3 Endurance Workouts for Swimmers
Swimming is currently one of the most effective workouts in keeping fit. The most important skill for a swimmer to acquire is endurance. The capacity to sustain a high intensity while swimming is vital. With proper guidance, you should be able to have the necessary sustainability practices which will help you keep the energy needed while working out. Good swimming endurance not only ensures you stay fit but also means you get less drained after exiting the water. However, you need to remember that different endurance techniques may vary in their effectiveness depending on the individual. Do not strain yourself. Slow down if you feel a certain workout is uncomfortable for you.
The importance of endurance in swimming is emphasized due to the mileage expected. Fatigue resulting from extensive coverage of mileage while swimming can cause loss of technique which means you lose the most important factor you need to govern your potential in the water. Swimming builds base fitness but the best way to achieve this without undermining technique is to harmonize fitness and technique while working out. With discipline and dedication, you should be able to find a pattern that works for you. You should be comfortable enough to go for a bike ride or jog after your swimming workout. Here are 3 major workouts that will help you master enduring skills while swimming;
- Maintaining a steady pace. Your goal in smooth swimming should be to maintain a steady pace to avoid getting exhausted quickly. Giving yourself a pace will also prevent you from swimming too hard and fading out quickly. There are various active rest activities you can perform before swimming to prepare yourself for a smooth and steady swim. A simple warm up session of 200 yards stroke will help you relax your muscles. While swimming, you should ensure you do not drop your hips and avoid dropping your elbow below your hands. You should be consistent with your finish goal and do not cut it short.
- Proper breathing technique. Learning the art of bilateral breathing will help you avoid breathing directly into a wave of another swimmer. You will achieve great sustainability by making good use of breathing drills. You simply count strokes and Breath on the5th, 7th and 9th commonly known as the 5 7 9 drill. Although it may hurt, it will help you be more efficient and prevent you from getting weary too soon. Efficient breathing strikes use less oxygen. Good practice on this technique will help you master up this skill. Efficient swimming ensures you breathe as much as needed and at the same time limiting immediate stopping. A regular breathing pattern will help you swim longer.
- Drill variations. When swimming for the purpose of keeping fit, you should be creative in your use of variations to increase your endurance. You will soon realize that your body is gradually getting familiarized to swimming for longer distances without stopping at intervals. Warming up swimming at a pace you are comfortable with will prepare you for longer workouts. The pyramid drill is where you swim a variety of distances while giving yourself shot breaks in between. You start with shorter distances and then proceed to longer ones, then go back again to where started. You will notice that the middle length distances feel much easier to work with. This would not be the case if you had just gone to the long distance at first. The interval and fartlek drills help you alternate between fast and slow swimming. You build endurance through this technique since you can recover while still moving.
