Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

Former Member — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:15:39 GMT

Running 30-40 miles/week since mid-Aug, no swimming whatsoever. During summer I was run/biking for tri season, but during that time I never did more than one swim a week and it was never more than 1500 yards. So my legs are in pretty good shape, but my upper body is weak. You actually might want to try lifting then. It could save you some time getting up to strength. Also, it'll help you avoid repetitive motion injuries by working complementary muscle groups. If you're swimming much more intensely than you used to, you can really stress your body. I think lifting might help you to be less sore, rather than more.

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

Former Member — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 07:22:32 GMT

Interesting thoughts. Perhaps I'll hit the weight room this week and see how I feel afterwards. Let us know how it goes.

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

jeffsab — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 01:56:14 GMT

You actually might want to try lifting then. It could save you some time getting up to strength. Also, it'll help you avoid repetitive motion injuries by working complementary muscle groups. If you're swimming much more intensely than you used to, you can really stress your body. I think lifting might help you to be less sore, rather than more. Interesting thoughts. Perhaps I'll hit the weight room this week and see how I feel afterwards.

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

orca1946 — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 12:28:29 GMT

m - W - sun pool time tue - thur - fri gym & cardio time Sat house chores.

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

jeffsab — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 10:10:55 GMT

Just curious, what was your exercise routine before November? Running 30-40 miles/week since mid-Aug, no swimming whatsoever. During summer I was run/biking for tri season, but during that time I never did more than one swim a week and it was never more than 1500 yards. So my legs are in pretty good shape, but my upper body is weak.

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

joel schmaltz — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 09:34:49 GMT

Typically I swim five to six times a week (1 hr. to 1.5 hrs.). I lift twice a week and try to do core work and stretch daily. Two of my swim sessions end up being some low intensity recovery or stroke work swims. I am lucky to get this all in with my childrens activities. Therefore, most of this is done while the rest of the family is still sleeping. BTW, Lezak's weight conditioning program hits your entire body in a short period of time. Good Luck!!

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

Former Member — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 08:22:04 GMT

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.

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

aztimm — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:26:55 GMT

Who ARE you people with all this time?! Take a look through my blog and you'll see how I squeeze in the time. Over the summer, I got up some mornings before 4am to get running over with before the heat of the day. I was rotating my swimming between morning and evenings, whichever fit best that day. I'm currently on vacation (another 8 days or so) and my working out so far has been 1 swim in the past week. Of course I've been getting in tons of walking, on average 5 miles a day. Hopefully as I move to explore a warmer area I'll get in a run or 2.

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

tjrpatt — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 07:25:51 GMT

I try to get 2 dryland sessions a week in. I swim about 6 times a week. Most of my practices are 90 minutes(5000 yards per practice). But, I will do a 2 hour practice with my former age group club once a week. One practice will be an easy day where I will just do about 3000 yards.

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

Former Member — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 06:05:13 GMT

Well, back when I was competing as a young'un, I was competitive in backstroke, crawl, and breaststroke, with backstroke being my strongest. I never did learn how to be fast in fly. Today I can't even manage it. Can't get my pull and kick to sync up. Wish I had someone to show me how it's done. Anyway, since I'm just starting back after a nearly 30 year "hiatus", it remains to be seen what I actually end up competing in, if anything. But my back and crawl still feel pretty good, and the breaststroke not bad. So I'm hoping I can perform well in short races for those 3. So doing a whole-body workout alternating w/ swims, that doesn't cause you problems? Sounds like you're never giving your muscles a day off. Ha ha. I only said my workouts were similar, the key difference being frequency. I work full time, have two young daughters, and just started back to grad school. I manage Mon, Wed swim and Tue, Thu weights (at home). Sundays I ride my bike 10 miles (1 way) to work. So I don't really do enough to tear down my body. Sounds like you are more interested in sprints (possibly in competition) in which case I would definitely keep the weights. 3 days a week is perfect in my non-professional opinion. Keep alternating if you think doing a whole body workout is too much--you know your limits better than anyone else. You mentioned having no coach. I would at least try and find somebody to swim with. I just started swimming with a friend from work who it turns out was a collegiate level breaststroker. Having a workout partner for motivation and the brief observations on my stroke are invaluable. Best of luck no matter what strategy you employ and welcome back to swimming :)

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

Former Member — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 15:07:29 GMT

Pool, 90 minutes is most I can do without the elbows starting to scream, Monday through Thursday, Friday off--the pool closes 30 minutes after I get off work (and doesn't open soon enough in the morning for me to swim, shower, dress/do hair/make up, and get to work on time). After my swim on Tuesday and Thursday I join a serious water aerobics class and do 45 minutes. This group works on strength and balance with, yes, dare I say it, NOODLES! Saturday & Sunday I walk, jog or ride a bike for 60 to 90 minutes, depending on what I feel like doing that day, if I'm home or out of town, and the weather. Lainey

