I will be swimming five days a week. I want to use the other two days for complementary non-swimming workouts. I am looking for suggestions. Being that I am out of shape the first thing that comes to mind is weight training. I could see some yoga in there as well.
Or...should I only use one day for a non-swimming workout and rest for one day?
Seems to me (without going back and looking) that you have a lot of confounding factors in your training: increase in various exercises as well as increased use of fins and kicking workouts.
In terms of useful strength training for kicking, I personally would be apt to place fin-work far above anything in the weight room.
This is true to a degree. However, I have been kicking and kicking with fins for years and have had to decrease my monofin use in the past year b/c of a foot injury. And my underwaters have improved even more this past year (perhaps the nose clip and plyometrics are at work here -- another confounding factor).
Still, I think the lower body work helped quite a bit. I recall quite distinctly that shortly after I started a more serious weight training program in 2008, at Jazz's urging, I dropped a lot of time. Prior to that, I had never done a squat or deadlift in my life.
Seems to me (without going back and looking) that you have a lot of confounding factors in your training: increase in various exercises as well as increased use of fins and kicking workouts.
In terms of useful strength training for kicking, I personally would be apt to place fin-work far above anything in the weight room.
This is true to a degree. However, I have been kicking and kicking with fins for years and have had to decrease my monofin use in the past year b/c of a foot injury. And my underwaters have improved even more this past year (perhaps the nose clip and plyometrics are at work here -- another confounding factor).
Still, I think the lower body work helped quite a bit. I recall quite distinctly that shortly after I started a more serious weight training program in 2008, at Jazz's urging, I dropped a lot of time. Prior to that, I had never done a squat or deadlift in my life.
