How do I build swimming endurance?

[nthewater]

Hi, new to the forum.

I have always swam (swum?, swimmed? oh well) on a team or for exercize and played water polo through college. But I have always battled with endurance. I always thought that I just needed to work harder than the next guy, which I usually did, but I just couldn't compete at the high levels in college - the other guys just blew me out of the water despite serious devotion.

Now I am 39 and I swim 3 days a week, 2000k per workout (in addition to moderate strength training one or two more days) and I just still cant seem to build my endurance as much as other guys my age. I eat pretty well, but not like I am an athlete in training or anything.

My question is: is it possible that I am just not built for endurance? obviously some people are gnarly endurance types like Lance Armstrong, but can endurance vary alot from person to person. Finally, is there anything anybody can recommend to improve it?

[.V.]

I see you haven't gotten an answer here so I'm going to try. Let me be totally upfront and tell you that you are getting an opinion from the world's worst swimmer, probably with less endurance than you.

I had the bright idea of doing an international distance olympic sprint (what the heck ever that means) triathlon last may which included a 1/4 (slightly more but not sure of exact number so I'm rounding) mile swim. I couldn't even swim the length of an olympic pool without needing help. Other sporting activities such as running and biking improved my endurance a little, but different muscles are used for each of the sports.

So to improve my swimming I got a big jug, like the kind liquid laundry detergent comes in, washed it out, put a tow strap on it so it would pull behind me in the water and just swam. When I'd tire I'd hang onto the jug and rest a few minutes then continue. I continued like this until I was able to swim 1/2 mile with rest breaks. Out of 80 competitors, I was about 5th from last to leave the water, but the only time the rescue boat came near me was when some buddies working rescue that day came over to smoke and blow it at me while I was swimming. Made the whole distance without sinking.

I don't know if this approach will help you, but the best way I know to improve swimming endurance is simply to swim. I don't know if what I did will help you or not, but it did help me.

Good luck to you and don't drown.

[Blaze]

Originally Posted by a_welch503

I don't know if this approach will help you, but the best way I know to improve swimming endurance is simply to swim. I don't know if what I did will help you or not, but it did help me.

Good luck to you and don't drown.

Principle of Specifity

Your exactly right welch. People will come up to me and be like, hey man, how can I improve my power clean. I very calmly look them in the eye, and be like, "I have the perfect plan for you...do power cleans."

If you wanna get really good at something then you have to DO and PRACTICE that something.

So keep swimming man! Train hard every day, make sure your diet is in check and you'll get to where you want. It won't be easy, but you can get there.

[trainerbob]

How is your endurance in other aerobic types exercise? Could be that you just genetically have a higher ratio of fast twitch to slow twitch muscle fibers, which would affect your endurance to a degree. Scientists generally say that you can't alter that ratio.

Aside from that, I'd say these guys are right. If you want to build your endurance to the greatest degree your genetics allow you to, you don't have much choice but to practice.

One last thing. I read a book recently called Optimal Muscle Recovery, which may be of benefit to you. It talks about the need to replenish glycogen and electrolyte stores for best performance. It's not too long and you may be able to find it at the library.

[.V.]

Trainerbob, is that the one about using liquid protein/mixed carb/electrolyte feedings during endurance training and competition?

I remember getting info along those lines from the real triathletes who were kicking my butt. They were all doing it and all I was using was some dextrose water with electrolytes. Granted they were better conditioned than I, but I do think if I had known more about eating for performance rather than physique at the time I would have surely fared better endurance wise.

[trainerty]

Interesting stuff from everyone. I don't see eye to eye with Blaze here. From my point of view it isn't practice that makes perfect....it's perfect practice that makes perfect. If someone doesn't know how to do a particular exercise trying it over and over again probably won't be the answer....especially for a high speed dynamic movement like power clean.

My opinion:
Endurance is pretty decieving. Muscles and their receptors can be trained to react like type 1(slow twitch) or type 2 (fast twitch), but there is no evidence of them being transformed into different fibers.
There can be plenty of reasons why your endurance isn't where you wish it to be (i.e. biomechanic issue, previous injuries or bad habits, nutrition, recovery etc.). I think the very last one to worry about is what muscle type you are.

