How to Split a Workout With Swimming & Weight Lifting
Learning how to harmonize two workout routines together will allow you to gain the most health benefits while saving time in your workout schedule. Swimming incorporates a great cardio workout for the entire body, allowing you to burn calories and moderately strengthen muscles. When combined with a weight lifting regiment that will maximize strength gains, you will have the potential to greatly improve your strength and cardiovascular health.
Instructions
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Devise a comfortable schedule that works into your lifestyle. Look for a local gym that offers both weight equipment and a pool facility in the same location. Alternate between weight training and swimming every day. For instance, weight train on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and swim on Tuesday and Thursday. Aim for 20 to 25 minute workout sessions when you first start your program.
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Work out different groups of muscles for each weight lifting session. Consider working on biceps, triceps and shoulders for your first weight training session of the week. Focus on chest, back and abdominals for the second session of the week and then the lower body for the third session of the week. Learning and knowing how to do each exercise properly is essential in gaining the health benefits and preventing injury.
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Decide whether you want to concentrate on muscular endurance gains, muscular strength gains or mix it up. Strength training usually involves 6 to 12 reps with two to four sets, while endurance training usually ranges from 15 to 25 reps with two to three sets. Recovery time between sets and exercise vary too with 30 to 40 seconds for endurance training, and two to five minutes for strength training. Knowing this will allow you to tailor your weight lifting sessions to fit your goals.
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Enroll in swimming lessons or be prepared to seek out resources that can help you learn the proper swimming techniques. Like weight lifting, swimming with proper technique will offer the best workout and it is something that will take patience and practice to achieve.
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Create a swimming regimen that has a warm-up and a cool-down before and after each workout. If you are unsure on how to create your own workout, find one at swimmingworldmagazine.com based on your ability level, what workout type you want and your workout duration.
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Remember, according to webmd.com, water creates as much as 12 times more resistance than air, which means it will strengthen your muscles and give you a cardio workout at the same time. Keep this in mind when balancing your weight lifting and swimming workouts as continuous high intensity exercise can lead to exhaustion and workout failure.
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Tips & Warnings
Keep track of your workout schedules, including the duration of each session and what exercises were done, as well as how many reps and sets were completed in order to give you an idea of how you are doing. If you notice that you have a decreased ability to complete a certain number of reps and sets over a period of several weeks, you may be suffering from overtraining and should not only rest but reconsider your workout regimens.
Lifting heavy weights can be highly dangerous if done improperly.
