How many days of cardio should a competitive swimmer do?

[rlenard]

Hi. I'm a 15 y.o. female, competitive swimmer, I do intense morning practices for an hour and a half 4 times a week. I've been wondering if doing more cardio would hinder my progress in swimming? I was thinking 30 minute hard HIIT workouts twice a week with some strength training on days I don't do hiit. I want to know how much cardio is too much since I like to come home from school and workout because it gives me a great feeling. However, I don't have afternoon swim practices anymore which means I feel kinda lazy not working out after school everyday even though I swim at 4:45 in the morning. Anyways feedback would be greatly appreciated since I don't have very much knowledge in this topic.

[Partyrocking]

Does your school have a strength/conditioning coach? I'd ask for a workout from him/her. If there isn't one, ask your swim coach.

[DCSpartan]

Do homework and/or hangout with friends. Odds are you will need more than just swimming to make it in life, 90 minutes in the morning is fine.

[saligia]

Does your school have a strength/conditioning coach? I'd ask for a workout from him/her. If there isn't one, ask your swim coach.

Agreed w/ this. ^^

I have a 15-y/o son who swims competitively. When he has questions about increasing/supplementing his training, he goes to his coach for feedback. His coach recommended he take a lifting and strength/conditioning course this year, which is adding to his daily swim practice and corresponding dryland workouts.

[1651Naismith]

As a former college swimmer with two age-group swimmers starting their journey, a couple of things come to mind:

1. The answer really depends on what level you are performing at, what your training background has been, and what your goals are. The amount of volume and intensity (in and out of water) that is appropriate varies significantly between a 15 year old that is relatively new to the sport vs. one that has broken into the national scene and close to making Olympic Trial cuts for next summer.

2. Anything you are doing outside of your practices really needs to be coordinated with your coach. Otherwise, you may find that your well intentioned efforts to augment your training are actually working against what your coach is programming in the water.

Talk with your coach about your goals (assuming they know your background & history), your desire to do more, and work together on a program that will compliment your pool time.

In general, most younger swimmers will benefit from a well designed dry-land program focusing on stability, mobility and basic resistance (bands, TRX, bodyweight, etc.). It will keep you healthy so you can continue to train in the water and build your body without the wear-and-tear of more water time, running, etc.

Playing other sports can also be a good thing to help you develop athletically.