How do professional swimmers train, and what do they eat to make sure they can train hard? We spoke to Team Speedo’s Pernille Blume about everything from her training regime in and out of the pool, to what she eats to stay energised.
Pernille Blume is a Danish freestyle swimmer, who won Denmark’s first Olympic swimming gold since 1948 at Rio 2016. Since then, Pernille has won medals at European and World Championship level and continues to be a stand-out swim star.
Here’s an insight into how Pernille trains and eats to stay at the top of her game.
Food
Pernille says she would rate herself a 7/10 as a chef, but when it comes to baking, she’s a solid 9.5/10.
“I eat whatever my body craves when I’m training, but it’s a little bit different before a race. On race-day I usually eat lots of light food with carbs, for example my breakfast is usually some white bread, oatmeal and yoghurt. I also never eat red meat before or during a competition.”
Fuel Food For Swimmers
Nutrition coach Laura Agar Wilson shares five quick, healthy snack ideas and a tasty smoothie recipe.
Training
Alongside her intense pool training regime, Pernille also incorporates other forms of training out of the pool into her training schedule.
“I obviously do a lot of training in the pool, but I do a lot of work outside the pool too. I do weights twice a week and core twice a week. I focus mostly on explosive and power work as this helps me in the pool. I love doing yoga too, as this requires body control and balance which are both needed in the pool.”
Core stability will help you to maintain the optimum streamlined body position in the water, so that you can swim faster and more efficiently. You need strength to power through the resistance of water, and a strong core can help. To incorporate core training into your regime, there’s so much you can do – planks, crunches, work with medicine or physio balls and even doing some squats with your arms in the swimming position. The key is to ensure you don’t focus solely on static core work, like planks. You need to work on your core within the full range of movement to allow you to be as tall as you can in the water and be strong from within.
Read more about Pernille here.
