I have just started swimming and wanted to see if anyone here could give me some advice on a workout routine for adding some swimming workouts to my exercise routine.
My main form of exercise for the past 8 or so years has been running. I have run 6 marathons, with a personal best of 3 hours flat. So I have decent endurance but don't have very good speed.
I am basically just looking to add swimming to my workout routine to vary the routine and keep things interesting. I am not looking to become a particularly fast swimmer. I basically want to continue to work on my cardiovascular development and also work on toning my upper body...something that doesn't really happen when you run!
I have been swimming for a little over a week now. I can swim *** stroke pretty much non-stop without getting winded. I am currently swimming a half-mile 5 times a week, with nearly all of my swimming being the *** stroke. If I go to the crawl, I tend to get winded pretty quickly. I associate crawl with speedwork like 400s or quarter miles that I do for my running.
So with all that out of the way, my plan right now is to swim mostly *** stroke for half a mile, 5 times per week. I will throw in a little crawl to get my heart rate up and to add a little variety. Is this a reasonable workout? I'd like to work my way up to a mile for 5 times a week but I want to take my time and slowly build up my routine.
Any thoughts, suggestions, pointers or recommendations would be appreciated!
Originally posted by Dave60625
Thank you very much for the advice. It sounds like trying to work in more freestyle is the way to go. I think the combination of the up and down kick plus the crawl is what gives me a hard time. My legs start to get tired and my form starts to fall apart.
Runners tend to have stiffer ankles. This is good to prevent running injuries, but will definitely reduce your kicking propulsion. Remember to lean forward (using your lungs as floatation), to keep your hips up.
Have you tried pulling (with a buoy)? That will let you isolate the arm crawl from the flutter kick.
Originally posted by Dave60625
Thank you very much for the advice. It sounds like trying to work in more freestyle is the way to go. I think the combination of the up and down kick plus the crawl is what gives me a hard time. My legs start to get tired and my form starts to fall apart.
Runners tend to have stiffer ankles. This is good to prevent running injuries, but will definitely reduce your kicking propulsion. Remember to lean forward (using your lungs as floatation), to keep your hips up.
Have you tried pulling (with a buoy)? That will let you isolate the arm crawl from the flutter kick.
