I’m in the last week of a pure bulk phase (eat heavy, no cardio at all). In August I want to reintroduce some cardio, but I have a feeling that my knees might have some problems running hard with the extra weight I have gained. I read an article about swimming sprints. I hate long distance swimming (laps).
I like the idea of sprinting. Swim a lap at 100% speed then take a rest and do it again. 15-20 minutes total. Anyone else swimming? Years and years of running is starting to take it’s toll on my knees.
I’m not swimming now, but I did for years, and it’s great. I find the best way to do my swimming sprints is to do “turnovers”. So you might decide to do, say, 4 laps on a turnover of 90 seconds. You can take a break between laps, but you have to be ready to start your next set of four by the time 90 seconds is up. That shit’ll rip you right up.
[quote]Bullmoose wrote:
I’m not swimming now, but I did for years, and it’s great. I find the best way to do my swimming sprints is to do “turnovers”. So you might decide to do, say, 4 laps on a turnover of 90 seconds. You can take a break between laps, but you have to be ready to start your next set of four by the time 90 seconds is up. That shit’ll rip you right up.[/quote]
I’m actually looking forward to trying this. Running is killing my knees. I tried lap swimming but after about 2-3 laps I feel like I can’t breathe (the whole head in the water thing and not being able to breath constantly). But sprinting sounds cool. Sprint a lap, catch your breath then sprint another. I can do that. “Turnover”. Maybe I’ll start with one lap intervals, then go to 2 and so on.
I have had knee injuries in the past and find swimming a great alternative. It was also recommended by my doctor to at least alternate between running and swimming (if not able to just swim for cardio… which at the time didn’t suit my needs, as I was playing sprint-intensive sports, i.e. rugby, lacrosse).
If you’re looking to increase your VO2 max, one the best workouts I have ever done is the ‘pyramid’ drill:
First you decide on the distance to be completed for each level of the level of the pyramid (dependent on fitness level or goals). So for example, each level of the pyramid could be two lengths of the pool. The levels of the pyramid go: 2,4,8,10,8,6,4,2. At the first level, take a breath for every 2 strokes (usually front crawl) for the determined length (from the example above- two lengths of the pool).
The next level is a breath for every four strokes. Then a breath for every six strokes…and so on until you reach 10 strokes for every breath. Finally go back down the side of the pyramid…8,6,4,2. One completetion of the pyramid is a set. In between sets I would do tricep dips or “pushups” off the edge of the pool (or just do stretches). I would complete more sets in one workout as I became more fit.
(I hope I explained that okay! looks a bit of a mess.)
I used to do the pyramid drill all the time, in combination with swim sprints. This drill was amazing…I saw/felt results very quickly. My VO2 max improved drasticly and benefited my running and weightlifting exercises.
(Of course, everyone is different and has different goals.)
You want to breathe on odd numbered strokes, i.e. every third or every fifth stroke. When you breathe to your left, your right arm is doing more work. Therefore if you always breathe to one side, you develop a strength imbalance. Other than that, all the workouts sound fine.
I like doing swim sprints with fins. That way, you can exert a lot more force. If you’ve never used fins before, you’ll be surprised at the speed you can get. I usually just sort of sit back in the water, like I was sitting in a slightly leaned-back chair, and cross my arms - no point in trying to use them with the fins on - and chug along with most of my upper body sticking up out the water. Of course, you’ll need a big enough pool where they’ll let you use fins, or a swimmable body of water.
And, people may think you are nuts. Also, for sprints the fins have to be pretty tight, like one or two sizes too small.
Try this, it is a similar to the “turnovers” mentioned previously by another poster:
Work out how fast you can sprint a 50m lap and then double it. This will be your “turnover time”.
Do 10 laps, starting each lap at the end of the turnover time.
E.g. I could swim the 50m in about 30s, so my time interval was set to 60s. The first couple of laps might have been about 35s, giving me a 25s rest, but as I tired the laps would turn into 40-45s, with only 15-20s rest. By the end of the sets you won’t feel like doing much more and you haven’t wasted too much time in the pool.
I would recommend warming down with a few laps of backstroke to make sure you even out any imbalances caused by just doing freestyle.
If you can do all four strokes try doing an individual medley (butterfly/backstroke/breastroke/freestyle), it’s one of the most intense things you can do from a cardio point of view.
im a competitive swimmer, and my summer season has just expired. I do have in my posession a few “sprint salo” workouts. basically, its HIIT in the water. if you want some of these workouts just message me and I can try to type out one or two.