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.
Parents
Former Member
Sometime in the last year there was a wave of articles in the popular press based on some study that seemed to show that brief periods of more strenuous exercise produced better health benefits than longer periods of continuous less strenuous exercise. I don't know the details. It would be great if someone put together an article on the pros and cons of various approaches to swim training from a health perspective and put it up on the USMS web site... That's a big order though, it seems it is very difficult to nail down information like that.
Sometime in the last year there was a wave of articles in the popular press based on some study that seemed to show that brief periods of more strenuous exercise produced better health benefits than longer periods of continuous less strenuous exercise. I don't know the details. It would be great if someone put together an article on the pros and cons of various approaches to swim training from a health perspective and put it up on the USMS web site... That's a big order though, it seems it is very difficult to nail down information like that.
