Swimming for cardio any techniques?

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andrewau

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Hi

I would like to hear how others swim for cardio like what kind of distance or timeframe etc?

I know Babalu swims about 2000meters once a week in one session I think.

What are some other good ways? is a heart rate monitor recommended?

Thanks in advanced
 
Swimming is my favorite cardio training. When I was in the Marine Corps, and stationed in WA I swam more than I ran because of the bad weather. I just kind of threw together my own little routine, and it did wonders for me.

I would swim 4 laps freestyle, then do 4 laps breast stroke, then do 4 lap with a kick board and flippers (only using my legs), then do 4 laps with a foam thing between my legs (only using arms in a freestyle stroke). Then I'd rest for about 3 min and repeat. To finish off the workout, I'd swim 1 length of the pool underwater, and call it a day.
 
This is embarassing to admit, but I can only do breaststroke. They have this swimming pool at my apartment about 25 metres only, and I do about 10 laps.
 
i can tell you from experience BREATHING is a HUGE part of it.......once i figured it out i almost doubled my distances

this is for the freestyle, you should be doing a 3 strokes for every breath you take.

left right left, breath to the right
right left right, breath to the left........takes a little getting used to but after 1 or 2 sessions in the pool you will get used to it

the problem i was facing was i would breathe and hold my breath till the next time i would breathe. so i would have to exhale then inhale on every breath (really fast i might add because i was also trying to keep a steady pattern) so you have 1/2 a second to expell all the air from your lungs and refill them

trick is......with every stroke breathe out, that way on the 3rd stroke you should be expelling the last of the air in your lungs and as soon as you pick your face up out of the water you can use the full 1/2 sec to fill you lungs back up with air

simple as it may sound.......it made all the difference in my endurance, same with breathing through your nose while running

also for "proper form" you want to breathe the air thats behind you, so try and breathe with your chin over shoulder

exile has a real good training routine too i would definitely use that, and if possible (depending on where you live) after you are a good swimmer in the pool go swim in the ocean
 
Swimming is great exercise. I just personally hate it, because I hate always having my face underwater and rotating it to breathe. Therefore I swim with my head sticking up, like I'm not supposed to, and get a neck cramp if I go any distance.
 
penguinsfan said:
Swimming is great exercise. I just personally hate it, because I hate always having my face underwater and rotating it to breathe. Therefore I swim with my head sticking up, like I'm not supposed to, and get a neck cramp if I go any distance.
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backstroke. I do 100m of all the strokes and repeat the cycle 5 times every day. I hate running.
 
for the freestyle, does anyone else's legs get tired before their arms?
 
Erskine yeah it's hard to keep kicking. You need really strong legs too. I'm slowly getting better, I did 20 laps in the olympic pool the other day (1000m).

I do 2 laps breastroke, 2 crawl etc. If it's a 25m pool then I do 4 laps per stroke.

I find it tons easier to breathe every 2 strokes in freestyle, otherwise I get too gassed. Many pro swimmers breathe on the second stroke also.
 
When i used to swim competitively i used to do IM Medleys in training, 50m freestyle, 50m back stroke, 50m breaststroke, 50m butterfly, then 30 seconds rest, repeat 10 times
 
I always enjoy swimming before or after a workout. Depending on how many people I'm sharing a lane with I'll do mostly freestyle and some backstroke. I usually try to hit the pool 4 times a week.

goswim.tv is a good website with a lot of drills and practices you can use.
 
Linus said:
backstroke. I do 100m of all the strokes and repeat the cycle 5 times every day. I hate running.
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Backstroke is a good one. I do enjoy that, mostly because I can breathe more normally. Even the breaststroke is okay by me, as I don't have to constantly turn my head to breathe.
 
For conditioning I recommend what SteMc said. All the face down strokes regulate your breathing. Backstroke will have you sucking wind hard until you learn to regulate your breath yourself.
 
ronin0352 said:
For conditioning I recommend what SteMc said. All the face down strokes regulate your breathing. Backstroke will have you sucking wind hard until you learn to regulate your breath yourself.
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Yeah, the butterfly takes it out of you aswell, little tip for freestlye is to breathe to the side as you pull your 3rd arm stroke, and dont stop kicking. (obviously breathe to the opposite side of the arm your pulling)
 
Anyone know any professional/amerture fighters who swim for their conditioning?
 
andrewau said:
Hi

I would like to hear how others swim for cardio like what kind of distance or timeframe etc?

I know Babalu swims about 2000meters once a week in one session I think.

What are some other good ways? is a heart rate monitor recommended?

Thanks in advanced
Click to expand...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJpFVvho0o4

Check out Total Immersion for some GREAT swimming theory. It's not necessarily the best for conditioning, since it makes swimming MUCH easier...but it's awesome if you plan on doing any triathlons or competitive swimming.

This is an killer video. Watch how his feet barely kick and he hands are NOT propelling him. It's all about using your body.
 
learning to pace yourself and getting your breathing down is key. I am by no means an expert, however, today, I paid attention to my breathing and slowed down a bit. Instead of swimming 4 laps then having to stop(yesterday), today, I was able to swim 11 laps without having to stop. Thats a pretty big difference for just paying attention to my breathing.
 
i havent swam in a while

just go balls out dude
 
Good sites for swimming workouts:

http://ruthkazez.com/50swimworkouts.html
http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/swim-cgi/

What you typically see in a community pool is middle aged self proclaimed "tri-atheltes" doing lsd workouts.
*shakes head*

What you don't see is interval training. You need to do broken set training and you need to swim harder. If you want better conditioning no lap swim bs.

Its cool if you get in the pool and "do laps," but thats just a recovery workout.
 
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