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 confess to (probably dangerously) heavy weight on the pull down .. I already pushed my luck too far on those - right rear deltoid and lower bicep tendon. I would put 40+lbs over my BW on the machine and knock out a set of a few reps, now I can only use no more than 150lbs and do plenty of reps. For some reason these injuries seem to resist healing (maybe it's time for a shot).
Like Eaglesrest said
"It's a balance between lifting the maximum possible weight (at the right time), while not pushing too hard and too often"
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 use the Dave Salo 'Complete conditioning....' book, with some support from the 'Swimming Anatomy' book by Ian McLeod.
I usually do 3 land-training sessions per week, with exercises selected from the swimming anatomy book. The Salo book has some excellent year round plans for different levels of ability, which you can adapt to suit your personal situ.
While there may be some debate on whether swimming specific exercises have benefit, I rarely train muscles that aren't primarily engaged in my focus event - front crawl.
As a sprinter, weight training really helps improve my in-water times, albeit not without significant risk of injury. It's a balance between lifting the maximum possible weight (at the right time), while not pushing too hard and too often which can at best lead to significant soreness, and at worst injury.
Sometimes I really feel like I'm pushing my luck, particularly on the shoulders when benching and lat pull downs, and while I know it's not sustainable long-term as an aging masters swimmer, the max effort to exhaustion really improves my times after taper.
I confess to (probably dangerously) heavy weight on the pull down and pull overs. Everything else is moderate weight and reps.
Bench DBs 2x(8@45), Deads 2 or 3 @225, Machine leg press 2x(10@ 250ish), speedbag work; planks, airsquats and pushups thoughout
the day. I'm not very fast yet, but improving.
