Swimming??

TKD SC

Hi,

Just wondering what people's thoughts are on swimming?

I went for a swim at the weekend, and given my abductor muscle strain, the swim felt v beneficial for loosening it out and stretching without any sort of stress placed on it. So, thinking of maybe swimming a bit more now...

Any time I did swimming in the past though, I found it only ok (too easy really - maybe not pushing it enough?), and felt that I got a much "better" workout by doing running, or weights...Any thoughts on this?

Maybe its better as being a bit of a stretch out type exercise, and low impact, esp if you're injured, and being very good in the respect?

Not sure of it being as good as weights, hiit, running etc? I know swimming is always said to be one of the best exercises out there??

Thanks guys,

Simon

Degsy

I love swimming.I could never run worth a damn and fast-walking bores me to tears.Swimming is a great all-round excersise,from cardio to toning with substantial benifits to shoulders and legs.One word of warning..For some reason after swimming you will feel hungry beyond belief,its very easy to pig out afterwards and undo all your good work!

aye

TKD SC wrote: »

Hi,

Just wondering what people's thoughts are on swimming?

Any time I did swimming in the past though, I found it only ok (too easy really - maybe not pushing it enough?), and felt that I got a much "better" workout by doing running, or weights...Any thoughts on this?


Thanks guys,

Simon

yeh you're not swimming hard enough. what stroke are you doing? swimming at a decent speed is much harder than running at a decent pace. you use much more muscle to push through the water. are you swimming correctly? maybe you should get a lesson in the gym for a day, just to get your stroke and breathing correct.

Killgore Trout

Simon, it depends on how what you're doing. It'd be hard to judge how to get the most from your swimming without a bit of training experience.

I love swimming and compete in races - so i'm a bit biased. I feel I get a great workout after swimming for 45mins to an hour. On a good day i've squeezed 3000m in an hour (post-christmas i have been a bit sluggish)

Lessons, as mentioned, or getting the advice from someone who swim trains regularly will give you an idea of what you should be doing. Maybe have a gander at a few masters club session - most clubs'll let you pay per session, and they usually cater for all levels. Check out the swimming forum for advice too!

Degsy, agree on the appetite - most of my swimming is late in the evening - PWO snack: large wholemeal bagel with scrambled eggs and a pint of slim milk FTW.

TKD SC wrote: »

Hi,

Just wondering what people's thoughts are on swimming?

I went for a swim at the weekend, and given my abductor muscle strain, the swim felt v beneficial for loosening it out and stretching without any sort of stress placed on it. So, thinking of maybe swimming a bit more now...

Any time I did swimming in the past though, I found it only ok (too easy really - maybe not pushing it enough?), and felt that I got a much "better" workout by doing running, or weights...Any thoughts on this?

Maybe its better as being a bit of a stretch out type exercise, and low impact, esp if you're injured, and being very good in the respect?

Not sure of it being as good as weights, hiit, running etc? I know swimming is always said to be one of the best exercises out there??

Thanks guys,

Simon

TKD SC

Hi guys,

Thanks for the reply. Yeh, I think my main thing is I'm not swimming hard enough. Generally I wouldnt do much swimming anyway these days (did a fair bit back in school days, so think my technique is fairly good - for what I want anyway), unless maybe pop in for a cool down after the gym, but thinking of doing a bit more of it now. Like, maybe swapping one gym session for a swimming session.

Therefore, if I was to do say 30mins swimming, what would be the type of distance I should be covering (broad q's I know but rough guide to aim for would be great)? Presume front crawl is the way to go? Or maybe 2/3 leghts front crawl, 1 lenght breaststroke, etc.?

Thanks again,

Simon

jph100

Degsy wrote: »

One word of warning..For some reason after swimming you will feel hungry beyond belief,its very easy to pig out afterwards and undo all your good work!

i know! try going to a swimming pool right beside a chinese+a chipper!

im in the same position as the OP. im trying to get into the swimmin much more than i have. im not great at breathing during the front crawl though. have to stop loads times

arybvtcw0eolkf

Degsy wrote: »

One word of warning..For some reason after swimming you will feel hungry beyond belief,its very easy to pig out afterwards and undo all your good work!

Damn right.

I remember as a kid getting out of 'da baths' in Ballymun S.C. and running into the baker's for me 5p slice of 'gur cake' 'cause I'd be fit enough to eat a scaby baby!.

BossArky

TKD SC wrote: »

Therefore, if I was to do say 30mins swimming, what would be the type of distance I should be covering (broad q's I know but rough guide to aim for would be great)? Presume front crawl is the way to go? Or maybe 2/3 leghts front crawl, 1 lenght breaststroke, etc.?

I currently manage 750m in approx 19 or 20 minutes. I'm no dolphin. Recently I started swimming again, after about a 4 month break and found my front crawl seems to have come on a lot. Not sure if this is due to doing loads of back work in the gym (pull ups, rows, deadlifts) or just down to a more focused approach (going about twice a week).

Like yourself I used to alternate front crawl with breast stroke... however much to my amazement I found out that if I go all front crawl I actually use less energy and can breath more efficiently. Now I can manage 750 all crawl.

The folks over on the swimming board have been very helpful with my questions there in the past few weeks. Try there.

hunnymonster

The unfortunate (in some ways) thing about swimming is that the better your stroke the less of a workout you're getting. If you look at some of the marathon swimmers, they barely look like they're making any effort at all whereas a learner will be thrashing all over the place, using lots of movement and calories but not getting very far.

In a very broad sense, about 3km (120 lengths of a 25m pool) an hour is a respectable pace for front crawl. Mix up your strokes for the best workout. For example you need incredibly strong abs for a correct butterfly kick.

TKD SC

Great, thanks for that Honeymonster & BossArky. Something to try out and aim for! Will be interesting to see how many meters I do get!