The Jazz Hands training log, an alternative swimming experience
Former Member
Whenever I mention something about how I train, somebody flips out and asks for clarification. "Jazz Hands," they say, "do you really bathe in ox blood before workouts?" Or, "Jazz Hands, how many grams of testosterone do you inject weekly?" I hope to answer these questions and many more in my training log. I'll be covering water workouts and weight workouts, and I'll answer questions about both, as well as questions about my nutrition and supplementation.
I hope my alternative swimming experience will give other swimmers ideas for their own training, and expand everyone's idea of just what kind of preparation a swimmer needs to go fast.
I typically list weights this way: weight x reps. I list swimming sets this way: reps x distance. They are kind of the reverse of one another, but each one is the standard for each particular activity.
I'll start with some recent workouts.
Evening weights
Saturday December 8, 2007
School mostly finished for me on Friday, so I decided to celebrate with some sumo deadlifts.
Warmed up with 135, 205, 275, 345.
Attempted 415, felt good and fast but something went wrong. I lost control of the bar and it swung and hit me in the right shin, leaving a big red rectangle.
Finished up deadlifts with a bunch of singles at 345, and a few more at 365.
Did a set of alternating negatives on the calf machine with 140.
Evening weights
Sunday December 9, 2007
Started with 90x4 on dips. I try to do dips as deep as possible.
Did several sets of 185 on bent-over barbell rows. Didn't count reps. I mostly focused on form: back flat and parallel to the ground, no jerking and swaying. My form improved with each set.
Finished with 90x5 on dips, a new personal best. My brother watched and said I went really deep on all of the reps.
Morning swim
Monday December 10, 2007
Started with 4x25 sprint flutter kick on my back, with several minutes rest. Went 19, 18, 16, 16.
Did a couple 25s sprint free, my mind was wandering though. I was thinking about how Paul Smith says I can't do a good 100. Why not start it today? Back in the day, I used to do a 100 fly from a push every week or so just to see if I could keep up my endurance while I was swimming mostly 25s. If I remember correctly, I did about a 57 at my best. Pretty cool considering my best time in competition (high school) was a 58.
So, 100 fly! I breathed every stroke, and finished in 59. The first 50 felt really good, but I died just about as bad as I ever had on the last 25. It felt like I was actually going backwards. My friend in the other lane watched me and said I split 26 at halfway. Twenty-six to 33 is not good, and I felt like I was going to throw up for the next half hour. I hope to improve on that a lot in the coming weeks.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think his training program has less chance for injury--at least due to swimming--than a high yardage program. He's just not in the water long enough to injure himself. My feeling is most injuries in swimming are repetitive stress injuries, not traumatic injuries.
While I agree that he may not injure himself swimming, he needs to be very careful about the amount of weight lifting he is doing. He credits another fellow here with having the most experience weight lifting, he would be probably surprised to know that certain women here have more experience. My shoulder injuries are not from swimming, but partially from lifting when I was about his age, and doing the heavy lifting thing consistently.
As you age, which all of us on this forum have done (fortunately!), your current approach may need to be modified if you plan to stick with Masters swimming. Or maybe not.
That's what I was trying to say too!
Ahhhh to have a 21 year old body again.....
While I agree that he may not injure himself swimming, he needs to be very careful about the amount of weight lifting he is doing. He credits another fellow here with having the most experience weight lifting, he would be probably surprised to know that certain women here have more experience. My shoulder injuries are not from swimming, but partially from lifting when I was about his age, and doing the heavy lifting thing consistently.
Yep. I lifted a lot when I was younger. It definitely helped my strength. I never did low reps, high weights. It was always low to mid weights and lots of reps.
I think you can injure yourself swimming if you don't maintain good technique.....especially in sprinting. That is a pretty ballistic motion for your body.
I Know some very GOOD sprinters that always start their workouts with only 100 meter warm up, also pretty shorts workouts, like 2000 meter, they still kicking my ass on the 100 free and 50 free.
I don't think professional swimmers use such a short warm ups, I need between 400 and 1000 meters to warm up. (at least). I have been injured by swimming fly without warm up.
Weight lifting really improves swimming if you are able to keep enough
flexibility while getting stronger.
Funkyfish, I was waiting to hear your thoughts. I think you probably have more weight training experience than anyone here. How much are you squatting in your picture?
I actually just started doing box squats last Thursday. I used to always do full squats, but they were hurting my knees. I used a bench, which was probably a couple inches above parallel, and I got up to 275. On Friday I practiced squatting with the bar to different heights of boxes I put together with plates on a step platform. That setup was a lot deeper than the bench, and I think I'll use it for my next squat day. I can't get very wide, though. It's just not comfortable.
I think that was right at 500 (10 plates on a 50lb bar). I've got a few years of weight training but since I've been getting old and achy, I've gotten back into swimming and only lift 2-3 times a week. In regards to wide squats, it is uncomfortable at first, but with enough practice you can stretch to where it feels "natural". There's this 55 yr. old powerlifter at the gym where I swim, he talked me into training that way. It was actually easier on my lower back, and I wound up lifting more than with legs shoulder-width apart.
Also, if you're really into weights, you might incorporate some speed work into your compound lifts, where you focus on explosiveness. It builds a different type of strength, and it breaks up the routine. Good luck.
:groovy:
I was just thinking it would be funny for Jazz Hands to enter the "Go The Distance" challenge for 2008. A realistic goal for him might be 50 miles for the year. To put that into perspective, the current leader for 2007 has gone nearly 1,600 miles through November! :)
Jazz Hands,
What is your 100 and 200 time from a push?
I think a couple weeks ago I did a 100 free in 53 or 54. My best 200 in practice was a long time ago, I think about 2:00. A couple seasons ago I got my 400 down to 4:04.
Subjects sprinted on stationary bikes for 30 seconds at a time with several minutes of rest, three times a week for seven weeks. This training resulted in aerobic adaptations, including increased levels of certain enzymes, and increased V02 max. According to the authors, "Changes of this magnitude are usually associated with training programs involving several hours per week at submaximal exercise intensity."
I can offer one anecdote here. While a H.S. freshman and swimming twice a day, we did rope jumping in PE class for 1-2 minutes most days. I could actually notice a difference when we skipped a day or two of jump rope, I was more tired in spite of the amount swimming I was doing.
Personal anecdote--the fastest 50 I ever swam (keep in mind I am not a sprinter) was on a relay at an intramural meet several months after my last college team workout. I did not warm up and had a bit of a cold.
I went 22.9.
