Don't Just Get In Shape, Stay In Shape!

Fitness is on-going, a daily part of a healthy lifestyle. For athletes is is a mandatory prerequisite for top performance. Basic fitness is cardio-vascular fitness, how our heart and lungs work. Other aspects of "stay in shape" are monitoring nutrition and weight, maintaining or enhancing strength, and staying in touch with technical skills.

All athletes need time from time to time to physically and mentally recover from the demands of their sport. The best athletes know that their future performance will suffer if they let their fitness level decline too much and have developed routines to maintain fitness during a seasonal break. Of course the best athletes will also tell you there is no such thing as an "off season". Yes, the old saying "Use it or lose it" is very true when it comes to fitness.

Here's a little insight from a running website. Although this is aimed at adult runners the context and principles are the same for swimming: 

A surprisingly large number of scientific studies have been conducted on detraining, and although not all results are in agreement, the evidence is reasonably consistent. The journals Medicine and Science in Sports & Exercise and Sports Medicine recently published reviews of over 60 detraining studies, which provide insight into how quickly you can expect to lose your hard-won adaptations to training.

The table below summarizes some of the physiological adaptations that occur during a 2 to 4 week break from training. Your VO2 max will decrease by up to 10%, primarily due to a reduction in your blood volume. One of the adaptations to endurance exercise is an increase in blood volume, and when you stop training this adaptation is lost relatively quickly. When your blood volume decreases, less blood returns to your heart to be pumped with each heart beat. This means that your stroke volume (the amount of blood pumped per heart beat) decreases. Your heart rate must increase, therefore, in order for you to run at the same pace as before.

Other effects of detraining include a loss of flexibility, a decrease in your lactate threshold pace, and large reductions in your muscle glycogen concentration and aerobic enzyme activity. Interestingly, the fitter you are, the greater these losses tend to be.

Physiological effects of 2-4 weeks of detraining

• VO2 max: down 4-10%
• Blood volume: down 5-10%
• Heart rate: up 5-10%
• Stroke volume: down 6-12%
• Flexibility: Decreases
• Lactate threshold: Decreases
• Muscle glycogen levels: down 20-30%
• Aerobic enzyme activity: Decreases
• Running economy: Unchanged

What happens to your running performance?

Endurance performance tends to remain the same or actually improve after a few days without training. This is not surprising because when you are in hard training you are perpetually fatigued, so a short break allows your body to recover and adapt to your previous training. Between 1 and 2 weeks off from training, however, the benefits of recovery start to become outweighed by a loss in fitness. Although not many studies have measured loss of performance in runners after several weeks of detraining (would you volunteer?), performance is likely to decrease by about 3-5% after 3 to 4 weeks of detraining. A 40-minute 10K runner could expect to slow down by about 1 to 2 minutes after a 3 week break.

So . . . here's the Lake Forest Swim Club "On Your Own FITNESS & DRYLAND PROGRAM – March/April 2011". This program is specifically aimed at Bronze, Senior and National squad swimmers who have had regular dryland attendance and are familiar with proper form and technique. This can be modified for any squad however, just remember to keep things age-appropriate!

The cardio, core, push-ups, and stretching should be done daily. There is also a lifting program for those who have access to equipment and know proper form. The lifting programs should be done every 2^nd or 3^rd day.

• Daily Warm-Up -- Burpees, Jumping Jacks, Arm Circles, and Light Stretching

• Daily Cardio -- 40-60 Minutes Daily – Pick it, have fun and mix it up! Objective is to get heart rate up and maintain it for 40-60 minutes continuous.

• Daily Core -- 15 min. Each Day – Mix it up!

• Daily Push-Ups/Pull Ups -- 10-20 x Sets of 10 Push-ups & Pull-Up Mix (Use elevated/assist as needed)

• Daily Stretching -- 15 Minutes

 

Download the complete program here.

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Copyright, 2010, Michael Lawrence. All rights reserved. No republication permitted without the express prior consent of the owner.