It's a constant debate and battle in my head, the angel and demon on each shoulder: should I go to swim practice on the seventh day or not? Is swimming 365 days a year in good interest? I am sure context, how you live and work your hours outside of swim, matters here. Are there any true fish out here who make it to the pool day-after-day almost infallibly? I'd be impressed to hear your story! :bow:
I always swim 3-4 days a week, no challenging it.
I would like to always swim 5-6 days a week, and do in fact hit this goal during different seasons.
Still...
....I'm always debating trying swimming 7 days a week, every week.
Part of me wants to do it, because I'd want to take full responsibility for making myself the best swimmer I personally can be. And that would be an impressive and presumably rewarding undertaking. But is knocking off days of eventually-mandatory rest even worth it? Am I just being to hard on myself? Would swimming that much be counterproductive? Perhaps it would leave me feeling as though I had something to prove. Some days when I listen to my body, the is reply is "less is more." :drowning:
What do you all think? Would you change your schedule to swim 7 days, every week, for as much as one whole year straight - and if you did, why would that be a worthy, worthwhile goal for you? And if you are already a fish 7 days a week, almost every week, would you ever consider swimming less? (Not counting tapering, of course: which could be defined as not swimming for a swimming reason --- as opposed to taking a break/changing your schedule: which is not swimming for an external reason or justification.)
Hey Solar! Glad to see you in the pool and playing on the forums now. Great questions and good goals (saw those on a different thread).
So 7 days a week of anything could lead to burnout and/or overuse injuries if you're not used to it. When your passion becomes work, it's just not as much fun. Not sure what your age is, but consider taking at least one day a week off or two if your body is telling you to do so. Your body needs rest days to repair and regenerate. You could do something different those rest days, like go for a long walk, but keep it low impact/pressure.
It's more about doing quality swimming, not quantity. Try tweaking one thing per month until it has become habit, such as faster turns, then work on another area. If you're not already, you should also change up what you're doing every day - speed one day, drills and stroke another, then distance another. Make it challenging. There are some fantastic workouts in the workout forums that you can print out and do to keep things different. If you still feel like you need more, do a double workout some days - one in the morning, one in the evening.
In short, yes, you need at least one rest day/week.
Hey Solar! Glad to see you in the pool and playing on the forums now. Great questions and good goals (saw those on a different thread).
So 7 days a week of anything could lead to burnout and/or overuse injuries if you're not used to it. When your passion becomes work, it's just not as much fun. Not sure what your age is, but consider taking at least one day a week off or two if your body is telling you to do so. Your body needs rest days to repair and regenerate. You could do something different those rest days, like go for a long walk, but keep it low impact/pressure.
It's more about doing quality swimming, not quantity. Try tweaking one thing per month until it has become habit, such as faster turns, then work on another area. If you're not already, you should also change up what you're doing every day - speed one day, drills and stroke another, then distance another. Make it challenging. There are some fantastic workouts in the workout forums that you can print out and do to keep things different. If you still feel like you need more, do a double workout some days - one in the morning, one in the evening.
In short, yes, you need at least one rest day/week.
