Thread: am i over doing it??

Welcome to IM! Nice to see you here. I'm not as qualified as most here but in my opinion - YES! Even for a swimmer, you should consider a full body workout. Work all muscle groups. You really need them. Example:

Monday - Chest, back
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - legs (quads, hams and calves)
Thursday - rest
Friday - shoulders, bi's and tri's
Sat and Sun - rest

You really don't need cardio depending on how often you swim, and another thing you need to look at is your diet. As for abs, you could do them on Monday and Wednesday. You do use every muscle in the body, believe it or not.

I'm sure others can add more to this. But it's a start.

Ok thanx, but lets say i didnt want to really bulk up? My coach says that un-neccesary muscle will slow u down in the water. He says i need to go for tone, not mass. So how can i get stronger without gaining too much bulk??

Just because you are training, doesn't mean you are going to put on a lot of mass. I'm not one to ask but there are other members here that could set you up with a routine that would be best suited for your goals. I still believe that you need to train the whole body.

Might I suggest you talk to Scotty the Body, GoPro, W8, DrPain the list goes on and on.....

(no harm meant to others that are qualified, I just named a few)

Listen to lean. You really need to work your entire body, not just your arms 3x a week. Working your arms 3x a week will have the opposite effect you are looking for - the arms consist of one of the smallest muscle groups on the body. Constantly training them will have a negative effect and you won't see any increases at all. Three months down the road you'll be wondering why you work out so much but never see any gains.

Work them once a week and use a split like lean suggested. You'll see the improvements you are looking for, and don't worry about the bulk - if you are swimming all the time I don't think that will be a problem. Plus, to put on the kind of bulk you're worried about requires eating a ton of food, something I doubt you are doing if you're big into swimming.

First of all why will it help you swim better if you build your bi's, tri's and shoulders, but it's not necessary to work your chest, back and legs?

Secondly, if all you are going to work/build is arms and shoulders yes you're over doing it by hitting them 3 times per week.

As far as the muscle slowing you down, that is mostly a myth. I do agree as a swimmer you want to stay lean, but how much bulk do you think you will gain? It is very difficult to gain size and you have to be trying pretty damn hard to accomplish it. If you lifted weights (all body parts) and kept the weights at a moderate weight and the repetitions in th 10-15 range, you are not going to gain much bulk.

Welcome to IM
Like the others said, you need to work your whole body, doing bi's and tri's 3 time a week isn't going to help you.
I would suggest keeping your rep range around 10-15 as swimming is an endurance sport and you should train that way.
I've done some training for swimming and I found that it was my legs that would tire out fast, don't neglect your lower body for your upper.

I think your legs power you more in swimming than your arms??

Originally posted by dg806
I think your legs power you more in swimming than your arms??

I think it depends on the stroke.

Most of the energy spent is through the shoulders and back but a strong kick can make a big difference from winning and loosing.