How swimming helps you recover after a hard workout.

Published 7 months ago

ProPedia found out why swimming is one of the best ways to recover after serious stress. The pool training program is attached.

How swimming helps you recover

Swimming reduces lactic acid levels

In 2012, scientists compared the effects of passive rest, massage and light training in the pool on the recovery of swimmers. The workout included two repetitions of 200m freestyle with a 10-minute rest.

Scientists found that after training in the pool, the concentration of lactic acid was the lowest - 5.72 mmol/L, after a massage slightly higher - 7.1 mmol/L, and after passive rest - 10.94 mmol/L.

It turns out that active swimming helps get rid of lactate even better than massage, not to mention passive recovery. In addition, scientists reported that massage and swimming, as opposed to passive rest, help improve athletes' performance in the next training session.

Swimming relieves inflammation

In 2010, the effect of swimming on the recovery of top triathletes was studied.

First, the athletes were treated to interval running: eight times for three minutes at 85–90% of maximum oxygen consumption. After 10 hours, they either swam two kilometers or simply rested lying down, and after another 14 hours they ran at high intensity until fatigue set in.

As a result, the athletes who were in the pool lasted two minutes longer in the final race than those who rested lying down. This significant difference proves that swimming helps you recover faster and improve your performance in subsequent workouts.

In addition, the swimmers' levels of C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation, decreased. And since inflammation occurs after heavy exertion in any sport, it can be assumed that swimming is suitable for any athletes, not just triathletes.

How to swim to recover faster

In order for a recovery workout to provide the desired result, it must be quite active (but not tiring) and last at least an hour.

Each workout should include:

warm-up;
swimming with a board in hand;
swimming with a bun sandwiched between your legs;
main set;
hitch.

Here is an example of a recovery swim workout.

Recovery training

Time: 90 minutes. Total distance: 3,000 meters.

Warm-up:

4 × 100 meters of easy crawl swimming with 20 seconds rest between segments.
4 × 100 meters of swimming with a board in hands, only legs working. The first 25 meters you swim at medium intensity, the remaining 75 meters at low intensity.
4 × 100 meters swim with a bun held between the legs. The first 25 meters you work with your hands at medium intensity, the remaining 75 at low intensity.

Rest a little after the warm-up and proceed to the main part.

Main part:

4 x 50 meters of fast swimming with 30 seconds rest between each segment. The first 25 meters you swim quickly, the remaining 25 at a calm pace.
5 x 100 meters of easy swimming with 30 seconds rest between each segment. Count your strokes and try to do less in the next segment.
4 × 100 meters of calm swimming with a rest of 15 seconds. For the first 25 meters, inhale only on the right, the next 25 meters only on the left, and so on.
3 × 100 meters of calm swimming with a rest of 15 seconds. Swim a different style for the first and last 25 meters out of 100.
2 × 100 meters of calm swimming with a rest of 15 seconds. Count the strokes, but only 50 meters in the middle of the segment.
1 × 100 meters of swimming at different speeds. Swim fast for the first 50 meters and slowly for the remaining 50 meters.

Cool down: 1 × 100 meters slow crawl.

Load scaling

This is a long workout and you can only complete it if you are a good swimmer and have enough time to spare. If you are just learning or are going to spend 45 to 60 minutes in the pool, scale the load: reduce the distance and number of exercises.

In doing so, follow a few rules:

Don't skip the warm-up and cool-down.
At the beginning of the workout, perform all exercises with light or medium intensity and full concentration on the movements.
Always choose different points from the main part. For example, one day you can work on breathing, on another you can count strokes, on the third you can swim with a change of styles.
Stop if you are tired. Your goal is to help your muscles recover , and not to give yourself a full-fledged heavy workout the next day after the main load.

Working out too intensely won't help you recover, but swimming casually won't give you the results you want, so try to maintain a moderate intensity.

Swimming will provide you with a gentle workout, warm up stiff, sore muscles and help relieve inflammation and pain, so you'll feel more alert after your workout and be able to improve your performance in your main sport the next day.