Ok, I swam since I was 11 year round until college. So its been 13 years since I have worked out with a team, I stopped for a lot of reason but I began to have supraspinatus tendon problems and Life took over.
I am hearing new info on swimming --- what is TI techinque?
I know I need to revamp my stoke style and have to move from a
muscle through the water swimmer to the graceful stroke I have right after doing some stroke drills.
How do I bridge the gap?
I am just getting comfortable swimming sets of 100's--- 250s freak me out , not to mention swimming a 500 free straight. I get tired aerobically and I have a hard time determing if the tiredness ( weakness) is muscle fatigue or the tendon getting inflammed and signaling me to stop.
I can swim 3,000 -3,200 in about 1 1/2 hours. I perfer to do other strokes, as they are easier for me to do. Like I would rather do a 400 im( ok so the fly is mainly 1- arm) with an extra 100 then a 500 free. However I know that endurance is a sign of physical fitness and want to be able to swimm a 500 free straight, flip turns and all.
We just did 2 500's for time and although i did *** stoke i was able to swim it 7:49--2 min and14 sec off my best 500 time.
What would be the best way to keep my technique up( ie longer stokes, increased kicking) and get to where swimming a 500 is a piece of cake? should I do more 100's with less rest to simulate a 500 or start doing 150's and 200s then 250's?
PS- I am also about 100 lbs over weight--- my friend seems to think that I should use fins more to reduce muscle strain while increasing my heart rate until i lose more weight.
any physical therapists/swimmers /coaches have any thoughts on that as well?
Former Member
Since you are starting back. I believe that you should do at the least 15 seconds rest and at the most 1 minute rest. Do 200's, 100's and 50's and 25's. Do maybe a one 500 swim or kick or pull. But when you first comeback its better to not swim anything over that much 200 yards.
Originally posted by x-swimmer
I am hearing new info on swimming --- what is TI techinque?
There are a lot of threads about that on this board. (I know that in one of them, the lead TI man, Terry Laughlin, posted a few times.) You can look at the Total Immersion web site, buy the book, do a Google search, etc.
The topic requires some research, but in my opinion, the two key points are:
1) Streamlining (reducing water resistance) will produce more results than just trying to increase your power output.
2) Stroke length (technique) is more important that stroke rate. (Most swimmers are at the point where increasing the stroke rate will cause them to get slopy, so no speeding up. Keep in mind that this is a balance, you are learning to avoid shortening your stroke length as you go to your race rate.)
If this seems obvious to you, remember it is easy to say "increase your stroke length", the question is how do you do that.
If I were you, I'd focus on mostly fitness swimming till I lose about 50 lb. Fins (zoomers) are great help with that, as they will make you use your bigger muscles more, and burn more calories, and increase your cardio.
Keep monitoring your heart rate. Work in 60-80% intensity range.
Work in something additional that is fun for you, and will help you stick with it.
As your body shape and buoyance and flexibility changes down the road, your technique will probably need adjusting.
As you get closer to your goal weight, start working in more technique elements.
Are you with a masters team right now? If not, you may want to join one before too long. Most of them have workouts organized to meet all of your goals.
We have a gal on our team that started off being 350 pounds, she lost 100 pounds in last year or so. Says she has another 50-80 to go.
I am in the same boat that you are in.
I swam in California for a club and also swam a bit in college but had to quit because school was more important.
Anyway, I just started to swim again after 13 years or so of not touching a pool.
I find myself feeling very fatigued after 100 yards of swimming at a warm up pace. I swim about 1500-2000 yards for now. I really want to get up to about 4000 yards/day
BUT it is borring.
Anyway fortunately I only have to lose about 30 lbs or so of weight so I think that I might be in better shape then you are to start with. But don't worry.
My advice to you is just to push yourself as much as you can every work out. Try swimming short set's that allow you to pace yourself and also to rest...............for example I do a
400 yards warm
5 x 100 on 1:45
5 x 100 on 1:30 PULL
8 x 50 on 1:00 disending 1-4
200 warm down
Now as you can see I keep my distances fairly short but I try to push myself so that I can get in shape quicker. My goal is to get to the point where I can swim 1000 yards no problem and then do my main sets.
Hang in there, if you truley want to get in better shape then just show up at the pool and try to push yourself a little more each day.
Hi,
I was looking at your profile and saw that you swim with the Masters team at Mission Viejo??
I used to swim with the MVN from 1984 until I went to college in '89..................................that is too funny!!
How is everything in MV?? Who is your coach??
