How We Built Pre-Pool Warm-Ups Into Everyday Training at Bluefins

For some time, we had wanted to improve pre-pool preparation across our development and age group squads.

The issue was not finding exercises. Plenty of good information already existed. The challenge was getting young swimmers to engage with pre-pool consistently and understand that preparation was part of training rather than something separate from swimming.

For the most part, effective pre-pool simply was not happening on poolside.

That began to change in early May 2026 when we introduced the first pilot cards from The Swimmer’s Warm Up Deck.

Swimmer buy-in was almost immediate. By late July, the process was fully embedded across our development and age group squads.

Starting small

One of the most important decisions was not to introduce too much too soon.

Bluefins has five development squads, covering swimmers at different stages of their competitive swimming journey.

At Foundation level, swimmers begin with just two cards: Raise and Streamline.

The priority at this stage is simple. Learn the movements, understand the routine and begin to recognise that preparing before entering the water is part of being a swimmer.

As swimmers progress through the development pathway, more exercises are introduced. By the highest development squad, a pre-pool warm-up will usually contain around 10 exercises.

The routine therefore grows alongside the swimmer.

We are not asking an eight-year-old starting squad swimming to complete the same warm-up as a swimmer approaching Age Group Performance.

A structure swimmers can follow

The deck organises movements through five stages:

RAISE → MOBILISE → ACTIVATE → PRIME → EXPLODE (optional)

The cards make that sequence visible on poolside.

Rather than relying on swimmers remembering a list of exercises or copying the person next to them, they can see what they are doing and what comes next.

The language and visuals are deliberately simple, but the coaching still matters. Coaches teach the movements, correct technique and decide which exercises are appropriate for the swimmers in front of them.

As swimmers become more familiar with the routine, they need less prompting.

Making it work on a busy poolside

A pre-pool system also has to work practically.

Selected cards are laid out in order across clear, dry areas of poolside. Swimmers move through them in small groups, with the next group following as space becomes available.

This has helped us organise the warm-up more effectively without creating unnecessary movement around wet or busy parts of poolside.

It is simple, visible and easy for swimmers to follow.

Giving swimmers responsibility

One of the most successful additions has been the Warm-up Builder.

The first swimmer to arrive becomes the Warm-up Builder for that session. With coach guidance, they select the warm-up and lay out the cards ready for the rest of the squad.

Other swimmers often join in to help.

It quickly became something swimmers wanted to do and we began seeing some arrive earlier because they wanted to be involved.

Late arrivals still complete their warm-up before entering the water.

Pre-pool is part of training, not an optional extra.

Creating interest rather than compliance

Another unexpected change came from the Movement Scores built into the cards.

Each exercise is rated for Coordination, Flexibility, Impact, Strength and Intensity.

These are not scientific measurements. They give swimmers a simple way to compare movements and start conversations about what different exercises demand.

We began hearing swimmers discussing scores, comparing exercises and asking why one movement differed from another.

Those conversations had rarely happened during pre-pool before.

The Top Score Challenge also gave swimmers a simple way to use the cards as a game, comparing scores and challenging teammates. Some used it before training, during race-day downtime and at home.

What we noticed

Within the first few weeks, coaches began noticing:

• More punctual attendance

• Faster organisation on poolside

• Greater engagement with pre-pool

• More consistent routines between squads

As the weeks progressed, swimmers increasingly organised themselves, helped teammates and completed their preparation with less prompting.

Importantly, we did not set out to coach many of those behaviours directly.

They developed through repeating the routine and giving swimmers a genuine role within it.

By the time swimmers reach Age Group Performance, the expectation is very different from Foundation. They should be able to arrive on poolside and complete an established pre-pool routine with much greater independence.

That progression fits well with the wider principles we use within the Optimal Athlete Development Framework, particularly around ownership, readiness and developing good training habits.

What we learned

The biggest lesson was that introducing pre-pool successfully was not about creating a longer list of exercises.

It was about making preparation visible, understandable and repeatable.

Starting with two cards gave our youngest swimmers an achievable entry point. Gradually increasing the routine allowed it to develop with them.

Giving swimmers responsibility helped turn something that had previously needed repeated instruction into part of everyday squad culture.

By late July, the most noticeable change was not simply that swimmers were completing a warm-up.

Their approach to preparation had changed.

The Swimmer’s Warm Up Deck was developed through this work at Basingstoke Bluefins Swimming Club.

These are coaching observations from our own programme rather than measured changes in swimming performance.

Additional Info: competitive-swimmer.co.uk

Created by Basingstoke Bluefins Coaching Team