Dara Torres-Amazing

I would be very interested to learn what dry land and stretching exercises she is doing. The NY Times article featured a photo of DT on a plyo ball holding 5 or 10 pound plate weights in each hand. The pose implied she was swimming freestyle. I believe that the article stated that she does not lift weights (ala bench press or squats). That exercise was new to me. I tried to duplicate that photo exercise at my local gym yesterday - it's very hard to balance on the ball, rotate along the long axis and simulate freestyle arm swing. Swinging the weights imparted additional torque which made it hard to stay on the ball (pun intended). It felt as clumsy as other exercises that I try to do using plyo balls, planks, etc. I'm not sure that this exercise directly contributes to propulsive movements, but I think it is designed to train associate (e.g. core) muscles. And I'll assume that she is performing other "non-standard" weight bearing exercises in the 90 minutes of dry land training. I'm also very interested in the stretching exercises that she undergoes (reported at 60 minutes). Recently, I went to an NBA basketball game and could not believe how much range of motion the players had to undertake while warming up. After a short warmup (jogging, shooting), each player had his legs stretched by a trainer who appeared to use his body weight to pull and push each players leg while they were prone (stomach and back) past what would be a normal range. Our college basketball teams don't do anything close to what the pros were doing for stretching. DT's two stretch/massage trainers may be applying similar techniques to increase her range of motion and strength -esp where one has limited mechanical advantage. I think that learning new techniques would be helpful - or at least fun to try. And I agree with previous posters that training quality is more important when time is limited. Philipp

If you look at a lot of elite swimmers at the national and collegiate level (Mike Bottom, Frank Busch, etc.) you will find that spinning classes have become an accepted cross training mechanism I will say this. A couple years ago I did some spinning. Usually only once per week, but pretty regularly. That season I dropped my 500 time from around 5:10 to close to 5:00. That was the year SC Nats were in Ft. Lauderdale and that was probably my best meet to date, at least short course. I don't know how much the spinning contributed to this. I'm sure I was also in the pool more that season than I had been previously. I do think it's always good to vary things. I know lots of college teams spin. I just wonder if they would still spin if they were only getting in five hours of swimming per week. I doubt it, but who knows?

I would like to hear Paul's answer, but I do think I agree with him. A lot of people that see me swim do not believe I started so late(although I will never be at you all's levels). I think I was able to do well because I already had conditioning from other forms of exercising, and one of my main loves is cycling. Cross training is a tremendous help to swimming.

I think what you're getting at is that if you're in the pool just a few hours per week you should concentrate on race-pace and technique training rather than aerobic or "long slow distance" training, and I agree. I would, however, disagree that base training is better attained through something like a spin class, though. What's your basis for this? If you look at a lot of elite swimmers at the national and collegiate level (Mike Bottom, Frank Busch, etc.) you will find that spinning classes have become an accepted cross training mechanism (numerous articles in various fitness publications have shown studies of the benefits)...its very hard if not impossible to get your heart rate as high and maintain it in the pool as you can on a bike...I put in 30-60 minutes and maintain 140+.... And I'm (contrary to most peoples thinking) not a "sprinter" (my most recent SCY 200 free was a negative split 1:44+ and I went 4:48 in the 500). The cross training I do allows me to extend my range from the 50 thru the 500 (I don't swim the 1000 in meets as I find it very boring but have been under 10:10 in practice the few times I've not opted out). A comment on Dara's regime vs. most masters....Dara is not a "masters" swimmer she is a pro who earns a significant amount of money through endorsements, modeling, etc.... Regarding why a masters swimmer would ever cheat...ego aside...follow the money. There is money to be made in this sport via clinics, private coaching, etc. Not a lot...but more than people would realize.

So you are saying that periodisation is one of the keys to improvement? What other advantages are there to this kind of periodisation? I could think of a few reasons off the top of my head: boredom avoidance and repetitive injury avoidance to name just two. But I think it requires a real faith in the process to do something like this. Somehow large doses of aerobic training are ingrained in most swimmers minds. A session without decent yardage feels like a 'goof off'. Perhaps we need to change our mindsets. Nine months ago when I started training again for the first time in 24 years, all I did every practice was a 500m warm up followed by 10 X 50m free with plenty of rest in between and ALL OUT. Now I am averaging 3000m a practice, doing a lot more aerobic stuff, drills and other strokes and my 50m freestyle time has hardly improved at all. My 200m free time has come down significantly, though. Would you say low yardage, stretching, strength work and race paced training are more beneficial to sprinters? Would someone like Dara being doing drill work, other strokes, aerobic sets or would she just be focussed entilrely on her main events: the 50m and 100m free? What about the person who still has stroke issues to iron out? For example; recently I have changed from a two beat to a six beat kick and am also trying to incorporate bilateral breathing into my training. All of this takes time and needs to be done slowly at first before tried at race pace. I am assuming that periodisation of training and more specific race oriented training is only for those who have sorted most of these issues out? Syd Syd, here's my thoughts: - I would never have someone swim hard lactic or aerobic sets every singe day. I like Fred Bosquets training reviewed recently in swimming world, basically its a speed day followed by a recovery day followed by an aerobic day, day off than repeat. The goal is 2-21/2 days a week of full blown speed work, two full days of rest, and recovery, aerobic/recovery days mixed in. Keep in mind he's in his 20's, for us old farts we need to listen a bit more to our bodies and if we have the resources like Dara be getting extra help with massage/stretching. - Dara is 100% focused on the 50/100, no reason whatsoever to think about anything else with Trails coming up next year. These 2 races however swam long course require very different training strategies, the 100m free is going to take some base aerobic conditioning (IMHO) that may not be as important in a yard format. - Peridoization should never be done..or any training for that matter without work on technique mixed in as part of that training. i can only say for myself that virtually every stroke is "mindful"...always trying to be more efficient no matter what part of the season I'm in. If I lose my stroke or am basically flailing it is (again IMHO) important to try and "reset" and maybe back off on the interval or effort to regain the technique...if possible - Bottom line is I don't know that I'll ever be even remotely close to "ironing out" stroke issues...but I'll never stop trying.

