Note: This is a guide designed for our competitive senior swimmers. This information can be used to help educate our younger swimmers but should not play as an important role during the break as is should for the older swimmers. Breaks from training have a much less impact for the younger swimmers than it does for the older swimmers. However, logic should tell you, the more you were training, the more negative impact you will experience by not training regardless of age.

Countless studies have suggested the there should be breaks of one to two weeks between each major season of the training year. Swimmers generally feel drained after the major competition of a season, and they look forward to some time away from training to rest and pursue other interests. One to two weeks will provide time and rejuvenation while not being so long that the swimmers will lose a significant amount of conditioning.

Problems arise when swimmers take training breaks that last longer than three weeks. Although they are common for summer recreational and high school swimmers, they are not recommended for our serious swimmers. Studies find that all of the training adaptations gained during the previous season will have dissipated by the beginning of the next season. The swimmers will then have to spend the most of their time playing catch-up, that is, the major portion of the fall season will be spent regaining lost adaptations rather than building on those they had already developed.

Our winter season performances are often disappointing by comparison to our spring and summer results. One of the contributing factors to this problem is the regression in physical conditioning that occurs during the summer break which is not taken before spring and summer. After eleven months of training, swimmers are entitled to a week or so break. But, if they are inactive during the entire break, it could take several months of training during the season just to get back to where they were at the end of summer.

Athletes lose approximately 7 percent of their aerobic capacity within 12 days after they stop training. The anaerobic threshold also deteriorates rapidly. Translated to swimming performance, these decrements in aerobic capacity probably account for a three-second increase in time for a 200 yard freestyle in just one week and an approximate eight-second increase after three weeks. Once lost, it may require six to eight weeks to regain these endurance training adaptations. In addition, swimmers significantly lose their ability to exert force against water, that is, strength. Flexibility is lost quite rapidly and decreases to non-athletic levels within 3 weeks.

Unfortunately, the most unavoidable change is the loss of muscle tissue and the increase in body fat. Over several months of training, swimmers’ appetites become conditioned to a high level of caloric intake, which they tend to maintain during the breaks even though their body no longer requires as much calories. Some athletes may gain 5 - 10 pounds during a 2 - 6 week break. Swimmers may actually gain 15 - 20 pounds of fat but at the same time lose 10 - 15 pounds of muscle tissue. As a consequence, they will spend nearly half of the next season returning to their previous body composition.

What should swimmers do to minimize the impact of the break?

It should be obvious that swimmers who are serious about performing well should not take long breaks from training. They should understand that the best way for them to maintain a reasonable level of endurance is to swim. Although central circulatory-respiratory capacity can be maintained by most types of land activities (biking, running, etc.), swimming is required to maintain the physiological capacities of the swimming muscles. Swimming three or four days per week should be sufficient to prevent large losses of aerobic and anaerobic endurance. However, the training must be adequate in duration and intensity. I suggest workouts of a minimum of 3,000 yards with the intensity of training near normal levels. Swimmers should swim their major strokes during most of this period of reduced training. This will help prevent losses of endurance in the muscle fibers that are most important to their performance.

An athlete’s appetite is determined by habit, not their actual nutritional needs. Even though they will be burning far fewer calories per day during the break, they will still desire the same quantities of food that they usually consume. Obviously, if they continue to eat the same amount, they will store the excess as fat. There is not magic solution to this problem. Swimmers have to exercise some self-discipline to change their eating habits. This will be uncomfortable at first because they will continue to "crave" the amount of food they are used to eating. But if they stick with it, their bodies will adjust to the reduced amounts after a few days, and they will lose their desire for more.

Please be careful with what is being said here. The word "diet" is often misunderstood and improperly used. Starving the body of the fuel it needs is not what I am referring to. Swimmers should not be trying to lose weight or reduce their size in some way. I simply am trying to point out that the caloric needs of the swimmers during this time is dramatically less as when they are in training and that they should be aware that habit and boredom will cause them to eat unnecessarily.

Regardless of what has just been said, there will be athletes who do not wish to swim during their training break. Swimmers who are not getting in the water are advised to participate in mixed programs that include leg-endurance activities (such as running, cycling, rollerblading) and arm-endurance activities (such as kayaking, rowing, climbing). Additionally, they should participate in activities that require power and anaerobic capacity (such as basketball, tennis, volleyball, and circuit training). They should spend at least two days a week doing activities that are endurance oriented and an equal amount of time in some activities that involve power and anaerobic endurance. Athletes should also continue flexibility training.