Swimming advice for beginner

[iLive]

Hi guys

I have decided to start swimming so every morning Monday, Wednesday and Friday I swim for like 30 minutes followed by relaxing in some hot water afterwards. I’ve worked out at the gym for 7 months and I am following a program focusing on muscle gain, but I thought doing some cardio would still be beneficial as well. The thing is I don’t really know if I should just swim or if there’s something specific I can do so it’s more like working out at the gym, building muscle mass. I don’t really know that much about it, but I thought I would give it a try.

What would you say to a noob swimmer who wants to supplement his workout with swimming that focuses more on building muscle than losing weight? Is there any special workout I should do? And is it a good idea to swim at all? I don’t want it to disrupt my gym workout and the restitution my muscle needs. All kind of comments are welcome.

[Ralidyn]

Hi guys

I have decided to start swimming so every morning Monday, Wednesday and Friday I swim for like 30 minutes followed by relaxing in some hot water afterwards. I’ve worked out at the gym for 7 months and I am following a program focusing on muscle gain, but I thought doing some cardio would still be beneficial as well. The thing is I don’t really know if I should just swim or if there’s something specific I can do so it’s more like working out at the gym, building muscle mass. I don’t really know that much about it, but I thought I would give it a try.

What would you say to a noob swimmer who wants to supplement his workout with swimming that focuses more on building muscle than losing weight? Is there any special workout I should do? And is it a good idea to swim at all? I don’t want it to disrupt my gym workout and the restitution my muscle needs. All kind of comments are welcome.

Swimming would be a great thing to supplement your lifting with. It will teach you how to focus on technique, breathing properly, coordination and many other things that are important for lifting, but not focused on as much as they are in swimming. I would encourage you, if you're serious, to get involved with a group of masters swimmers and workout with them a few times a week. You will see gains with your body in a month or two if you work at it and get in a group with masters, I promise.

That would be my advice as a guy who swims, bikes and runs.

[freelapdance]

Focus on form and just enjoy yourself. Strong front crawl sprints will give you very solid shoulder strength and give the whole "V" look. Remember though the more raw muscle you put on the harder swimming will become due to differing densities.

You want to build muscle so I would just focus on sprints. Nothing fancy. How much muscle do you want to put on? I assume you know that diet is THE most important thing. That, get a LOT of rest as well as lift HEAVY. Talking like 5 reps. If you are more specific I could give a slightly more detailed suggestion. But remember you need to see how YOUR body reacts. Do not blindly follows someones advise if your body cannot do it.

[Deleted]

<snip> This Book could be useful. Don't know if you could download it tho, some countries are being an ass about pirating stuff.

[freelapdance]

No torrents on here buddy!

[Windry]

I've been swimming for over 20 years now, and I'll try to give you some advice.

First off, you didn't really give enough information, so this advice is geared towards the type of person I'm guessing you are from your post (which is early twenties, weight lifter, and probably pretty serious about getting in shape).

I've always felt that doing timed sets is the best way to train.
- "I just swim until I'm tired" certainly works for a lot of people, but it's somewhat too leisurely for someone who's trying to train and get in shape.

Find out the length of the pool you're swimming in. Most rec centers/gyms should have a pool length of 50 meters (Olympic length), or 25 yards (in the US)/ 25 meters (most everywhere else). Most pools should also have a clock like:
or

Then, you should try to plan a workout. Assuming it's a 25yard pool and 30 min workout, my advice would be something like:
1) 100yd warmup
2) quick in pool stretch
3a) a short off set and then a short main set
3b) one long main set
4) 100-200yd warm down

examples of #3
- 4x 50's kicking (with a kickboard) on the 1:30. Then a brief rest into 3x100's front crawl (which we usually call freestyle) on the 2:00.
- 6x 100's freestyle on the 2:00
- 4x 100's alternating breaststroke/backstroke on the 2:30-2:45
- a 250's pull untimed -> 3x100's backstroke on the 2:30-2:45

If the intervals I gave are too easy or too hard, just adjust it yourself.

If you don't know how to read a pace clock, and my examples didn't make sense, read:
http://www.trinewbies.com/tno_swim/t...article_07.asp

[iLive]

@Ralidyn
That's probably a good idea, but there's noone to join during the morning. Everyone there is freelancing.

@Windry
Nice, I'll probably follow the first if it's true that front crawl builds towards v shape. Thanks.

[Windry]

One thing to note: Front crawl works the same muscles as bench press, incline, and pull-ups, while backstroke works a lot of the opposite muscles. Depending on how you schedule your workout regime, you should take that into consideration.

[Deleted]

Heh.. I don't often post here, but having been a swimming teacher/coach for 6 years and having been in training myself, there are a few things you can do to focus on muscle building.

One thing for upper body, is to use arms only, let your legs drag. This not only focuses, but also gives more resistance against the water, as this is how you can build 'power' over stamina. Similarly there are various floats and other items that you can use to increase your drag. Wear baggy swimmg shorts is one way, as they lower your streamlining. Beyond that, working up to butterfly, which is a very upper-body dependant stroke... but be careful with this, seek online for drills to work up to it, as you can injure yourself if not careful.

[Vallin]

I have been a lifelong swimming, and I coach/instruct swimming as a side job as well. One thing I always stress is technique. Proper technique is so crucial to swimming, it allows you to swim more efficiently, and swim greater distances. Some things I would say to help is may get an instructor at the YMCA or gym you go to to help you learn the strokes.

Also, once you do get better, join a masters swim team. You will meet a great group of people and generally they are pretty flexible with workouts.