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Why is Training Important? |
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Swimming is excellent exercise as it uses so many of our muscles. It does this whilst using the support of the water to reduce the stress impact on our bodies. But why is training so important?
The main muscles of our bodies contract in pairs. As one muscle contracts the opposite muscles is stretched out. A good example is our arm. The biceps muscle contracts and grows shorter and fatter (as in “showing off your muscles”) but the weaker triceps muscle on the back of our arms is stretched out to make it long and thin. To straighten your arm, the triceps contracts and becomes shorter and fatter, and the biceps is stretched out. Since we normally lift things up by bending our arms, our biceps are much bigger than our triceps You can see how this works by clicking HERE
The heart is also a muscle. The heart is in two parts. The muscle towards the top of t e heart comprises the left and right ATRIA. The heart muscles of the atria are stretched back by the force of the blood filling the heart from the contraction of the lower part of the heart - called the left and right VENTRICLES. Thus the atria contract and the ventricles expand; then the ventricles contract and the atria expand. Thus the two parts of the heart work against each other just like the biceps and triceps above but instead of moving bones, they move blood!. You an see how the heart and the rest of the circulatory system works by clicking HERE
Muscles contract when they are fed with ATP (a chemical made during respiration). They cannot contract without it. ATP is made in two different ways. 1. Aerobic Respiration. This means respiration using oxygen. This is by far the most efficient way of producing ATP. Every molecule of glucose sugar that is respired aerobically produces 36 ATP molecules. The products of Aerobic respiration are water and the carbon dioxide that we breathe out. 2. Anaerobic Respiration. This means respiration without oxygen. The body can only operate for a very short time without oxygen! It is a very inefficient way of producing ATP as only 2 ATP molecules are produced from each molecule of glucose sugar. The product of anaerobic respiration in animals such as humans is lactic acid (plants are different as they make alcohol instead which is why sugar solution and yeast fermented in a jar with no oxygen make wine/beer/lager etc.!). You can get some extra energy from anaerobic respiration when “going flat out” but it is not a good idea to do this for long as the lactic acid will build up in your muscles and this is very painful. Clearly the more efficiently you can keep your muscles aerobic the better - it doesn't hurt as much and the respiration taking place in your muscles is working 16 times more effectively at making ATP!
So why train? 1. Your heart becomes a more effective pump as, like any muscle, it gets stronger with exercise. A fitter heart means more effective movement of oxygen and glucose rich blood around to the muscles that need it 2. Your lungs become more effective at transferring oxygen into the blood and carbon dioxide out of it. 3. Your swimming muscles get bigger and stronger with use. 4. You actually grow extra blood vessels into your muscles which makes them more effective as they then have a better supply of oxygen and glucose. 5. You stay in aerobic respiration longer and that is the most efficient type of respiration. 6. You train so that you can tolerate lactic acid better. This is important as you will need that final extra boost of ATP from anaerobic respiration to win races! 7. As you get fitter you are able to swim longer races better as your whole body changes to perform aerobic respiration more effectively. 8. The more time your coach can spend watching you in the water, the more advice he/she can give to you to ensure that your technique is as good as it can be. You also get the best training sets to ensure that your overall swimming is improving and you are not just concentrating on the parts you like doing!
So why train hard? The harder you train the quicker you will get to be the fittest swimmer that you can be! But always remember that your body will keep changing until you become an adult and these growth changes may sometimes mask the improvements you are making through training.
So don’t get discouraged if you seem to have stopped improving - just keep at it!
For those who want more information about the detailed biology of training and the importance of warm downs to performance, the ASA has two documents that are worth reading. Click on the titles to download copies. 2. “Warm Down & Active Recovery”
For those that want to maximize their training then there are two charts that explain the training classifications. HR is heart rate, LA is lactic acid production and RPE is rate of perceived exertion (see second chart) |
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Success in competition comes from training hard! |
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The Biology of Training |
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Click on picture above for link |
