« Back
01/2025 Swimming Barista’s Conditioning & Recovery
[shoulder opening]
- shoulder flexion at various angles (from wide-angle stretch to puppy parallel)
- reverse table arms
- shoulder extension
- supine arm openings and circles
- supine overhead arm flexion
[spine assessment]
- cat-table-cow
- shell stretch
[pelvic assessment]
- pelvic curl
- alternating leg lifts
- ab/ob curls
[spinal articulation]
- roll up
- spine stretch-saw
- butterfly upright-roll down
[core series]
- 100 prep
- single leg stretch
- criss-cross
- frog
[side, back]
- side leg pulls
- back extensions
- sphinx
- or
- double leg kick
- swimming
- leg pull front
- one leg kick
[rolling integration]
- roll back
- roll over
02/2025 Swimmer's Pilates
[warm up]
- reverse t.t. arms
- pelvic curls
- reverse t.t. (progression towards leg pull back)
- 100 broken down into double t.t., legs extended to 90°, ab/ob curls
- single leg stretch, criss-cross oblique activation
- double leg stretch
[leg work]
- supine adductor stretch, one-leg circles with band
[spine work]
- roll back, roll up to spine stretch, roll over
- arm openings and circles
[back extensions]
- back extension, one leg kick, swimming variations (lying down, kneeling)
[finishing poses]
- leg pull front
- side leg pull
- side bends
03/2025 Recently Revised Routine
- all over rolling (척추 분절 운동)
- cat-cow (neutral 찾기)
- shell (hip hinge + 견갑 full mobility 체크)
- wheel (수축된 목 release)
- supine twists with arm circles (팔 strings stretch)
- dolphin (다른 강력한 목 release)
- puppy (thoracic, 견갑 mobility for dog 찾기)
- dog (full spine 길이 측정)
______
- reverse t.t. arms + arm extension
- pelvic curl
- reverse t.t. (challenge)
______
- short butterfly
- frog squat
- wide f.f.
______
- traditional lunges
- wide runners' stretch
- pyramids (standing leg integration)
______
- sphinx-swan dive prep (w/ magic circle?)
- side leg pull
- 100 preps (w/ magic circle?)
- front leg pull
______
- roll back → bug → straddle
04/2025 Daily Hitters
- supine twists w. arm circles
- 90/90
- dorsi work, narrow f.f.
- active hanu
- butterfly
- slow frog squat
- wide f.f.
- shell
______
- arm series (ext, gomuk, flex, eagle)
- reverse t.t. arms
- dog, dolphin
______
- cat-cow
- pelvic curl
- ab/ob curls
- 100 preps
- mermaids to side leg pulls
- back ext (sphix to swan dive prep)
- breaststroke (scapular movement)
- leg pull back
- glute med activation
______
Pilates Strength Challenge Poses
- teaser
- leg pull front
- leg pull back
- breaststroke
- criss-cross
- push-up
05/2025 Revised Daily Hitters
- supine arm openings + arm circles
- dumb waiter w. bands
- 90/90 mermaids, w. twist, seated mermaids
- cobra
- shell (w. twist or improved QL stretch)
- butterfly
- active hanu
- dorsi work to narrow f.f.
- slow frog squat to wide f.f. (against wall - Iyengar)
- roll down w. straight legs (balance check - Pilates)
______
상체
- cat-cow
- arm work (ext, gomuk, flex, eagle)
- dolphin, dog, puppy (공부 필요), wheel
______
- reverse t.t. arms, reverse t.t. (study front leg pull prep variations)
- pelvic curl (like an upside-down bow)
- ab/ob curls
- 100 prep (upside-down spine stretch)
- side leg pull (study variations)
- sphinx/swan dive prep (needs further study)
- TYA (to study)
- leg pull back
- gm activation w. band
______
- roll back → bug → straddle (challenge)
06/2025 CARs and DUO focus
series #1
- arm openings and circles (sternum away from the stretched shoulder?)
- arm overhead flexion
- arm extension (as if pushing weight through the armpit sides of the chest?)
- dumb waiter with band (pushing the lower scapula and T8 toward the front body?)
