and I think it makes sense, I hope it works. I raced in a SCY meet back in late Feb. I swam pretty well since I wore my practice suit (forgot racing suit), was not shaved or rested or anything else, but my times were still a little slower than i had hoped. I have decided to focus on the 50 free and 50 fly for nationals, with my entries in the 100 free/fly/IM on days 2 and 3 just being an excuse to stay in Arizona longer. So for the past 4-5 weeks I have done three things differently.
1) I have focused on speed work in practice more than ever, making almost every set into speed work. If I'm given 8x125's I will do them as 75's or 100's and focus on sprinting different portions of them. Always working on EVF, always working on SDK, always working on all the other stuff I always do
2) I am incorporating a ton of explosive type weight sets on my off days. squats, lunges, bench press etc.....
and I'm hanging my hat on this last thing making the biggest difference, and is why I named the thread what I did.
3) I want to lose 20 pounds before nationals. I raced at my meet a month ago at 195. That very day I dropped coca-cola cold turkey. I had a 4 can a day habit, maybe more on the weekends. I have had maybe a total of three cans in a month an I have gone from 195 to 184 as of this morning. Starting tomorrow I cut all fried and fast foods from my diet as well, as I'm not sure the no coke thing will make the last 9 pounds go away.
So could racing at 175 and not 195 with the same or better strength make a huge difference?
and I think it makes sense, I hope it works. I raced in a SCY meet back in late Feb. I swam pretty well since I wore my practice suit (forgot racing suit), was not shaved or rested or anything else, but my times were still a little slower than i had hoped. I have decided to focus on the 50 free and 50 fly for nationals, with my entries in the 100 free/fly/IM on days 2 and 3 just being an excuse to stay in Arizona longer. So for the past 4-5 weeks I have done three things differently.
1) I have focused on speed work in practice more than ever, making almost every set into speed work. If I'm given 8x125's I will do them as 75's or 100's and focus on sprinting different portions of them. Always working on EVF, always working on SDK, always working on all the other stuff I always do
2) I am incorporating a ton of explosive type weight sets on my off days. squats, lunges, bench press etc.....
and I'm hanging my hat on this last thing making the biggest difference, and is why I named the thread what I did.
3) I want to lose 20 pounds before nationals. I raced at my meet a month ago at 195. That very day I dropped coca-cola cold turkey. I had a 4 can a day habit, maybe more on the weekends. I have had maybe a total of three cans in a month an I have gone from 195 to 184 as of this morning. Starting tomorrow I cut all fried and fast foods from my diet as well, as I'm not sure the no coke thing will make the last 9 pounds go away.
So could racing at 175 and not 195 with the same or better strength make a huge difference?
My answer...Maybe. It will probably help, but may not answer everything.
I know that for myself I would just suffer if I had to give up all the sodas, fast food, fried stuff, etc. If I didn't eat this stuff, I may not eat at all some days!! :) I'm sure I could drop a ton of weight too (already have since a year and a half ago from 220 to 191 now). I'm happy where I am, and am going to keep eating my fast food. I figure that's what makes me swim fast anyway. :bliss: 3 breakfast burritos and 2 hashbrowns from McDonald's the morning of the swim meet usually does the trick for me...as long as it's a couple hours before the meet. :)
Oh...and as I'm typing this I'm drinking a 44 oz. Mountain Dew, and snacking on a big bag of Sour Cream n Onion chips... Yummy!!!
I want to lose 20 pounds before nationals. I raced at my meet a month ago at 195. That very day I dropped coca-cola cold turkey. I had a 4 can a day habit, maybe more on the weekends. I have had maybe a total of three cans in a month an I have gone from 195 to 184 as of this morning. Starting tomorrow I cut all fried and fast foods from my diet as well, as I'm not sure the no coke thing will make the last 9 pounds go away.
I kicked my diet coke habit seven or eight years ago. Doing so played a big factor in helping me lose almost 100 pounds (I've kept it off).
Last September, I stopped eating wheat. My weight has stayed more or less the same, but my body shape is changing. I'm losing residual belly fat, and I'm swimming measurably faster.
Nowadays, I generally follow a paleo diet. While I might occasionally miss eating pizza or a slice of hot bread — not really — there are compensations. I get to eat lots of butter, bacon, fatty meats, whole milk, cream, eggs, etc. One caveat — the meat and dairy must be from pastured animals — no industrial meat! My wife and I actually add fat into our diet to achieve the balance we're looking for.
If you're interested, there's lots of food blogs out there that discuss this idea. The one that inspired me is
www.heartscanblog.org/.../wheat-belly.html
I took the author's 4-week challenge and have never looked back.
P.S. My doctor approves, and my blood work looks great!
I am a big fan of the strategy you have going.
The key in my opinion is to focus on "power" if you are training for the 50's. So your sprint training combined with "burst" oriented lifting is right on the mark.
Add to your focus streamlined sprinting. It is one thing to have power and fast turnover, but staying streamlined is also very important. In videos of the fastest butterfly sprinters you will notice their underwaters are the difference with fast kicks and streamlined arms against the head (almost like a double jointed shoulder).
Last, you have to be careful how fast you lose that weight. You could lose strength and muscle mass if you do not supplement your protein intake.
The difference will be in your ability to retain power in that slimmed down frame.
So could racing at 175 and not 195 with the same or better strength make a huge difference?
This topic seems to come up at least 3x a year, and for the past few years either someone else or I reference the book, Racing Weight, (by Matt Fitzgerald) as it is a great read, especially if you're interested in this sort of thing.
That book is pretty common sense, and gives some of the same pieces of advice that you and others noted. Eating is about both what and how much you eat, and losing weight is also about how quickly.
You may want to start a blog to note where you're starting, how you progress, and where you end up by nationals. I've found that keeping a blog makes me more accountable than just working out. Even if I don't know if anyone is reading it, by putting something 'out there' it makes me feel like I'll be cheating if I skip a set, a workout, or even a race.
You may want to start a blog to note where you're starting, how you progress, and where you end up by nationals. I've found that keeping a blog makes me more accountable than just working out. Even if I don't know if anyone is reading it, by putting something 'out there' it makes me feel like I'll be cheating if I skip a set, a workout, or even a race.
It might be simpler to use the FLOG for that. There are both weight and resting heart rate inputs. It would be nice if there were also:
calorie intake input
graphing of things like weight and intake over time
a simple linear view of the FLOG
I agree with your plan,just make sure your dryland work includes core exercises.The key to speed is good streamlining and the keys to streamlining are core strength and flexibility.
So could racing at 175 and not 195 with the same or better strength make a huge difference?
So long as strength wasn't given up with the weight, you will be the one to let us all know
So could racing at 175 and not 195 with the same or better strength make a huge difference?
YES, provided you're equally as strong.
post your times for comparison and let us know how you do
Well, I have increased my weight training since and my bench, squat #'s etc.. have improved.
Here's my other question, as a follow up. I have very little faith in my deck coach to adequatley taper me. When should I start a taper and how should I taper?
I'm guessing there's a tip from Ande about this but I'm too lazy to search.... ;)
