I have just started back with my trainer at the gym. I am really liking the way I am looking, but the trainer, though a total beast, is not a swimmer, and although he seems to have a general idea of what I want to accomplish, I want to be sure the results I am getting in terms of my appearance translate into better results in the pool.
I am a sprinter (mostly *** and free as well), so I want to build strength, maintain/increase flexibility, and minimize muscle fatigue (while racing, of course).
When I was growing up and swimming (in the late 60s and early 70s), we were told to avoid weight training. Now I know that has been completely debunked, but I am guessing there is a wrong way and a right way to do it vis-a-vis swimming.
Any suggestions for what I should be doing? I am guessing I would need a rotation of 3 or 4 different workouts to hit all the right spots.
Gary
Brooklyn, NY
I have just started back with my trainer at the gym. I am really liking the way I am looking, but the trainer, though a total beast, is not a swimmer, and although he seems to have a general idea of what I want to accomplish, I want to be sure the results I am getting in terms of my appearance translate into better results in the pool.
I am a sprinter (mostly *** and free as well), so I want to build strength, maintain/increase flexibility, and minimize muscle fatigue (while racing, of course).
When I was growing up and swimming (in the late 60s and early 70s), we were told to avoid weight training. Now I know that has been completely debunked, but I am guessing there is a wrong way and a right way to do it vis-a-vis swimming.
Any suggestions for what I should be doing? I am guessing I would need a rotation of 3 or 4 different workouts to hit all the right spots.
Gary
Brooklyn, NY
If you were growing up swimming in the late 60's and early 70's, that puts you about 10 years ahead of me (late 70's and early 80's). I took 20 years off to let my shoulders heal up and started swimming about five years ago. I lifted weights in the years between, but every time I'd switch sports I'd get hurt. So I went back to swimming masters which is a lot more pleasant than swimming in college in the 80's. Most of my lifting is focused on injury prevention, with little teeny weights and pulleys to keep my rotator cuffs rotating and my knees attached to my legs. I also do yoga at least once a week.
For me injury is the enemy, and concentrating on a single muscle group is a good way to get injured. I haven't been 20 for more than 30 years and my recovery time is terrible, so by rotating weight exercises I don't blow anything out and I can still swim three to four times per week (at about 2500-3000 yards) without having my shoulders act up. I admit doing flat bench regularly because it never bothered my shoulder joints, and I do fairly full squats (down to where my quads are parallel with the floor, but no further) with at most body weight on the bar.
I am also a sprinter, so it is fairly easy to add weight, but I've found that if I go up in weight (like in squats or lat pulldowns) I can get hurt fairly easily. So I do more repetitions with less weight and get a similar benefit, but avoid injury. I'd work with your trainer on injury prevention and you'll probably be ahead of the game.
I have just started back with my trainer at the gym. I am really liking the way I am looking, but the trainer, though a total beast, is not a swimmer, and although he seems to have a general idea of what I want to accomplish, I want to be sure the results I am getting in terms of my appearance translate into better results in the pool.
I am a sprinter (mostly *** and free as well), so I want to build strength, maintain/increase flexibility, and minimize muscle fatigue (while racing, of course).
When I was growing up and swimming (in the late 60s and early 70s), we were told to avoid weight training. Now I know that has been completely debunked, but I am guessing there is a wrong way and a right way to do it vis-a-vis swimming.
Any suggestions for what I should be doing? I am guessing I would need a rotation of 3 or 4 different workouts to hit all the right spots.
Gary
Brooklyn, NY
If you were growing up swimming in the late 60's and early 70's, that puts you about 10 years ahead of me (late 70's and early 80's). I took 20 years off to let my shoulders heal up and started swimming about five years ago. I lifted weights in the years between, but every time I'd switch sports I'd get hurt. So I went back to swimming masters which is a lot more pleasant than swimming in college in the 80's. Most of my lifting is focused on injury prevention, with little teeny weights and pulleys to keep my rotator cuffs rotating and my knees attached to my legs. I also do yoga at least once a week.
For me injury is the enemy, and concentrating on a single muscle group is a good way to get injured. I haven't been 20 for more than 30 years and my recovery time is terrible, so by rotating weight exercises I don't blow anything out and I can still swim three to four times per week (at about 2500-3000 yards) without having my shoulders act up. I admit doing flat bench regularly because it never bothered my shoulder joints, and I do fairly full squats (down to where my quads are parallel with the floor, but no further) with at most body weight on the bar.
I am also a sprinter, so it is fairly easy to add weight, but I've found that if I go up in weight (like in squats or lat pulldowns) I can get hurt fairly easily. So I do more repetitions with less weight and get a similar benefit, but avoid injury. I'd work with your trainer on injury prevention and you'll probably be ahead of the game.
