Fitness Swimming

by Emmett Hines

Many swimmers think that to improve, all they need to do is get in the pool and swim an ever increasing number of laps. What they fail to understand is that swimming is a technique sport. Unless they incorporate skill development, refinement, and maintenance into their workouts they won't become better swimmers, just better conditioned thrashers. Fitness Swimming is designed to help recreational and competitive swimmers, as well as triathletes, improve both their swimming technique and their conditioning. The book shows how to step by step build a more effective and efficient freestyle stroke using simple drills; then it guides swimmers through a structured conditioning program that emphasizes continued development and refinement of that technique. The heart of Fitness Swimming consists of 60 color-coded workouts that challenge swimmers according to their fitness level and swimming ability. The workouts are distributed across six color zones and get progressively longer and more intense as swimmers move through the zones. The book begins with green workouts, which are the easiest, and ends with red workouts, the hardest. The book not only explains how to set up an effective training regimen using the color-coded workouts, it also provides 16 sample training programs. Swimmers can follow these sample programs as they appear, or they can be used as a starting point for designing individually tailored programs. Fitness Swimming also offers advice on stretching, warming up and cooling down effectively, and choosing the best equipment.

Genres: Fitness, Nonfiction, Sports, Reference

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 22, 1998

Reviews

[Sonja H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beginning

[zoe nicol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emmett Hines does something few technical writers can do: write with humor, warmth, and convince the impatient to do the foundation work. The introductory chapters cover the basics of starting a swim program: equipment options and price, checking your health and fitness (not synonymous terms) using actual measures, and pool etiquette. The book then moves into some incredibly helpful static and dynamic balance drills, introduces front quadrant swimming, and then turns to some diverse training cycles. Hines explains how to read workouts--what a 5 x 100 FR @ 2 Rmax :03 means--and provides sample training programs. Each 3-week cycle program addresses different levels of fitness and different goals. If I could give new swimmers one book, this would be the one.

[Josh Readmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started swimming seriously 4 months ago. I've always loved to swim, but freestyle was always hard for me. This book offers great freestyle technique advice and doesn't assume any prior knowledge. It offers many drills, and lots of workouts from rank beginner to expert, and tips on how to plan your workouts. I'm pretty sure it's a good book when some of the extremely fast and experienced swimmers at my local pool start asking me questions!

[Neal Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a very good book for a swimming coach. The language can be quite technical for a new swimmer. There are lots of drills and sessions that I hope to find useful. As with most things, the barrier to successfully implementing these lies with my own determination to go out and put this book into practice.

[Hildur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has great tips on how to improve your swimming.
Every time I get into the mood to start swimming on a day to day basis I like to pick this one up at the library to get some ideas on how to do it right.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great to use with Total Immersion.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am fast learning... knowing how to swim and how to swim efficiently are two very different things!

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admit, I didn't read every word on every page, but I did read the first few chapters and can tell it's useful enough that I'm planning to buy it and use it in my training.

[Cloay]

- available in SG NLB 613.716 (Sengkang)

[VoraciousReader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent for giving advice on swimming for fitness. My only gripe is that it seems to focus on freestyle.

[Wawan Setiawan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Splendid book for all level of swimmers, especially if you follow step by step and the workouts.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got a lot of helpful tips out of this book as I strive to improve my swimming.

[Whitaker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really great book shows us how everything is great and worth to die for