Hi there, this question is for Dr.Baraki since he was seriously involved in Swimming
If you were to prescribe a Beginners Swim Routine to do on T/TH while running the Beginner Template what would the “sets, reps, and RPE” be for someone that can Free Style and has previously tread water for 10 minutes? Swimming is fun, but swimming aimlessly for 25 - 30 min becomes a bit boring. The goals behind swimming is to increase my Lung Capacity (I have Asthma), improve my lap times, tread water longer, become better at new swimming techniques, and as a result of all that, improvement to my Body Composition.
I am not a complete Beginner, only running the Beginner Template from time off lifting, and am 4 weeks into the program.
Why?
Long story short, I really need to try new things in life, especially physical activity since I am sedentary.
Thanks!
Paramveer
There’s still quite a bit more information that would be helpful here, including more detail of your current swimming abilities (e.g., lap distance you’re able to swim at once, which strokes you’re comfortable with, and other things).
If you’re a beginner and have 2 x 25 minute sessions per week, without knowing anything about how fast you are (so I don’t know how long this will take you to finish), I’d start with something like:
Warmup:
1-2 x 100m @ RPE 5-6, alternating strokes every 25-50m (e.g., freestyle/backstroke or freestyle/breaststroke)
Set 1:
4 x 50m freestyle @ RPE 8; pick an interval that gives you ~1 min rest after each 50, and this can decrease over time
Set 2:
6-8 x 25m @ RPE 6-8, practicing other strokes, stroke drills, kickboard or pull buoy work, or other techniques (e.g. underwater dolphin kicking); pick an interval that gives you :30-:45 rest after each 25
Cooldown:
50-100m easy stroke of choice @ RPE <5
You could do this twice per week, and as your skill/speed improve, you can add more “reps” per set (e.g., 6-8 x 50m, or 8-10 x 25m), and/or the interval times can decrease, or you could add entire new sets, potentially with longer-distance efforts (e.g., eventually working up to 75m, 100m, 150m repeats or more, depending on how far you want to go with it).