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
Response to Kim's "scintillating" reply. I too voted, Do what the coach tells me. My common comment at the pool is, "I did not come here to think, I came to swim!!!!" So towards that end, i let the coach tell me what to do. The only thing about that is, when i was in high school (coach Richard Quick) he did ALL the thinking. He called the workouts and told me when to take off on the interval time. All i had to do was show up. Back then the workouts were fairly simple too. No drills, no negative splits, no desending etc etc....blah blah blah. Now i still have trouble with the coach getting creative. Sometimes i get so confused in the workout that i just stop until i have figured the set out. Then swim like hell to catch up!!!!!!!!
But i love swimming......maybe some of the confusion is AGE related.....lol:D :D
Another vote for a coach, especially since I'm a newbie to swimming as a sport. Our DAMA coach, Danielle Newton, has taken into account my newbie status and interest in continuing with some of the Total Immersion principles. I really appreciate this as I had to spend much of my time just trying to keep from floundering the first few weeks of practice, then leaned on a swim snorkel for the next couple of months for anything over 100, now finally am able to go multiple 300s and up to 800y at reasonable pace comfortably.
Now under her direction, working to add in some speed work, more drills, perhaps even the 1 hour postal as a long distance workout. Hope to be able to compete in, and improve significantly, in middle distance events (200-400-800) which is where I found modest success years ago as a runner.
Cheers de Mark
Hey, good question!
I am 49 years old, swim by myself 5 days a week; swim with my Masters club on Saturdays. I typically do the following:
Every day:
200 IM warmup
100 fly/free/fly/free
100 back
100 ***
100 free
100 fly kick
100 back/free kick
100 *** kick
100 fly kick
MWF:
one mile swim:
500 free pull
500 free swim
500 back swim
500 free swim
200 cool down
total: 3000 yds
Tues/Thur (after first 1000)
20 x 50 on 60 sec:
8 x 50 free pull
4 x 50 back swim
8 x 50 free swim
100 cool down
About once a week I will do the Masters workout that is on the board, or one that I remember that I like. One I do often is one that adds up to 1000 yards:
4 x 25 fly
4 x 50 ***
4 x 75 back
4 x 100 free
Another thing I throw in often is 4 or 5 x 100 KRLS (Kick, Right, Left, Swim)
John
Terry
Glad to see you have not given up on us. Of course this is me talking others may not like it but I do. Main reason I like to see what others are doing.
Years ago I watched what I considered the worst swimming instructor I had ever seen and I still believe this. But I walked away and with a couple of very intresting things that I saw him do during the class and I still use these 2 things in my classes.
Again thanks for sticking around.
Who was that Coach and what were the 2 things?
BTW Terry, it's always good to look at new things and different ways to approach the same old same old.
Gotta think outside the box.
Originally posted by geochuck
Terry
Glad to see you have not given up on us. Of course this is me talking others may not like it but I do. Main reason I like to see what others are doing.
Years ago I watched what I considered the worst swimming instructor I had ever seen and I still believe this. But I walked away and with a couple of very intresting things that I saw him do during the class and I still use these 2 things in my classes.
Again thanks for sticking around.
It is very interesting read all these replys. Here and there we can all pick up some new ideas and tips of how to improve our swimming - wonderful.
One thing that really help me with my swimming was when I in my mind started to questioning my coach. That forced me to understand what I was doing and why. As a sprint swimmer do I really need this and that? Why doesn't he or she do this or that?
After some time I was able to myself realize that things I did not like sometimes and unfortunately were important to me, and.. some things I just stopped doing. In the 70's and 80's there used to be some focus on getting tired, not always getting better.
Another thing to remember is that there is a lot you can do to change a serie. When you for example swim 10x100 on 1:30 it can be so very different. It will be what you do with it. Just cruising ten 100's or .. drills, exellent time for turning practice, time to focus on breathing or stroke etc etc.
And regarding this thread - of course we need variation in our workouts. Even the most notorious long distance swimmer will need do different things than just non stop 4 mile swims.
Take care..
Jan
i like to mix things up...some days i do mostly drill/kick workouts, others are long sets...speed days and last of all i do one swim per week where i swim a short warm up and then a straight swim.(distance increasing each week)
i get bored if all i were to do is swim straight all the time!
Thank you to everyone who replied to this thread. I had no idea when i started it that over 30,000 people would read it.
Many very interesting views. I am now coaching a few ironman triatheletes who love to swim in lakes so I can appreciate how different their needs are to the club swimmer competing in meets.
I do a lot of technique work with them in the winter and they do a lot of their own distance training in the summer.
I do feel that all need variety in ther training whatever their goals. If you feel that you have plateaued then mix it up for a while.
:)
Hey everyone,
I swim 2 hours (soon to be 4 hours, once winter training begins), each day with my collegiate team doing interval training, which includes a bit of everything, all strokes, kick, sprint, drill, etc...
However, I also get in for an additional hour or two to swim non-stop freestyle. I throw in a lap kick on my back or side here and there to give my shoulders a break, but otherwise I swim nearly 4000 yards in an hour swim.
I don't agree with these points however,
I saw this in a post:
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.
1. I feel that when I am doing interval training, and the intervals are very fast, which often in my program as a sprinter they are, my strokes turn to crud. I get short, choppy, so called survival stroke very quickly. During my long consecutive swim I really work on stretching my stroke out for the entire time, and not letting my stroke flaunter. I work on body roll and really try to slow down my stroke and focus on the fine details of swimming such as hand placement and the catch and underwater pull.
2. That completly depends on how fast your doing these swims. From those I have spoken to on here about consecutive swimming a good deal of the members seem to have worked a kind of regimine into their long swims such as every 200 changing pace from a slow consistent speed to a build 200 to a 200pace to maybe even a 200speed and back to a 200 slow recovery 200.
All in all, I feel that since I have started this extra hour of consecutive swim to my workout, my times have dropped and I am much stronger, in all areas.
thats just my humble opinion of course:wiggle:
