As I crawled back into the pool today fat and out of shape, I wondered: Don't sprinters need some minimal aerobic work? I see that Ande is doing none whatsoever and Paul advises not "fighting fat" in the pool. I do a lot of race pace training and cross training. But still, is just a little aerobic work called for? I can tell I don't need any for 50s, but my 100s could use a little something. I don't think I have the substantial swimming aerobic base that people like Ande have because I was out of the pool for so many years .. So I'm either taking my 100s out too slow for fear of dying or actually dying. Does aerobic work help counter this? Or do I need more lactate work such as doing 100s with huge amounts of rest?
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Former Member
I definitely believe that you should do some aerobic stuff in your workouts if you’re a sprinter. The only thing that I might caution against in your case is your nagging injuries. I wouldn’t do so much aerobic stuff that it causes these injuries to severely worsen. I also wouldn’t sprint all out, everyday, hysterically until your shoulder completely blew out. In my opinion, it’s about moderation. Periodization, aerobic, anaerobic, lactic acid—these are just terms. Forget them and go by how you feel and what you know works best for you. Too often I see people getting caught up in the latest workout trend, whether it’s how to train or what suit to wear. Stop the over analysis and just swim. From what I understand, you already kick butt in the pool. Forget the crazies like Ande and Paul, that methodology has been scientifically proven through periodization studies to only work on other crazy people :D
I definitely believe that you should do some aerobic stuff in your workouts if you’re a sprinter. The only thing that I might caution against in your case is your nagging injuries. I wouldn’t do so much aerobic stuff that it causes these injuries to severely worsen. I also wouldn’t sprint all out, everyday, hysterically until your shoulder completely blew out. In my opinion, it’s about moderation. Periodization, aerobic, anaerobic, lactic acid—these are just terms. Forget them and go by how you feel and what you know works best for you. Too often I see people getting caught up in the latest workout trend, whether it’s how to train or what suit to wear. Stop the over analysis and just swim. From what I understand, you already kick butt in the pool. Forget the crazies like Ande and Paul, that methodology has been scientifically proven through periodization studies to only work on other crazy people :D
