crosstraining

For many years I have added weights to my swim training or maybe it's the other way round. I'm not too far off 50 years old now and find I get best results swimming wise by using weights twice a week during the off season and once a week during the high season. During the off season I swim mostly twice a week and split my weight programme so as to do my entire body once a week. When I step the swimming up to 4 sessions a week and maybe a sea swim as well I drop the weights back to once a week, using lighter weights and doing the whole body with less sets each body group so that I'm still only in the gym 50 minutes or so. Works pretty well for me. In addition I paddle a surf ski once a week, walk, surf and perhaps cycle when I can. I have found I get best results from NOT swimming the day after a weight session. Of course this takes a bit of juggling time wise but I guess I'm fortunate as I'm no more than 10 minutes from everything. Good luck.

I added swimming to the weights. I have weight lifted for over 20 years. When I started swimming 4 years ago, the Masters coach attributed some of my gains to the fact I was very strong. I also like a split of hitting all the muscle groups once a week. I have done two way splits, upper, and lower, and three way, using a push-pull type concept, bicep-tricep, chest-back, and pair shoulders with legs. Personally I think it helps swimming and for me, helps prevent more injuries to my shoulders, injuries that were caused by 25 years of softball.