Working out and Swimming

[Spark]

So I'm going to start swimming.

The thing is the only days I can do it is inbetween days that I'm lifting weights.

My question is that is this a bad idea in terms of letting my muscles recover from the day before? I always thought that running, swimming ... cardio type workouts aren't the same, so it would be ok, but I thought I'd check here and see what people think.

thanks!

[Ford Prefect]

Swimming is very taxing on the body. You will definately feel the effects of it carry over to your workout sessions and vice-versa. That being said, it is very do-able. Just start slowly and build up intensity gradually. If you feel beat, take the day off and rest. Eventually you should be able to do both with no problems.

[Vash]

Yay! FPs Back!

[Toby]

Are you gunna be doing flat-out swimming, or just relaxed swimming? I do rowing ergo twice a week HIIT style and there is definite impact on lifting. But I also do MA and that impacts lifting. *Shrug* Priorities. FWIW, my HIIT used to be sprints on the oval - that had a more intense impact than rowing. I think the rowing probably is more "balanced" across the whole body, whereas the sprints were more intense on the legs.

[Spark]

hmm i don't know the difference between flat out swimming and relaxed swimming.

I have a friend who swims 5 days a week and he is giong to send me some of his swimming schedules.

Off the top of my head I was just going to to laps - front crawl, breaststroke, backstroke for 20-30 mins.

[Toby]

What I meant was are you gunna be swimming like for recuperation, or like you want to break records? Like the difference between walking and sprinting. If I were to swim, I'd like to do it as a recuperation thing between other workouts. I wouldn't do it for my primary high-intensity workout, but that's my preference. Is this going to be your primary high-intensity endurance-building workout was my question? If so, I imagine it'll be severely taxing, if not, then it should be a good method of gently working out your muscles between other workouts.

[Spark]

Originally posted by Toby
What I meant was are you gunna be swimming like for recuperation, or like you want to break records? Like the difference between walking and sprinting.

I was thinking more along the lines of jogging hahaha
Ok i'm looking for some endurance, cardio and physical benefits from swimming. Not to enter a triathalon, but not to doggy paddle around and enjoy the warm water.

[Toby]

OK, then I would imagine it wouldn't be so bad. As I said, I'm not a swimmer but the footwork analogy sort of holds - I could jog a fair distance and not have it affect my lifts the next day. I used to do sprints, say < 1mi total and it would affect me the next day much more than 10mi jogging would. Same with bike riding - I ride every day for 30min total at relaxed commuting pace - that gets me tired, but not that it affects me as much as the twice-a-week HIIT rowing sprints.