- 90/90 legs with mermaids upper body (fixed hip to stretched armpit to palm, in the longest curve)
series #2
- sphinx (dorsal arch to pubic bone, to sternum, to forehead; pubic bone to xiphoid process; crown to xiphoid)
- cobra (push more weight backward and forward)
- cow (pubic bone to xiphoid process, to upper sternum, to forehead; crown to xiphoid)
- puppy (same duo logic throughout)
- dolphin (refer to plank duo lines)
- dog (study and add arm duo lines)
series #3
- lunges (dorsal to pubic, to upper sternum, to forehead; crown to xiphoid, to lesser trochanter, to tibial notch)
- pigeons (from arch to bent knee to outer hip; from crown to sit bones—imagine suspending the longest elastics around them)
- wall work (breathing w. arms up [diaphragm and pelvic dome apposition], fig 4, bug, straddle, single-leg bridges hamstring activation, walking with reciprocal hip internal and external rotation)
- gomuk (cf. pigeon duo lines)
- bridge (dorsal to pubic, to upper sternum, to forehead; crown to xyphoid, to lesser trochanter, to tibial notch; palm to pubic bone; trace forward through lower thighs)
- tactical frog (cf. pigeon/gomuk duo lines)
- slow frog squat (tripod feet; resisting elastic bands around lower thighs to feet, lower knees to sit bones, crown to coccyx)
series #4
- shell (upper body of toes-to-bar, coccyx to crown--tracing the longest curve; lower body: longest elastics from upper knees to heels, tibial notches to sit bones)
- narrow f.f. (same pattern throughout)
- wide f.f. (same imagination, engagement throughout)
07/2025 Towards Swim-specific Isometrics
Lately, I've been so inspired by this Stuart McMillan interview that I’ve begun weaving some of his ideas about sprinting and isometric training into my own routine. This month, I’ve broken my conditioning agenda into three parts, and honestly, they feel like they’ll carry me for a long time (unless I come across something revolutionary...).
1. Foundational Structural Rehabilitation Work
This is my essential maintenance — skip it for too long, and I end up feeling a bit of a shambles.
- arm openings
- arm overhead flexion (over wheel)
- nerve glides w. bands
- arm extension in hero sit
- reverse t.t. arms
- gomuk arms in gomuk legs
- bridge (think upside-down ‘bow’)
- 90/90 mermaids
- lunges, pigeons, runner’s nerve glides
- butterfly, tactical frog
- slow frog squat, sumo squat, wide f.f.
- dorsi, narrow f.f. (think upside-down ‘toe-to-bar’)
_ nightly _
- wall fig 4
- olympian bug
- straddle
- knee on wall hip ext.
2. Après-swim Recovery Routine
This is my go-to after swimming or when time is tight. The goal is to bring some length back into the body.
- shell (move into it from max efficient resistance force) – sphinx – bow (think upside down ‘supta virasana’) – cow – puppy saw – dolphin (test out max contraction) – dog (test out max contraction)
- dorsi – narrow f.f.
- frog squat – wide f.f.
3. Conditioning Laboratory
This is where I’ve been having the most fun lately — playing with mental images of athletes in sports-specific positions and movements. Focusing on managing gravity and efficiently transferring force from the feet upward — kind of like throwing a boxer’s punch, but with the feet, as McMillan puts it — as well as watching short clips of athletes doing isometric work and layering those onto my own holds and slow-tempo eccentrics, has become one of my favorite ways to organize and explore movement.
While holding these positions, I also test whether I can breathe as fully as possible, and whether I can create the strongest cylindrical pressure I can imagine around my bones.
One odd image I keep coming back to: picturing my chest cavity as an Atlantic salmon steak — sternum rising while the lowermost tips of my ribs reach down through my sit bones. Then I try to sense a higher center of mass than I usually do by imagining my lower body like a CrossFitter hanging from a bar, ready to swing into full-body flexion and extension.



Strangely enough, these seem to help for now...
- loaded dorsi (knees up, knees down; attempt to lift off)
- front foot elevated sprinter’s lunge (plantar flexion, dorsiflexion; attempt to lift off), fencing lunge
- loaded hip extension on ground
- bow prep
- bridge (think 'knee stand')
- ski jump good morning, loaded hero slow sit
- wide f.f. x dog hybrid
- loaded sumo squat
- runner’s nerve glides (on knees & supine)
- 100 (think upside-down 'spine stretch')
- supine gomuk fold
- supine arm opening
- eagle arms
- reverse t.t. arms + arm extension
- loaded arm ext. (mutt bar)
- arm flexion series (shell, sphinx, cat, puppy saw, dolphin, dog)