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There is not much of a life for swimmers. Imagine practicing seven days a week, two times a day for four hours each time in the pool. This is an ongoing process if one desires to become a nationally ranked swimmer. Because swimmers swim all year, their work-outs build up as their competition approaches making it harder to have time of their own. When they get closer to the big meet, swimmers put in more time at the pool and weight room. Since physical fitness along with preparation becomes essential as the important meet nears, a training process through the year is necessary for swimmers to compete successfully.
According to Steve Clark, who was once a world recorder holder and Olympic and world class swimmer, in Competitive Swimming As I See It, swimmers improve their performance by splitting a swim season into three phases: early season, mid-season and pre-competition (85). Early season training helps swimmers get into shape progressively without starting off with hard training from the beginning according to Swimming Coach and Physical Education Professor, James Councilman's, book, Science of Swimming (239). The early season training regains swimmers strength after the swimmer does not have strenuous work-outs. Each week grows more intense than the previous as the early season progresses. The early season prepares for the mid-season, which usually begins after first month. In order to train a swimmer into the mid-season, the early season has to improve the swimmers strength and flexibility through dry land exercises, to improve stroke mechanics, starts and turns of the swimmers, and prepare or condition the body for the hard work that is to come in the next phase (253).
Dry land activities have a direct effect upon swimmers strength. During dry land activities, it is important for swimmers to work the muscles that are mainly used to swim. Ninety percent of the thrust though the water comes from these specific muscles: the pectorals, the latissimus dorsi's, the triceps, the shoulder muscles, abdominal's, the upper thigh, hip muscles and muscles located in the wrist. Many of these muscles are located in the upper body, because three out of the four competition strokes use the arm pull for two-thirds to three-quarters of the strokes propulsion. Some activities to benefit these muscles includes pulley weights, isometric-isotonic and weight lifting (Clark 123 - 4). To improve swimmers stroke, coaches of swimmers focus on stroke drills in order to enhance the swimmers skills.
By splitting up a stroke, it helps swimmers concentrate on individual parts of their stroke. The stroke is usually split into pulling, kicking, swimming and breathing to increase the strokes technique as said by Joseph McEvoy, who is an Aquatics Director, in his book, Fitness Swimming (116). Along with stroke work, working on starts helps out swimmers race. David Armbruster, Robert Allen and Sherwood Billingsley in Swimming and Diving state: The competitors with the fastest starting times have a significant advantage over those who are slow in leaving marks (35). Not only starts are part of a race, turns can increase or decrease a swimmers season depending on the quality of the turn.
By analyzing a swim into the stroke, start and turn, it will assist swimmers when they approach the mid season and their future competitions. To prepare swimmers for the mid season, coaches use different types of work-outs. Three of the training methods mostly used in the early season is over-distance, farther and interval (Counsilman 253). Over-distance means that the swimmers will swim farther than the distance of the event that they swim. Over-distances purposes are to develop endurance and to set up a steady pace. The farther method, which is also known a speed play, has swimmers swim longer distances like two to ten miles at different speeds (207).
These long distances are often done by swimming, but they can also be done by just kicking or pulling. This is used in the early season to gain general endurance (213). Next, interval training is the probably the most popular training method used. The interval method of training is currently being used by ninety-nine percent of the best coaches in the world (Clark 70). Interval training alternates periods of rest with periods of swimming usually done at a set time (McEvoy 84). The goal for interval training is to enhance the cardio-vascular system.
Interval training is also helpful for the cardio muscle and the skeletal muscle which will help swimmers to withstand the buildup of exhaustion and to perform without oxygen (Counsilman 214 - 5). Once the first month of training ends, mid-season begins to take place. Compared to the early season, the mid-season uses more rigorous practices (Clark 87). Ron Johnson, former Arizona State University's mens swim coach, and John Gadboy, assistant swim coach at Rice University, believe that swimmers typically feel pain and exhaustion during this phase, because coaches overload their swimmers (18). Overloading is anything that makes training tougher, more difficult and more fatiguing (17). This stage is very strenuous, because it increases practice time from once a day to two times daily.
In Training Competitive Swimming, Harry Hay says: It may yet demonstrated that providing the swimmer has sufficient strength, stamina and rest and conditions are suitable and stimulating, even more training per day will be advantageous (13). Though grueling and difficult, overloading swimmers provides the swimmers with better physical fitness. The training methods used in mid-season are another part that helps swimmers prepare themselves for the big meet. Over distance, farther and interval training are again used in the mid-season.
The new training methods that are introduced in this phase are to increase the swimmers speed work. The two new work-outs are repetition training and sprint training (Counsilman 258). First, unlike over distance training, repetition uses shorter distances that are swam at a greater speed. To avoid breathing problems that are influenced by quick swims, swimmers should stay at a controlled speed for the distance being swum and rest long enough to recover their respiratory rate. Repetition is a speed work set, because it helps work on the muscles and speed of swimmers. Next, sprint training has swimmers swim using extreme effort at top sprinting speeds.
Sprint training differs from repetition by swimming at even shorter distances. Sprints consist of twenty-five to fifty yards or meters, but seldom go beyond one-hundred meters. Like the repetition training, sprints have long rest periods for the swimmer to recover their breathing (215 - 6). Besides helping speed, sprint training strengthens the swimmers muscles. The increased resistance caused by the increased speed of the movements serves as the stimulus to cause hypertrophy (increase in size) and a consequent increase in the strength of the muscle (217). In the course of mid-season, competitions and time trials occur.
By swimming in smaller meets, swimmers can prepare themselves for their top performances. Swimmers find out how to swim their race through smaller meets. With testing pace, breathing patterns and turns, swimmers experiment with stokes, events and speeds. Swimmers also learn how to cope with the stress conditions that occur in their race (Counsilman 224).
By testing their techniques, it helps by preparing them for the next step. When reaching the peak of training, swimmers generally decrease workouts. Anywhere between a month to three weeks before the most important meet, swimmers are ready to end their mid-season and taper for their top performance. Pre-competition or tapering off prepares swimmers for competition.
At the peak of the season, swimmers gradually decrease the work load (Clark 87). Though the work-out decreases, the success of an entire season of work can depend largely upon this relatively short phase of the season (Counsilman 264). The main purpose for tapering is to allow the swimmer to recuperate and prepare for the final competition (Clark 87). For swimmers to fully benefit from the taper, they must lower step by step the work load according to how many weeks before the meet. Around two weeks before the competition, repetition training is emphasized. These two weeks differ from mid-season by the longer rest intervals and less repeats with more effort.
Also within these two weeks, the coaches continue to lower the distance swum by giving their swimmers more long easy swimming, kicking and pulling. When the last week roles around, coaches reduce the distance and work load. By warming-up longer and decreasing the practice time, the coach condenses the work load. As a result of lowering the distance, repetitions drop. Another training method that is used is sprint work. Around this time, swimmers usually sprint shorter distances.
Like the pre-season, swimmers work on their strokes by separating the stroke into pulling and kicking. By lowering gradually and using certain training methods, swimmers can rest fully from the seasons workouts. After the pre-competition phase, swimmers are fully ready for their most important meet (Clark 89 - 91). With these three phases, swimmers can prepare themselves for competition. Though training for each team varies, each team uses the skeleton of the training system.
Each have the similar stages: early season, mid-season and pre-competition. With this method, swimmers can use the maximum of their abilities. Although swimmers have the opportunity to utilize their talent, the result of devoting themselves is losing part of their social life. To develop into national competitors, their lives have to be eat, sleep and swim.
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Research essay sample on Dry Land Physical Fitness
