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
Wayne,
This is very interesting.
Do you know, or have a idea when exactly interval training becomes non-interval training or vice versa? For example is swimming 8x200 and getting 20 sec rest considered interval training? What if I were getting 15, or 10 seconds rest, would this be considered interval training? What if I were swimming a set of 400's and was getting 5 seconds rest? Would that be interval training?
I am not trying to be cute. I am genuinely interested in the exact definition you are using for interval training. Would you define interval training as starting a new repeat every x minutes/seconds? Or, might it have something to do with heart rate peaks and valleys?
Originally posted by breastroker
Justin,
Actually the largest benefit of swimming intervals is the organs, skin is just the most visible one. Autopsies of swimmers show much younger appearing organs than chronological age. Compared to other sports we have the natural HGH advantage interval training gives us.
Actually the most scientific sport is cycling, interval training is very important to them. Even distance runners know they would do better if they did intervals, but many go towards large distances (the more is better theory) that they loose all benefits. Perhaps that is why swimmers are usually the smartest groups in college:D
I just reread this and was wondering where I could get information on the autopsies of dead swimmers?
I take ideas from the coaches workouts here and then customize them for myself and print them out and stick them in a ziplock bag. This works really well and gives me the structure I need. I can't swim with my team because of the time the practice is held (during my work hours).
Fritz, are you looking for results from dead masters swimmers? Or for late blooming masters swimmers? It's important to be accurate in this type of details!
Be careful about any one study showing something medical literature is pretty complicated and needs to be looked at with skepticism. How old were the people tested? Did the groups have comparable BMI? what was the statistical significance?
If any reason why swimmers might be better off it is because they recognize the quality v quantity of workouts better than most runners and cyclists. So many runners and cyclists are mileage obsessed (I ride with a bunch of them and I think they are pretty typical) and pay little attention to quality of workouts just distance
I would make the case that age group swim coaches in Canada are in fact mileage obsessed. Later on in life, I find that many of these former age group swimmers are turned off the sport and they have little or no interest in returning to the pool.
This may account for the extremely low percentage of Masters swimmers (at least in my experience) who ever swam seriously as a child/youth.
Perhaps the reason why James mentions that swimmers recoqnize quality vs quantity is because the swimmers he is referring to are not former age group swimmers? Perhaps, the former age group swimmers have taken up running and or cycling and they can continue their mileage focus in another sport?
The trend I see is running and cycling becoming very popular with adults, and swimming continuing to be more of a child/youth sport. A major piece of evidence is simply the explosion in the number of retail high end running and bicycling stores. I would dearly love to see adult swimming become as popular as adult running and bicycling. Triathlons have done some of this, but let's face it, triathlon swimming is much different than competitive swimming.
Just a few thoughts for discussion...
One other reason for the explosion of high end running/cycling stores - there is more money in it. Think about it. You can convince a runner (I know several) to buy a new pair of shoes three or four times a year - at $100 or more a pop. And bikes! The newest "compettion" bikes are in the $1000 range. Plus the runners and bikers need the appropriate clothing - stylish, some light (for summer) and some heavy (winter). These "jogging suits" and "cycling suits" can be expensive.
Compare that to swimmers - most of us use old suits in practices. Yes, the new compettition ones carry a hefty price tag, but if you compete a handful of times a year, you can get one high end one a year for the same price of a pair of running shoes - the shoes the runners use every day. But I also notice a bunch of swimmers on here are always looking for the bargain suit or the grab bag suit. We are a frugal (cheap?) bunch. I buy mine at the end of summer clearance at the local sporting goods store. Pay half price and stock up for the year.
Goggles can cost some money - I have a pair of Baracuddas that I love - $30. Still not in the range of a pair of running shoes or a bike. You can get more expensive ones, but I doubt if many of the readers here spend more than $50 for a pair.
I am not convinced that less adults are swimming. If anything, adults are "cross training" or training for a triathalon - so they may be spending less time in the pool, but have not given it up. I also know a couple of runners/bikers who have added swimming so they can do tris. Around here (suburban Philadelphia) I don't see the drop off in swimming for adults.
Anyway, this is my two cents worth. No scientific study - just my gut feeling.
Indeed, there is more money in the bike stores and running stores. Remember, these shops are driven by adults with disposable income, not age group swimmers.
I am suggesting that the rate of increase in adult runners and cyclists is greater than the rate of increase in the number of masters swimmers.
Obviously, this is another observation. I have no real data to support this.
