How do you balance it all??????

[ChrisM]

I'm posting here cuz the question is about strength, cardio, stretching, etc. My goal is NOT to get buffed out. Simply to tone and trim.

I started swimming and getting more involved in my diet around the beginning of this forum. Since about the second week in APril, I have lost 12#, gained one belt hole, and dropped a pant size. I can see a noticeable change in my arms and shoulders muscle wise just from the swimming.

MY gym routine has been swimming (usually 1200-2800, depending on the day/workout), with the occasional 1/2 hour stairmaster set thrown in, and the less occasional 1/2 hour or so of stretching.

Yesterday I (for the first time in months) entered the gym's weight room and did some chest and arm work. ALthough I feel like I have no clue what I am doing, reading the strength conditioning thread somewhat helped.

I used to do spinning and yoga, and want to add these to my workouts, for variety's sake and so I don't burn out.

Swimming, yoga, spinning, stretching and weights - So how the heck do I schedule all this stuff I want to do without spending my life at the gym (it is a nice one, right on the marina, but ,,,,,,,), or is it too much?

I can figure out the cardio stuff based on class schedule, I suppose.

Weights 2x/week? 3? Is there any "set" workout I can look at for core work?

Chris

 

[milkathecow]

so the idea is that if you want to loose weight, you should do some cardio workout at lest 45mn 2-3 times a week at moderate pace (55-60% of Max Heart Frequency(220-age if male, else 226-age if female). And check your food for it not to be overcaloric... or undercaloric (else you'll hit the fridge after training for really bad stuff...).

One important thing is not to forget to drink a lot... little at a time, but a lot. my thing to get good vitamins into my fluids is to take a liter of multi-fruit juice and to mix it into 1 liter of water. It takes the sugary taste out of it, so i don't feel thirsty after drinking, but it brings many minerals back to the body. Drink at least 1/2 liter of fluid 30mins before training, 1 liter for 1 hr training, and 1/2-1Liter after the workout.

Squats or leg exercises can have a hard cardiovascular effect therefore can compensate for that kind of work if it's done with some cardio to warm-up and so on.

You should group your weight exercises, ie: back/shoulders ; pectorals/biceps-triceps ; Legs. which would give you a 3 day routine for weight-lifting programs. A good routine would last 45mn to 1-15hr max, you can still add 45mns of cardio workout to it if you want to kill the bulge, but don't overdo it to start with, else you'll fall into overtraining and you could end up with fatigue muscular pains etc.

Stretching is essential after a workout, it's sometimes more important to stretch than to gain muscle as the body needs to be in balance, muscles need to be just right to prevent various pains(back pains, neck...).

If you like yoga type of exercises, go for pilates it's a good workout and you'll certainly feel your body after that, you'll get a good workout of the core muscles and stretch the whole stuff. at level 5 it really kicks to what i read and look into.

Keep the swimming, it's excellent and an overall workout, moreover if you have excess weight, the very kind archimed helps us as you weigh only 10% of your actual weight, and water massages your joints and muscles constantly. You won't have so many muscle soreness and it will be far less traumatic for the body.

Ahh yes i almost forgot something, ... the most important thing in a workout if you want to loose weight and tone or muscle up a little bit... is to REST. don't go for 5 sessions a week to start with, after 6-12 months maybe, but not before... and even then. give 1-2 days rest, and you might consider a program with :

monday : back/shoulders, 40mn cycling
wednesday: legs + 2800 swim.
friday : then pec/bi-triceps + 45mn LifeFitness elliptic
Sat: 1200 Swim.

try the motionless abs on swissball or just like if you were doing push-ups... hold on your elbows, stick the bum in and tighten your back and abs... hold 45secs to 1mn 3-4 times... you'll see that has a good effect on the shape and tone of the abs.

read the various posts on cardio or fitness and diving if you want to dive the same day... very important to avoid DCS or other issues of the sort.

I hope this helps,

best regards,
Olivier

 

[CameronMartz]

ChrisM,

There are a number of good resources to help you come up with a training plan, not just for dividing your workouts between cardio and strength training, but also for figuring out exactly what to do each day.

For starters, I put up a few basic programs each week on my website at http://divefitness.com/html/workouts.html . I keep the exercises fairly straightforward, as I don't have a set of demonstration videos yet (coming by year's end). I think for most divers, two days of strength training is plenty, with up to 5 days of cardio. At least one day each week is dedicated to rest.

Also on that page are links to Amazon for each of the three best books available for demonstrating strength training exercises. The Brungardt books are divided into abs, butt and legs, and upper body. Each book can also help you design your own strength training program. You can usually find them stocked at your local chain bookstore, too.

For your cardio, you can search Amazon and find half a dozen different swim workout books, several of which are waterproof. Read the descriptions and reviews for each to see which fits your style and goals.

Wherever you start, the bottom line is that you should really come up with a plan that varies not only from day to day, but also from week to week. Routine is a bad word- it's the fast track to plateus. There are just too many options out there to keep repeating the same workouts over and over again, but it does take some mental effort to research, learn new exercises, and plan ahead.

Cameron

 

[ChrisM]

Thanks Olivier and Cameron

You guys are assets to the forum

Chris