etherspin wrote:xrodolfox wrote:I just saw this thread, so I'm late the party.
This caught my attention:cow-hugger wrote:Currently swimming about 3 times per week, roughly 2km at a time (this is primarily to gain some bredth in the shoulders).
Whether swimming will "bulk" you up depends on the type of swimming you are doing.
MOST recreational swimmers get in the pool and swim 2km w/out stop, at a pace which is as fast as they can reasonably swim without stopping. The focus is on going the distance.
This sort of swimming will not succeed in muscle gain at all. In fact, this exercise is the most likely to cause swimming related repetitive injuries (if done in large quantities) besides being the most boring. This training is pointless for increasing speed or overall fitness. But it is great if you want to put on a layer of fat.
If you want to get muscle, work on technique. If you want to build strength/speed, do intervals.
cool , so how would you distribute 2km worth of swimming using interval method?
2km is barely long enough to do some fun intervals.
What sort of training you do depends on your 1) technique 2) goals and 3) starting fitness level. What I do, is unlikely to be helpful to most folks unless they have similar goals, technique and fitness levels.
I'll show you what I do. My technique is pretty good. For example, I can swim 50yds free at a 35second pace w/ less than 12 arm cycles. My goals are to win the swim portion in at least one of the four local triathlons I've entered this summer. My fitness level is subpar right now. My benchmark of 10 X 100m interval is 1:30, barely arriving at the 1:25.
This is what *I* do in 2km at this time. Later in the season (once my fitness catches up), I'd do longer intervals.
on notation:
Interval means how much time I have to swim the distance. Example: If my interval is 1:30 for 100m, I'd leave at the "0:00" for a 100m swim, arrive at the 1:24 (if that was the pace I was keeping), then I'd leave at the 1:30 mark. I might get 6 seconds rest if I can swim 1:24/100m pace, or more or less rest depending on how fast I swum. If I was doing lots of 100's, then my start times would be 0:00, 1:30, 3:00, 4:30, 6:00... etc. I would also be able to keep track of my arrival and actual swim time easily and compare it immediately to my previous swim.
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1 X 100 warm up (slow, work on technique, etc)
4 X 50 kick on side drill on 1:25 interval (arriving <1:10)
4 X 50 technique choice on 1:20 interval (arriving < 1:00)
100m on 1:30
200m on 3:00
300m on 4:30
200m on 2:55
100m on 1:25
50 easy no interval
8 X 50m FAST Individual Medley Order on 1:30 interval (arriving <0:45)
3 X 100m FAST (keeping stroke count <18) on 2:10 interval (arriving <1:18)
100 cool down.
Total distance: 2250m or 2.250km
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So that's a little longer than a 2km, and would take about 45 to 50 minutes of swimming. That set would be good for *me* right now, but wouldn't be relevant a few weeks ago (I couldn't do it), nor a few weeks from now (wouldn't have what I need). But it is an example.
Does this make sense? Is this useful?
