Calling all USMS members. Your response to this post will be used to create an article in Swimmer magazine about cross training. What types of training do you most commonly do outside of the pool? How often? What cross training works the best, and what types are the least helpful for swimming? :bliss:
I know the"Val"method works for her,and/but she does an incredible amount of intense swimming that would leave my shoulders a ragged mess.By adding weight training I can improve my strength and power in ways that also cause less repetitive stress on my joints.
I do stretching because I have mobility problems with my neck and back and to keep my ankles and knees loose for breaststroke.
To add to the literature (none of which I have actually read, but I looked very busy at work while doing the cursory search...):
Denke M. Nutritional and health benefits of beer ...
Stop right there. ekw wins the game. If this deep, scholarly, and prize-worthy research is not mentioned in the Swimmer article on cross-training, it's an epic fail.
:chug:
The very legitimate option "none of the above" is not a choice on the poll!
Laura Val: "I don't cross-train, I don't do weights, I don't run, or anything like that ..."+1 for that ... at least not on a weekly basis. I can carve out about 5-7 training hours a week of total training time, with maybe a peak around 9 hours. At that level of training, swimming is the only thing I can and should do consistently to be able to be a faster swimmer. I'd love to do more core work and would like to experiment with weightlifting, but I just can't be consistent about those.
I can carve out about 5-7 training hours a week of total training time, with maybe a peak around 9 hours.For how good you swim I find incredible. I can easily burn up 9 hours in half a week exercising.
I can easily burn up 9 hours in half a week exercising.
Is this 9 hours in a half a week swimming, or doing other things, too? I'm right around where Patrick is. I'd say I average about 7 hours per week in the water. And--I'll admit it--it's got nothing to do with other time constraints why I don't swim more or do other exercising. That's just all the time I'm willing to spend on it.
Stretching/Yoga:
Most stretching I do are through yoga poses. I find the achieved flexibility quite valuable and do it as a warm-up for weights or swimming, and sometimes to relax before bedtime. If my hamstrings are tight, my back can go out for no reason so I have to maintain a level of flexibility to function. Yoga also seems to improve my balance and control in the water. I don't actually go to yoga classes or understand the art per-say, I just do the poses (I'm a poser:D).
Weights:
On most days when swimming and weight lifting overlap I make one trip to do both. I copied Chris's approach by lifting first and it seems to work better this way. Swimming seems to drain my strength if done first, which defeats any weight lifting efforts. I try to avoid lifting for at least 48 hours prior to AFAP days, but it usually doesn't work out this way and results in a slight taper of speed
For me at least, my swimming has greatly benefited from participating in other activities. I certainly don't excel at them, but I don't excel at swimming either.
Since I began doing things in addition to swimming, I've dropped a bit of weight, and every single swimming event has gotten better.
Good for you!! :applaud::applaud::applaud: I think that my other sports definitely benefit from my swimming as well - I think that may be why I can get around on the tennis court better than a lot of my competitors! And my swimming has benefited from my tennis because tennis forces me to stretch and bend and move in ways that I generally would be too lazy to do on my own (i.e. yoga or other isometrics). It's not weight lifting, but I KNOW my forearm is stronger - you can SEE the muscle growth - and guess what - that helps the back half of my pull - something a distance swimmer values when they are so tired they can't make the arms go around any faster!! :D
Stop right there. ekw wins the game. If this deep, scholarly, and prize-worthy research is not mentioned in the Swimmer article on cross-training, it's an epic fail.
:chug:
+1! Three cheers for ekw! :cheerleader: :chug: Swimosaur, if ekw shows up to Auburn, we owe her one!
