I would like to pack on as much muscle as I can before school starts. Unfortunately, I have swim practice at 6 to 8 AM and 6 to 7:30 PM everyday except weekends. When should I train? And how should I train without dying before practice even starts?
Are you an endurance swimmer or a sprinter? I used to swim competitively myself throughout high school, and recently stopped in college (didn’t want to spend 4 hours a day in the pool anymore). Based on my experiences, I would say that the best time to lift would be after morning practice, or anytime before your afternoon one.
Also, shovel in the food. I neglected to do so and my times suffer. Make swimming your #1 priority and lifting your #2. Lifting is a supplement to swimming, and devoting too much time to lifting WILL make you lose a few seconds.
As far as training “without dying”, just don’t push yourself to failure all the time. Stick with basic, compound lifts and steadily progress. Just progress by reps. You could just do 3x8 with some random weight, and when you can do 3x12 just up the weight and start at 3x8 again. You will be noticably fatigued in the afternoon, but it will pay off.
When I tapered and cut out weightlifting, I dropped at least 1 second in my 50 free, and about 5 in my 100 free. You will feel drained, but as long as you eat enough to recover, you should be fine.
My times ended up being:
100 free 51.01, 100 fly 55.??, 50 free 22.8, 50 fly 25.?? and 200 free 1:52:??.
[quote]fartmonkey64 wrote:
I would like to pack on as much muscle as I can before school starts. Unfortunately, I have swim practice at 6 to 8 AM and 6 to 7:30 PM everyday except weekends. When should I train? And how should I train without dying before practice even starts?
[/quote]
At what level are you now? What are your swimming goals? How tall are you and how much do you weigh?
Most swimmers can stand to gain some weight, but keep in mind it’s that much more you’re going to have to pull through the water…
I would suggest you do your dryland training after pool sessions and perhaps on off days, unless you are just doing light work.
I’ve been swimming USS for about a year now. I would say that I’m a sprinter. I am 5,7 and weight 137.
A “USS swimmer” tells me nothing about where you are at… Events and times would be a lot more helpful…
[quote]Boris B wrote:
A “USS swimmer” tells me nothing about where you are at… Events and times would be a lot more helpful…[/quote]
I’m currently doing long course. I’m working on my 100 free & breast. Free time is 1:15:04 and Breast is 1:35:12
Have you completely hammered on your technique? are you hitting the turns well? are you kicking at least 6-8 times off each wall in freestyle, and going far in your breast pull-outs? is your chin-tucked in breast? Are you diving properly? are you rotating as you pull in free? have you timed your break-out well? is your stroke good? fingers closed?
I would hammer on technique, first before anything else. If you don’t train intensely, you can’t expect to perform as such. However, if you truly have given 110% at every practice and your form is perfect, strength would come next. Search TBT and follow that for a while. Anything by Waterbury is awesome for atheltes. Just remember to put swimming first, and aesthetics second.