Now that a bunch of pools have opening up some (still a long way to go in most places), who’s still using swim cords regularly?
I’ve been been pool swimming 1-2x/wk since last Dec, and using a Vasa erg another 1-2x/wk. I’m just in maintenance phase, not swim building, as I’m having a lot of fun running and cycling more given real pool access limitations.
Was using stretch cords as an additional supplement in my work office during breaks for 10-25 minutes at a time for Dec-Jan, then sort of fell off the curve, but got back into it this week. I’m going to try to use them in this brief session 1-2x/wk as I’m surprised that my arm/back muscles are kind of sore - not unexpectedly as I use the cords for strength moreso than endurance - typically 20-30 pulls until failure, then repeat many times. Not at all an aerobic workout, but a nice adjunct to my routine - I currently swim in the pool without toys mostly to target turnover and cardio, use my Vasa erg to target muscular endurance and overall arm endurance (I do occasional 60-75 min erg workouts since pool time is <45mins here), and the cords seem to work well for max power which I’m hopeful will translate some to max pull strength at some point.
I’ll admit that I haven’t noticed any significant speed gains by doing any of them above, but subjectively I feel like it’s easier to pull harder as well as take less of a beatdown after pool swimming when I’ve got the cords (and vasa) going regularly.
when pools closed I went full blown stretch cords and was surprised how quickly I recovered speed when they opened again
in fact, I’m now faster than I was before COVID. my non-scientific theory is the cords are very focused on specific muscle groups so help give you more strength that translates to speed in the water
I’m planning to continue with cords in addition to pool sessions
I was using cords during pool shutdown about 3x a week for 15-20 mins, and I was amazed at how quickly I was back to near competent pool speeds compared to a similar layoff in the fall where I didn’t do bands at all.
I’m in the pool 2-3x a week now, but if only 2, I usually supplement with a band session and I’m always sore for a couple days following, so I know it’s worth fitting into my weekly training.
I am back to lockdown, losing pool access for the third time in a year (4 months, then 2 months, now 2 more months likely).
I did not use stretch chords last two times. first time, run+bike+rowing machine. second lockdown run+XC ski+rowing machine. In between lockdowns I was swimming 6-10x per week (depended on when I could get slots)
I finally got some chords for this lockdown. Obviously it has zero aerobic benefit, so its a specific strength workout. I can see how it will help the high elbow catch for sure.
I haven’t looked for pool access yet, but know some are open. I am doing 2 workouts (40-50minutes each) a week with cords. I do mine laying on an exercise ball, so forces high elbow, and if I get lazy I drag my knuckles on the floor (Ouch!) so helps with the high elbow
I’m curious to see how my swimming benefits once back in the water. I’m slow to start with (2min/100) so if I can be close to that it will have been succesful!
I work 2 minutes from a pool w 18 lanes and they’re never full. I have free parking and about a dozen 90-minute holes in my schedule each week. I grew up swimming almost every day, and the swim leg is easily my strength.
So I am 100% cords right now, and will be until fall, out of an abundance of caution.
It’s awesome.
I do have a chronically bad stroke, and lots of mild pain in my shoulder because of it that I hope will be alleviated with strengthening of my shoulders due to cord work exclusively. Like you, it seems to me that I am doing strength work, not conditioning work when I use the cords. But, f*ck, how many one-armed lat pull-downs can a person do before mind-numbing boredom sets in? I can answer that: about seven. So, twenty-one lat pull-downs a week: will my swimming be up-to-speed when all things return to normal?
Thanks for bringing it up. I hate you.
In all seriousness, the strength dimension of this training does interest me, and it’s a cool insight. I do wonder if I will be more bilateral in the water, or less injury-prone, or whether parts of my stroke that are weak (the finish, for me) will improve. That’s actually worth a research project for folks in exercise or strength training or physiology fields, with plenty of subjects out there.
I hope we all get out there soon.
