Caribeae Portal

How do we work into your child’s athlete development

Daily Stretches

Lock Clam – 2x 25 each side

This exercise will help swimmers to get better hip extension, required for kicking (especially in strokes like Breaststroke and Butterfly).

Lay on your side and roll forward until you are almost facing the floor. Straighten your bottom leg, bend the top leg and hook your toes behind your bottom leg. While facing the floor, lift the top knee and control back to the ground (your hips should not move).

Prone Cobra – 20-40sec hold

This exercise helps to improve lower back extension and thoracic mobility which helps to hold a streamline position through the water.

Lay face down with your hands back by your sides. Pull the hands up towards the roof and lift your chest off the floor without lifting your feet. Hold.

Bird Dog Hold – 10sec each side

This exercise helps to improve core control to stop excessive rotation.

On hands and knees, slide one foot back and lift slightly (only 1-2cm off the floor). There should be no rotation of your hips. Progress by reaching the opposite hand out in front.

Prone Scarecrow Superman – x15-20 reps

This exercise helps to improve lower back extension and overhead positional strength which helps to hold a streamline position through the water.

Lay face down with you hands next to your shoulders. Tuck your chin in. Lift up the chest and hands and reach forward without hands touching the ground. Pull arms back to shoulders without touching the ground and repeat.

Nutrition. Why it is important.

What should I eat before I exercise?

In order to use carbs for energy, the body has to break them down to their simplest form: glucose. So when we choose what to eat in the timeframe before exercise, we want to make choices that are going to support our immediate energy levels rather than take a long time to break down. Options like cereals, muesli or cereal bars, crumpets or English muffins with honey, or a piece of fruit are usually a great choice pre-training as they won’t sit in the stomach for a long period of time (which is important for avoiding digestive issues and nausea while training/competing). It is recommended to have one of these food sources in the 30-60min window before training.

Carbs

Carbohydrates are our body’s main energy source and can generally be broken down into two types: simple and complex.
Simple carbohydrates are made up of a higher amount of glucose and are digested quicker than the body for use as energy. Simple carbohydrates come from foods such as fruit, juices, white bread, lollies and baked goods (things that are normally considered ‘refined sugars’). Foods like cereal bars and flavoured mils also fit into this category. Complex carbohydrates are made up of glycogen which takes longer for the body to digest (as it has to be further broken down to glucose before it can be used). Examples of complex carbohydrates are starchy vegetables (like potatoes), whole grains, pasta and rice.

Fruits and Vegetables

We’ve all heard that to live a healthy life, we need to get our 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of veggies. But why is that? Fruit and veggies play a huge role in getting us all of the essential vitamins and minerals that we need for our body to function properly – and if we aren’t getting enough of these nutrients, we can feel tired and foggy. To make sure we are getting all the nutrients we need, try to make your diet as colourful as possible and include as many different fruits and vegetables as you can.

Protein

Proteins are made up of amino acids which are the building blocks of our muscles; are important for the structure of our organs and play a role in the production of some hormones. As athletes, consuming protein in our diet is important for muscle repair and growth after training sessions and competition. When selecting ‘high protein foods,’ reading the nutrition label and looking for something that has over 10g of protein per serve is a great place to start. Good sources of protein include lean meats, eggs, dairy products, soy products and tofu. Consuming a meal with a source of protein is recommended as soon as possible after exercise to allow for the best chance of muscular recovery.

How to sign up

Junior Athlete Program

Our Juniors are all programmed with seperate programs to suit each child’s needs. This means your child will need to have an initial consult with a coach to determine what their strengths are and what needs to our focus in the program. Once that has been done and a program is written then we may get them back in to go through that program depending on their level prior to coming to the gym. Then you have the choice on bringing them once or twice to the gym on our Tuesday and Thursday morning sessions!