Topic: Insanity?

[littleR]

Hi everyone! I decided I'm just going to put everything I have to say in this thread (I don't even know if this is the right section) and look for feedback.

My name is Catie and I'm a 18 year old swimmer for my college. I swim 6 days of the week and twice on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I lift on Tuesdays and Thursdays as well. On Tuesdays, I do rows, bench press, military press, leg curls, leg extensions, etc. On Thursdays, I work on lats, squats, triceps, biceps, hips, etc.

On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays after practice I do a program called "Insanity" with my teammates. It's name certainly lives up to its workout. In addition, we occasionally do a form of pretty intense yoga/Pilate's (unfortunately, I'm incredibly inflexible, but hopefully I'll improve).

I try to eat as best as I can on a college campus. This includes eating many vegetables with every meal, fruit, occasionally meat, yogurt, skim milk or juice depending on the meal, and water constantly. I'm not sure how people around here feel about yogurt? But, I love it and eat it frequently. I also have a habit of mixing fruit or granola into it. I know several of you recommend whole milk, but frankly I can't stand the taste because I've grown up drinking skim milk. It's like I'm drinking a milk shake when I try whole milk, or even 2%.

What's strange is that I'm thinner than I have been and all of my clothes are lose on me, yet I've gained a few pounds? I don't really understand this. I'm also extremely tried because I've never been used to having such a demanding schedule academically. I'm a freshman and I study for hours every day and that combined with swimming, work, and school is exhausting. I think that I would be fine, but I have no time for sleep. I only get a few hours every night, which means that I sometimes have to take naps (30 min or less) just to function. This is definitely new to me because before I came to school I never took naps.

My problem is that between everything, and I'm trying to volunteer when I can, I don't exactly have time for parkour. I do it when I can, but I can't practice for long stretches of time. Normally it's only in little increments. For example, I can practice my rolls and wall climbs at work (I'm a lifeguard) but only when there isn't anyone swimming and I usually have to use this time for studying. Other than that, I practice infrequently and at random times during the day. I'm actually surprised that I had time to write this post.

Plus, there isn't really anyone on my campus who is interested in parkour. I joined an outdoors club who goes rock climbing, biking, and slack-lining, but I haven't had a chance to go with them on a trip yet since I've been so busy. I have met a guy who sort of practices with me occasionally, but mostly he just likes to climb trees, so I do that sometimes with him.

I know this is a wall of text and incredibly random, but I would like to hear peoples thoughts on my workout, insanity, time management, and diet. Any comments, tips, or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Catie

[Ryan Sannar]

Your weight loss is probably related to your stress. Sleep is important and all your exercise is not worth the sleep you could be getting.
IMNSHO

[Steven Low]

Your weight loss is probably related to your stress. Sleep is important and all your exercise is not worth the sleep you could be getting.
IMNSHO

No. Weight gain with clothes that are getting too big = gaining more dense tissues and losing less dense tissues = gaining muscle + losing fat

This is probably due to the workouts.

However, this is also putting the body in a terrible state because of lack of recovery factors.


My suggestions:

1. Eliminate insanity from your workouts. It won't help you significantly with your swimming, and it's a lot of stress.

I find it hilarious that college level athletes are doing this type of thing for strength and conditioning. It's not that great. WTF kind of coach do you have that allows you to do this type of stuff?

2. Things that will help you significantly with your swimming depends on your distance. Getting stronger in general will likely help as well. I would eliminate the split type of routine you're currently working and get on something like Starting Strength or another compound based strength routine.

In particular, pullups, especially working into weighted pullups tend to help significantly with swimming because being stronger = stronger strokes = being faster in the water

3. Eat more. More meat. Less juices. Whole milk is great. If you really need calories, ice cream can work. BUt yeah stay away from fried foods and such. fruits, vegatables, meats, etc. are all good

4. GET MORE SLEEP. There is no way around this. If you have to cut out working or volunteering you should do it. Sleep is more important than those things.

[Tex Heuer]

Other guys here will give you great advice about diet and training and such. But I can give you some opinions from the view of a former swimmer (unfortunately didn't make my college team because of a knee injury/surgery that kept me from training jr/sr years of highschool) and a senior in college.

You need more sleep. Took me a couple years to figure that out, but now that I've given myself an ironclad bedtime my body and mind feel 100x better, I'm much more efficient, can better remember what I learn in class, and don't need to take extra time out of the day to nap. Not to mention, all of your training will be useless if you don't give your body a chance to repair itself.