@clydecat:
“2 workouts (40-50minutes each) a week with cords.” Care to share the workout?
@clydecat again: “if I get lazy I drag my knuckles on the floor (Ouch!) so helps with the high elbow :-)” **A funny coincidence: dragging your thumb up your side w your fingertips in the water during recovery is a good pool drill to promote high elbow. **
I haven’t looked for pool access yet, but know some are open. I am doing 2 workouts (40-50minutes each) a week with cords. I do mine laying on an exercise ball, so forces high elbow, and if I get lazy I drag my knuckles on the floor (Ouch!) so helps with the high elbow
I’m curious to see how my swimming benefits once back in the water. I’m slow to start with (2min/100) so if I can be close to that it will have been succesful!
Great idea to use exercise ball. I will try that today. This is what I love about this forum. Thanks
Dev,
I’ve also structured my workout the same as a swim session. As I thought about time vs distance, I went with an easy conversion of 1 stroke per yard. So a 4x100 would be 100 strokes, rest then repeat. M plan calls for 2500 yard/meter sessions, so at this point I’m doing 2500 strokes per session. Makes it a little easier to translate, maybe not the best or a direct correlation, but good enough.
The exercise ball also helps engage the core to keep body position where you want it, otherwise if you don’t you kinda flop around 😳
I’ve been using stretch cords, as I haven’t been in a pool in 13+ months, and I’m hoping for races I signed up for in June to happen. I think going with strokes with stretch cords, and trying to match to yards is not the same. I find that muscularly, 50 strokes with bands is a lot harder than 50 pool strokes.
I recently bought a cheap used Vasa swim trainer, and I’ve hooked up stretch bands. I used this video I found on YouTube, and have been doing 3-4 x 15-20 minutes a week. I hoping this will put me in decent shape for when I can get into local ponds for OWS in another six weeks or so. I’m contemplating getting the pulley system for the Vasa, but the bands seem ok so far.
I’ve just flat given up on swimming until the pandemic dies down and things open up some more. I was swimming once or twice a week at the university campus I work at, but you could only swim for a 50-minute timeslot (which worked out to about 40 minutes at most after changing and signing in), it was over an hour round-trip of driving for me to get to and from the gym, and in March they made it so that we have to get tested every two weeks to set foot on campus and the waiting lines for testing are like 90 minutes long. I realized I’d rather just stay away and run/bike/lift more than spend that much time/effort to swim a little. I think that’s largely why they made the testing more frequent anyway (reduce the number of people coming to campus).
I’ve been using stretch cords, as I haven’t been in a pool in 13+ months, and I’m hoping for races I signed up for in June to happen. I think going with strokes with stretch cords, and trying to match to yards is not the same. I find that muscularly, 50 strokes with bands is a lot harder than 50 pool strokes.
I recently bought a cheap used Vasa swim trainer, and I’ve hooked up stretch bands. I used this video I found on YouTube, and have been doing 3-4 x 15-20 minutes a week. I hoping this will put me in decent shape for when I can get into local ponds for OWS in another six weeks or so. I’m contemplating getting the pulley system for the Vasa, but the bands seem ok so far.
I agree that a stroke with the stretch cords seems much harder than what I feel like a pool swim stroke was like. Still just an easy way to translate a workout. I’ll check out that video, as well as look for what might be more effective cord workouts than my rudimentary method. At the very least should be working muscles that haven’t been focused on for the last year
Good morning.
My 2020 swimming opportunities have been really crummy. Broken collar bone repair for June through August plus no local pool due to new construction. Started swimming in September when it finally opened ( great reheb for shoulder ), then shut down for two weeks in October due to covid, then again on December 17 and is still closed…opening…only HE knows.
As a result, lots of time on rower, free weights and band w/o’s.
Anyways, great idea with exercise ball. I have been using bands in a bent over position, but will use the ball today. How high above your head ( for reference ) do you have your bands mounted? I have them mounted about 2 1/2 to 3 feet above my head subject to how bent I keep my legs. Any comments appreciated.
