Try the Brick Workout to Spice up Your Swimming
At first I was a runner. Then I started cycling. When I learned to swim, I soon thought: this is the missing piece! I can be a triathlete! (Never mind that I was not particularly good at any of these disciplines.)
If you’re in the habit of swimming, you may be thinking the same thing. In the end, I took up triathlon, and although it was short, the training was hard. You train for three separate races plus a “fourth discipline” to quickly transition from each to the next.
But what I liked during training was the “brick” workout. You do two legs in a triathlon by crushing them together. So, swimming workout followed by cycling, or cycling followed by running. It’s kind of a pain in the ass, but also a new challenge. How does it feel to switch abruptly from one type of workout to another?
I think brick training can be interesting for beginners too. If it’s still difficult to stay afloat, you may feel like you’re done with the pool in about 20 minutes – even if you could handle a longer workout if it were some other activity. So consider combining swimming with another workout.
The two halves do not have to be divided equally; depending on what you want out of your workout, you can quickly do the first leg and then spend most of your time on the second, or vice versa. If you want to see real triathletes train bricks, Runner’s World has several recommended workouts . Otherwise, you can do it however you want. Some possibilities:
- If your pool is in the gym, do a quick swim, remove your towel and put on your clothes, and then hop on a stationary bike for some extra cardio.
- If you’re swimming outdoors, go for a run and then jump into the lake to cool off and get a little swim.
Unless you’re training for a real triathlon, you don’t have to follow the run-swim and run sequence, and you can do it however you want. Swimming after strength training? Why not?