So I got the swimming bug again after the World Championships so I decided yesterday to do a swim meet without having swam at all in 12 years. It was more fun than I expected and I swam about as fast as I was when I stopped swimming (at age 17).
What changed since then? (1) I have no cardio (i.e. died on 35-40m of the 50m LCMs I swam) and (2) 40 extra pounds of muscle with not a lot of extra fat.
I have always been of the view that strength/weight training is vastly underutilized in sports in general and am going to put it to the test in swimming.
My training will consist of only technique training, sprints, kick and very very little yardage (like ~1200 yards a WEEK).
I figure that will be enough to get my cardio to where I can sprint a 50 without dying and I figure all you need for a sprint is to be able to go all out for the whole race, with the remaining factors being power and technique which don't require much yardage I don't think.
Anyone ever try it?
Well (1) is from personal experience with lifting and swimming. (lifting while swimming 12hrs/week = 5lbs muscle gained in 2yrs, quit swimming = 20lbs muscle gained in 3 MONTHS) There is also tons more anecdotal evidence and I'm sure some research on the matter. It's overtraining essentially.
Can't say I disagree. We used to lift three days a week when I swam in college and I never really seemed to get stronger when we were in heavy (swimming) training. I felt good in the weight room in the off season and felt like crap mid-season as a general rule.
Well (1) is from personal experience with lifting and swimming. (lifting while swimming 12hrs/week = 5lbs muscle gained in 2yrs, quit swimming = 20lbs muscle gained in 3 MONTHS) There is also tons more anecdotal evidence and I'm sure some research on the matter. It's overtraining essentially.
Can't say I disagree. We used to lift three days a week when I swam in college and I never really seemed to get stronger when we were in heavy (swimming) training. I felt good in the weight room in the off season and felt like crap mid-season as a general rule.
