I’ve recently been thinking about adding swimming into my fitness routine because it seems like a great way to stay active without putting too much stress on the body. It works almost every muscle and also feels refreshing compared to regular gym workouts.
For those who swim regularly, how has it helped you with fitness or recovery? Do you prefer it over other forms of exercise, or do you combine it with things like running or gym training?
I have been doing swim workouts for nearly 60 years. I started swimming as a 10 year old when my parents signed me up for a summer community swim team. Over the years I morphed into a runner then a triathlete. Now at 70, I swim three times a week, bike three times per week, run 4 times per week and do the peloton row 2 times per week.
When I started running I found swimming had given me a strong VO2 which I could use for endurance. Running trains the legs but it was swimming that gave me the upper body strength to maintain form. I find that if I try to lift weights for strength I breakdown. So swimming has been a great compliment to my running. Plus as I age up, I can’t run as many days and certainly not in a row, so swimming helps build fitness without the pounding on days between runs.
Its very refreshing I will give it that! I have no idea if its better exercise pound for pound compared to running.
Propulsion in swimming primarily comes from upper body and speed is determined by good technique and body position i.e. floating ability, so if you want to train lower body it needs to be supplemented with weight training like squats, deadlifts, etc, although in sprint swimming the legs will engage more than normal.
That’s really impressive, 60 years of swimming is amazing consistency. I like how you explained the balance it gives you between endurance and recovery, especially as you’ve combined it with running and other training over the years. It makes a lot of sense how swimming helps reduce impact while still keeping fitness high. Really helpful insight, especially about aging and staying active safely.
That’s a great breakdown. I didn’t realize how much technique and body position play such a big role in swimming performance. Good point about needing extra strength training for legs if someone wants balanced development. Really useful perspective, thanks for sharing.
Tobrein55. How do you split up your workouts? I’m 66 and just started getted back into all three. I’ve stayed active with lots of gymn time but started adding cardio recently. I’m thinking about signing up for a local sprint tri this October to keep me motivated. Don’t care about finishing time, just want to have fun and not finish last
Thank you
You would think as a retired person I would have plenty of time to be consistent, but with six young grandkids (all very active), I find myself working around attending their events. For instance, last Saturday I had to skip a long run with my buddies to get up at 5a to do my own run prior to a 8a five year old flag football game:-) Reminded me of when as a dad/coach I had to do my runs at 4a prior to heading off to an all day tournament.
So to answer your question, when I can be consistent, I like to:
run M,W,F,S.
Bike T,Th,F.
Swim T,Th,Su
Peloton row M,W
On Sunday i ask my wife what we have going for the week, check the weather (we live near Minneapolis so have full on winter and after years of training in the cold try to work my runs around the less cold and windy days) and be flexible about how I get in my training.
I try to be mindful of not getting injured so many of my workouts are an ez run, spin or swim sessions, but I pick two or three that are a bit harder depending on how I feel. At 70, my faster days are behind me and I just want to stay fit and enjoy those grandkids for as long as I can.
Thank you sir. I know exactly what you mean about grandkids. One good thing about being retired is I can move my workouts around life and family. Between family, other hobbies, life stuff and even more hobbies I’m a lot busier than I was when I was working 50 hours a week. But now a lot of time is spent doing things i want to instead of what I have to do.
Again thank you for your reply
I think rowing might be a better full body workout in terms of muscles recruited but swimming is a great option.
I recently got back in to swimming due to an L5S1 disc herniation, and it has helped my recovery quite a bit. Aside from building core strength, an hour in the pool is an hour I’m decompressing my spine a bit and there is a noticeable difference in my level of pain before and after swimming.
As someone else mentioned it’s not the best leg workout out there so would be good to supplement other movements to build or maintain leg strength.
Well, if you actually KICK, you can get an excellent leg workout. I swim 6000 yd/day, 7 days/wk, and kick 2500 out of the 6000, This takes about an hour and whole workout about 2:20-2:30. I also run 3-4 mi/day and do weights about 1 hr/day. Agree rowing is great but it is pretty boring on the erg plus my butt gets sore. Also, it is totally acceptable to use fins and kicking on your back will improve the ankle flex, which is very important for efficient kicking without fins. One other point: breaststroke is a kick-dominated stroke so you will get a good leg workout when swimming breast if you put some effort into it. 