Swimming is a way to stay active, burn calories and build cardiovascular endurance. However, swimming the same exercise routine day after day can be boring and ineffective for fitness. Boredom may keep you from sticking with your fitness routine. Your body adapts to the stress of workouts quickly, so vary your swimming workouts using different strokes, rest intervals, swim aids and other challenges.
Distance Swim
If you're training for a triathlon or similar event, then distance swimming is your thing. Swimming for long distances can burn a high number of calories, develop your heart and lungs and teach you to pace yourself through long events. As you improve, swim the largest distance you can in a set amount of time or time yourself on swimming a fixed distance. This is a helpful way to measure your progress.
Timed Sprints
As opposed to distance swimmers, sprinters endeavor to swim a short distance -- 50 or 100 meters -- as quickly as possible. Sprinting also burns a high amount of calories due to the high intensity. Instead of just swimming laps, begin swimming a set of eight 100-meter sprints, giving yourself two minutes -- or whatever time allows you 10 to 15 seconds of rest -- to perform each sprint.
Ladders
Ladders are similar to timed sprints, in that you swim a set of fixed distances. A ladder might involve swimming sets of 100, 200, 400, 800, 400, 200 and 100 meters in sequential order. Ladders may or may not be timed. They provide an intermediate workout between swimming short or long distances.
Swimming Tools
You may also mix up your workout by using a variety of swimming aids: kickboards, paddles, fins and pull buoys. These tools, used in combination, allow your body to get used to the proper form and feel of swimming, improving your efficiency.
A kickboard allows you to develop leg strength and kicking form. Paddles and fins allow you to build strength, develop proper balance and form, and experience the feeling of moving faster through the water. Pull buoys are hourglass-shaped foam buoys you place between your legs; they help you experience proper balance in the water and develop your upper-body strength.
Different Strokes
Although the freestyle, or the front crawl, is normally the stroke used to swim laps, you can mix your routine up by using other swimming styles. The backstroke allows you to breathe regularly and can be used as a recovery stroke after sprints. The breaststroke and butterfly move both arms and legs in unison and develop muscles differently than the freestyle or backstroke.
Member Comments