My question is should I start training every day or stick to every other day allowing my body time to recover between swims ?
After 2 months of swimming 3 times a week I am now up to 2500m over 70 mins sessions. I am not as young as I was and I am not sure which is best for my body.
I am now living next door to a 50m pool, H20 in Kelowna, BC, Canada. This is a great facility.
After 10 years living in Wales, UK where my local pool was unwilling to put lanes in for workouts. I am now finally getting the chance to train and get back my swim fitness.
It all remains up to you & how you feel & how your body responds to 3-4-5-6-7 days of swimming. I would ramp days up slowly over a few months to guage how you react to the increase. Good luck!
I'm 41, and I swim every day. The main reason I swim so much is that I can't stand being out of the water.
I have one extremely easy day per week, mostly drill/technique work. The other days, I vary my yardage and intensity. My shoulders aren't an issue. If my muscles feel sore, or if I feel fatigued, I feel better after 15 minutes in the pool.
Thanks for the great advice everyone. Lots to think about. I used to compete at masters swim meets, so I do know a bit, just a bit rusty !
I am consistent with rubber band exercises for looking after my rotator cuff and I do have a good daily stretching routine so I should be OK.
I like Knelsons suggestion of 2 days on 1 day off. There is a very good masters team at the pool and I will join them soon. Might even try a swim meet again !
Thanks to all, Gareth
If you like swimming every day, by all means do it. You are not required to swim hard every day, so some days can be fun or recovery days.
Spend plenty of time warming up. That means easy swimming, not sprinting until you are out of breath. And your stretching regimen helps a lot, too.
How bad do you want to be good?
What are your goals?
It won't hurt you to train each day. You can handle it.
5 or 6 times a week is pretty good.
It's all a matter of what do you want to accomplish?
How much time per week do you want to dedicate?
Good points! How good do you want to be, is the big question?
Ten years ago, when I was 55, I was training three times a day and covering 10,000 metres daily. I could only manage this for six months. I didn't build in rest periods to the training programme and my arms were aching all the time. I never recovered properly during the whole six months. I gave this a try just to see how good I could become. I think you'll find that your body can cope with a lot more than you think it can.
