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!
Coach T--not sure if your response was directed to me or not. I don't want to hijack this thread (the OP has some good stuff going). I sent you a PM, feel free to send me one back. For anyone else, I'd be happy to start a new thread if there's interest, again shoot me a PM and I'll do so if I get a few people interested.
What strokes do you like to swim and how old are you. I'm asking because some stroke specific exercises supplementing your program may help and as we grow older we usually need more rest to recover properly. If you can handle 3 days in a row go for it ( I can't do that and some swimmers swim every day). I know fitness experts who alternate upper body and lower body training 6 days a week and it works for them. I always warm-up with a kick set without a kickboard so I can ease my arms into it. You're onto something but the key will be "result" and unless you get the results you're searching for, don't stop experimenting. Good luck!
I'm so impressed I want to cry. I love the routine and wish I could do it. I'd like to know what motivates you. I'm 6'0" , 54 and gained 10 lbs over the holidays. My knees swell and are very painful after jogging a mile so I shy away from it but when I add the jog to my routine I lose weight. I'm 194 and need to get down to 186. I don't bench (shoulder-cuff tear) and do various flys for my chest.
I can't imagine that you not finding some great results from your routine. I'd like to know the typical exercises you do. I start with straight leg calf-raisers (70 reps at 270lbs), curls (nautalis 80lbs to failure 2 or 3 sets), bar dips (2 x 25 ), pull ups or lat pulls (100lbs 2 x 25 infront and inback of neck), nautalis pull-overs (120 x 30), sit-down military (100lbs x 20-25), Back row ( 2 sets 140 x 20), soleus / bent knee calf raisers (100lbs x 30), Nautalis leg curl (2 sets x 80lbs), Hammer Quads ( 2 sets 150lbs), 2 sets various flys (25lb dumbells), stretch-cord (pulls duplicating breaststroke press about 80 times), lunges forward and backward 40 total. I swim about 1000yards three times a week and 800 yards of it are slow then I time a kick and some 25's (I add one timed 100 once every other week). I jog a mile three times a week (same day's as my swim). I'm going to add a stationary bike to my routine to replace some of the jogs (knees hurt too much).
If you can stick with the routine you posted, and you have some written goals, you'll get where you want to be. The only variable I can see getting in your way is diet but you seem to be dedicated enough to handle that. Good luck, Coach T.
Are you competing in any tri's or master meets?
Coach T--Mainly I do freestyle and breaststroke, with the occasional sidestroke if I need to do something easier for me without resting. For the workouts that I do, I actually changed it up a bit, I guess in the end its really hard to find a perfect routine, but either way I'm planning on just working out my upper body twice a week and my legs in between those two upper body days (to give them rest). So pretty much freestyle and breastroke would be the best? I have been having a little trouble with my rotary cuff lately, so I'm thinking incorporating backstroke would help me out a lot with those shoulders.
Now where to get the motivation from? We'll you asked how old I was, I'm 18, but age really doesn't matter. I think anything cardio (running, swimming, biking) is all mental. If you tell your arms and legs to keep moving then chances are there not going to let you down, hah. Lifting on the other hand, thats obviously all physical (except when your trying to move onto heavier weights) because your body can only lift so much since our muscles aren't even meant to undergo such extreme lifting, I mean when we lift we are in fact ripping apart our tissue in our bodies in order to make it bigger.
Aztimm--That crazy. For the past 2 months I've been working out 6 days a week (4 lift/3 cardio) but recently just dropped it to 3 lift/3 cardio because I just wasn't giving my muscles enough rest from lifting.
>>But what your doing (swimming in the morning and lifting at night) from what I heard and read is that is the best way to lose weight, what I'm saying is, spacing your cardio into for example a 30 min. morning swim and then a 30 min. night swim rather than doing a single 1 hour swim<'t know.
I was just using 30 minutes as an example, I could of wrote an hour or two, but I was just saying that in general, that if one wants to lose weight, (from what I have read) that its better to divide a long workout (ex: 30 min morning/30 min night) rather then doing it all at once.
My two sports/passions are swimming and bodybuilding. (Now there's a X-train multi-sport combo if there ever was one.) I have been weight training for 17 years and swim training with Masters for 4+ months now and layering the two together quite well. Some challenges/changes have been:
-All my cardio work is now in the pool, I only do 5-15 min. light cardio warm-ups in the gym before weights.
-I've raised my caloric intake even more to maintain muscle mass and replace calories burned during swimming. I'm eating appoximately 4000 calories a day split into 6-7 medium sized meals & large snacks.
-I've been stretching more than ever (before and after both swimming and weights, especially before swimming when sore from weight training) and a full body stretch everyday, and 2-3X week in the sauna/hot tub. (I've noticed nobody on my Masters team stretches at all... I've also observed in just general conversation they know very little about nutrition as well.)
Hi Todd,
I too find that a good weight lifting program along with swimming is a fantastic combo. Similar to you, I skip all cardio besides swimming with the exception of a short warmup (usually on the bike) prior to lifting. What I really wanted to point out on your post though is the comment on nutrition. I am indebted to bodybuilders for teaching me how to eat!! Those guys take nutrition very very seriously. Anyhow, I can't emphasize enough how much eating the right foods and properly balancing my macros (I usually maintain with the basic 40p/40c/20f) and intake times has positively impacted my training. Getting the nutrition right is really fundamental to seeing any change.