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

Former Member — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:50:17 GMT

I had a terrible problem w/ leg cramps starting out. I added stretches after my swim and increased my stretching after my lifts, and started keeping a water bottle at the end of the lane, and that helped tremendously. But now they're back, tho they don't come on as quickly, so I'm thinking of trying to increase the magnesium and potassium in my diet. I hate having my swim interrupted by a cramp. I agree, cramps are the worst, especially when I am finally in that part of the workout when I feel like I could go forever! I usually don't have too much of a problem with them and I bring Gatorade or Accelerade (works better for me than water) and I try to stretch, it's just those days when I've worked myself to exhaution the night before and my body can't handle it. I should probably not swim on those nights, it's just the only time I could fit in another workout in the pool. Do you stretch after your dance class?

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

jessicafk11 — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:51:35 GMT

Do you stretch after your dance class? 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.

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

jessicafk11 — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 09:37:14 GMT

This is something I am working on figuring out as well. My schedule is such that it is hard to have a consistent schedule week after week after week but occassionally it happens and I'm so happy when it does. I am currently trying to put weights back into my routine. I think you first have to look at any limitations you have schedule-wise. For instance, I have dance classes on wednesday nights and soon thursdays as well. Thursday mornings I feel completely beaten up from the wednesday classes and exhausted because we are there until 10PM or later. I've been swimming thursday nights but my body is clearly not recovered from the night before, I am tired and I usually get leg cramps. When dance starts on thursdays too I'll have to find a different day. I swim at least once a week and I have made an effort to make it twice a week. I would love to add a third day and I am trying to figure out how to make that work. Right now thursday, friday and saturday are the days I can swim but it seems I can never do all three in one week because other things come up. I have also had to face the fact that as much as I would like to and as much as I am making an effort to, I may never make it to a morning workout, which leaves after work and weekends. I have a spinning class I love on mondays but I am thinking of sacrificing it to make monday another swim day, I can spin on tuesday and do weights sunday and tuesday. I'm going to try to play around with that schedule and see how it affects my wednesday nights since I usually need to be well rested in order to do well and actually make it through the entire night.

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

Former Member — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:52:55 GMT

During normal schedule, swim 4-5x a week with a masters team. Lift upper body and some core work 3x week, legwork 1-2x a week, and run 3+ times a week. Who ARE you people with all this time?!

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

Former Member — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:51:25 GMT

I remember in high school and college hating to lift weights as I always felt tired and weak. Now, probably since I usually only manage two swims a week, I look forward to it. My routine is similar to yours in alternating days although I go through my whole upper, lower, core routine on each of the days I lift. Ultimately it probably depends on what your goals are though. Are you looking to compete in meets? If so in which events? Well, back when I was competing as a young'un, I was competitive in backstroke, crawl, and breaststroke, with backstroke being my strongest. I never did learn how to be fast in fly. Today I can't even manage it. Can't get my pull and kick to sync up. Wish I had someone to show me how it's done. Anyway, since I'm just starting back after a nearly 30 year "hiatus", it remains to be seen what I actually end up competing in, if anything. But my back and crawl still feel pretty good, and the breaststroke not bad. So I'm hoping I can perform well in short races for those 3. So doing a whole-body workout alternating w/ swims, that doesn't cause you problems? Sounds like you're never giving your muscles a day off.

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

Former Member — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:42:57 GMT

I am tired and I usually get leg cramps. I had a terrible problem w/ leg cramps starting out. I added stretches after my swim and increased my stretching after my lifts, and started keeping a water bottle at the end of the lane, and that helped tremendously. But now they're back, tho they don't come on as quickly, so I'm thinking of trying to increase the magnesium and potassium in my diet. I hate having my swim interrupted by a cramp. I have also had to face the fact that as much as I would like to and as much as I am making an effort to, I may never make it to a morning workout, which leaves after work and weekends. I once tried morning workouts, but I just couldn't warm my body up enough to make it effective. Turns out, it's not just a personal quirk. There really are "morning people" and "night owls", and for night owls, strength increases throughout the day. For morning people, strength is fairly even throughout the day. If I left it to my body, I'd go to sleep about 1:00 in the morning and get up around 9:00. As it is, I have to get up about 5:00 standard time, 6:00 daylight saving time. I need to go back to bartending. :chug:

