how good is swimming?

[sidekickdmr]

Hi

recently moven into my place in london and has a pool.

now, im trying to loose weight and love swimming, trying to do 50 lenghts every other day but not really seeming to loose weight.

just wondering if swimming can actually loose you weight?

thanks

[Mr POD]

sidekickdmr said:

Hi

recently moven into my place in london and has a pool.

now, im trying to loose weight and love swimming, trying to do 50 lenghts every other day but not really seeming to loose weight.

just wondering if swimming can actually loose you weight?

thanks

1) How fast are you swimming and for how long. 50 lengths is good, but you need to build up to an hour as fast as you can, 80? lengths.
2) How many calories do you in take. ? Cut them out and maybe you'll start converting the fat to muscule.
3) Swimming is GOOD for you. Usually safe, no chance on knee damage like jogging, no chances of falling off like cyling, no chance of drowning if the life guard is awake.

[cheeky_chops]

i lost 7lb last year swimming 20-30 lengths (500m) every other day over 5 months.

Stopped at xmas and put it straight back on DOH!

[sidekickdmr]

Mr POD said:

sidekickdmr said:

Hi

recently moven into my place in london and has a pool.

now, im trying to loose weight and love swimming, trying to do 50 lenghts every other day but not really seeming to loose weight.

just wondering if swimming can actually loose you weight?

thanks

1) How fast are you swimming and for how long. 50 lengths is good, but you need to build up to an hour as fast as you can, 80? lengths.
2) How many calories do you in take. ? Cut them out and maybe you'll start converting the fat to muscule.
3) Swimming is GOOD for you. Usually safe, no chance on knee damage like jogging, no chances of falling off like cyling, no chance of drowning if the life guard is awake.

1.I dont grandma swim but I dont race, front crawl with goggles, head under every stroke ect. started on 40 lenghts now 50, then in a couple of weeks try and up it to 60

2. wheatabix for brekkie, tuna sandwich/tea leftovers for lunch, stirfry/fajita's/pasta for tea

3. no lifeguard and normally swim on my own, so looks like im going to die a slow wet death

[Mr POD]

sidekickdmr said:

Mr POD said:

sidekickdmr said:

Hi

recently moven into my place in london and has a pool.

now, im trying to loose weight and love swimming, trying to do 50 lenghts every other day but not really seeming to loose weight.

just wondering if swimming can actually loose you weight?

thanks

1) How fast are you swimming and for how long. 50 lengths is good, but you need to build up to an hour as fast as you can, 80? lengths.
2) How many calories do you in take. ? Cut them out and maybe you'll start converting the fat to muscule.
3) Swimming is GOOD for you. Usually safe, no chance on knee damage like jogging, no chances of falling off like cyling, no chance of drowning if the life guard is awake.

1.I dont grandma swim but I dont race, front crawl with goggles, head under every stroke ect. started on 40 lenghts now 50, then in a couple of weeks try and up it to 60

2. wheatabix for brekkie, tuna sandwich/tea leftovers for lunch, stirfry/fajita's/pasta for tea

3. no lifeguard and normally swim on my own, so looks like im going to die a slow wet death

Have you added up the calories ? Are you moving fat into muscle ?

[Matt_N]

Mr POD said:

sidekickdmr said:

Hi

recently moven into my place in london and has a pool.

now, im trying to loose weight and love swimming, trying to do 50 lenghts every other day but not really seeming to loose weight.

just wondering if swimming can actually loose you weight?

thanks

2) How many calories do you in take. ? Cut them out and maybe you'll start converting the fat to muscule.

You cannot turn fat into muscle.

You can lose fat and gain muscle, but muscle does not magically grom from fat.

In order to gain muscle, you need to eat excess calories over your RDA, this needs to be balance of carbs / protein / good fats.

Unless you are really hammering the swimming Id say your not raising your heart rate enough to get into the fat burning zone.

[n1ckt001]

Matt_N said:

Mr POD said:

sidekickdmr said:

Hi

recently moven into my place in london and has a pool.

now, im trying to loose weight and love swimming, trying to do 50 lenghts every other day but not really seeming to loose weight.

just wondering if swimming can actually loose you weight?

thanks

2) How many calories do you in take. ? Cut them out and maybe you'll start converting the fat to muscule.

You cannot turn fat into muscle.

You can lose fat and gain muscle, but muscle does not magically grom from fat.

In order to gain muscle, you need to eat excess calories over your RDA, this needs to be balance of carbs / protein / good fats.

Unless you are really hammering the swimming Id say your not raising your heart rate enough to get into the fat burning zone.

Would swimming intervals help?

Recently I have been doing the 50 odd lengths, which doesn't really get heart rate up, then doing 20-30 minutes of intervals, i.e full power length then either gentle breaststroke back or wait 15 seconds, then repeat... am I wasting my time?

[Matt_N]

n1ckt001 said:

Matt_N said:

Mr POD said:

sidekickdmr said:

Hi

recently moven into my place in london and has a pool.

now, im trying to loose weight and love swimming, trying to do 50 lenghts every other day but not really seeming to loose weight.

just wondering if swimming can actually loose you weight?

thanks

2) How many calories do you in take. ? Cut them out and maybe you'll start converting the fat to muscule.

You cannot turn fat into muscle.

You can lose fat and gain muscle, but muscle does not magically grom from fat.

In order to gain muscle, you need to eat excess calories over your RDA, this needs to be balance of carbs / protein / good fats.

Unless you are really hammering the swimming Id say your not raising your heart rate enough to get into the fat burning zone.

Would swimming intervals help?

