A Day in the Life of Professional Swimmer Tyler Clary

BUIILT WITH CHOCOLATE MILK™ is a SwimSwam partner.

As one of the biggest summers in sports approaches, athletes are enduring their most intense training yet. As it all comes down to the wire, swimmer Tyler Clary spends most of his days training, which includes countless hours in the water, weightlifting, dryland workouts, recovering and maintaining a healthy diet.

SwimSwam took a peek into a day in Tyler’s life during the most physically intense and mentally draining time of the season to find out what exactly he does each day – and it’s anything but dull!

Dryland Training

With a 7 a.m. wakeup call, Tyler starts his day with a healthy breakfast, usually consisting of eggs, potatoes and sausage, before heading to the pool to do a bit of stretching before beginning his training for the day in the weight room.

It’s often misleading that swimmers spend all of their training time in the pool, when in fact, dryland workouts are just as important. Weightlifting and other strength training is beneficial because swimming is a non-impact sport, so swimmers don’t get the workout they would otherwise get out of the pool.

Stabilizing muscles plays an integral part in maintaining a swimmer’s position in the water and helps hold the body on top of the water to avoid unwanted drag. For Tyler, these workouts include variations of traditional exercises like a single dumbbell offset bench press. This is where half of his body hangs off the bench while doing a single bench press, forcing his body to stabilize in ways it wouldn’t in the water.

Morning Practice

After the weight room, Tyler heads straight to the pool where he spends anywhere between 90 to 120 minutes swimming and doing drills in the water. Aerobic workouts are the bulk of his training and the most useful for him because he swims long distance. This includes swimming countless yards and maintaining a mid-to-high-aerobic heart rate during his swims.

After a tough morning workout, he drinks lowfat chocolate milk within 30 minutes to recover and help him get ready for afternoon training. Chocolate milk is his post-workout recovery beverage of choice because it contains the right 3:1 carb-to-protein ratio scientifically shown to refuel exhausted muscles and help return to peak potential after a tough workout. It’s also convenient – he can grab a bottle out of the fridge and easily bring along with him to the gym and pool.

Afternoon Practice

When he’s done swimming for the morning, Tyler will head home from the pool and eat a lunch designed to help keep his energy up during the day. On average, he consumes a whopping 7,000 to 10,000 calories throughout the day!

In-between practices, Tyler likes to rest but keep his mind active. So he’ll work on his computer programs, play video games, or maintain his greenhouse.

After resting for a few hours, Tyler will head back to the pool and train for about two more hours, varying day-by-day. On his way home from practice, he’ll recover with lowfat chocolate milk again before loading up on a big dinner; usually some sort of meat, a vegetable and either a pasta or another type of grain.

Post-Practice Workout

Depending on the day, Tyler will have a post-practice workout – these days he mixes things up by rock climbing, which allows him to work on strengthening his fingers and hands. He also enjoys Brazillian jiu jitsu, a form of martial arts.

Recovery

After his evening workout, Tyler heads home to rest and recover for the night. When he’s not training, he enjoys spending time with his family and dog, and playing video games. He also enjoys maintaining his aquaponics system – one he built himself that combines conventional aquaculture and hydroponics to grow herbs and food.

Like chocolate milk, sleep is an important aspect of Tyler’s recovery. So he hits the sack early to ensure he is getting a proper amount of sleep and feels reenergized and refreshed to do it all over again the next day.

Tyler Clary and Jessica Hardy have joined forces with BUILT WITH CHOCOLATE MILK™ to share the benefits of recovering with chocolate milk after demanding exercise and give an up-close look at how their preparations for the world stage are BUILT WITH CHOCOLATE MILK™. To learn more about the recovery benefits of lowfat chocolate milk, visit http://builtwithchocolatemilk.com/.