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- Are you a runner who wants
to improve your cardiovascular fitness
without adding more miles of pounding to your legs,
or do you want to benefit from non-weight barring exercise?
Well, swimming could be the sport for you.
- Well, if you're coming from a running background,
the idea of using swimming to help your running
might sound a little alien.
So today, we thought we'd share the benefits of swimming,
but more importantly, how you can use swimming
to improve your run.
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- Swimming has so many benefits generally,
and many of which are specific to runners.
Running involves a lot of force going through your bones
and your joints on every stride.
And sometimes your body just needs a break.
Well, swimming naturally removes this impact.
- And whether you're injured or just want
to increase your training,
swimming is great for improving your cardiovascular fitness
because it's a full body workout
that's really going to challenge your heart and lungs.
- Also it can help with weight loss
if that's something you're targeting,
or maybe you just want to help your body recover
after a hard track session
or you've got (mumbles) from gym the day before.
Well, swimming is a great way to improve your circulation.
- And finally, it adds a different stimulus
and really mixes up your training both mentally
and physically.
Also, your core's going to get a nice workout
as well as your upper body,
both of which can contribute to more efficient running.
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- The type of session you required depends
on the reason for you heading to the swimming pool
in the first place.
So we've chosen a selection of sessions
that should cover all requirements for runners
who are going swimming.
Well, the first session is for recovery.
We've already talked about the benefits for this one.
But you want it to all be at a low intensity,
including some mixed strokes.
For all of these sessions,
make sure you include a warm up and warm down,
either side of the main set.
Especially if you're doing a high intensity session.
But for this one, the main set is four lots
of 200 front crawl and 100 back crawl.
The front crawl efforts need to be at a moderate pace
and the back crawl needs to be super easy.
Take 15 seconds rest after each set.
And then eight lots of 50 meters two times through
as one front crawl swim, one kick, one other stroke,
and one front crawl swim.
And then take 10 seconds rest after each 50 meters.
- Now swimming is meant for being a little bit
of an upper body workout rather than a lower body workout.
So to make it a little bit more specific to running,
we want to reverse this.
Eliminate the arms and focus on the legs.
So a way of doing this is to use a kickboard.
Now for this, we're going to rest our arms on the kickboard,
extend our arms out in front of us
and put our head above the water so we can breathe
as and when we want
and kick away down the pool.
Alternatively you can flip over onto your back,
get rid of the kickboard and just extend your arms
above your head with one hand on top of the other.
Now coming from a running background,
you might find that you have quite stiff ankles,
and to start off with,
kicking might be a little bit slow going.
So don't worry about the pace that you're going at.
Just focus on your effort level.
So a good session to work on this
is four lots of 100 meters, kicking hard with a board
with 20 seconds recovery between each.
Then take 100 meters, just recovery swim,
then into six lots of 50 meters as 25,
kicking hard again, but on our back.
And then followed by 25 meters easy swim,
with 10 seconds recovery rest between each 50.
Then we're going to go into 400 meters,
steady kick with a kickboard in front.
Followed by 100 meters, swim easy.
And then finishing off with six lots of 25 meters
as 50 meters maximum effort kick,
followed by 10 meters easy kick with 15 seconds recovery
between each 25.
- Swimming is a whole body workout,
and therefore,
is naturally going to work your cardiovascular system.
And fitness gained from time in the pool
is going to transfer and help with your running fitness.
So this session is going to involve some hard work,
but here's a suggestion we've got for you.
For this main set, it's four lots of 100 meters front crawl,
swimming at threshold pace.
Followed by 100 meters easy,
taking 15 seconds rest after each 100.
And then you can repeat this whole set through once,
twice, three times or four times
if you want to make it a big set of 2K in total.
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- Well, as I mentioned already,
as a runner, it's quite likely
that you'll have stiff ankles,
which is great for rebound off the ground
when you're running,
not so great for front crawl leg kick.
In fact, for swimmers,
you normally have quite floppy mobile ankles.
Whereas, if you have quite stiff ankles,
in extreme case you have an ankle at like 90 degrees,
that's going to act as a drag.
So if swimming is something
that you really want to focus on and do more of,
it's probably something you want to practice and improve.
- Yeah, runners are also known for having tight leg muscles
and especially the hip flexor area,
which does become important when it comes to swimming
because in a streamline position,
you want to have the front of your hips nice and open.
But obviously for running,
you actually don't want to have this area tight either,
so swimming could end up being a benefit in this part.
- Exactly and obviously,
running requires quite strong leg muscles.
And with that,
we tend to see a slightly lower body fat percentage
in runner's hips and legs when we compare them to swimmers.
And this can contribute to sinking legs,
but don't worry,
because this isn't exclusive just to runners.
We also see swimmers struggling with this problem too.
- Yeah, very much so.
But it might be a little bit daunting
heading to the pool as a runner,
but hopefully now you'll at least know the benefits
and what to expect when you get there.
And if you do go with a specific session in mind
and what you want to get out of it,
then you'll find you'll get far greater benefit
transferring back to your running.
- Yep, and if you have enjoyed today's video
and found it useful, don't forget to hit our thumbs up.
Plus if you'd like to see more videos like this
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- And if you want to see a video on foot pain when running,
you can find that video just down here.
- Yeah, if you'd like to find out a little bit more
on the sinking legs,
perhaps it's something you do struggle with,
we've got video on how to stop sinking legs.
It's just here.