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.
Former Member
What's cool about this is that I'm not sure exactly what's going to happen, either. Back in May there was some controversy about my method of training for the 50. I prepared for nationals by doing workouts of 1x50 all out. Seriously. That's how I went 21.5. Personal best time, remember. Could the same approach work for 100 yards, or will I need more extensive aerobic system training? I plan on swimming in a meet in January, which will help me gauge my progress and make the necessary adjustments to my training.
I think you are going to need some aerobic training to do well in the 100. IMHO. I can see how this method might work for the 50 but what about the last 15m of a 100. That is where aerobic training will carry you through.
Syd
Jazz- our little community comprises many sorts of swimmers employing all sorts of training styles according to their various circumstances, backgrounds and objectives. If you are sincere in your approach (which is very different) then I, for one, will follow this thread with interest to see where this leads you, without necessarily looking a for blueprint for my own meagre efforts. In this regard, it would be invaluable to know your age, background etc. The Geek's objectivity is hampered by chronic dyspepsia fueled by his unrequited crush on the Fort.
I'll put up $100 right now that he will be injured with this type of warm up/training in the pool....in the next 2 years he will blow something up...and in all seriousnness I hope (given all we've seen in recent years) its not his heart.
Ok, one hundred dollars it is. You've got two years for me to blow something up.
Jazz- our little community comprises many sorts of swimmers employing all sorts of training styles according to their various circumstances, backgrounds and objectives. If you are sincere in your approach (which is very different) then I, for one, will follow this thread with interest to see where this leads you, without necessarily looking a for blueprint for my own meagre efforts. In this regard, it would be invaluable to know your age, background etc. The Geek's objectivity is hampered by chronic dyspepsia fueled by his unrequited crush on the Fort.
Thanks, Peter. Here's my info.
Age
I'm 21 years old. I will turn 22 in January.
Size
I'm 6'1" and somewhere in the neighborhood of 210 pounds.
Training background
I've been a year-round competitive swimmer since I was 7. I did the standard USS club swimming workouts, with a lot of TI-like drills and fairly high yardage. I did high school swimming, which was very intense and fun. In college I've mostly been training on my own, with various methods and various levels of success. I started lifting in March 2006, when I was about 165 pounds, and I dropped a ton of time in the 50 after that.
Thanks, Peter. Here's my info.
Age
I'm 21 years old. I will turn 22 in January.
Size
I'm 6'1" and somewhere in the neighborhood of 210 pounds.
Training background
I've been a year-round competitive swimmer since I was 7. I did the standard USS club swimming workouts, with a lot of TI-like drills and fairly high yardage. I did high school swimming, which was very intense and fun. In college I've mostly been training on my own, with various methods and various levels of success. I started lifting in March 2006, when I was about 165 pounds, and I dropped a ton of time in the 50 after that.
I see said the blind man.
I suspect that you will be able to continue swimming a fast 50 with this routine (riding on the coat tails of your USS training days) but swimming a 100 with splits commensurate to your 50 time is going to require more than 100 or 200 yards in a given workout. Were I independently wealthy like Paul Smith I might even place a wager on this. ;)
Evening weights
Monday December 10, 2007
Today was unilateral leg day, which is a new thing for me. Training legs unilaterally takes strain off the lower back and also involves more stabilization.
I started with dumbbell walking lunges, which were a little bit wobbly. I did 30x4, 40x4, 50x5, 60x5, 70x4.
After that I did alternating negatives on the leg press. This requires some explanation. Alternating negatives means I push up with both legs, and then take one leg off the platform and let myself down with the other leg. Then I push up again with both legs and let myself down with the leg that was resting previously. All of that is one rep. Today I did 100x5, 130x5, 160x5, 190x5.
I finished with alternating negatives on the calf machine, 140x18.
JH likes weight training more than he likes swimming. Not all that different from many other 22 y.o's His training program reflects that preference.
No, I don't like lifting more than I like swimming. I like both of them, and you'll notice that I spend roughly equal time on them. It just happened that I started this log with weekend workouts, which are mostly lifting for me.
Don't you miss swimming? I guess the novel approach has worked to date for you and it's indeed nice to have a breakthrough, but do you really want to affirmatively limit yourself to only 200 yards a practice? Would it really hurt your 50 to swim a few more laps in the pool? Don't you want to do any other strokes? Don't you think doing drills or working on DPS or kicking would help too?
No, I don't miss swimming, probably because I feel like I am swimming all the freaking time. Nearly every morning, the very first thing I do is go to the pool. I'm usually in the water for a fairly long time playing around between my sets. I really enjoy being at the pool. I don't think extra yardage would be harmful, but I don't particularly feel like doing it all of the time, either.
Oops. I see on your first post that you just did a 100 fly for time. Let us NOT recommend this approach to the 30+ or 40+ crowd, even if we are sprinters. I wouldn't even consider doing fly without a good warm up and some fly drills first. Ouch. Sounds of shoulder ripping. I definitely think there's better ways to train fly then just get in and let er rip. Although timing yourself is a good discipline.
I don't really know what you're talking about here. I was quite well warmed up by that point. I'm just not a person who needs a lot of warm-up yardage. I'm not telling anyone to swim my exact workouts. Anyone who wants to adopt my ideas will have to make adjustments.
