Getting my swim strength after back injury

Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I will for sure keep them in mind as I keep swimming. I do have to rest quite frequently for no more than a minute, as I’m just not able to go more than maybe (4 or 6) 25 yard lengths without a little break. My aunt who is a Physical Therapist with the VA suggested doing kicking from the side or steps as well as squats from step to step. Last time I tried the kickboard was a couple weeks ago and the positioning was a bit painful, so I have not done it again. However, will give it one try tomorrow. Thanks again! Kicking with a kickboard does not put you in a swimming position and can be hard on the neck and shoulders. Better to kick with a snorkel or on your back or side.

Hey Prodgirl! As Orca said, rather than just try to swim straight thru your 850, you can break up the swims into meaningful units of work called "sets" with rest periods in and between the sets. As an example, using our 850 yards of laps as a starter... you could "build a pyramid" - Swim 6 25's (one length) with a rest interval in between each 25 of 10 or 20 seconds (150 yards) - Swim 4 50's (two lengths) with a slightly longer rest interval between each swim (200 yards) - Swim 1 100 (four lengths) take a break after the 100 of a couple minutes. (100 yards) - Swim 4 50's using same or slightly less rest period as on the first set of 50's (200 yards) - Swim 6 25's using same or slightly less rest period as on the first set of 25's (150 yards) - Swim an easy 50 yards to "warm down" Total 850 yards You can add kicking sets (or insert some kicking in each set) to build your kick and core. You can mix your strokes in a set, or pick a stroke at the start of each set to use throughout. You can mix up the order of the distances, and add more repeated swims in each set, or add a longer distance. Many people suggest you only increase yardage about 10% every few practices. So week one you are at 850, but in week two or three you increase to 900-925 yards, and so on. Hopefully, some structure, with variety will make your swimming more interesting as well! Let us know what you think! Thanks everyone for the suggestions! I will for sure keep them in mind as I keep swimming. I do have to rest quite frequently for no more than a minute, as I’m just not able to go more than maybe (4 or 6) 25 yard lengths without a little break. My aunt who is a Physical Therapist with the VA suggested doing kicking from the side or steps as well as squats from step to step. Last time I tried the kickboard was a couple weeks ago and the positioning was a bit painful, so I have not done it again. However, will give it one try tomorrow. Thanks again!

Kicking with a kickboard does not put you in a swimming position and can be hard on the neck and shoulders. Better to kick with a snorkel or on your back or side. Good to know - thanks. The kick board was very uncomfortable and close to painful on my lower back where I had My surgery. When you say kick on my back or side, how do you mean? I can do about 1/8 of my workout on backstroke. Still not strong enough in my core to just kick on my back and stay afloat! I sink...

If you are having problems kicking on your back, on your side may not be easier. Try kicking on your back with your hands at your side, sculling a little if that helps. Really though, the snorkel is the best.

If you are having problems kicking on your back, on your side may not be easier. Try kicking on your back with your hands at your side, sculling a little if that helps. Really though, the snorkel is the best. Yeah, I tried kicking on my back without using my arm a few days ago and my head just sank. My core is just not strong enough yet.

It seems to me that you are doing great! Good advice above. Swimming regularly is wonderful rehab for so many surgeries. Keeping it regular, but not trying to do too much too soon, being patient and gently progressive, makes good sense to me, based on my experience of rehabbing 2 hip surgeries in the pool. Do you ice after each workout? BTW, did you have general anesthesia? I found that wiped me out for some time and probably contributed to slow recovery of my aerobic fitness. Have you considered an Aquatic Physical Therapy to complement your swimming and land based PT? (aquaticpt.org/frequently-asked-questions.cfm) I found doing APT in the pool was great. You can gently build resistance, you are buoyed by the water, you can do a very wide range of exercises to rebuild core and other strength. Good luck with your recovery and rehab and happy new year :)

If you are having problems kicking on your back, on your side may not be easier. Try kicking on your back with your hands at your side, sculling a little if that helps. Really though, the snorkel is the best. Good workout today, thankfully. i was able to add (3j sets of 15 underwater squats in about 4’ of water and managed to stay afloat kicking on my back with one and two arms extended in the water and above my head. Sank a bit with my hands at my side, odd? Thanks again for everyone’s suggestions. I wish I could share a lane with you at my gym pool!

It seems to me that you are doing great! Good advice above. Swimming regularly is wonderful rehab for so many surgeries. Keeping it regular, but not trying to do too much too soon, being patient and gently progressive, makes good sense to me, based on my experience of rehabbing 2 hip surgeries in the pool. Do you ice after each workout? BTW, did you have general anesthesia? I found that wiped me out for some time and probably contributed to slow recovery of my aerobic fitness. Have you considered an Aquatic Physical Therapy to complement your swimming and land based PT? (aquaticpt.org/frequently-asked-questions.cfm) I found doing APT in the pool was great. You can gently build resistance, you are buoyed by the water, you can do a very wide range of exercises to rebuild core and other strength. Good luck with your recovery and rehab and happy new year :) Hey GDavis! Thanks for responding. I did have IV Anesthesia, the gas makes me sick for several days. As for APT...my gym only offered it one day a week at 7am :(. And I am NOT a morning person unless it’s for work, and even then, it’s questionable, (I am a freelancer, so no Monday - Friday routine). I try to find APT that I can add on my own, hence the jogging in water and ladder pools. Today, I hope to do the water squats. However, after waking up I’m in serious pain. This has happened three times after a few miles of a bike ride, which I did yesterday.

Please tell me not to let some 20 ish year old (kinda chubby), trainer mess with my psyche!! Today, one of the ‘trainers’ at my gym asked me, “why are you doing squats in the pool with a 7.5lb weight”? I told him I was doing this to work on my strength in my back, legs, and core. And I told him I also do laps, ladder pulls and run from the 3 1/2 mark to 4’ (I can’t stand any deeper) - it’s about 10 yards and I’ll do 8 forwards and 8 backwards runs. He then told me none of that is going to do me any good and I need I get in the gym. I told him I’m still waiting for clearance from my orthopedic dr after surgery 11/20, (my f/u got moved to next week). And the first and last time I worked out with their ‘trainer’ - I couldn’t walk for a week without being in excruciating pain!

Please tell me not to let some 20 ish year old (kinda chubby), trainer mess with my psycho!! ... OMG I can relate. It hasn't been so bad in recent years, (a benefit of age, or just luck, I'm unsure) but for many years it seemed like I could not go to a gym without at least one 20-ish "expert" (in his own mind) telling me that what I was doing was doing me no good and was likely to injure me. As if this isn't annoying enough, not one of these "experts" ever asked me what I was trying to accomplish. It was actually so bad that for years I would not go to a gym. I still prefer just doing drylands in my basement. I suspect they take one look at me and since I'm really skinny, assume that I am trying to "bulk up" and know absolutely nothing about exercise. After I would prove to be a lost cause, they would invariably go try to "educate" some woman. OK, rant over.