Should you swim train during the off season?
The big question as an age group swimmer is do i train over the summer, OR REST? and have some fun, well, many think that skill sessions low impact, just to keep the fitness up, and tick over, and at the same time maintain that feel of the water, some coaches prefer total rest, some say start back a week early, its a tuff one but swimming during those first few weeks is hard, getting lost fitness back can take up to 4 weeks – trying to maintain fitness during the off season could come in the form of biking , some running, general gym work, or even some sea or lake swimming.
Some swimmers during the season of Aug like totally rest, but others do like a training camp, these are perfect for keeping swimming fitness up, they come in many forms, this id dependent of that swimmers ability or age, skill boot camps are very popular, they often are fixed at a school, or a school swim academy – or a local leisure centre, with 1-3 swimming coaches helping to run the weeks worth of swimming, often there is a goodie bag at the end, with swimming caps, and goggles, just depends of how much the swimmers pay!
Often swimmers migrate to more open water swimming, from here they learn new swimming skills, they open water swimming principles are different from the pool, they are fully different in many ways, wind and sea or lake conditions are often much harder than the pool, water safety markers are often in place though, these are bright coloured , and sometimes branded, they help the young open water swimmer with direction, they may even be lucky enough to finish there swim through an inflatable finish arch!
High Volume Silicone