In my most recent blog entry, "One Man's Garbage..." forums.usms.org/blog.php , I asked my fellow swimmers their respective opinions on the impact long, slow, continuous swimming has on meet performance.
The expression "garbage yards" (and the pejorative overtones such a phrase conjurs) has become so embedded in the forum lexicon that many, I suspect, now consider as indisputable truth swimming this way is a waste of time for anyone with competitive ambitions.
Such a view appears particularly well-entrenched among the many non-credentialed exercise physiology pontificators here on the forums who also have a fondness for sprinting and dry land exercise.
But is the concept of garbage yards truly valid--or a kind of urban legend made up largely by sprinters who would rather be doing something other than spending 90 minutes without stopping in the pool?
I don't mean only practicing this way. But if you are, like me, inclined to enjoy swimming, once or twice a week, long, slow, relatively relaxing, continuous yards, do you believe (and more importantly, perhaps, have any evidence to bolster said belief) that so-called "garbage yards" can have some value for actual racing?
Or do these only teach your body to swim slow?
I invite you to read my recent blog forums.usms.org/blog.php and post your thoughts advice there or here.
At the risk of provoking censure by the forum authorities, I furthermore ask you to leave all civility by the wayside.
Feel free to trash talk and smack upside the head of any and every one who disagrees with your personal bias here!
It's been way too long since these forums have had a good, old-fashioned range war of opinions run amuk and ad hominem attacks!
Go at each other tooth and claw. It will only stir the blood of us all, I say--something we garbage yard enthusiasts probably need a bit more of, I will admit.
Since taking up swimming again in my late 30’s (inspired by reading the Total Immersion book), I spent years doing nothing but low intensity stroke drills and “fitness” swimming – which was definitely not “garbage” because I was working on things like alignment, streamlining, balance, rhythm, core rotation, efficiency – all that good stuff, which I had been pretty much oblivious to in my earlier high school team swimming. But when I finally did try racing again at a local mini-meet a few weeks ago, I found that my years of fitness swimming had done almost nothing to prepare my body for the stress of all-out racing. So I’m thinking that maybe fitness/distance swimming can be very good, non-garbagey swimming if used to ingrain good technique (I mean for people like me who do not already have good technique and/or who would not be able to maintain good technique throughout a race-oriented practice session); and this may serve as a good foundation for race training; but fitness/distance swimming in and of itself may not do much of anything to prepare the body for racing.
Just a theory at this point.
But I find the whole thing intriguing and am testing this theory by adding in higher-intensity/sprint days – hopefully without letting my still-fledgling technique completely fall apart – leading up to a meet in a few weeks. Then, since I still feel that I have a lot to learn from the low-intensity fitness/technique/drill-based swimming, I’ll probably return to that for a while. Then pick another meet to gear up for…and so on - and see how that works out.
That link to Graham’s video was amazing. I’ll now have to totally re-evaluate my views on just how many angels can dance on the head of a pin…
Since taking up swimming again in my late 30’s (inspired by reading the Total Immersion book), I spent years doing nothing but low intensity stroke drills and “fitness” swimming – which was definitely not “garbage” because I was working on things like alignment, streamlining, balance, rhythm, core rotation, efficiency – all that good stuff, which I had been pretty much oblivious to in my earlier high school team swimming. But when I finally did try racing again at a local mini-meet a few weeks ago, I found that my years of fitness swimming had done almost nothing to prepare my body for the stress of all-out racing. So I’m thinking that maybe fitness/distance swimming can be very good, non-garbagey swimming if used to ingrain good technique (I mean for people like me who do not already have good technique and/or who would not be able to maintain good technique throughout a race-oriented practice session); and this may serve as a good foundation for race training; but fitness/distance swimming in and of itself may not do much of anything to prepare the body for racing.
Just a theory at this point.
But I find the whole thing intriguing and am testing this theory by adding in higher-intensity/sprint days – hopefully without letting my still-fledgling technique completely fall apart – leading up to a meet in a few weeks. Then, since I still feel that I have a lot to learn from the low-intensity fitness/technique/drill-based swimming, I’ll probably return to that for a while. Then pick another meet to gear up for…and so on - and see how that works out.
That link to Graham’s video was amazing. I’ll now have to totally re-evaluate my views on just how many angels can dance on the head of a pin…
