After week one, that's what our local High School Swim team's workouts consist of, even for relative newcomer freshmen. My 14 yr. old grandson has been swimming for just over a year competitivly. He was in rehab most of the summer for rotator problems. I understand there are several on the team with shoulder problems. Is this amount of yardage the norm?
I should add, they do some dry land & weights in addition.
It occurs to me that a "one size fits all" workout might be easy for some, and big problem for others?
Thanks for your insight.
Georgio
Former Member
Thank you all so much for your help. He does have a full year of 5 x a week swimming workouts....however this summer has been under the care of an orthopaedic dr. and physical therapist for swimming related rotator cuff problems. He has Dr. orders to stop if the rotator issue is aggrevated. His coach is aware of this, so I think I'll have him tell the coach he is experiencing "popping & grinding" just moving his arm, and we'll take it one day at a time.
not counting medicine balls and rubber bands I didn't touch a weight until I was 16. it's a good thing too because my body overreacts to weight lifting.
in college my roommate wanted to gain 5-10lbs of muscle. so he was taking all kinds of suppliments. we worked out together. I would sometimes try my max on bench, legpress and tri's just to show off. but even though my roommate got stronger, he was not getting as strong or as large as me.
we have a17yr old on our team that swims 9 times a week with 3 land training, no weights other than his own body weight or rubber bands and he has put on nearly 10lbs this past year.
he swam 200 fly LCM at the recent Junior Euro champs 2:05.00 and his 200fr relay split was 1:52.83
We had a HS junior who was lifting his usual this past winter and tore his labrum. He was out for the rest of the year and missed the HS state champs where his HS team won the state. His rehab was intense. It makes me hesitate when I hear any HS kids lifting. Their body weight is all they need at that age.
We had a HS junior who was lifting his usual this past winter and tore his labrum. He was out for the rest of the year and missed the HS state champs where his HS team won the state. His rehab was intense. It makes me hesitate when I hear any HS kids lifting. Their body weight is all they need at that age.
I agree with this. 14 is really young to be doing a bunch of weights.
Figure you could just do 6x1000 on 15min. That would be a 90 minute session. That's not so bad for early season conditioning.
Sure, if you want to die of boredom!
I don't remember how many yards or meters we did at practices when I was young. I do about 3000 now on my own. But, I do a bunch or sprints and drill sets. If I were doing distance practices, I could see getting 5-6000. Figure you could just do 6x1000 on 15min. That would be a 90 minute session. That's not so bad for early season conditioning. Doesn't leave much room for drills and sprints and starts.
Should we even try to compare what I did and what they do now. I remember the start out in Sept. Even though I had raced all summer. It was a 5 minute warm up. Then 4 x 5 min swims, trying to get under 5 min for a quarter mile (I was the only one who could). Then a cool down swim of 5 minutes. After each swim stroke, correction. This was done in combination with other work outs on two other days during the week. I doubt we ever went over the 2000 mark during a work out. Of course our week included 3 X 1 hour waterpolo practices a week.
If that were my kid I would encourage him to drop swimming entirely. Shoulder problems and rehab at 14? Not worth it. The same goes for the weightlifting. What is the point of destroying your body at such a young age?
Regardless of what the root cause is, the effects seem to be pretty serious. It seems obvious that the best course of action is to take a break from the activities that are causing pain, and focus on rehab. Whether or not to pick up competitive swimming again afterwards depends on why he is doing it in the first place.
we have a17yr old on our team that swims 9 times a week with 3 land training, no weights other than his own body weight or rubber bands and he has put on nearly 10lbs this past year.
17 year old boys gain weight. It's what they do. I think I gained 10 lbs/yr in high school and the first 2 years of college.
I really wish I'd saved a copy of the long interview Swimming World did with Bob Bowman a few years back because he had a lot to say about proper development of the teenage swimmer. He was a big proponent of not starting lifting too soon, and talked about how he didn't start Michael Phelps on a weights program until after Michael had been an Olympic gold medalist. (or around age 19-20)
