Thursday, May 3, 2012

Swimming

Many triathletes are natural born swimmers with smooth, efficient strokes that runners and cyclists envy. It is the first of the three sports and can make a huge difference in your time, even though it is the shortest leg. It offers a great advantage to efficient swimmers because they exhaust much less energy than a swimmer with a sloppy stroke. This is why many triathletes who don't come from a strong swimming background choose to focus on training to improve their technique, rather than endurance.

I think this is the right way to go about it and is my preferred method of training. Being the Tri Club at UM has made me realize that the real advantage gained by being an efficient swimmer is not always time but energy. Coming from a running background, swimming is not my strong suit, but it has quickly grown on me.

IT'S ALL ABOUT FORM. Swimming is arguably the most technical of the three sports and it takes time to master the technique and build the working muscle memory required to become efficient. I am trying to overcome this barrier by breaking up the components of the stroke into drills, because it is easier for me to build my stroke one piece at a time.


Benefits
  • Swimming is a low impact, high resistance sport.   
    • It is a good alternative to running, which can take a serious toll on the body through constant impact with the ground which stresses the joints. 
    • This makes it a great workout not only for aerobic endurance training, but also a good alternative during injury. Swimming works well for rehabilitation by removing the stress from joints, while retaining the resistance needed to obtain results. 
  • GET FAST & JACKED! Swimming increases aerobic performance while increasing muscle mass. 
    • In a twelve week study performed on middle-aged men and women experienced significant improvements in oxygen consumption and stroke volume (heart strength). 
    • An 8 week study on men showed a nearly 24% increase in the mass of the triceps muscle. 
http://www.medicinenet.com/swimming/article.htm#intro

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