Swim Training For Results

Our training plans are for multiple swimming skills, including endurance and resistance training. These provide a good cross training mix for general fun and fitness, with an emphasis on personal survival.

If you teach, review the research section for a good background on swimming performance, practice with your class the various swimming strokes, and then power up with the endurance and resistance training.

Training Schedule

Create a schedule and stick with it. This improves the effectiveness of your workout and it will establish swimming as a regular habit for life.
1. Schedule Specific Days
   Begin with a schedule of 2 to 3 days a week, then increase it as you improve and feel more comfortable handling a bigger workout schedule. Aim to do 3 days a week endurance training and 3 days a week resistance training

2. Time
   Begin with a few minutes stretching. If you have the time, schedule an hour for your workout, but at least half an hour. Devote the last 10 to 15 minutes of your swimming schedule to kickboarding exercises. Using the kickboard is an excellent way to perform muscle-toning exercises.

Training Tips

1. Swim with a Partner
   Setting a schedule becomes much more effective when you have a friend or workout partner to keep you company and help you stay motivated. Not only will they help you stick to the routine, but they can also provide friendly incentive to help improve your swim time and strokes. If your partner is swimming faster than you, it will encourage you to pick up your pace.

2. Know your body and what you can realistically do.
   Only do strokes you know. If you attempt a stroke the wrong way, you may encounter some discomfort.

3. Endurance swim training should make up about half of your training effort. You go the distance and build stamina. It is not as hard as resistance training, but takes longer. Swim a given distance for 30 minutes or more. Change swimming strokes at regular intervals. Take short breaks between sets.

4. Resistance swim training should make up the other half. You work your muscles against a resistance, like in weight training. Lifeguards and lifesavers do this by swimming fully clothed. It is hard, but good fun.

Swimmingpool as Aquatic Gym

You may have been to the gym or fitness centre and spent good money on monotonous repetitive exercises. If you simply flap your arms about you may gain some extra muscle after a long time. Or you could use some weights to get faster results. Increase the weights over time and your results get better, until you get injured.

Swimming pools are a safe alternative to repetitive gym training with less risk of muscle injury. You can use clothing layers instead of weights, so the load is spread more evenly over your body. It is a bit like weight lifting, you can just go up or down a notch by adding or removing a layer. Adjust your clothing to suit your fitness level.

Keep moving against sufficient resistance often enough and you gain strength no matter what you do, because your muscles get exercised. This is fairly hard training, but you will notice the difference if you keep doing this persistently, preferably with a training partner to keep you motivated.

Keep your "heaters" (legs) moving vigorously to keep your body warm. You can stay warm by wearing a lycra suit and/or an anorak.

Focus On Your Goals

If you are sleeping late every morning, start getting up earlier and earlier. Get a post card, write your goals on it and tape it to your mirror. Seriously, go and do it now. Write on it things like "Do 5 push-ups every morning" or "Fast Walk for 30 minutes every night."

You need to look at your goal card every morning as a reminder of your commitment to yourself. If you can discipline yourself to do this, you can achieve anything you want. If you think this is a silly idea, that you don't need a goal-list staring you in the face every morning, well then, don't say that you weren't warned!

Hydration and Fuelling during Exercise

Drink water before, during and after your workout to regulate body temperature. Failure to maintain a hydrated state can lead to detrimental changes in the cardiovascular response to exercise, over-heating of the body and decreases in both maximal power and work capacity. Just a 2% drop in body weight due to dehydration can have an overall negative impact on exercise performance. In addition to staying hydrated, athletes are faced with the task of fuelling their bodies for performance.

Encourage your swimmers to consume 6-8% carbohydrate-electrolyte beverages frequently (about half a cup every 10-15 minutes) during workouts lasting longer than an hour to maintain fluid balance (prevent dehydration) and spare glycogen. Together, these effects are likely to have a positive impact on day-to-day practices, and ultimately competition performance.

Eat Well

Stop eating fast food, junk food, candy, soda, and all that other fatty food. If you smoke - stop right away! Cigarettes stink and are tactically unsound for resuscitation training.

Start eating potatoes, rice, non-fried home prepared vegetables and fruit. Start drinking lots and lots of water to get properly hydrated. Drink water before, during and after your workout to regulate body temperature. Combine it with a high quality nutrition program. See VitaminBiz.com for details.

 Reader Comment: Powerful Exercise

Thank you for a programme I can use and get fit. I have to swim in clothes because of light sensitive skin and high sunburn risk, so your programme is just right for my swim and run training. Your aquatic gym idea gives me a powerful exercise set and is much more fun than a dry gym.

Up to three times a week I do cross training. Dressed in sportswear or casual clothes I do resistance swimming in the pool, and then go running in the same kit which makes it a bit harder. By the time I get home my clothes are usually dry again. Great fun.

Andrew, Brisbane, Australia