i have been a competitive swimmer for most of my life, untill i began college and other things took top priority. now i am returning to swimming for fitness and am finding myslef extremely frustrated at how out of shape i am. what is an effective workout method to get myself back to the 5000 yard workouts i used to breeze through. additionally what sort of goals are realistic for key landmarks such as 1 week, 1 month, 2 months? im sure many others have gone through this - perhaps some wouldnt mind sharing their experiences.
Parents
Former Member
Zmadd,
I agree with those that have already responded to your post. Please also consider the 10% rule too. You'll get to a point where increasing your workouts more than 10% could cause injury. I'm in my upper thirties, and remember swimming a lot more butterfly and using paddles as a child. After a couple months swimming 3.5K in an hour, I'll began adding 10% more on a monthly basis. To me, gradually improving my physical condition is better than risking an injury that could keep me out of the pool and possibly at the doctor's office. I'm swimming now for the health of it, I have overcome that teenage thing for lots of speed and yardage (most of the time).
Listen to your body.
Zmadd,
I agree with those that have already responded to your post. Please also consider the 10% rule too. You'll get to a point where increasing your workouts more than 10% could cause injury. I'm in my upper thirties, and remember swimming a lot more butterfly and using paddles as a child. After a couple months swimming 3.5K in an hour, I'll began adding 10% more on a monthly basis. To me, gradually improving my physical condition is better than risking an injury that could keep me out of the pool and possibly at the doctor's office. I'm swimming now for the health of it, I have overcome that teenage thing for lots of speed and yardage (most of the time).
Listen to your body.