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

Former Member — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:34:32 GMT

Assuming you are leading a real world life (family,career and all other obligations) you will have to prioritize. Is lifting supplementing your swimming or vice versa? If swimming is your priority then you schedule the lifting around the swimming. Never skip the swimming in order to lift. Remember, s... happens so there will be times when you have to miss a day of training. Cancel a lifting session if you have to. Remember, lifting complements and optimistically (but contentiously) improves your swimming. I have a semi-real life. Career and house, but no family. Still, that's almost as time-intensive because there's only one person (me) to take care of house, land, and animals, so free time is hard to come by. I've managed to split my work day into 2 half-shifts so that I have 2.5 hrs during each weekday to get to the pool/gym, change out, lift or swim, shower and dress, get back to work, and have lunch (which is usually leftovers that I bring w/ me b/c restaurant food will kill you). I I have more or less and hour to work out, including warm-up and post-stretch. Right now I'm transitioning. For the past couple of years, my focus has been on strength training and cycling. Now my goal is to be competitive again within 2 years. Ambitious, I think, for someone who's been out so long and doesn't have a coach, but I do better with goals. So I've already adjusted my gym routine to complement my swimming, swapping out some exercises, adding more core work and more stretching. My worst enemy is insomnia, which has plagued me since childhood. Because of what I do for a living, I can't be sleepy on the job. So if I have a bad night, I'll get as much sleep as I can and sacrifice the exercise. Last week, for instance, was a total wash, but I got back in the pool today, thank goodness. And insomnia is a much less frequent problem now than it was before I got back in shape, when I was overweight and sedentary. As for the relationship b/t lifting and swimming, I can tell you that it helps tremendously if you're returning to the pool. I tried swimming a few years ago and it was painful, and results were so poor I gave it up. After getting back in shape, it was like remembering how to ride a bike -- I had the strength and cardio-pulmonary capacity to hit my stride right off the bat. Now I lift b/c of the proven health benefits it provides, and to keep my whole body toned and prevent injuries that can come from doing one thing (no matter what it is) too often, intensely, and exclusively.

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

Former Member — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:22:06 GMT

Weights about 5X week Swim (solo) every day for about 2 hours with 40% of it being rest, mostly sprints, drills, slow 200's with strict form. Been doing it like this for about a month No former swimming background, 20 months ago I really didn't know how to swim or really ever tried more than a lap. 1st meet in Jan:) Good gawd, man, where do you get the time for THAT?! I'd kill to get that much time.

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

Former Member — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:18:29 GMT

I swim M,Tu,W,F and sometimes Sa&/or Sun.I lift M&F.I lift right after swimming.I used to lift before,fearing I'd be sorer if I lifted last,but when circumstances caused me to have to swim first(I had to get the swim in before the noodlers arrived) I found I got a better work out swimming first. That makes sense to me, b/c I'd think the swim would be a better warmup for the lift than vice-versa. When you do both together, how much time do you spend on each? I've been debating whether to make my Saturday routine a swim+core. Before I got back in the pool, I used to do about a 25 mile ride on Saturdays.

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

Former Member — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:16:06 GMT

I've been swimming 5-6 days a week 2-3k yards per practice since starting up again at the beginning of Nov. and, frankly, I'm too sore to lift at this stage. I'm thinking that until I get in better swimming shape, it makes sense to swim more and not worry about strength training. Just curious, what was your exercise routine before November?

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

Former Member — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 07:19:10 GMT

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? I remember in high school and college hating to lift weights as I always felt tired and weak. Now, probably since I usually only manage two swims a week, I look forward to it. My routine is similar to yours in alternating days although I go through my whole upper, lower, core routine on each of the days I lift. Ultimately it probably depends on what your goals are though. Are you looking to compete in meets? If so in which events?

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

Former Member — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:34:58 GMT

At the moment, it's Mon-Fri 3:30 to 5:30, and 6:30-8:30 Sat mornings. The weekday morning workout was dropped right before the taper. After new years, it'll probably be two hours early in the morning, then another hour and a half five days a week with the school team, and another two in the afternoon. Ai ai ai!

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

__steve__ — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:13:35 GMT

Good gawd, man, where do you get the time for THAT?! I'd kill to get that much time.Just 2.5 hrs a day of my free time. I also work nights and furthermore my wife likes the abdominals and stuff so she helps out. At work I also get 3 hrs a week to lift in the gym we have set up there. If the work load slows I can also workout more than just 3hrs per week too but I really don't spend more than an hour lifting. Nevertheless, I'm still a slow swimmer but I certainly look as if I were fast -lol

RE: Pool / Dry Land: What's your weekly schedule?

jessicafk11 — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 05:30:18 GMT