Question about advancing my weights use

[Jinty]

Hi - I am new to this forum and I hope some of you can provide me with advice. I am 56, female and have been actively using the gym for a year now. I had been a swimmer but needed to do more. I work out six days a week mixing cardio, weights and swimming and go to the gym three days of the six. I use dumbbells, pulley weights and machines and in the last four weeks have decreased time on cardio from 80 min to 30 and now spend 95 minutes on weights. The difference in strength and body shape is showing. In particular using weights has improved my swimming power and speed. Each day of the six I swim at least 400m and one day a week swim 2000m. I want to stay swimming at this level at least.
My dumbbell routine is using 3kg, 4kg, 5kg and some at 6kg with some variations based on strength and ability and I feel my next step is squats but I am slow to go there. I do 1X 16 reps at 3kg; 1X12 at 4kg and 1X8 at 5kg across a range of about eight exercises at each weight level with just row movement and squats at 6kg. I find pulley weights a great addition, particularly for arm strength.
Thankfully I have made slow and steady progress and not suffered any injury and I would like to continue at that pace.
I am wondering if I should continue what I am doing or look to using barbells. My goal is fitness, maximizing my strength for daily life and being a strong a swimmer as I can be for my age. Thank you in advance.

[Kumar]

My goal is fitness, maximizing my strength for daily life and being a strong a swimmer as I can be for my age. Thank you in advance.

From another 50+ starter - first of all, I think you are doing a lot - and as I was advised here too, you don't want to overtrain and burn out.

Second, though I don't want to discourage you from weights, won't swimming by itself meet your goals? Recreational swimming, if you enjoy it like you seem to, is something you can do all your life, and is fantastic exercise, with the least likelihood of training related injuries. I would suggest using weights to the extent needed to improve swimming form, and swimming websites are probably the best places to find out what kind of weight training will support swimming progress.

My two cents...

[phalzee]

As someone who started SS a couple years ago @ age 55, I commend your enthusiasm and perseverance. On the other hand, it sort of sounds like you haven't read the book. If you want to increase functional strength, first read the book, then follow the program as described. No matter how much historical detail you provide, no one can tell you what's right for you. You just have to try it. Did I mention, you MUST read the book?

[phalzee]

First I apologize to Jinty if I came across as patronizing in my initial response. I certainly don't mean to discourage your interest in "The Program."

That said, I would say one of the biggest adjustments you may have to make (especially at 56) if you're going to start Starting Strength is learning to rest more. It seems unlikely you'll be able maintain your current swimming regimen AND get the full benefits of SS. You may not want to just lay around and do nothing on your off days (although it feels damn good) but recovery is every bit as important as work. BTW this is discussed at length in PPST…again read the book(s).

My opinion is SS probably not for you unless you're willing to cut back on your swimming. And it's going to be a challenge to find a way to integrate the two in a way that doesn't compromise your recovery. If you simply add SS to your existing routine, the best you can expect will be diminished results. At worst, you are likely to become overtrained, which would be a bad thing.

Best of luck Jinty! Hope you decide to pursue Starting Strength.

[hrat]

Learning to squat and deadlift with the bar is well within your abilities (said without knowing what those abilities are, because they are possible for darn near anybody, see e.g http://startingstrength.com/resource...d.php?t=30187& ) and will do much more for you than dumbell squats ever can.
I agree original SS is probably not for you, but the SS book's exercise descriptions are still very useful, whether or not you can find coaching. And I would suggest 95 mins of weights is far longer than you need. 45 minutes of a few big exercises is probably better.

[FatButWeak]

I am going to "swim" against the tide of the comments here (like how I did that?) and say that swimming is NOT enough. While swimming and swim training is obviously very good exercise, devoted and diligent barbell strength training causes important physiological changes and improvements that swimming cannot match. Properly weighted barbell exercises as instructed in Starting Strength Basic Barbell Training strain and train the musculoskeletal system in many ways where swimming fails. For starters there is the issue of bone density. Then there is lower body strength and flexibility. If I was a 56 year old woman looking to branch out and balance my health and traing, barbell lifts and Starting Strength is where I would begin. Even if it means having to scale back some of my swimming to allow recovery. At least for six months or so, when linear strength gains peter out.

This is not to bash swimming. Its great. But if I had to choose swim training versus barbell training (and we don't, by the way, we can chhose both) I know I would chhose barbell training. Any benefit from swimming can be achieved thru barbells, but not really the other way around. So keep swimming, but buy then read SSBBT and figure out how to incorporate the barbell lifts into your training regimen. You will find its a womnderfully written book, and will really expand your knowledge base.

[Kumar]

On a separate note, if you don't know about this already, I suggest a look at the above. And the you tube video in the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJpFVvho0o4

Poetry in slow motion. If I was to take swimming seriously, this is how I would want to swim. This swimming approach is all about swimming with the least effort, focusing on reducing drag as opposed to increasing effort, to swim longer and faster. The underwater camera captures it beautifully.

[Gene61]

I'm with FatButWeak, definitely do SS. I'm a 61 year old swimmer and surfer. I got much better at both as I progressed on SS. If you want to keep swimming while you do SS, you can do SS twice per week, leaving recovery time for some swimming. However the novice gains you can make on SS for the few months that linear progression lasts, are worth giving up the other activities during that period.

[hbriem]

I also think SS would be a good addition to swimming.

I was a swimmer myself when I started lifting at 41. In a couple of years I quit swimming (shoulder injury + lifting was a lot more fun), but weight training was doing a lot for me and improved the swimming too.

I lifted twice a week and swam 3 times when I started doing both. My swim times improved faster than they did when I was swimming 5 times/wk.

[Tamara Reynolds]

From another 50+ starter - first of all, I think you are doing a lot - and as I was advised here too, you don't want to overtrain and burn out.

Second, though I don't want to discourage you from weights, won't swimming by itself meet your goals? Recreational swimming, if you enjoy it like you seem to, is something you can do all your life, and is fantastic exercise, with the least likelihood of training related injuries. I would suggest using weights to the extent needed to improve swimming form, and swimming websites are probably the best places to find out what kind of weight training will support swimming progress.

My two cents...

This is some of the worst advice I have ever read on this forum, and that is saying a lot.