Swimming after liftin'

I think it simply comes down to priorities and your daily energy levels. I'm a power lifter who swam competitively for 8 years as a kid and recently has come back to the sport after 20 years. If I'm eating properly, the order I do my workouts in matters very little. I might be fatigued at the start of the workout, but once I loosen up I'm good to go. The workout I did the previous day has an immense influence on how I feel, however. If I did a heavy pull workout yesterday (lots of upper back, lat, and biceps involvement), I'm going to be hurting in the pool today. Likewise, lots of yards today will affect my leg day tomorrow. Overhead pressing will fry the muscles of my rotator cuff for a few days. Also consider the effects of CNS fatigue. Heavy deadlifts or squats today can have a detrimental effect on your pool workout tomorrow and can leave you wondering why. I think swimmers who lift are uniquely susceptible to this given the long hours and huge amount of work done in the pool. This is just my observation though, I can't trot out any studies to back me up. For those who want to weight train (versus messing around in the gym) and swim, I would recommend bumping up your protein. From my own experience, I know runners/swimmers/bikers tend to be carb hounds and underestimate the amount of protein required for weight lifting. My 2/100.

I think it simply comes down to priorities and your daily energy levels. I'm a power lifter who swam competitively for 8 years as a kid and recently has come back to the sport after 20 years. If I'm eating properly, the order I do my workouts in matters very little. I might be fatigued at the start of the workout, but once I loosen up I'm good to go. The workout I did the previous day has an immense influence on how I feel, however. If I did a heavy pull workout yesterday (lots of upper back, lat, and biceps involvement), I'm going to be hurting in the pool today. Likewise, lots of yards today will affect my leg day tomorrow. Overhead pressing will fry the muscles of my rotator cuff for a few days. Also consider the effects of CNS fatigue. Heavy deadlifts or squats today can have a detrimental effect on your pool workout tomorrow and can leave you wondering why. I think swimmers who lift are uniquely susceptible to this given the long hours and huge amount of work done in the pool. This is just my observation though, I can't trot out any studies to back me up. For those who want to weight train (versus messing around in the gym) and swim, I would recommend bumping up your protein. From my own experience, I know runners/swimmers/bikers tend to be carb hounds and underestimate the amount of protein required for weight lifting. My 2/100.