I’m a teenage boy who’s been swimming for 6-7 years. In the past 1-2 years, I’ve consistently gone to practice 7 days a week, something my coach tells me to do. My hard work has shown to pay off before, something my coach praises me for every so often. But right now I’m in a little bit of a plateau. Haven’t reached my goals this season YET. My parents think that I’m overworking myself, and that I’ll be “worn out by the time I’m in college.” They want me to take a day off every week, which I always refused, because I’ve drilled in a mindset that I can’t miss a practice and that I’ll be behind if I do. To be clear, I don’t always go full throttle at practices. I know when to lay my foot off the gas and just focus on tiny details that don’t require much energy, like thought and technique. So it’s not like all 7 of those practices are draining my battery completely. Other than that, I don’t work my body too much outside the pool, although I am considering a dryland program to help build more muscle (I’m not that genetically gifted, unfortunately; I’m short and weigh less than most of my teammates). I’m aware that progress isn’t a linear journey, and that my frustration right now will be worth it in the future if I just keep working hard, but the idea of taking a break just doesn’t seem right to me. But what do you guys think? Is a break not that bad?
Your parents are right; having a rest day every week is important in order to recover well, which is very important for performance. There’s an Olympic swimmer on my team, and every squad here still has at least 1 day per week without any training sessions.
@Uma
Thanks, I really appreciate the feedback. If I may ask, who’s the Olympian? My team used to have someone who went to trials, maybe she’d agree with your teammate.
Holt said:
@Uma
Thanks, I really appreciate the feedback. If I may ask, who’s the Olympian? My team used to have someone who went to trials, maybe she’d agree with your teammate.
Ollie Morgan, he made the final of the 100 back in Paris. I’m not in his squad at the Uni of Birmingham, but I’m in the one below and still often do meets and other things with his squad.
I’m not sure why you are practicing 7 days a week. Upper-tier club levels practice 2.5 hours each day; 2 days are doubles (AM is usually 1.5 hours or so), and dryland is 3 days a week; one day off!!!
Conley said:
I’m not sure why you are practicing 7 days a week. Upper-tier club levels practice 2.5 hours each day; 2 days are doubles (AM is usually 1.5 hours or so), and dryland is 3 days a week; one day off!!!
Haha, will consider it. Thanks for the advice!
I think your parents are right.
The fact that you’re asking these questions says to me you’re smart and self-aware in addition to being a great athlete. Keep asking yourself what is the best version of you that includes swimming but is not 100% defined by it. There will always be someone faster and many more slower than you. Make time for some dryland training. Just because it sounds like you need the variety. I knew kids that worked super hard as teens, and once they got to college, the freedom was too much for them. Whatever schedule you follow, make sure it’s your decision. It may be good to mix it up now. Force yourself to take a day off now. Whatever coach says, it’s just not that important compared to you feeling good about yourself. Swimming should be a joy. Not a habit. Not a job. Best of luck.
@Valentine
Love this perspective. Thanks for the advice!
I swam D1; I never practiced 7 days per week. I only started reliably doing 6 days once I hit college. Take a break.
I also wouldn’t be too concerned about plateauing for a while. Sometimes you hit a lot of growth and improve rapidly. Then you plateau growth-wise, so your times will plateau for a bit as well. There’s a lot going on at your age.
@Drue
Thanks for sharing, and I definitely understand the whole plateau growth thing a lot better now. I’ll keep it in mind, thanks!
Holt said:
@Drue
Thanks for sharing, and I definitely understand the whole plateau growth thing a lot better now. I’ll keep it in mind, thanks!
I’m just gonna second u/Zebra4776 as another D1 swimmer. I never did 7 days straight even in college during fall training trip and winter break when all I did was swim, eat, and sleep.
I’ve been an athlete my whole life and never have heard of a coach or program prescribing 7 days a week. Occasionally we would do a 7th day but not as the norm.
Be kind to yourself no matter what you choose. Consider what’s best in the long run too; being an athlete is not a lifelong profession, there’s arguments to be made on both sides.
I would say trust your gut and maybe ask your coach for some advice.
Explain how you are taking your foot off the gas in practice? Does your coach just have a flush-out day of easy swimming once a week? Do you know ahead of time weekly, like every Wednesday or something, that you’ll not swim as hard? Do you tap out whenever you feel you’ve had enough, even multiple times per week? Without a day to reset, you might be holding back too much because you know you won’t be able to recover in one night. With a known end of the week in sight, you can more confidently train at high intensity and squeeze out all your effort by week’s end because there’s no worry about being too tired or sore the next day. You have real motivation to push as hard as possible rather than deciding you’ll just work harder tomorrow if it gets too painful today. If you start lifting too, you’ll especially want an off day.
It is abnormal for a club to have no day off. Imo, it’d be better to do 5 or 6 days where you know you will give full effort and make it high-quality instead of practicing every day and letting yourself tap out early because you feel overworked.
@Denny
Thanks for the comment. I think I wasn’t specific with my metaphor; sorry for the confusion. We don’t have flush-out practices; every day we’re expected to work to the best of our ability. I always try my best to give it my all. What I meant by laying off a bit was that I felt like if I really am overworking myself, then I should dial it down a bit. I haven’t implemented that into my practices yet; I still do my absolute best to push myself. The choice to work hard is always out there, and I always take it. Sometimes I wonder if I’m doing too much, which is why I gave that comparison.
@Holt
In that case, yes, I think 7 hard days is too much. That is abnormal at club or college level to have no recovery day.
I mean, in D1 we do 9 practices a week plus 3 lifts a week. So, you’ll be putting even more work in if you take it to the next level.
I always recommend in high school to just do singles (6 practices a week) and 3 lifts a week. There’s a lot more of a dryland aspect to swimming than people realize. Abdominal work, lifting, box jumps, etc.
@Clair
A bit different, though; we got Sundays off. You know how precious those Saturday nights are for you and your boys… now imagine going to a Sunday AM after🤨.