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.
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Former Member
Breaststroker,
This is an interesting idea.
Could this difference in how long distance runners look possibly be realted to environmental factors?
When running outdoors, one's face is pretty much totally exposed to the elements: sun, wind, cold (at least in some regions) etc. Could the hours spent like this, have an effect on one's facial appearance? Indeed, I would maintain that people who spend a great deal of time outdoors tend to appear older due to "facial weathering".
With indoor swimming, the the environment is completely controlled and thus, environlemtal effects are negated.
Has Dr. Whitten's hypothesis ever been tested and verified? That is, is the only reason that long distance runners look old is due to lack of interval training and thus lack of HGH being relaesed. Perhaps distance running somehow pre-selects people who look older?
Also, what about distance swimmers who perhaps do not use intervals as much. Using Dr. Whitten's hypothesis, one would expect these people to look older than their interval training counterparts. If these non-interval training swimmers look younger, like other swimmers, then I would suggest that Dr. Whitten's hypothesis may need some revision.
Finally, I wonder about other sports. What other timed sports rarely use intervals for training. Dr. Whitten would expect these people to look older as well. An example might be some X-country skiers or maybe some cyclists, but I am just guessing here. What other sports use intervals regularly? These people would be expected to look younger.
Food for thought.
Breaststroker,
This is an interesting idea.
Could this difference in how long distance runners look possibly be realted to environmental factors?
When running outdoors, one's face is pretty much totally exposed to the elements: sun, wind, cold (at least in some regions) etc. Could the hours spent like this, have an effect on one's facial appearance? Indeed, I would maintain that people who spend a great deal of time outdoors tend to appear older due to "facial weathering".
With indoor swimming, the the environment is completely controlled and thus, environlemtal effects are negated.
Has Dr. Whitten's hypothesis ever been tested and verified? That is, is the only reason that long distance runners look old is due to lack of interval training and thus lack of HGH being relaesed. Perhaps distance running somehow pre-selects people who look older?
Also, what about distance swimmers who perhaps do not use intervals as much. Using Dr. Whitten's hypothesis, one would expect these people to look older than their interval training counterparts. If these non-interval training swimmers look younger, like other swimmers, then I would suggest that Dr. Whitten's hypothesis may need some revision.
Finally, I wonder about other sports. What other timed sports rarely use intervals for training. Dr. Whitten would expect these people to look older as well. An example might be some X-country skiers or maybe some cyclists, but I am just guessing here. What other sports use intervals regularly? These people would be expected to look younger.
Food for thought.
