Other training to promote our swimming

mad m

Ok so we all know about the log that's started up. I'm just wondering do any of the other swimmers do any other type of training to promote their swimming?

For instance last year I was doing some weight training plus circuit training and on top of this I was trying to swim 4 days a week. When the sea swim season started up I was only doing swim training plus sea swims at weekend. I think near the end though I burned out a little

So basically I'm wondering what is the best medium to promote our swimming, be it dryland training plus swimming, when is it best to take your rest days etc....

okane1

For me, I'm pretty lazy on the dry land side. It is something I need/should (core work, bands, etc).
I do a good bit of cycling. 1-2 sessions a week on my turbo and a long spin at the wkends with the cycling club.

From reading literature, it is said that land resistance training for distances swimmers is not required. There are main factors for this such as;
You do not need a great deal of muscular power to swim distance
Increasing muscle mass means oxygen has to travel further from the capillaries across the muscle to the mitochondria :rolleyes:

For middle distance and sprints, power training would be required.
Stretching is very important as it brings greater flexibility.

Certainly any other cadio training will be of benefit to swimming.

mad m

Yeah I found doing core work certainly helped me with my speed/endurance for sea swims. The weight training wasn't that sort of training to build muscle but to tone and lose some weight, the glutes got some workout with some dead lifting.

Couple lads I know do bikram yoga as well as swimming.

mushykeogh

okane1 wrote: »

From reading literature, it is said that land resistance training for distances swimmers is not required. There are main factors for this such as;
You do not need a great deal of muscular power to swim distance
Increasing muscle mass means oxygen has to travel further from the capillaries across the muscle to the mitochondria :rolleyes:

Sounds like poor literature, would disagree with that entirely. Even distance swimming relies on distance per stroke, which is greatly influenced by power per stroke. Increasing strength doesnt not have to have a corresponding increase in muscle mass. Strength and power can be significantly increased without increasing muscle mass.

okane1

mushykeogh wrote: »

Sounds like poor literature, would disagree with that entirely. Even distance swimming relies on distance per stroke, which is greatly influenced by power per stroke. Increasing strength doesnt not have to have a corresponding increase in muscle mass. Strength and power can be significantly increased without increasing muscle mass.

I'm quoting studies undertaken by Gollnick, 1972; Nelson, 1984; Tech, Hakkinen and Komi 1985.

It is also stated in Fitts, Costill and Gardetto, 1989 that simultaneous strength training could reduce the loss of muscle fibre size and strength that you get in endurance training.

Finally, to get the most of out strength training, it requires large commitment of effort and time which could detract from endurance swim training in the pool.

This is solely for endurance/distance training.
If you disagree, that's your opinion but the literature I am quoting is not poor in nature but one highly regarded in the competitive swimming environment.

AngryHippie

mad m wrote: »

Yeah I found doing core work certainly helped me with my speed/endurance for sea swims. The weight training wasn't that sort of training to build muscle but to tone and lose some weight, the glutes got some workout with some dead lifting.

Couple lads I know do bikram yoga as well as swimming.

Pretty sure that Yoga can have very mixed benefits. This is down to the different exercise/breathing patterns involved.

In Yoga, the exercise revolves around the breathing rhythm, in swimming, its the other way around. While the core work would of course be beneficial, I have had issues before with teaching yoga practitioners to swim, they just could not get their heads around the breathing patterns at all, they were so used getting it right first, that they kept putting the cart before the horse as it were. That said, I'm not sure how bikram works exactly....

mushykeogh

okane1 wrote: »

I'm quoting studies undertaken by Gollnick, 1972; Nelson, 1984; Tech, Hakkinen and Komi 1985.

It is also stated in Fitts, Costill and Gardetto, 1989 that simultaneous strength training could reduce the loss of muscle fibre size and strength that you get in endurance training.

Finally, to get the most of out strength training, it requires large commitment of effort and time which could detract from endurance swim training in the pool.

This is solely for endurance/distance training.
If you disagree, that's your opinion but the literature I am quoting is not poor in nature but one highly regarded in the competitive swimming environment.

Old studies, much relevant stuff undertaken by Bastians (2001), Yamamoto (2008) and numerous more recent studies by Hakkinen, Helgurud, and two prominent ones from Ronnestad 2010 on the improvements to endurance events from increasing max strength.
The literature quoted above would be deemed more relevant in its methodology than some of the older papers you mentioned. Properly planned strength training sessions will in no way detract from endurance swimming.

OuterBombie

Howdy,

I'm an ex-triathlete, getting back into swimming after a couple of years away due to little people.

Find this a decent resource:

http://www.usaswimming.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?TabId=1939&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en

I've been doing core work (nicked from above) during the week plus running and find my times are back now to what they were years ago (not fast but not slow either). I'm planning on building to a 10K sea swim during the summer so am slowly cranking up the km's back in the pool.

OB..

fionn_mac

Am swimming 3-4 times a week over last two years (after layoff of 12+ years), average 8-12k in the pool/week, times have probably come down 5-6sec / year for flat out 100m. Will never get back to times of younger days but would like to get down under 1.10 for 100m, sub 20min for 1500m (have done 19.xx and 21.xx OW, not sure where I'm at in the pool. think Mr Yangs record is safe though). And complete 200m fly without dying

Do two/three sessions of yoga/weights/circuit training outside the pool, don't know if it directly benefits swimming - can sometimes hinder when arms are wrecked the next day but it may accrue benefit over time. If main focus was swimming then that time would be probably better spent in the pool. But your head would be wrecked after a while too with 6/7 sessions a week when not training for something specific.

Must check out some of that literature. Best peer reviewed advice for swimming I've come across so far... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmyUkm2qlhA