Eight Diving Dryland Tips

Simple performing squat jumps and body weight squats isn’t going to cut it for an elite age-group or senior diver who has mastered every bodyweight movement.

Diving is a unique combination of strength, power and flexibility. Whether you’re starting on a country club diving team just learning the approach and hurdle or are jumping off a 30-m cliff, a proper diving dryland program can aid performance.

I remember as a child learning how to dive at my local summer league team. Being able to catapult myself off the diving board gave me great thrills and was far from other sports I had done (swimming, basketball, soccer).

As a high school swimmer, I still dove in the summer to help the summer league team score points in the championship meet. I remember my coach (who was younger than me, Mr. Chris Heaton) teaching me tricks on how to perform a double and a front flip full twist. These unique movements were challenging, but highly enjoyable. Luckily, I had enough power to catapult myself for performing some moderately difficult dives.