If he can dedicate one longer run per week, say on a weekend, and ramp up to six miles or the equivalent of an hour of constant jogging, he can burn up to 1,000 calories.
Simultaneously, Terry should improve his skills in the pool and eventually strive to complete up to two miles in the water. Improvement will come with better technique (both in the aforementioned breathing as well as in stroke technique, which he promises to cover with a new masters coach). He need not swim more than three times a week, but his time in the pool needs to be dedicated to improving his efficiency, thus allowing him to eventually cover more yardage at a higher level of intensity.
Weights once a week are not very effective. Because your muscles break down each time you do a weight workout and then rebuild on the subsequent off day, most fitness specialists recommend a day-on, day-off approach to weights. If you choose to lift every day, then lift different muscle groups on different days to allow your stressed muscles time to recover.
Terry needs to lift more than his current once-a-week but need not go overboard with three or more times a week. Twice a week is good enough for maintaining and perhaps even slightly increasing muscle mass. Remember, with his intensified running schedule he should drop weight, including upper-body muscle mass, so its important that he continue a weight routine to maintain his swimming strength. He needs to find a happy medium of losing unwanted weight while maintaining muscle mass.
The last suggestion I have for Terry is that he change his training comfort zone. He writes that he generally swims, bikes, and runs at 80 percent effort, with swimming being more intense at times and running being less so.
With less than an hour each day to train, on average, it is important for Terry to focus on maintaining at least a threshold level of cardiovascular exercise to achieve his goal of losing weight.
In most basic terms, there are three levels of intensity during cardiovascular exercise:
- Aerobic (defined in laymans terms as being able to talk while exercising)
- Threshold (you can talk, but prefer not to because its tough)
- Anaerobic (its impossible to talk)
Threshold is where many dedicated fitness enthusiasts plateau on the effort meter. Its a manageable pace and heart-rate to maintain, but manageable just wont do when it comes to losing those crucial last few pounds. In order to burn hard-to-lose fat, a more intense routine is required to startle your body out of its steady contentment.
As such, Terry needs to sprint portions of his running, swimming, and biking workouts, adding anaerobic bursts to his existing aerobic/threshold routine. Covering the same amount of distance in his workouts but increasing the intensity in which he covers it will burn more calories. Over time, as his conditioning and skills develop him into a more efficient athlete, Terry will cover more distance. So combining more distance covered and more effort expended results in more calories burned to achieve his overall weight-loss goal.
For example, Terry currently swims 800 meters in his swim session. Instead of covering the yardage as steadily as he can and calling it a day, he should break it up:
Warm-up:
- 200m @ 80 percent effort
- 4x50m @ 95 percent effort with 50-meter recovery between each @80 percent effort
Cool down:
- 200 meters easy
In time, Terry should aim to cover 1,500 meters and increase his intense main set to:
- 6x100 meters @ 95 percent effort with 50-meter recovery between each @ 85 percent effort
In essence, he is going longer distances at a harder pace, and that will result in the weight loss he wants.
It may sound elementary, and in many ways it is. But all of us fall into a rut, or a comfort zone, where we go through the motions but cease to challenge our body any more than we have to, to maintain our level of conditioning and weight. To see further improvement of any kind, be it faster times or weight loss, it is necessary to intensify training.
Quantitative quality is the rule of thumb: Increased distances in your daily routine and simultaneous intensified effort in that routine will get you the improvements you want.
Work on your