One other note is you need to train your energy system WISELY. To get a daytona eligible car to go faster you don't just race it around and around the track....you give it more horse power, check connections, top of fluids etc. ..... treat your body the same way.

[trainerbob]

Originally Posted by a_welch503

Trainerbob, is that the one about using liquid protein/mixed carb/electrolyte feedings during endurance training and competition?

Might be the one. The author is advocating a 4/1 carb to protein ratio in a drink, along with a compliment of electrolytes. He calls it the R4 system. Even though he's a PhD that's worked with Olympic athletes, the one thing that bothered me about the book was a lack of citations to studies and other sources.

[.V.]

I'm not much of one to rely on citations and sources. I much more prefer, "this worked for me" or "that didn't work for me". But yes, that's exactly the amount they were using 2g dextrose, 2g maltodextrin, for every 1g protein. A few were using some other slower carbohydrate too, but I didn't ask what it was. 4:1 does seem to be a good peformance ratio for those who can handle the carbs. Which apparently, is everyone but me.

[trainerbob]

I don't totally rely on citations and sources either, mainly because worthless studies get cited all the time. But I'm also wary of the placebo effect when relying on what people claim worked for them. *sigh* Where's a person to go for rock solid data? But I digress from the original thread...

[.V.]

Originally Posted by trainerbob

But I digress from the original thread...

Yeah, we do that here sometimes. As long as the original question was asked and answered and the tangents we go off on are related i.e. still discussing improving endurance, it's ok. And better feeding to support the effort is going to improve endurance.

Placebo effect? Sure it happens. But I have to read study after study, design other studies on occasion as part of my job. When I write treatment protocols or EMS policies and procedures, or make new education presentations everything has to be totally backed up with the most recent science. I'm not going there in my physical training efforts. Fine to do, but I'm just more likely to try something, pay close attention to what happens, and go from there. But that's just me.

[nthewater]

Hey guys thanks for the input. I will definitely check out that book - and the suggestion about different twitch types could be applicable to me. I do some mountain climbing and ski occassionally and I can go all day with very little leg fatigue and I generally hold up as well as other guys in great shape. Even though I have the skiniest legs in the world. I have actually wondered about this - how I can feel great doing some things that most people could never even think about, despite the fact that I dont really train for it, but then when I swim I just feel like my arm muscles fatigue quickly and I get winded easily. I am tall, thin boned, with long arms and legs, and I have a good stroke since I was under coached supervision for many years on swim teams, so it seems odd that I have so much difficulty getting my times down (under 45 secs per 50 meter lap) and endurance up (for more than 500 meters). I think I will look into some nutrition and see what kind of an impact that can have. I decided to increase my workout to 2500 meters from 2000 by including a set of 5x100 at slower speed but shorter rest periods, and altering my 50s in my 8x50 set to one moderate, one burnout, one slow, one moderate, one burnout, etc. and see where that takes me.

Thanks again! Ill keep checking this thread to see if any more posters have suggestions.

see ya' nthawater!

[.V.]

A swimmer is bound to come along sometime. Wish I knew more, but as I said I'm the worst swimmer.

[mangotango]

Swimmer here I saw this thread and was like "yes! i can help here!" although i'm not sure that I can. Like you, I've been swimming my entire life. I was never the fastest or the strongest, but I can usually go for a while. In high school my event was the 500yd freestyle. In any case, I've also dabbled in tris and have done a few sprints. And while I do agree that one of the only ways to improve swimming endurance is to continue swimming, I think there are definitely ways to approach your workouts to get the most out of them. Instead of swimming 2000m straight, try doing a series of 400's, focusing on building your speed throughout. THe more you can train your muscles to get used to speed and length of time and distance, the more comfortable you'll get. Hope that helps. If all else fails, try searching around the internet for endurance swim practices

[440gtx]

I had poor swimming endurance relative to all other disciplines and in my case it turned out to be technique. Like running, I had assumed one propelled themselves while swimming primarily using leg power. This is what was draining me. I switched to using the arms as the primary propulsion and legs the minor player more for stability and it made a night and day difference in stamina over a very short time.