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?
It can if you do it right, but I think you don't need to be as cautious as you are right now about avoiding some threshold of pool work that might ruin your strength. Especially if you just focus on yardage. The benefits as well as the stress from swim training both depend on intensity. So don't be afraid to spend some extra time and distance on technique, which is the most important part of the sport by far.
Agree with Jazz. My low yardage swimming does not effect my lifting progress. Really, the reverse is true, or at least I have to battle through feeling sore in the pool.
I took 24 years off before I became a masters swimmer at 44. I had no problem doing slow swimming and technique work, and I needed it. Do 25s for that. After 4 months of swimming, I popped off some pretty fast 50s at my first meet.
It can if you do it right, but I think you don't need to be as cautious as you are right now about avoiding some threshold of pool work that might ruin your strength. Especially if you just focus on yardage. The benefits as well as the stress from swim training both depend on intensity. So don't be afraid to spend some extra time and distance on technique, which is the most important part of the sport by far.
Agree with Jazz. My low yardage swimming does not effect my lifting progress. Really, the reverse is true, or at least I have to battle through feeling sore in the pool.
I took 24 years off before I became a masters swimmer at 44. I had no problem doing slow swimming and technique work, and I needed it. Do 25s for that. After 4 months of swimming, I popped off some pretty fast 50s at my first meet.
