Pool workouts can keep you running

A lot of athletes use the pool as a way to recover from injuries. Whether you are injured or not, working out in the pool is a great way for sprinters to stay in shape. Using pool workouts are great to take the pressure off of pounding and taking the strenous activity off of the legs, but all while keeping the athlete active.

Do sprints, kickboard and underwater swims will strengthen your legs tremendously. The burn you feel while in the pool is a different kind of burn than you get while you are running.

If you want to do a cardio workout in the pool you can do an easy pace cardio swim to burn fat at a higher rate.

If you want an intense workout in the pool, try this one that the FAU coach recently gave his injured athletes. Do five x 50m sprint freestyle, rest with 20 seconds, hydrate if needed. Then five x 100m sprints, any stroke and rest 40-60 seconds in between each set. When done with your sets, make sure to do a cool down.

Just like if you were running and needed to do a cool down, the same goes for in the pool. After an intense workout your heartrate will be up and you need time to let it slow down again. Try swimming a few laps in order to help that.

Also, if you are still feeling up to it, try to do something we call "under overs." "Under overs" are designed to help strengthen your lungs and help your breathing. Take a deep breath and then go underwater, try to swim as far as you can until you can't hold your breath anymore. At the last second before you feel like you can't hold it any longer, hold it for one last second before coming up. This will strengthen your lungs and help you with your endurance.

Happy swimming!