I saw this in a post: I will swim 200 laps in a 25 meter pool. All free style. Non stop. This is done in 3 phases , !st 64 laps is moderate speed 2nd 64 laps is distance the balance is for endurance.
My first reaction was WHY ? If you swim like this you will never know how good a swimmer you could be !
Reasons why.
1.- Your range of motion becomes less as your muscles fatigue and tighten up. This leads to the long, smooth stroke that your first few lengths have, deteriorating into a short, choppy survival stroke.
2.- You can only train one energy system, Aerobic, the anaerobic & lactic systems are untouched.
3.- You cannot improve your technique unless you use drills in a progressive manner.
4.- Why not put in some drills to check your technique. For example 10 strokes of head-up free every few lengths to check you hand entry ?
5.- By only doing Freestyle you are setting yourself up for injured shoulders, with all kinds of impingement problems.
6.-Where are the Kick sets and fly kick sets to improve core body strength and awareness ?
7.-What about the joys' of fly, back and
*** ?
I put together this poll to see how people out there are training.
Former Member
couple years ago, i swam for several months, all free laps, up to 4000 yards per workout. I didn't improve much, never got weaned off the fins, did get into a little bit better shape.
In july I started with a team that does planned workouts, kicks, stroke drills, pulling, intervals, cardio days, racing days all kinds of stuff, and I'm improving leaps and bounds, over just short 3-4 months.
I should have modified this poll. The questions 4 and 5 have a lot of overlap.
Basically question 5 should mean "do you use printed workouts that you get from a coach or online coaching resource ? ". This would, of course, have swim, kick and drills for a mix of strokes.
Actually, in the proper context, I think the original quotee is on to something.
In the fall and winter, I mix it up and swim the Masters workout with the team, building to around 3500 or 4000 yards at the peak. We do drills, intervals, and distance - the usual. Then, as spring arrives, I start to do more consistent distance with fewer breaks. By summer race season (triathlon) I am swimming three or four times a week in the lake, up to an hour without any breaks, moderating my exertion between cruise pace and race pace. Then I back off in September and pick it up again in October. I think it's a good approach - this season my swim results were pretty good. At 37, I led the swim in several races, and went soundly under an hour in my first Ironman swim.
What are other people doing?
Garteth. First I would like to ,thank you for a good commen sense approach to other than what I doing. But as a younger man all i ever did wsa ocean swimming. That is after learning how to swim in a pool. But once I got in open water , it was another world.(hard to explain) I found it was total freedom. Yes at 1 time I could fly *** back. But after not having swam in 45 years, I found free was easy. I dont belong to any teams nor do I have any coaching. And I dont really train as in the sense of ,of traing to compete. This what I do is for areobics. Another problem is I like the gym to much. But I have and do compete now . Naturally all free style events. And again thank you for your ,ideas. Dom:) :cool: :)
Dominick
Sorry ! I should take the time to find out what your aims are in swimming before criticising your training. Especially as i have never seen you swim. If you have done a lot of open water swimming then non-stop swims would feel better for you.
I guess, when you are a coach and do a lot of research in all of the ways to structure workouts to improve technique and conditioning, then you can get "hung up" on wanting everyone to swim that way !
You go for it ! It sounds as if it is working well for you.
I picked the last option because that's why I joined Masters and pay good money to be on a team! Our coaches have us do all of the above and then some! :cool:
I find it interesting -- and intriguing -- that everyday (how do you know you are a swimmer?) I come on the forum and find Kim's reply form 10/22 still here! Kim, your reply must be pretty interesting! But really -- how does this happen?
Nancy
Hi Nancy,
The poll is at the top of this thread. Just tick your choice and hit the "vote" tab.
A user can create a poll for whatever comes to their mind to quantify among us threadsters. Gareth Eckley wondered what kind of workouts we are doing.
Why create a poll? Just for fun, curiosity, I guess.
Why vote? I, for one, find polls irresistible! :D
Kim
Hi Nancy!
It happens because people vote in the poll and that "activates" the thread as a reply would.
My scintillating observation didn't generate any discussion -- oh well! ;)
Regards,
Kim
