Part XIV · Swim workouts
Base Swim: Build Fitness With No Impact on Your Joints
Swim 20 to 80 minutes at an easy, steady effort, about 3 out of 10, breathing in a calm rhythm. It builds your engine with nothing landing on your joints.
Workout at a glance
Aerobic · Endurance base, cardiac efficiency, fat oxidation
20–80 min
- 01
Swim
You could keep this up for hours
20–80 min
RPE 3/10
The lesson
- 01
One easy swim, many lengths
Your app gives you anything from 20 to 80 minutes, all at the same easy effort. The length is the dose. Past 50 minutes it is your Long Swim.
- 02
Easy enough to keep going
Ask how long you could keep this up: almost indefinitely. About 3 out of 10, breathing in a steady rhythm and never gasping. If you stopped, you could talk straight away.
- 03
Drills first, from 30 minutes
From 30 minutes up, the swim opens with a short drill routine of about 7 to 9 minutes, while you are fresh enough to change your stroke. Under 30 minutes there are no drills.
- 04
Then swim your stroke
Freestyle by default, body long, a calm breath every two or three strokes. If you run out of breath, slow down or swim a few lengths of backstroke or breaststroke instead of stopping.
- 05
Short swims are for recovery
At 20 to 30 minutes the effort is the same easy 3, and the swim is there to help you recover. Mix strokes if you like and enjoy the water.
- 06
The test
You finish feeling you could have gone on. If you finish drained or out of breath, you swam too hard, and next time you hold back.
Watch for
- Swimming every length as a test. The effort creeps up, you finish drained, and the next hard workout pays for it.
- Holding your breath or gasping. Your stroke shortens, your hips sink and you tire long before your engine does.
- Lifting your head to breathe. Your legs drop, you drag more water and easy stops feeling easy.
- Skipping the drills because they feel slow. You keep the stroke you arrived with, and every minute after them costs more than it should.
How hard should an easy swim feel? Easy enough that you feel you could keep going almost indefinitely, about 3 out of 10, and could talk the moment you stop. In the water your breathing follows your stroke, so the steady rhythm is your check. If you are gasping, slow down.
What heart rate should I swim at? MONS sets no heart-rate zone for swimming. Heart rate usually runs lower in the water than on land, by a different amount for each person, so a land zone misleads you here. Go by feel instead, about 3 out of 10.
How long and how often should I swim? Anywhere from 20 to 80 minutes, and your app picks the length and the day from your whole endurance week. Twenty minutes of easy swimming helps you recover; an hour builds endurance. What matters is time at an easy effort, week after week, not a hard swim now and then.
Next
Long Swim: Swim a Full Hour Without Stopping→The same easy swim held past 50 minutes. It counts as your long endurance workout for the week.
From the book
24Slow training builds what fast training cannot→