What's are your favorite crosstraining activities? Do you like it for general overall fitness or because it specifically benefits your swimming? Explain.
Former Member
Do you like it for general overall fitness or because it specifically benefits your swimming?
Neither. I lift weights not because I like it that much, but because it's doctor's orders. We're trying to prevent my bones from turning into fine powder...
Anna Lea
What's are your favorite crosstraining activities? Do you like it for general overall fitness or because it specifically benefits your swimming? Explain.
Racquetball....kind of a switch up to breakup the sometime monotony of swimming back and forth. Muscles involved compliment swimming as well as it being a fun type of cardio. Not to mention being able to laugh my butt off if my buddy gets pelted :D
The goal is to be a very capable ATHLETE, not necessarily swim the most yardage. Hand quickness, agility, flexibilty, core strength. If you have those, you can swim 20K a week working on feeling the water, lung capactiy, technique and speed and most likely get away with it. Of course, this is assuming you have had some sort of athletic base in your past. Just look Stefan Nystrand - swam the 2nd fastest 100 Free couple months ago - 47.91. How about Ed Moses? A natural athlete setting world records only after two years of swimming. I think people are starting to catch on!
This is part of why I participate in a variety of sports for fun... but general athleticism means you're pretty good at lots of things, and not necessarily outstanding at anything or one thing in particular. Lets look at the two muppets as a case for each:
SwimmieAvsFan is a good example for specialization. She quit soccer and basketball early in her youth to swim. She excelled in her youth and thoughout High School and she was "outstanding" enough to swim in college. She continues to rank highly in the USMS top 10.
On the other end of the spectrum, I swam, played soccer, basketball and baseball for much of my youth. I never did a back-to-back season of anything. No swimming in college for me. While swimming is #1 sport priority now, I do participate in others and do very well. However, back to swimming, I depend on other folks not swimming to appear outstanding in the USMS top 10.
Ed Moses was a great golfer before swimming took over. He was great for 2-3 years, didn't win the golds he'd been slated for, and then disappeared off the radar. I wonder if his general athleticism just got the better of him - that once the swimming specialists took over, he appeared to be just another run-of-the-mill breaststroker. Not to take anything away from Ed - I had a chance to meet and talk with him - great guy w/ a great sense of humor and pretty humble in my opinion.
I bike because it gets me to work cheaper and faster than my coworkers who drive and have to search for parking half a km away. I like the early morning ride, and greatly dislike the evening one. Despite the fact that cycling and flutter kicking are two completely different movements, since I started cycling on a daily basis, I've found kick sets to be almost tolerable, as opposed to completely impossible, and for me, that's a big leap.
Tom,
Boxing is probably one of the best cross-training for swimming. Cross-training is a very important part of swimming, esp for sprinters. The goal is to be a very capable ATHLETE, not necessarily swim the most yardage. Hand quickness, agility, flexibilty, core strength. If you have those, you can swim 20K a week working on feeling the water, lung capactiy, technique and speed and most likely get away with it. Of course, this is assuming you have had some sort of athletic base in your past. Just look Stefan Nystrand - swam the 2nd fastest 100 Free couple months ago - 47.91. How about Ed Moses? A natural athlete setting world records only after two years of swimming. I think people are starting to catch on!
I spin on about a weekly basis as my cross training. I've been doing it for 18 months now. I run only so I can finish a run in a triathlon. I just started yoga as well.
One day a new spinning instructor commented that swimming was a good cross training for my swimming. Oh no, I had to correct her. Spinning is my cross training for swimming. Priorities!
Alison
I started out as a full fledged twice a day runner/competitive racer. Due to stress fractures, I took swimming lessons. Now, 25 years later, I have stopped running for many reasons: calves would get tight and cramp in the pool, toes would cramp, legs always felt too heavy, my kick was nonexistent. I realized when I HAD to stop running due to health problems that my swimming/kick/feet/calves felt soooo much better! However, if I had a choice (sorry swimmers:rolleyes:) I would run every day. Why? It's easy, you only need running shoes, (well, of course, shorts and top), you can run any time, anywhere, you are always thin. you are NOT ravenously starving 24/7, you don't smell like chlorine, you're not a slave to pool hours, your hair isn't always semi-dry and your skin doesn't feel like paper. And the extra bonus--you always feel euphoric while running and energized when done. It's a very spiritual activity for me. Spinning has been able to keep my heart rate up, but is no replacement for me like running. However, I am totally in love with swimming, I just hate all the issues that come with it - pools too hot, hours stink, noodlers in the lanes, classes in the lanes, etc.
Yoga! Keeps me flexible. Haven't had any joint, limb, or back problems for quite awhile. Need to do some weights and more core work. Elbow curls a close second!!!
I spin on about a weekly basis as my cross training. I've been doing it for 18 months now. I run only so I can finish a run in a triathlon. I just started yoga as well.
One day a new spinning instructor commented that swimming was a good cross training for my swimming. Oh no, I had to correct her. Spinning is my cross training for swimming. Priorities!
Alison
I also prefer spinning. A couple of years ago (when I attended 2 to 3 spin classes a week), I was able to combine spinning and swimming to lose around 85 pounds in a year.....unfortunately I have gained much of it back since then and I no longer have the time to attend spin classes anymore :shakeshead:
