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.)
What do you all think?It depends somewhat on your goals. There are plenty of swimmers out there who swim every day without any problems. And very few Masters Swimmers train at such a level that their body actually need recovery days.
I agree with Kari, that this could lead to burnout and/or overuse injuries. However, if you train smart and are training towards a goal, then these potentials can be mitigated.
Where we disagree is with “It's more about doing quality swimming, not quantity.” This is goal dependent. If you are training to compete then quality is absolutely important. However if you are training strictly for fitness or for a mileage goal, then quantity plays a larger factor. I’ve got a friend who has set a goal of 2,000 miles swimming this year; I can assure you that he is not focused on “quality swimming”. Averaging 10,000 a day takes more like efficiency and endurance than quality.
If you want to give it a try, I suggest you start with a goal of every day for a month. When you achieve that then you see how long you can stretch it.
What do you all think?It depends somewhat on your goals. There are plenty of swimmers out there who swim every day without any problems. And very few Masters Swimmers train at such a level that their body actually need recovery days.
I agree with Kari, that this could lead to burnout and/or overuse injuries. However, if you train smart and are training towards a goal, then these potentials can be mitigated.
Where we disagree is with “It's more about doing quality swimming, not quantity.” This is goal dependent. If you are training to compete then quality is absolutely important. However if you are training strictly for fitness or for a mileage goal, then quantity plays a larger factor. I’ve got a friend who has set a goal of 2,000 miles swimming this year; I can assure you that he is not focused on “quality swimming”. Averaging 10,000 a day takes more like efficiency and endurance than quality.
If you want to give it a try, I suggest you start with a goal of every day for a month. When you achieve that then you see how long you can stretch it.