I’m not super serious anymore - but I mounted mine next to my spin bike - so after a workout I usually do 3 sets of 20 pulls. So 3-4 times a week I’m still using them.
Mostly cause I have to stare at them while I’m riding. Mine are mounted right over the closet door mostly because that was the easiest stud to access.
No technical or scientific reasoning, but mine are 44" above the floor, right next to the door to my office/pain cave. They probably could be a little lower to provide a more straight-line pull more in the same line/plane of my body. I should tske some measurements and determine a better line (or maybe even confirm my current line as good, even if by luck !)
The only reference for set up I have was a set of video exercises from a swim “ expert†leading a one hour session. He was in a rather small space and had his bands mounted above head height. Plus given the limited space, for some pulls it appeared the bands where 35 to 40* from horizontal, giving a fair bit of vertical component to the resistance. I have experimented a little with height (from level to where I have them now at head height ) and have found the the resistance from the catch to forearms being vertical provides a more realistic feeling. Definitely not scientific, just my take. Going to give the bands a try with the exercise ball now.
Gord
The only reference for set up I have was a set of video exercises from a swim “ expert†leading a one hour session. He was in a rather small space and had his bands mounted above head height. Plus given the limited space, for some pulls it appeared the bands where 35 to 40* from horizontal, giving a fair bit of vertical component to the resistance. I have experimented a little with height (from level to where I have them now at head height ) and have found the the resistance from the catch to forearms being vertical provides a more realistic feeling. Definitely not scientific, just my take. Going to give the bands a try with the exercise ball now.
Gord
In her book Speed Secrets, Sheila Taormina has her cords hooked to the ladder of the pool, e.g. about 4 ft or so off the ground. She just bends at waist and pulls horizontally relative to the ground. In her buildup to the 1996 Oly Trials and the Games, she said she simulated her 200 free every night in her room, doing same number strokes per length as she would in the race (around 40-ish IIRC), and with a brief “rest” of 4 sec every 40 strokes as she “flipped and pushed off the wall.” Since she went right at 2:00 flat for the 200 LCM, that would be about 40 strokes in around 26 sec, or about 92 str/min. Try and see if you can do that turnover rate, with a full stroke, for even 15 sec. And these sessions were done at the end of a normal training day of, oh, just 12-14,000 meters or so, plus an hr of weights. These cords sessions helped her visualize the race 100s of times before the actual race.
My coach is alway on me about using my Swim Cords. I am trying to do them 3x a week.
3 x 20 Both arms simutaneously
3 x 20 Single arms
3 x 20 Shoulders to finish
3 x 10 Internal Shoulder Rotation
3 x 10 External Shoulder Rotation
Update:
Tried band w/o last night with lying on exercise ball to be in prone position. Didn’t work out. The ball pushes my arms too wide, just where I should be doing the “diagonal†or in sweep. Definitely could feel it in the shoulders. Then tried it on a padded stool ( you know the kind: padded cushion, gaudy plastic cover, spindly gold metal legs and label on underside that says not to put full body weight that we all ignore…). The stool was great for positioning and did not affect my stroke. But it put me in a position where the bands ended up being about 35* from horizontal. It gave a good w/o but the shoulder loading was too great and not natural. So will make another hole in the wall and lower the anchor and try again.
I think when I use the bands when bent at the waist I end up cheating and rising up during parts of the stroke to reduce the stress from the angle.
Admittedly, this “angle of cords†is not an earth shaking thing, but man am I missing the pool! Our provincial government ( Alberta, Canada ) is suggesting if we can keep up vaccinating we may see limited pool openings by the end of May. By then we should be able to start open water swims.
Cloy,
Read my post above. A stacking stool ( top measures 12â€x16†and is 17†tall ) works great. Narrow enough to be unobtrusive to arm movements and good height to kneel over and still allow a small amount of body rotation. I bet you could find one at a local thrift store!
Gord