Recently I have been doing the 50 odd lengths, which doesn't really get heart rate up, then doing 20-30 minutes of intervals, i.e full power length then either gentle breaststroke back or wait 15 seconds, then repeat... am I wasting my time?

Im not really up on swimming and how to maximise benefits, but a similar technique can be employed in running - sprint for 30 seconds, jog for 30 seconds, then sprint again...

[VXRTOM]

Worst "I've got a new place with a pool" thread ever!

[Tiggsy]

Been covered a few times of late..swimming hard enough is hard. Check your pulse when swimming at it will be a LOT lower than, say, jogging. When you get out of the pool are you sweating? If you arent then either your pool is not heated and its winter and its outside....or you're swimming too slow.

[bazking69]

I do about 500m virtually every day. I do it just fast enough that I get a little out of breath and hot.

I find that swimming works virtually every muscle without being high impact on anything, as due to my weight and back problems I can't run.

[anonymous-user]

sidekickdmr said:

Hi

recently moven into my place in london and has a pool.

now, im trying to loose weight and love swimming, trying to do 50 lenghts every other day but not really seeming to loose weight.

just wondering if swimming can actually loose you weight?

thanks

How long is your pool?

If it's under 25m then TBH you're not really swimming that far. I do a lot of swimming and amazed by the amount of fatties slowly plodding up and down the pool for ages for what looks like very little gain. At first I thought swimming can't be that good for weight loss but then I noticed that they weren't swimming very fast and secondly they all sat in the cafe scoffing cakes afterwards.

For me, I find swimming to be great low impact exercise but you just want to loose weight you need to firstly get your technique right and then swim hard for at least 25 mins to get much weight loss. It's also great if you want to get your weight down before starting running or something higher impact. I expect it's better to do 25 mins fast free style and feel like you might be sick than do 50 mins breast stroke looking around and taking it easy.

To loose any weight you need to swim hard and also reduce your calorie intake.

[Office_Monkey]

Don't be afraid to look into adult lessons, it will help your technique if you haven't been for a while.

[Six Fiend]

Having been a serious club swimmer in my youth....

1500m (60 lengths) endurance will be great for stamina but won't get the heart rate up unless you're going at a fair old lick. I used to cruise through 3x1500m doing drills in training (aged 14).

Sprint training is where you will get the pulse up to high rates. If you have a time clock in the pool it is easier - set yourself 50m swims going every 40 seconds or similar. So you set off at 00sec, two lengths and go again when the clock is on 40 seconds. Adjust the time so as not to kill yourself but gradually decrease it as you get faster.

Pick a number of sets, 10 perhaps, then take a rest for 3 minutes. As others have said, interval training works too, so maybe chill with a longer slower swim between sets.

You can do increased distances like 100m and 200m at a raised pace too.

If you really want to give yourself a workout, try butterfly!

Could also use pull buoys (leg floats) and train arms only.

If only my lungs worked I'd be doing that all the time. Sadly these days I'm down to 8x25m single lengths over about 20 minutes!

Edited by Six Fiend on Monday 21st September 18:11

[n1ckt001]

Six Fiend said:

Having been a serious club swimmer in my youth....

1500m (60 lengths) endurance will be great for stamina but won't get the heart rate up unless you're going at a fair old lick. I used to cruise through 3x1500m doing drills in training (aged 14).

Sprint training is where you will get the pulse up to high rates. If you have a time clock in the pool it is easier - set yourself 50m swims going every 40 seconds or similar. So you set off at 00sec, two lengths and go again when the clock is on 40 seconds. Adjust the time so as not to kill yourself but gradually decrease it as you get faster.

Pick a number of sets, 10 perhaps, then take a rest for 3 minutes. As others have said, interval training works too, so maybe chill with a longer slower swim between sets.

You can do increased distances like 100m and 200m at a raised pace too.

If you really want to give yourself a workout, try butterfly!

Could also use pull buoys (leg floats) and train arms only.

If only my lungs worked I'd be doing that all the time. Sadly these days I'm down to 8x25m single lengths over about 20 minutes!

Edited by Six Fiend on Monday 21st September 18:11

Just back from the gym... did a combination of the above..
Sprint training for a few sets of ten, then some intervals, then swam lengths with just crawl arms and still legs (no float to hand though...)
I was still boiling hot and sweating after my shower!

[richieboy3008]

Best exercise you can do. I used to be club swimmer in my teens, but gave up for 10 years. Started again in Oct 07, I could only do about 3 lenghts (25m) before stopping.

The key is to build up over time, now 2 years on I can swim 200 lenghts (5k) in around 1hr30mins. You could alway invest in an underwater mp3 player, helps pass the time.

[Scraggles]

using doggy paddle, maybe get 6x 15 metres ? or whatever the pool is, strained arm never helps, but never been one for having massive arms

[Wildfire]

Make sure you're doing crawl for starters. Breaststroke, especially done incorrctly, is really bad for your knees and back.

What you want to be doing it the equivalent of High Intensity Interval training.

So maybe sprint 4x25 then coast for 4x25 then sprint. etc. etc.

Technique is also important.

Have you tried some aids? Pull bouy or kickboard? Hand paddles are also a great way to work out the upper body.

[captainzep]

Personally I hate swimming. Because I swim like a cow.

But it's a good enough exercise.

I got much fitter/slimmer when I forgot about my weight and focused on other goals (in my case speed/distance in running). I ate to perform well and trained hard to achieve what I wanted to. The months flew by and I lost 2 stone without feeling like I was denying myself/dieting.

[shouldbworking]

My view is that its better than sitting on your arse. I do it on days where im too knackered / achy to go to the gym. Typically ill do 50 lengths (25m pool) in ~40 mins.

Done wonders for my swimming technique but I dont expect to see any real fitness gain from it