Question for Swimmers

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rebprest
rebprest Posts: 149 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I swam in high school and luckily for me my gym has an awesome, uncrowded pool (I hate sharing lanes) and no kids allowed! I'm just wondering what other swimmers have found works best for them as far as a pool workout: distance, sprints, or some combination of both. I started out with short, intense 25s and 50s, worked up to 100s, and now (2 weeks in) I can comfortably swim a 500-700 without stopping. Is it ok to swim a large portion of my workout at a medium intensity for long stretches, or should I be focusing on a shorter amount of time and distance at high intensity?

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  • tk2222
    tk2222 Posts: 199 Member
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    I'm not sure, I think it depends on what you're going for, (strengthening muscles? improving cardio? Getting into swimming per se as a sport?) and what you won't get bored with, perhaps. I swim quite a lot, but really mainly as an extra - an easy 1 or 2 km, two-four times a week, mostly breast stroke, usually as a cooldown from a more intensive lifting workout. (and I listen to audiobooks while i'm at it.) It burns calories, doesn't stress anything and clears my head.

    To be honest, I don't try to use swimming to actually increase either muscle or cardio - it's more like going for a walk for me, a way to get more movement into the day, not something I'm pushing myself at or even particularly looking to improve at. (I have lost about 25 pounds in the past 2-3 months, and a lot of that is swimming - but there is also a lot of weights, quite a bit of walking/hiking, a little running and occasionaly yoga, dance, etc, in the mix.)
  • wardamnirish
    wardamnirish Posts: 395
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    I find that I end up in the best overall shape when I mix it up in a fairly systematic way. I swim about 4-5 times per week. Unless I'm training for a specific event, I like to rotate through workouts focusing on sprints, then maybe endurance, then holding a pace, then maybe stroke/IM stuff. It keeps things from getting boring too.
  • m_o_
    m_o_ Posts: 40 Member
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    My favorite way to swim is by doing "Ladders". I do a couple of 50s varying my stroke then I progress to my 100,200,500, a lap of as far as I can go and then practice my flip turns. Unfortunately, where I am currently lacks an indoor pool with lanes so I haven't gotten to swim in about a year.
  • srslybritt
    srslybritt Posts: 1,618 Member
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    I do a varying number of strokes/lap sets to make sure I retain all skillsets. That's probably the most important thing. I go for a combo of time/distance to make sure I'm getting the most out of my workout for the hour I put in.

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