Hi everyone,
I'm trying to get a good cardio/weight lifting routine going here and I need your help with some questions...
What I know, please correct me if I'm wrong...
- Swimming pretty much works out every muscle group
- Yet, freestyle works the arms/shoulders, while *** stroke is more towards working out the chest.
- Swimming tones muscles and doesn't work them as intensely compared to lifting heavy weights.
I've been lifting (exercising upper body) for a while now as well as running on the days I don't lift, but recently I've decided to drop one of my running days in exchange for swimming. Yet, swimming would mean I'd be working my arms out possibly two days in a row if I decided to swim and then lift the next day, compared to my current routine in which I work out my upper body and then legs (running) the next day. So therefore, I was wondering, do muscles technically need need 48 hours of rest after swimming to recover properly or is the muscle gain minor just like its OK to run nearly everyday? Also, If say I were to decide to swim on Monday and Wednesday, could I lift heavily in between those days on Tuesday without worries or would my muscles need more time to rest? Bottom line, I don't really want to decrease the amount of days I weight lift in order to throw in a day of swimming, but if I have to then I will. So if I work out my arms intensely by lifting weights, then can I swim intensely the next day and still gain muscle mass under the standards that one needs 48 hours of rest to completely recover that muscle group?
Also, what about running and swimming? Theres obviously, people out there that swim or run nearly everyday, so I'm guessing the 48 hour rule of rest/recovery doesn't really apply to those sports because the muscle gain isn't as intense as lifting weights?
Here is my routine that I have made so far, does anyone think I am not getting proper muscle rest?:
Sunday: run
Monday: lift
Tuesday: swim
Wednesday: lift
Thursday: run
Friday: lift
Saturday: rest
- Thanks!
Parents
Former Member
Thanks for the alternate schedule Coach T and Todd for the facts behind the myth. I guess then its about time I continued working out my legs, since I haven't for probably close to a year.
Coach T., yeah I did mean really heavy weights on those days. 8 reps is usually the most I can do, sometimes I can squeeze in 10 and then if I'm trying to step it up it sometimes turns out that I do 3 sets of 7,8,7 reps. I might try to incorporate your idea of extra reps for a week of lifting every month to change it up a bit and concentrate on hitting those muscles fibers I might have been leaving out. Otherwise, I've been lifting moderately (3 sets/12 reps) for the past 6 months and not too long ago jumped it up to heavier weights (3 sets/8 reps) like I mentioned earlier. I'm thinking I'm just going to stick with the type of weight lifting I do right now, but also slowly add on leg workouts and leave the swim/run days to tone/stretch my muscles after those intense workouts.
Also, what if I were to decide to swim 3 days in a row, could I also work out on the middle day (upper body) and still be in the standard recommended 48 hrs of muscle rest (meaning if I swim moderately on all 3 days, will swimming have an effect on the whole muscle resting process or is it actually good to loosen/stretch those muscles right after a workout and as well as in my case the day before and after)?
Example of what I'm trying to explain:
Day 1: Swim moderately
Day 2: Intense workout/swim moderately
Day 3: Swim moderately
Thanks for the alternate schedule Coach T and Todd for the facts behind the myth. I guess then its about time I continued working out my legs, since I haven't for probably close to a year.
Coach T., yeah I did mean really heavy weights on those days. 8 reps is usually the most I can do, sometimes I can squeeze in 10 and then if I'm trying to step it up it sometimes turns out that I do 3 sets of 7,8,7 reps. I might try to incorporate your idea of extra reps for a week of lifting every month to change it up a bit and concentrate on hitting those muscles fibers I might have been leaving out. Otherwise, I've been lifting moderately (3 sets/12 reps) for the past 6 months and not too long ago jumped it up to heavier weights (3 sets/8 reps) like I mentioned earlier. I'm thinking I'm just going to stick with the type of weight lifting I do right now, but also slowly add on leg workouts and leave the swim/run days to tone/stretch my muscles after those intense workouts.
Also, what if I were to decide to swim 3 days in a row, could I also work out on the middle day (upper body) and still be in the standard recommended 48 hrs of muscle rest (meaning if I swim moderately on all 3 days, will swimming have an effect on the whole muscle resting process or is it actually good to loosen/stretch those muscles right after a workout and as well as in my case the day before and after)?
Example of what I'm trying to explain:
Day 1: Swim moderately
Day 2: Intense workout/swim moderately
Day 3: Swim moderately
