Bah, humbug. More is the ONLY more. Let Paul play to his heart's content with the new psychosport routines. I'm into Jack Lalanne's plan: exercise until you drop
"Quantity has a quality all its own," huh? It works for some.
Some random thoughts, in no particular order.
-- Everyone is different (eg, disposition, talent, type of swimmer) and has different circumstances (family, job, injuries, swimming/coaching availability). There is more than one "right" way. Certainly there are some core principles in training but we know less than we think. I hate it when someone (including me) pronounces such-and-such as THE method to train.
-- Beware of fads. It is worth looking at what others are doing, including elites but take it all with a grain of salt (including all this unsolicited advice). It may not work for you or even for the majority of people.
-- The pendulum seems to be swinging against over-training/over-distance, which IMO is mostly a good thing, but this method has produced a lot of very very fast swimmers (as well as a lot of shoulder injuries and burned out swimmers). It isn't complete junk.
-- Listen to your body. Are you dragging and are your tiimes getting slower over an extended period of time, even though you are working harder than ever? You need more recovery. Take an easy day or three. Or seven. (I need to listen to my own advice on this score.)
-- During taper time, err on the side of too much rest, not too little.
-- Most importantly: have fun and be healthy. Don't be afraid to try new things or mix things up to keep your interest high. Fast times are fun but they are not the be-all and the end-all. If you have a sub-par season, so what? You just spent months in a healthy endeavor and socialized with fun people. Hopefully you'll have many more years of swimming with your fair share of successes.
This is not meant to be a dig at Paul or his training methods. He is obviously an excellent swimmer and trains intelligently. But you never know if it will work as well for you, and it doesn't invalidate your training if you have a different approach.
And to be clear about a few things:
- I have never said (although I'm sure it sounds like it) that my way is the best and/or only way to train.
- The quality vs. quantity debate has been around for decades, Mission Viejo vs. Sam Freas is an example of a great gap back in the late 70's/early 80's
- I agree with the "fad" thing, however for me I think being around the college athletes that I have the last few years has opened my eye's more to the "old is new" ideas regarding strength training.
- Jazz, low yardage in my case (about 10-15,000m a week) is quite different than yours...but 'm more interested in my 200 than the 50's.
As for the interview, she didn't quite get it as i was telling it...my primary point was "masters" swimming for me was about the social side, part of the reason for me training and competing with kids is of no interest. As for the training side, I was trying to explain to her that I have a singular focus when working out (swimming, lifting, cycling, etc.) and that is to be faster in my races...fitness is a secondary benefit and because I'm more interested in racing than worrying about my weight I'll bail out of workouts and take rest days in a heartbeat if I'm not maintaining technique do to fatigue...ask Perry & Commings...I drive them crazy with how I train!
Last but not least...not that it matters except for being accurate...I swam in the 81' games not the 87' ones and was on the 4 x 100 free relay that won not an individual event.
"Quantity has a quality all its own," huh? It works for some.
Some random thoughts, in no particular order.
-- Everyone is different (eg, disposition, talent, type of swimmer) and has different circumstances (family, job, injuries, swimming/coaching availability). There is more than one "right" way. Certainly there are some core principles in training but we know less than we think. I hate it when someone (including me) pronounces such-and-such as THE method to train.
-- Beware of fads. It is worth looking at what others are doing, including elites but take it all with a grain of salt (including all this unsolicited advice). It may not work for you or even for the majority of people.
-- The pendulum seems to be swinging against over-training/over-distance, which IMO is mostly a good thing, but this method has produced a lot of very very fast swimmers (as well as a lot of shoulder injuries and burned out swimmers). It isn't complete junk.
-- Listen to your body. Are you dragging and are your tiimes getting slower over an extended period of time, even though you are working harder than ever? You need more recovery. Take an easy day or three. Or seven. (I need to listen to my own advice on this score.)
-- During taper time, err on the side of too much rest, not too little.
-- Most importantly: have fun and be healthy. Don't be afraid to try new things or mix things up to keep your interest high. Fast times are fun but they are not the be-all and the end-all. If you have a sub-par season, so what? You just spent months in a healthy endeavor and socialized with fun people. Hopefully you'll have many more years of swimming with your fair share of successes.
This is not meant to be a dig at Paul or his training methods. He is obviously an excellent swimmer and trains intelligently. But you never know if it will work as well for you, and it doesn't invalidate your training if you have a different approach.
Well put.
For Paul and others, "less is more" (in the pool) works amazingly well! Since I can't kill myself daily in the pool, I'm hoping it's true and follow this philosophy! ("Less is more" as a general workout model stinks though. Tapering stinks too, but I understand it's a necessary evil to swimming fast and I like swimming fast or trying to.)
Do I see a new masters swimming book entitled "Less is More!" in Paul's future? If so, he has to learn how to use your and you're correctly. lol
Paul is sooooo awesome and soooooo inspiring!
Did you know that McDonald's and Wendy's in the same area are often priced differently? With my 2 kids in tow, this could be up to a $1.50 difference. And, some places have the $1.00 hamburger combos after 5 PM. You just don't get a toy surprise. You'd better check to make sure your take out is at the cheaper one. Plus mix and match on the 99 cent menu (Wendy's) or $1.00 menu (McDonald's).
Oh no, totally went off on a tangent. Must redeem myself. Think, quick....
Ok, "less is more" truly is - if you believe it! I agree 100% with 3, maybe 4 (1 goof off day) workouts per week. It's just no fun for me going to the pool more than that. Properly setting your goals, and taking stock of all the other factors in your life (like Midas points out) are the hardest parts. Ooops....I mean Fortress.
Define your goal - it may not be like anyone else's, so don't worry if you are doing something completely different!!
My main goal is to not swim hurt. Meaning no hurt back, no dull achy pain, and certainly no sharp stabbing pain! No interest to "feel the burn" of aerobic sets soo...I never do 'em! Compromise: Average less than 2,000 per workout all year. No stamina to do 100+'s. Start dying at the 20 yard mark but can still fake my way home in SCY or SCM.
And.....I get to pick up my daughters who are soooooo cute without back pain now.
Bah, humbug. More is the ONLY more. Let Paul play to his heart's content with the new psychosport routines. I'm into Jack Lalanne's plan: exercise until you drop
I see this all different -- I would not even call Paul's approach "less is more". Sure yardage will vary from a 50 sprinter to a Miler --- but the only thing I care about is how much yardage are you able to do AT OR ABOVE RACE PACE. I would guess that Paul is doing quite a bit of that in his 3 or 4 workouts a week. Even if you swim every day for 6K - I bet that you can only go fast 2-3 sets per week - even for a 200 swimmer that may be a total of 2000 yards at race pace (and that's high) - the rest is made up of kicking / pulling and garbage yards. So Paul chooses to leave out the 5,000 yard "recovery workout" the day after pounding out some broken 200s.
One of my first coaches explained it best - the only reason to do long sets in the beginning of the season is to be able to do MORE quality towards the end. The problem is that many coaches used to destroy the swimmers so badly early on, they could never recover to do the quality work - or the coaches did not even do those quality sets in the later part of the season.
Hoch...Exactly!
Guess I just am a "long winded" write always trying to explain and get people worked up at the same time!
Bob...play nice!
Mel...sadly the digs have been almost exclusively via forums and not nearly as often sitting at a bar or in the pool...are you and your lovely Mrs. joining Team AZ in Portland?
John...you take that mentality to an extreme, we all know you binge and purge to maintain your college weight. Or wait, is it just that you make such horrible margs that your throwing up and staying skinny? get you ass back in the pool...your getting fat!
