Just wondering how other folks here balance gym and pool workouts.
Now that I'm back in the pool I'm adjusting my lifting quite a bit to complement the swimming.
Used to, I'd alternate upper/lower body on alternate days, with one day a week off.
Now that I'm in the pool, I feel like I'm not giving my muscles enough rest time, since a swim is essentially a whole-body resistance set.
So far, I've been swimming Mon/Wed/Fri, and lifting Tue (upper), Thu (lower), and Sat (core). As I get better swim-conditioned, I plan to re-adjust, probably with more pool time.
Any thoughts, tips, experience?
Parents
Former Member
Not usually since we do some stretching in 2 of the 3 classes I take. I probably should try it after class to see if it helps at all. I just assumed my muscles were so taxed that the exhaustion was the cause of cramping when I swam 24 hours later.
When I first got back in the gym, I started having terrible leg cramps at night. The kind that make you holler and sometimes it was physically difficult to even move my foot with my hands in order to stretch the muscle out and get relief.
When I read up on it I discovered that the best thing you can do to prevent cramping is to stretch thoroughly right after a workout, ride, etc. So I did, and voila, no more night cramps.
When I started back swimming, for some reason I didn't think about it in the same way I think of lifting, and got horrible cramps in the pool. So as I said, I added more stretching (and made sure I wasn't getting dehydrated during my swim).
I'd be willing to bet that 10 minutes of good stretching after your dance class will go a long way to ease any muscle cramping the following day.
Of course, I haven't eliminated my cramping altogether. I think I'm tensing my leg/foot muscles unnecessarily when I swim, especially coming off the wall, so I'm trying to be conscious of that and keep them relaxed.
There's been some research indicating that low levels of potassium and magnesium might be a cause of cramping -- but I think it's still a "definite maybe" -- so I'm going to try getting more of those minerals in my diet also.
Not usually since we do some stretching in 2 of the 3 classes I take. I probably should try it after class to see if it helps at all. I just assumed my muscles were so taxed that the exhaustion was the cause of cramping when I swam 24 hours later.
When I first got back in the gym, I started having terrible leg cramps at night. The kind that make you holler and sometimes it was physically difficult to even move my foot with my hands in order to stretch the muscle out and get relief.
When I read up on it I discovered that the best thing you can do to prevent cramping is to stretch thoroughly right after a workout, ride, etc. So I did, and voila, no more night cramps.
When I started back swimming, for some reason I didn't think about it in the same way I think of lifting, and got horrible cramps in the pool. So as I said, I added more stretching (and made sure I wasn't getting dehydrated during my swim).
I'd be willing to bet that 10 minutes of good stretching after your dance class will go a long way to ease any muscle cramping the following day.
Of course, I haven't eliminated my cramping altogether. I think I'm tensing my leg/foot muscles unnecessarily when I swim, especially coming off the wall, so I'm trying to be conscious of that and keep them relaxed.
There's been some research indicating that low levels of potassium and magnesium might be a cause of cramping -- but I think it's still a "definite maybe" -- so I'm going to try getting more of those minerals in my diet also.