A question about your workout schedule: Is the weight training on your own, or is it a scheduled team practice? Two swim practices plus weights is a bit overkill, and it would probably be better to move your weights to, say, M-W. But if it's coach mandated, I understand you don't really have a choice. And in that case, it is even more important to get a long night of sleep.

As far as Insanity, personally think it has it's uses (disclaimer: I do not speak for APK community). But as an athlete (and a collegiate one at that) you're just needlessly tearing down your body, especially since you already work out so much. You're getting plenty of cardio during practice. Use that time to get some homework done so you can go to bed earlier. Or give that time to yourself to train Parkour.

What school are you at?

[Rafe]

Pretty much what steve said.

Sleep more
Eat More, and better
Train less but smarter

Sleep more, easier said then done but find a way, naps are great when you are training hard. Lowering your training hours should help as you can use that time to study and then get to sleep earlier. Also remember your ability to progress in training or retain the information your craming in your studies depends on your recovery, if your brain is in fuzz it doesn't matter how hard you studied you won't test well look at some studies of fatigue being significantly fatigued is like being drunk you would go to test after drinking a 40 don't prep for tests by staying up all night either.

Eat more and Better, your body needs lots of protien to help replace broken down tissues, it needs lots of glyocogen(carbs) to sustain the work load and it needs lots of fat to promote proper hormonal balances and for energy budget. Get your protein from meat and dairy, you carbs from potatoes and sweat potatoes, legumes, rice and oats, avoid white flour and wheat. Fat comes from meat and dairy, avocados, coconut, and olive oil.

Train, you don't need any extra cardio/anaerobic work on top of your swim training its to much stress and has no significant transfer to swimming no more insanity.

Get rid of all the accesory and machine stuff no leg extensions, leg curls no biceps and tricpe specific work.

Pick three excercises to focus on, one lower body, 1 push 1 pull.
For instance
Squat, overhead press, Pull ups
Deadlift, Dip, Row
Loaded carry, Weighted push ups, Rope climb

That will get you full body strength without over taxing you. If you are not able to make gain scale back on volume and intensity and see if that helps.

[Joe Brock]

I find it hilarious that college level athletes are doing this type of thing for strength and conditioning. It's not that great. WTF kind of coach do you have that allows you to do this type of stuff?

No joke.  This is (pardon the pun) insanity.  Swimming is extremely taxing on recovery in and of itself.  By adding in a program that is notorious for being highly stressful, you're doing way too much.  (I'd like to actually have a chance to see what your cortisol levels are like, because I would imagine that they're way too high for your muscular work to do much at all to help you.)

I'm going to back Steven and Rafe.  Simplify your training and you'll see improvements.

[littleR]

I really appreciate all of the comments. Unfortunately, the insanity, yoga/Pilate's, lifting, and double practices are all part of the swim program here. I left my pull-up bar at home, but there are bars in the weight room here and I can add those to my exercises. There is also a rope. I try to climb it everyday. My arms are fine, but I can never figure out what to do with my legs and they end up sliding off every time.

I definitely need more sleep, but with the amount of homework I have every night, it's really hard to rest. My arms are dead right now, and I actually have another practice at 10 tonight. I will start making sleep a priority though.  I don't waste time during the day, but I still feel like I just have to learn some time management!

I will focus on my diet and try to add more protein to it and hopefully I'll acquire a taste for whole milk.

KAHeuer, I love meeting other swimmers! What were your events? I'm a sprint freestyler, but I occasionally swim breaststroke when it's needed. Right now I'm attending the COW in Ohio.

Joe, I honestly have no idea what cortisol is, I'll have to look it up and get back to you. 

[Brian Dayton]

While it is a good idea to eat a lot of protein if you exercise you should know when to eat it. It has been proven that when doing moderate to high intensity exercises, like swimming or insanity, the body's main fuel comes from carbohydrates. Protein actually offers very little fuel during the actual exercise. Protein is mainly used during recovery to help rebuild the muscle. So, it is wise to eat a lot of carbohydrates before the exercise and a lot of protein afterwards. However, if you are doing low intensity exercise such as hiking you body gets half of its energy from carbs and the other half from fats and when your resting or sleeping you body gets almost all of its energy from fat.  Just thought you should know if you're going to altering your diet.

[Steven Low]

Seriously.

Drop insanity after the very least. Waste of time for swimming.

Eat more.

Sleep more.

