingly sabotage their progress by making critical mistakes in their functional training routines.

The truth is, effective dryland training isn't just about working hard—it's about working smart. From neglecting sport-specific movements to overtraining without adequate recovery, these common pitfalls can lead to plateaus, injuries, and frustration. The good news? Most of these mistakes are entirely preventable once you understand what to look for.

In this article, we'll explore the most frequent dryland training errors that swimmers and surfers make and provide practical solutions to help you optimize your land-based workouts. By addressing these issues, you'll build a stronger foundation for your water sports performance and reduce your risk of injury along the way.

Neglecting Sport-Specific Movement Patterns

The Mistake

One of the most common errors in dryland training is performing generic gym exercises without considering how they translate to swimming or surfing. Many athletes default to traditional bodybuilding movements like bicep curls or chest flies, which don't replicate the functional movement patterns required in water sports.

Swimming and surfing demand rotational power, shoulder stability, and coordinated full-body movements. When your dryland training focuses solely on isolated muscle groups in fixed planes of motion, you miss the opportunity to develop the neuromuscular patterns that directly improve your performance.

The Solution

Prioritize functional movements that mirror the demands of your sport. For swimmers, this means incorporating exercises like:

• Cable or band pull-throughs that simulate pulling patterns

• Rotational medicine ball throws for core power

• Single-arm movements that challenge stability and coordination

• Lat pulldowns with varied grip positions

For surfers, focus on:

• Pop-up progressions and explosive push-up variations

• Rotational exercises that develop turning power

• Balance training on unstable surfaces

• Paddling-specific resistance band work

Think about the movement patterns you use in the water and find creative ways to challenge those same patterns on land with progressive resistance.

Imbalanced Training Leading to Muscle Asymmetries

The Mistake

Swimmers and surfers often develop muscle imbalances due to the repetitive nature of their sports. Swimmers typically overdevelop their lats and chest while neglecting their posterior shoulder muscles. Surfers may have strong paddling muscles but weak lower body stability. When dryland training reinforces these imbalances rather than correcting them, athletes become vulnerable to overuse injuries like shoulder impingement, rotator cuff tears, and lower back pain.

Many athletes make the mistake of only training the muscles they can see in the mirror or the ones that feel strong, further exacerbating existing imbalances.

The Solution

Adopt a balanced approach that prioritizes posterior chain development and corrective exercises. Include:

For shoulder health:

• External rotation exercises with bands or cables

• Face pulls and reverse flyes

• Scapular stabilization work (wall slides, band pull-aparts)

• YTW raises for rotator cuff strengthening

For core and lower body balance:

• Single-leg exercises (split squats, single-leg deadlifts)

• Anti-rotation movements (Pallof press, landmine rotations)

• Glute activation work (hip thrusts, clamshells)

Consider working with a physical therapist or qualified trainer to assess your specific imbalances and create a corrective exercise program. A good rule of thumb: for every pushing exercise, include at least one pulling exercise, and for every two internal rotation movements, add three external rotation exercises.

Ignoring Mobility and Recovery Work

The Mistake

In the pursuit of strength and power, many athletes skip mobility work and adequate recovery protocols. They view stretching and foam rolling as "extra" rather than essential components of training. This approach leads to decreased range of motion, increased injury risk, and reduced performance potential.

Swimmers need exceptional shoulder mobility and ankle flexibility. Surfers require hip mobility and thoracic spine rotation. Without dedicated mobility work, these crucial ranges of motion gradually diminish, forcing the body to compensate with poor movement patterns.

The Solution

Integrate mobility and recovery work into your regular training schedule, not as an afterthought but as a priority:

Daily mobility routine (10-15 minutes):

• Shoulder CARs (Controlled Articular Rotations)

• Thoracic spine extensions and rotations

• Hip flexor stretches and hip CARs

• Ankle mobility drills

Post-training recovery:

• Foam rolling major muscle groups (5-10 minutes)

• Static stretching for tight areas (hold 30-60 seconds)

• Breathing exercises to downregulate the nervous system

Weekly dedicated sessions:

• Yoga or structured flexibility classes

• Active recovery swims or light surf sessions

• Contrast therapy (hot/cold exposure) when possible

Remember that recovery is when adaptation happens. Mobility work isn't just injury prevention—it's performance enhancement that allows you to express strength through full ranges of motion.

