Morning Swim

Today for PT i opted to swim instead of running outside on the track. Swimming is an extremely good workout. The low impact resistance training is great for endurance and joints. Running everyday can wear on a person's joints, especially in the lower body. Swimming offers a unique opportunity to work most muscle groups to muscle failure without putting pressure and stress on the joints. Swimming, especially when you are not used to doing it, is quite challenging. Try swimming 100 meters and see just how winded you are. All morning I felt like I was on the verge of drowning. The funny part about this is I am actually a decent swimmer; there is just something about swimming laps that shows you how terribly inefficient your form is. For the workout, we bagan by swimming 200 meters (8 lengths) as a warm-up. Following the 200m we then did a 50 meter freestyle sprint for time. Based on this time we had to complete twelve 50m sprints in less than 20 seconds added to our times. For example I swam the sprint in 55 seconds, so I had to swim the next twelve in one minute and fifteen seconds each. Following the sprints, we then swam ten 50m lengths with our arms extended above our head. We did this without using our arms and while on our backs. This may not seem that difficult, but there is nothing like sharing a lane with two others and constantly inhaling water as they pass by. After this delightful, and I mean delightful, workout we were broken down into groups based on our initial sprint. We were instructed to hold a styrofoam thing between our legs. We had to swim 500 meters without using our legs at all. This was a ridiculous upper body workout. After the first 100m, I felt as though my arms were going to start on fire. Overall, the swim was a great full-body workout, and I would highly recommend swimming as a way to spend a morning.