Push ups?

Since we're talking about the 1650 it's not really sprinting, so you could still get a lot of benefit from doing USRPT if you want to go that route. With that training you could probably keep the yardage you're doing now. You certainly would not need to do more than 3,000 yards per workout. And if you do USRPT you can't worry about total yardage. Just be concerned you are doing those sets correctly. If you want to do more traditional, longer aerobic training I would suggest that on the majority of your training days you get in at least one set where you are swimming for a minimum of 20 minutes and preferably 30 minutes without a lot of rest. Not straight swimming for 40 minutes, but a set where you're not getting much rest between swims. You'll still want to do some sets where you're maintaining your goal 1650 pace, but you don't need to do those day in and day out like USRPT advocates. If you can swim six days per week and average 3,000 yards per workout you'll be over 500 miles for the year. I shouldn't have brought up the topic of sprinting in my post, because that issue is separate from training for the 1650. (I was just adding some background info. to explain why I am focusing on the 1650 right now rather than training for sprint events.) High intensity anything is still out for me at this point. My current training program has included what I have designated as "Free Fridays." On Fridays, I do 16x100 as part of my workout. I used to be able to do them on 1:45 and hold in the high 1:20's - low 1:30's; however, that was back in the good ol' days of a healthy hip. Now I am doing that set on 1:55 and holding 1:41-2's. Thanks for your advice, Kirk!

It depends upon what you're looking for. For general strength and fitness, I am sure they are good. Can they help you swim faster? Possibly. Are they required for you to swim fast? No. My take is that they can help but there are better exercises for swimmers that translate better into the pool. I don't do push ups for a number of reasons, the primary being the impact on my shoulders. I do planks for core exercise however. I think pushing exercises are good for balance in muscle groups but believe core and specific pulling exercises translate into the pool much better. Just my uneducated opinion.

I'm in no danger of straining anything with that routine. I was a shot putter, which is a push, not a throw, and that's what was needed. I wanted to know if that is sufficient or was there a different sort of routine that would be better. I'm aiming for longer distances, 1000 and up, not sprints.

If you want to boost your # of push-ups, an excellent method is to use additional elastic band resistance. It's kinda tricky setting up, but what I use is two blocks, one for feet and another for hands. Tie off the ends to heavy dumbbells and slip under the loop such that the band goes around back. After a few weeks of these, normal push-ups will feel unusually easy

Both my running club coach and my masters swim coach urge me to do push-ups. The swim coach takes it a step further. During masters workouts, he maintains a "push-up list." Those who violate certain rules he sets up (not starting on their intervals, putting their feet down before the end of the set, etc.) are assigned 4 x {25 fly + 10 push-ups} I do the set sometimes even if not assigned it. The coach teases me--"you can't save them up!" My objective: when assigned the set, I want to reach a point where I can do it so easily that I jump out of the pool saying, "That was fun--can I do it again?" Let's just say I have a ways to go before that happens. ;)

A gradual, progressive push-ups schedule can be found here: http://hundredpushups.com/ I did it several times and while I never made it to 100 in a row, I found that I could do many sets of 40-50 totaling hundreds. So I've continued doing my multiple sets for years.