Overtraining Without Adequate Periodization

The Mistake

The "more is better" mentality drives many dedicated athletes to train at high intensity year-round without proper periodization. They hit the dryland gym hard every day, combine it with intense water training, and wonder why their performance plateaus or declines. This approach leads to chronic fatigue, increased injury risk, hormonal imbalances, and burnout.

Without structured training cycles that vary intensity and volume, the body never gets the stimulus variation needed for continued adaptation. Additionally, many athletes fail to reduce dryland intensity during competition phases, leaving them feeling heavy and fatigued when performance matters most.

The Solution

Implement a periodized training plan that aligns your dryland work with your water training and competition schedule:

Base Phase (Off-season):

• Higher training volume

• Focus on hypertrophy and general strength

• 3-4 dryland sessions per week

• Build aerobic capacity and movement quality

Build Phase (Pre-season):

• Transition to power and explosive movements

• Maintain strength while increasing intensity

• 3 dryland sessions per week

• Sport-specific conditioning increases

Peak Phase (Competition season):

• Reduce dryland volume significantly

• Maintain strength with 1-2 quality sessions per week

• Focus on power maintenance and recovery

• Prioritize water training and competition

Recovery Phase:

• Active recovery and movement variety

• Address any nagging issues

• Low intensity, high enjoyment activities

Listen to your body and track recovery metrics like sleep quality, resting heart rate, and mood. If you're consistently fatigued, irritable, or experiencing performance decline, you're likely overtraining and need to scale back.

Poor Core Training Strategies

The Mistake

Many athletes equate core training with endless crunches and sit-ups, neglecting the true function of the core in swimming and surfing. The core's primary role in water sports isn't to flex the spine but to resist unwanted movement and transfer force efficiently between the upper and lower body.

Traditional ab exercises that focus on spinal flexion can actually increase injury risk and don't translate well to the rotational, anti-extension, and anti-lateral flexion demands of swimming and surfing.

The Solution

Reframe your core training around functional stability and force transfer:

Anti-Extension:

• Plank variations (standard, weighted, moving)

• Stability ball rollouts

• Dead bugs and hollow body holds

Anti-Rotation:

• Pallof press variations

• Single-arm carries and rows

• Half-kneeling chops and lifts

Anti-Lateral Flexion:

• Side planks with variations

• Suitcase carries

• Single-arm overhead holds

Rotational Power:

• Medicine ball rotational throws

• Cable woodchops

• Landmine rotations

Perform core work 3-4 times per week, focusing on quality of movement rather than quantity. Each exercise should challenge your ability to maintain proper spinal position while resisting forces that try to disrupt it. This approach builds the resilient, powerful core that swimming and surfing demand.

Conclusion

Avoiding these common dryland training mistakes can dramatically accelerate your progress as a swimmer or surfer while keeping you healthy and injury-free. The key is to approach your land-based training with the same intentionality and specificity you bring to your time in the water.

Remember that effective dryland training isn't about following the latest fitness trends or training like a bodybuilder. It's about developing functional strength, mobility, and power that directly translates to better performance in your sport. By prioritizing sport-specific movements, correcting imbalances, dedicating time to mobility and recovery, implementing proper periodization, and training your core functionally, you'll build a solid foundation for sustained improvement.

Take Action Today

Ready to transform your dryland training? Start by assessing which of these mistakes might be holding you back. Choose one area to focus on this week—whether it's adding mobility work to your daily routine, incorporating more sport-specific exercises, or restructuring your training schedule. Small, consistent improvements in your dryland training will compound into significant performance gains in the water. Your future self will thank you for making these changes now.