Swimming vs. spinning

[cmburch]

Be sure to warm up properly to prevent any shoulder or hip problems.
Normal warm-up 150yd free, 150 pull, 150 kick = 450
1. 4 sets of 75 free at 80-85% of top speed = 300 (rest 10sec between each set)
2. 5 sets of 100 pull easy = 500 (Prevent shoulder injury Butterfly)
3. 4 sets 100 IM = 400. Rest 20-30 sec between each set (100 IM = 25fly, 25back, 25breast, 25 free) work up to 8 sets maybe add a set every week or two. Do this once or twice a week.
4. 4 sets of 50 back and/or breast easy = 200
5. 2 sets of 400 or one set of 600 or 800 free at about 80% = 800
6. Once or twice a week do sets of 50 or 100 on time. For example 8-10 sets of 50 on the minute (55-75sec) adjust time to fit your skill. Or 4-5 sets of 100 on the 1.5min - again adjusting the time to fit your level.
7. Kicking 10 sets of 50 free - maybe each 50 is 25 fast then 25 easy.
8. Alternate sets of kicking dolphin, back, breast.
Cool down with some easy pulling, easy free, easy back or whatever is favorite stroke.

8-10 25yd sprints or 4-5 50yd 95-100% - but may only be good if with someone of similar speed and endurance. I wouldn't do it more than once a week if that often. The IM Individual Medley may be better and won't give a person a premature heart attack. And rest 10 sec- 1min between individual sets depending on skill and endurance. This is just an example there are many more combinations of fly, breast, back, free that can be done as well as drills for each stroke.

 

[NancyLynn]

Suggest to me what you mean by "sprints, medleys, and intervals"

What do you suggest? Sprint for 100 yards, relax for 100, sprint again??

I haven't been lap swimming in years - but what I used to do was switch strokes every length - down to the end was always crawl, back was breast stroke the first time, backcrawl the second.

Sometimes when I was just starting after a break I'd only use two strokes (crawl, breaststroke) so I was resting every other length, and after I'd been swimming I'd switch to a full lap of crawl, then down breaststroke, back with the back crawl, then another full lap of crawl (and so on).

Basically, alternate working strokes (crawl, and to some extent back crawl) and relaxing strokes(breaststroke, sidestroke, and a slow back crawl) - moving gradually to longer stretches of working strokes as I got into better shape.

 

[covediver]

Since you ask the question with particular reference to weight loss, I think you may find the article on swimming and weight loss in the current edition of USMS Swimmer to be on point for you. It was in the mail today.
http://www.usmsswimmer.com/200803/swimmingforweightloss.pdf

As far as varying your workout, there are a couple of websites that suggest different workouts for your level of swimming and distance desired. Also, I have used a set of workouts printer on spiral bound waterproof paper that suggests routines for training for distance swimming for triathlons to be very helpful.

 

[grazie42]

Suggest to me what you mean by "sprints, medleys, and intervals". I think I am just grinding away, and not getting any faster. I do 1/4 mile of crawl, 1/4 breast, then repeat again for 1 mile. Slower than molasses. It is 100% better than 6 months ago, and 400% better than 2 years ago (I just started swimming about 1.5 years ago).

What do you suggest? Sprint for 100 yards, relax for 100, sprint again??

This is a fairly typical program that we swim in my masters class (master in this case is short for aging and slightly discrepit)...I´ll use laps to stay away from the whole metric vs. imperial issue...

-8 laps, any style you want, "slow and stretching"...
-3 "full" medleys (1 lap/style), with rest-breaks in between (I certainly need them)...
-4x2 laps at about 50-75% effort, choose/vary your style, 15sec rest between laps.
-8 laps at 75-100% effort, choose/vary your style, rest 15secs between laps.
-4x3 laps, br/ba/fr, 50-75% effort, rest 15 secs
-2x4 laps wth kickboard, "medley legs"
-2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2 laps wth "legfloat" doing only freestyle "arms"(paddles if you have them), 50-75% effort, 10secs between each set
-4x2 laps at about 75%-100 effort, choose/vary your style, 15sec rest between laps.
-Swimdown

That´s close to those 2300yrds (depending on the length of your pool) and it usually takes us about an hour...

I know this may seem complicated and disjointed at first glance (I used to only grind before I joined this class) but it really is kinda fun and as long as you keep your rest-stops short you can still get a good "flow"...the short intervals also make it a lot easier to go faster...

There are of course tons of variations and some things like butterfly can be exchanged for something else but if you "play" with this I´m sure you´ll find that, if nothing else, it makes for a good break from the usual grind...just one such session each week should be enough to mix things up and make your grinds a bit more fun as well...the problem with grinding, that I found, was that your body gets used to one pace and that just going 5% faster takes a whole lot of effort...so you don´t...and then you stop improving...

 

[fisherdvm]

Thanks for the suggestion. It certainly makes my swim more challenging. I just felt it was too repetitive, and not challenging me cardiac wise very much. When some one said "pull", I think the suggestion was the butterfly. I introduced some of your suggestions today in the pool.

I can't do the butterfly, and has no intention of learning it. What other stroke also means "pull"?

 

[cmburch]

Thanks for the suggestion. It certainly makes my swim more challenging. I just felt it was too repetitive, and not challenging me cardiac wise very much. When some one said "pull", I think the suggestion was the butterfly. I introduced some of your suggestions today in the pool.

I can't do the butterfly, and has no intention of learning it. What other stroke also means "pull"?

I meant pull with a pull buoy between your legs - normally freestyle. This is excellent for warming up so you will minimize shoulder related problems. Back stroke can also be pulled. Breast stroke and butterfly are more difficult to pull. If you do not have a swim coach, many libraries have videos on swimming technique. You will find that isolating the freestyle swim - Pulling and kicking - as well as drills will quickly increase your freestyle skill and endurance in less than one month. If the 150yd each swim/pull/kick warm-up is too difficult start with 100yd each swim/kick/pull warm-up. Work on technique when pulling - not for speed, but for efficiency. Count the number of strokes to cross the pool. When your hand enters the water, stretch and reach forward (slowly extend arm forward as far as you can) rotating the shoulders before pulling back for the power stroke. With some coaching, the stroke can be optimized to cross the pool effortlessly where very little effort is used and it takes less strokes to cross the pool. I kick 6 beats to 1 pull set (right/left arm), so when I am kicking I count in beats of 6. When I am sprinting, it is probably 7-8 beats or so. A swim buddy with similar skills and endurance will make swimming a lot more fun and better workouts. If the complete workout is put on a piece of paper, it will also be better for the workout, so you do not have to think about what to do next and have a good workout.