During our swimming careers we have all experienced the feeling of "being in-shape" and not quite "in-shape".
My question is this; From a physiological or Kinesiological standpoint, what is happening in your body when you can so easily go from being in-shape to losing that in a matter of a week or two?
I'm an old masters swimmer now but even swimming High School, Club or College whenever I would go on a vacation or get sick for a week, it took two - three weeks to get back to where I was before the vacation or sickness?
What is happening in our body when we can swim a 1:07 BR and then two weeks later can't break 1:10???
Thanks in advance for your answers and opinions...
:confused:
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Former Member
Brett,
It all comes down to adapatations. Muscular and neurological. The human body is amazing in it's ability to adapt to increased physical demands (by creating more/dense/longer muscle fiber, by adding additional neuro pathways, becoming more efficient at oxygen/energy usage, adding more red blood cells for oxygen transport, etc) but the flip side is the body is also inherently lazy so when those increased physical demands are removed, then the adaptations made are no longer required and the body no longer allocates the necessary resources to support them and so those adaptations atrophy.
Thanks again for these answers, they all make perfect sense!
Brett,
It all comes down to adapatations. Muscular and neurological. The human body is amazing in it's ability to adapt to increased physical demands (by creating more/dense/longer muscle fiber, by adding additional neuro pathways, becoming more efficient at oxygen/energy usage, adding more red blood cells for oxygen transport, etc) but the flip side is the body is also inherently lazy so when those increased physical demands are removed, then the adaptations made are no longer required and the body no longer allocates the necessary resources to support them and so those adaptations atrophy.
Thanks again for these answers, they all make perfect sense!
