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
Have followed this thread with interest but I think one needs to back up first and ask the question: Why am I working out in the first place? None of us is going to win the Olympics and for many people it is cardiac fitness and general well being. Also for many of us there are unfortunately time pressures on our workouts.
I think too many of the workouts I see posted forget about these facts. Perhaps I am showing my bias I am an middle aged MD and I put cardiac health ahead of times. So IMHO a half hour of ones workout time should be devoted to aerobic working outs at say 70% max heart rate. This can be continous swim of sets of 200s or 500s without too much rest.
The workouts I see posted that do not take this approack IMHO are shortchanging the cardiac workout which should be the #1 priority for most of us.
Have followed this thread with interest but I think one needs to back up first and ask the question: Why am I working out in the first place? None of us is going to win the Olympics and for many people it is cardiac fitness and general well being. Also for many of us there are unfortunately time pressures on our workouts.
I think too many of the workouts I see posted forget about these facts. Perhaps I am showing my bias I am an middle aged MD and I put cardiac health ahead of times. So IMHO a half hour of ones workout time should be devoted to aerobic working outs at say 70% max heart rate. This can be continous swim of sets of 200s or 500s without too much rest.
The workouts I see posted that do not take this approack IMHO are shortchanging the cardiac workout which should be the #1 priority for most of us.
