Do you swim with a purpose when you go to the pool?  If not, you should.

Aimlessly swimming laps, so that you can comfort yourself about doing the distance you need to swim in your race, is not helping.  Sure, it gives you some mental confidence, but it’s not helping you become a better swimmer.

Every time that I go to the pool, the workout I do, is designed to help me get faster and more confident in the water.  My session after work tonight, is a good example of that.  I swam 3,000 yards and I used a pull buoy for all of them.  I also did 1,200 yards using swim paddles.

What exactly was the purpose behind this swim?  It was to build strength and endurance in my upper body.  Swimming with a pull buoy, takes your legs out of the equation.  This meant, that all of the propulsion for those 3,000 yards, came from my upper body.  Developing those, swim specific muscles is critical to building a solid base for your swim.

I swam reasonably hard tonight and I know that the session was beneficial  for me in two ways.  Firstly, towards the end of the swim, I started to fatigue.  I had worked my muscles hard and they were tiring.  Secondly, as I type this blog post, my lats and triceps have that dull ache, that I know means I am building strength through the concept of load and recovery.

Swimming with a purpose … it pays off.