This is from one of my favorite current swimming exprets, Brent Rushhall of San Diego State University.
www-rohan.sdsu.edu/.../table.htm
Parker, J. (1989). Wiping your swimmers out. Swimming Technique, May-July, 10-16.
The process of the destruction of muscle (rhabdomyolysis) is commonly found in runners, particularly after completing a marathon. There is little evidence that rhabdomyolysis causes performance decrement. Creatine kinase (CK) is an enzyme found in muscle cells which catalyzes the formation of phosphocreatine from creatine and ATP. It is not normally found in the blood in large quantities unless muscle cells have been damaged. Increased CK activity is a marker for excessive strain.
In one day, an elite swimmer burns more calories than a runner in a marathon. Since many swimmers train at least 3-5 hours a day six days per week, a great strain is placed on their bodies. Muscle degeneration could result from consistent exercise at elevated intensities. Muscle problems can exist with degeneration and inflammation occurring while discomfort is tolerable (low pain). Overuse injury syndrome is frequently seen in "swimmer's shoulder" (a pathology of the rotator cuff) and "breaststroker's knee" (injury to the medial colateral ligament and/or medial patellar facet due to the highly unusual action in the breaststroke kick). Possible other causes are protein and iron deficiencies, the oxidative capacity of muscle cells, and glycogen stores. Psychological conditions result in "burn-out."
Implication. The threat of overtraining can be reduced without it affecting the performance of the athlete. Yardage can be reduced and the training stimulus changed to interval work of greater quality and less volume.
". overtrained runners do not lose their conditioning, but they may demonstrate a deterioration in running form. . . .overtraining may cause some local muscular fatigue through selective glycogen depletion, forcing runners to alter their mechanics to achieve the same pace."(p. 198)
Lot more interesting stuff at:
www-rohan.sdsu.edu/.../table.htm
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Former Member
I'm no expert, but what I'm hearing a lot is that high reps, lower weights are more beneficial to swimming then heavy lifting. Also, you'd probably want to do a weight workout including balancing (balance balls and similar).
The important part for swimming is to strenghten smaller muscles too, which you don't often get out of lifting, especially if you go to the gym and use weught machines that isolate the larger muscles.
At the minimum, use free weights.
my favorite type of dryland is this: http://www.probodx.com/
(of course, I don't do it nearly as much as i should, I tend to do it for a while, then blow it off for a while... which is certainly not the right approach)
As for muscle loss, I think is has a lot of factors. Most of it is related to the fact taht a large number of people at age 50 aren't nearly as active then at 20, and physical activity, especially of a lot of resistance (or weight) can build muscle at almost any age. Lack of it results in muscle loss. Yea, there's some muscle loss related only to age, and not inactivity. I was reading an article put out by university of Florida just yesterday that with same level of activity at age 70 one would be 20% weaker then at age 20. at age of 80, this would go up to 50% weaker.
There are other aging factors that in most cases make it near impossible to maintain the same activity level at 70 as at 20...
Also, muscle loss due to aging is reversible to a degree by increased activity.
Here's an article similar to what I read yesterday:
www.unm.edu/.../sarcopenia.html
And here's an anecdotal story or you... A dear friend of mine, at the age of 20, and 6'1" frame weighed 140 pounds soaking wet with a rock in his pocket as he likes to describe it, and not very athletic.
He is 61 now, 220 pounds of solid muscle, I'd say at most 10% body fat and capable of bench pressing over 300 pounds.
If he was 20 and the same regimen, perhaps he'd be lifting 350...
Bottom line is, age related muscle loss is not someting to be alarmed about in your 40's. Just don't stop moderate exercise.
What gets to most of us as we gwt older are little chronic conditions like bad back, arthritis, chronic injuries, and body's need for a longer recovery as we get older, often a different lifestyle too, all of which makes it harder to keep the same exercise regiment when compared to our 20's.
I did notice that the link to the article you posted talks a lot about competetive weight lifting. Their information is probably very good, but it might be a bit too slanted towards the concerns of a competetive lifter, and not be AS useful for someone looking to keep physically healthy without being highly comopetetive.
Anyway, that's the way I look at it, from the common sense point of view. Like I said, I'm no expert.
I'm no expert, but what I'm hearing a lot is that high reps, lower weights are more beneficial to swimming then heavy lifting. Also, you'd probably want to do a weight workout including balancing (balance balls and similar).
The important part for swimming is to strenghten smaller muscles too, which you don't often get out of lifting, especially if you go to the gym and use weught machines that isolate the larger muscles.
At the minimum, use free weights.
my favorite type of dryland is this: http://www.probodx.com/
(of course, I don't do it nearly as much as i should, I tend to do it for a while, then blow it off for a while... which is certainly not the right approach)
As for muscle loss, I think is has a lot of factors. Most of it is related to the fact taht a large number of people at age 50 aren't nearly as active then at 20, and physical activity, especially of a lot of resistance (or weight) can build muscle at almost any age. Lack of it results in muscle loss. Yea, there's some muscle loss related only to age, and not inactivity. I was reading an article put out by university of Florida just yesterday that with same level of activity at age 70 one would be 20% weaker then at age 20. at age of 80, this would go up to 50% weaker.
There are other aging factors that in most cases make it near impossible to maintain the same activity level at 70 as at 20...
Also, muscle loss due to aging is reversible to a degree by increased activity.
Here's an article similar to what I read yesterday:
www.unm.edu/.../sarcopenia.html
And here's an anecdotal story or you... A dear friend of mine, at the age of 20, and 6'1" frame weighed 140 pounds soaking wet with a rock in his pocket as he likes to describe it, and not very athletic.
He is 61 now, 220 pounds of solid muscle, I'd say at most 10% body fat and capable of bench pressing over 300 pounds.
If he was 20 and the same regimen, perhaps he'd be lifting 350...
Bottom line is, age related muscle loss is not someting to be alarmed about in your 40's. Just don't stop moderate exercise.
What gets to most of us as we gwt older are little chronic conditions like bad back, arthritis, chronic injuries, and body's need for a longer recovery as we get older, often a different lifestyle too, all of which makes it harder to keep the same exercise regiment when compared to our 20's.
I did notice that the link to the article you posted talks a lot about competetive weight lifting. Their information is probably very good, but it might be a bit too slanted towards the concerns of a competetive lifter, and not be AS useful for someone looking to keep physically healthy without being highly comopetetive.
Anyway, that's the way I look at it, from the common sense point of view. Like I said, I'm no expert.