Then reevaluate in 2 weeks.

[Joe Brock]

Catie,
Are you saying that your coach INSISTS on you doing Insanity?  If so, you need to go see a doctor that will sign off on you NOT doing it for some "medical reason" because you're going to pay dearly for the coach's mistaken understanding.

Joe

Ps: Seriously, WTF kind of coach thinks that some BeachBody program is going to benefit a swimmer?  I hate to see stupidity like this.  Take Steven's advice, and HOWEVER you get it done, just get it done.  You're slowly tearing yourself apart.

[Mr.WWII]

Your coach must have a secret plan to give you all tendonitis. Double swimming, insanity, pilates, AND split body weight training with tons of isolation...? that's a recipe for overuse injuries and overtraining in general. I agree with Joe about the cortisol, your levels are likely very high (and that is not a good thing for your strength)

I suggest all the recommendations above as well

[littleR]

I will see what I can do about dropping insanity. In the mean time, thanks for all of the advice about my diet and everything. It's super appreciated!

[Chris Salvato]

WOW....what is your coach's email address.  I want to write him a letter.

[Jordan Davis]

Chris is Awesome. Let him email him, It may help.

Chris, after doing so, you should share your email with the group!

[Shamas]

Chris is Awesome. Let him email him, It may help.

Chris, after doing so, you should share your email with the group!

I second that.

[littleR]

First off: I FOUND A GROUP! I FOUND A GROUP! I FOUND A GROUP!

I'm so happy right now it's unbelievable. I was going to dinner after practice and I noticed a group of 4 people (I already knew 3 of them and the 4th knew my brother) practicing tacs. Of course I recognized what they were doing, so I joined them for a bit. They asked for my number and are adding me to their group. Apparently there are more of them and they were just the first to show up to train that day. I didn't even know they existed here on campus, but apparently everyone else did! I am completely ecstatic.

Also, I don't know if it's the best idea for you to email him. I've known this coach for my entire swimming career and I'm just a freshman on the team. Plus, I don't think my coach is too fond of the idea of parkour. I don't want to stir up any trouble and just want to work it out my own way. I have to go to the doctor in the near future anyway, so I'll talk to him about it then.

[Joe Brock]

Glad to hear that you found a group.

I'm also supportive of you taking care of your own programming with a doctor, but NEVER assume that because we happen to practice parkour, parkour is why we know what we do about physical fitness.  Most of us that give advice here are coaches, biological chemists, CSCS's, therapists, or some other branch of physical specialists.  Our complaint isn't as basic as "I don't think that it's good for your parkour training to be doing so much other stuff," but rather, "physiological adaptation to the volume of exercise that you're doing is counter-productive to any potential goals that such work might benefit."

[Mr.WWII]

Glad to hear that you found a group.

I'm also supportive of you taking care of your own programming with a doctor, but NEVER assume that because we happen to practice parkour, parkour is why we know what we do about physical fitness.  Most of us that give advice here are coaches, biological chemists, CSCS's, therapists, or some other branch of physical specialists.  Our complaint isn't as basic as "I don't think that it's good for your parkour training to be doing so much other stuff," but rather, "physiological adaptation to the volume of exercise that you're doing is counter-productive to any potential goals that such work might benefit."

Amen, we should all post our credentials lol

CSCS, working toward MS in Exercise Phys. Currently personal trainer at Rutgers University.

[Joe Brock]

That wasn't what I was thinking because that'll just become a "look at ME!" scenario.  (I know most people's credentials on this board, and that's why I was quick to point it out, though.)  Plus, someone is bound to throw in a "I'm a Level 1 CF certified...blah blah blah" and I'll go off on a rant about how they paid $1000 hard earned dollars to spend 1 weekend learning how to wear tights and Affliction T-shirts that are too small with some MMA shorts and VFFs. (Just kidding guys.)

The point is, we're trying to help you help yourself in the long run.

[Mr.WWII]

That wasn't what I was thinking because that'll just become a "look at ME!" scenario.  (I know most people's credentials on this board, and that's why I was quick to point it out, though.)  Plus, someone is bound to throw in a "I'm a Level 1 CF certified...blah blah blah" and I'll go off on a rant about how they paid $1000 hard earned dollars to spend 1 weekend learning how to wear tights and Affliction T-shirts that are too small with some MMA shorts and VFFs. (Just kidding guys.)

The point is, we're trying to help you help yourself in the long run.

Yea, I did just want people to look at me =( lol