i have said in the past that i enjoy a good practice as much as i do a good race. i would think that many masters do as well and so, do not devote 6 months or more training for a 50 or 200 at nats. it makes those who do stand out as the exceptions. David, again this is my opinion for take it for what its worth...but the comments above are in my opinion exactly what's wrong with most masters teams/swimmers. Regardless of wether you are a fitness swimmer who will never compete, an occasional competitor or a fully dedicated racer training needs to be cycled (periodization). Each swimmer should set up either a real or "imaginary" event to focus towards and run through the basic cycles associated with base training, hard interval base training, speed work, rest. Its only through these cycles that you will continue to see improvement vs, simply working out for working outs sake. As to the questions of how to incorporate quality work into a program that does no real quality its easier than you think....change lanes and go shorter distances with more rest, move to the back of the pack in a lane and leave 10-15 seconds behind and do a fast swim, stay after practice and do some no-breather 25's from a dive, etc. etc.

Regardless of wether you are a fitness swimmer who will never compete, an occasional competitor or a fully dedicated racer training needs to be cycled (periodization). Each swimmer should set up either a real or "imaginary" event to focus towards and run through the basic cycles associated with base training, hard interval base training, speed work, rest. Its only through these cycles that you will continue to see improvement vs, simply working out for working outs sake. So you are saying that periodisation is one of the keys to improvement? What other advantages are there to this kind of periodisation? I could think of a few reasons off the top of my head: boredom avoidance and repetitive injury avoidance to name just two. But I think it requires a real faith in the process to do something like this. Somehow large doses of aerobic training are ingrained in most swimmers minds. A session without decent yardage feels like a 'goof off'. Perhaps we need to change our mindsets. Nine months ago when I started training again for the first time in 24 years, all I did every practice was a 500m warm up followed by 10 X 50m free with plenty of rest in between and ALL OUT. Now I am averaging 3000m a practice, doing a lot more aerobic stuff, drills and other strokes and my 50m freestyle time has hardly improved at all. My 200m free time has come down significantly, though. Would you say low yardage, stretching, strength work and race paced training are more beneficial to sprinters? Would someone like Dara being doing drill work, other strokes, aerobic sets or would she just be focussed entilrely on her main events: the 50m and 100m free? What about the person who still has stroke issues to iron out? For example; recently I have changed from a two beat to a six beat kick and am also trying to incorporate bilateral breathing into my training. All of this takes time and needs to be done slowly at first before tried at race pace. I am assuming that periodisation of training and more specific race oriented training is only for those who have sorted most of these issues out? Syd

This may be old news to many of you. Here's an link to an interview that Dara did in 2000 after the Sidney Olympics on the Charlie Rose show. Very ironic that Marion Jones is also interviewed on this show: www.youtube.com/watch She's obviously a driven, talented person, but she makes one comment that is either naive or telling, that is, that she put on 20 pounds of muscle by following a high-protein diet. I'm sorry to be contradictory, but this makes no sense whatsoever. There was something else going on that added that muscle. Charlie Rose, the interviewer, totally soft-balled this issue.

This may be old news to many of you. Here's an link to an interview that Dara did in 2000 after the Sidney Olympics on the Charlie Rose show. Very ironic that Marion Jones is also interviewed on this show: www.youtube.com/watch She's obviously a driven, talented person, but she makes one comment that is either naive or telling, that is, that she put on 20 pounds of muscle by following a high-protein diet. I'm sorry to be contradictory, but this makes no sense whatsoever. There was something else going on that added that muscle. Charlie Rose, the interviewer, totally soft-balled this issue. Over what period of time did she add this muscle? A few months? A year?

Hi Paul, Thanks very much for the detailed reply. I train on my own with another swimmer who can't make the early morning team workouts. And although this might seem like a disadvantage, it does give us the flexibility and opportunity to set up more of a performance based schedule as you described. In fact, our workouts are much more challenging. When I did swim with the group, the workouts became predictable, with no real emphasis on period~ization. It was just month after month of the same routine. Maybe most masters group are set up to cater to the group as a whole. Not everyone in our masters group competes, and the workouts seem as if they're geared towards the fitness swimmer rather than the competitor. I guess it really all depends on which club you belong to. Since the season is relatively young, I'm going to take your words of wisdom along with my three months of base training and try something new! Thank you again for taking time to share your thoughts.