Strength vs Performance: Why Physio Alone Isn’t Enough for Competitive Swimmers Preparing for World Champs 2025
As Singapore prepares to host the World Aquatics Championships 2025, our national swimmers are pushing through the most intense phase of their training cycle. With the world watching and home ground pressure mounting, there's no room for missed training days or compromised performance.
But here’s the harsh reality: shoulder injuries remain one of the most common reasons competitive swimmers are pulled from training or taper sub-optimally before major meets.
After close to 5 years working with aquatic athletes at the national level, the same issues keep showing up:
Long head of biceps tendon inflammation
Supraspinatus and subscapularis tendinopathy (present in over 70% of most swimmers’ shoulders)
Labral tears and fraying, often non-traumatic but damaging all the same
These aren’t freak accidents; they are signs that training demands are outpacing an athlete’s physical capacity.
From Rehab to Performance: Fixing the Broken Link
In elite swimming, being pain-free doesn’t mean you're ready to perform. I’ve learned this first-hand, both through working closely with my own athletes and taking over swimmers mid-season who had already 'cleared' rehab elsewhere, only to break down again during race prep. That’s when it clicked:
There is no such thing as true injury prevention. There’s only physical preparedness.
Injuries occur when:
Training load exceeds physical capacity
Recovery is insufficient
There’s no structured plan to bridge rehab into performance
This missing link between rehab and performance is where many rehab programs fall short.
What ATHLETIC INC Does Differently: Structuring Rehab-Integrated S&C for Swimmers
With the stakes high for World Champs 2025, we made a bold but simple change:
Stop treating rehab and training as separate things.
Instead, we designed a rehab-integrated strength and dryland plan, co-led by myself (physiotherapist) and Carl (S&C coach). Here’s what we’re doing:
Weekly Plan for Shoulder Health & Peak Performance:
2x weekly mobility-focused sessions, addressing shoulder range, thoracic rotation, and scapular control
Strength training built on fundamentals: squats, clean & jerks, chin-ups, push-ups
Velocity-based training (VBT) to monitor fatigue and keep intent high
Rehab exercises integrated into warm-ups and lift variations; no extra 60-minute sessions that eat into recovery
We’ve reduced injury recurrence, improved dryland compliance, and athletes are reporting less shoulder fatigue post-session.
For Swimmers Still in Limbo: Pain-Free Isn’t Enough
This is a message to every swimmer preparing for Worlds (or any major meet):
If you’re “cleared” but still not swimming the way you used to, you’re not done.
You don’t need more rehab. You need a structured plan to transition from recovery to performance, especially for shoulder injuries that linger or resurface under load.
Ready for World Champs 2025?
Whether you are training for the World Aquatics Championships 2025 or you are a coach managing an athlete with shoulder pain, don’t wait until the taper to address it.
Book a Rehab-to-Performance session with us at ATHLETIC INC, where physiotherapy meets performance science.
Because being pain-free is just the start. Let’s get you truly race-ready.
MEET THE AUTHOR
DEXTER KIN
Founder & Clinical Director
Lead Physiotherapist & Performance Coach
Team Singapore National Swimming Physiotherapist
Hangzhou 2022 Asian Games
World Aquatics Championships Doha 2024
SPECIALISATIONS
Strength & Conditioning
Sports massage, Manual Therapy and Dry Needling
Rehabilitation to Performance
Swim-Specific Screening & Performance Optimisation