A Dry-Land Swim Warm-Up for When There Is No Pool

Picture a typical morning before the start. Cold air, mist over the lake, your race top pulled on over the wetsuit. The official announces: the swim warm-up is CLOSED. You have 25 minutes to the gun, and you have just lost the most important part of your preparation. This is not a hypothetical, IRONMAN and plenty of national-level races increasingly close the swim warm-up for logistical or safety reasons.

And then you wonder why the first 200 metres feel like swimming through concrete.

Why this isn’t an imagined problem

Swimming is a discipline that depends heavily on neuromuscular activation. The arms, forearms, shoulder girdle and muscles around the shoulder blades need to be “switched on,” muscle temperature raised, and the nervous system ready to generate force.

A scoping review published in Sports Medicine – Open (Cuenca-Fernández et al., 2022) on dry-land warm-up protocols for swimming found that a gap of 20 minutes or more between the warm-up and the start wipes out most of the physiological benefit of an in-water warm-up. Body temperature drops, heart rate returns to resting levels, and the muscles lose their readiness.

So if you find a closed pool in the start zone with 25 minutes to the gun, and no active dry-land protocol, you start cold.

A protocol that works

A full dry-land warm-up takes 8-12 minutes. Do it 15 to 10 minutes before the start, fully kitted up (wetsuit optionally pulled up to the waist), somewhere quiet away from the crowd.

1. General activation, 2-3 min

March on the spot with high knees: 30 seconds
Light jog on the spot: 45 seconds
A-skips (high knees, short ground contact): 30 seconds
Jumping jacks: 30 seconds

Goal: raise body temperature by 1-2°C (34-36°F) and get your heart rate up to 100-120 bpm.

2. Shoulder mobilisation, 2 min

Forward arm circles: 20 reps
Backward arm circles: 20 reps
Crossbody arm swings (across the chest): 20 reps
Alternating vertical arm swings: 20 reps
Shoulder stretch by pulling the forearm across the body: 15 sec per side

This is the most important step. The shoulder has the largest range of motion of any joint in the body, and it is one of the first to “cool off” while you wait at the start.

3. Resistance band activation, 4-5 min

This is the core of the protocol, backed by research on post-activation performance enhancement (PAPE) in swimming. The mechanism is simple: a few reps against moderate resistance right before the start temporarily boosts the muscles’ ability to generate force, and the effect lasts 5-15 minutes. Resistance band work before the start increases arm power over the first 50-100 metres of the race.

You’ll need: a medium-resistance band (roughly 10-15 kg / 22-33 lb of resistance). It weighs about 80 g and fits easily in a race bag.

Pulls that mimic the freestyle arm pull, band anchored to a tree or post at chest height, stand facing away and replicate the freestyle arm motion. 2 x 8 reps per arm, controlled tempo (3 seconds per rep)
Scapular retractions, band held at shoulder height, arms straight in front, pull the shoulder blades together and stretch the band. 2 x 12 reps
External rotations, elbows at your sides, bent at 90°, stretch the band outward. 2 x 10 reps

4. Breathing activation, 1 min

5 deep breaths in through the nose, long exhales through the mouth (4 sec inhale, 6 sec exhale)
A few breaths at race rhythm (short, sharp inhale, explosive exhale)

This last piece is skipped in 90% of guides. Diaphragmatic work before the start lowers nervous tension and prepares gas exchange for the first metres of the swim, when breathing is hardest.

What to avoid

Don’t run as your warm-up. This is preparation for swimming, not for running. A full running warm-up will fire up your legs, but it burns glycogen and lowers upper-body readiness.

Don’t pull the band with too much resistance. This is not a gym session, it is activation. Light resistance, control, tempo.

Don’t skip the shoulders. In the panic before a swim start, people tend to focus on their legs. That’s a mistake.

Don’t finish the warm-up more than 20 minutes before the start. The activation effect disappears. The optimal window is 5-15 minutes before you enter the water.

What to pack the day before

If you know there won’t be a pool (check the event’s own rules):

A resistance band (an inexpensive medium-resistance band from any sports shop)
A small mat or towel to lay your bag on
A warm coat or blanket, to hold your body temperature between the warm-up and entering the water

The whole kit weighs under 300 g.

The first 100 metres of the race

Even with a perfect dry-land warm-up, swim the first 100 metres under control. These are your “wet reps,” the moment your body finally switches on in the water. Don’t panic if your breathing feels shallow and your pace is slower than in training. After 200-300 metres the muscles settle into rhythm and the pace picks up on its own.

The bottom line

No swim warm-up before the start is not a death sentence. 8-12 minutes on dry land with a resistance band delivers a good share of what a full in-water warm-up gives you, enough that the first metres don’t hurt, and the race starts the way you planned it.

Read next: Early Vertical Forearm: The Catch Fix Worth 8 Seconds a 100. Racelify lists open water swims, each with a link to the organiser.