Consistent every day training is an essential part to being at ones peak athleticism. A D1 athletes training schedule is much more advanced and grueling than an average person who is just trying to stay in shape. Just to get a glimpse of our normal schedule, our daily training is as follows:
Monday: Afternoon swim 2-3:45pm, dryland 4-4:30pm
Tuesday: Morning swim 6-7:30am, Lift 12:30-1:30pm, Afternoon swim 2-3:45pm
Wednesday: Afternoon swim 3:30-5:30pm
Thursday: Morning swim 6-7:30am, Lift 12:30-1:30pm, Afternoon swim 2-3:45pm
Friday: Morning lift 6-7am, Afternoon swim 2-3:45pm, dryland 4-4:30pm
Saturday: 6am-8am Swim
Sunday: Rest Day
For most of our season this is our schedule, besides when we have meets or invitationals which can range from one to up to five days. We also have about a month of training during winter break which is very intense and extremely physically challenging.
For an average person this amount of training is excessive and not necessary. To live a healthy lifestyle one should be physically active every day, daily movement is beneficial for our bodies in so many ways. Weight lifting, cardio, and cross training (mixing in different ways of exercise) are great ways to stay in shape. Below are examples of my top 5 favorite exercises to implement into your routine.
Weight Lifting Exercises:
- Arms
- pull ups (can weight with belt or vest)
- push ups (can weight with belt or vest)
- TRX band rows
- dumbbell shoulder press
- med ball slams
- Legs
- Squats
- Trapbar deadlift
- box jumps
- split squats
- RDLs
- Abs
- TRX band pike up
- TRX band Oblique crunches
- weighted Russian twists
- in & outs (some refer to them as lemon squeezes)
- weighted dead bugs
It can be difficult to think of ways to exercise other than lifting or running for some, so below is a list of various other forms of exercise. Most can be done without a gym membership, with small weights one my have around the house, or simply by looking up the category of interest such as yoga followed by at home workouts. A plethora of videos will come up and walk you through exercises step by step.
- Yoga
- Biking
- Swimming
- Circuit training (great form of cardio that I think is overlooked)
- Hiking
- Walking
- Pilates
- kickboxing