| bananajan
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I'm jumping in (sorry for the pun) and getting back into an exercise routine.
I don't have much space in my bachelor apartment, but my building has an indoor pool that I'm planning to start taking advantage of.
I'm looking for the exercise to complement my SB way of eating, and help me to lose both pounds and inches. However, I'm a little confused about the benefits of swimming; is it considered cardio? Is this really an exercise that will help with weight loss? Should I be doing something in addition? I have about half an hour per day to committ to exercise, due to a heavy school schedule.
If any current/previous swimmers have advice for me, I'd really appreciate it! |
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Thu Jan 03, 2008 4:21 am |
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| rushsmom
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Swimming is a wonderful cardio workout. It's easy on the joints, and you WILL get a great aerobic workout if you put even a little effort into it.
That being said, I've never known anyone who lost weight swimming. Studies into this phenomena have suggested the body holds on to the fat due to the cool water. If the water is 80 degrees or above, the body will burn the fat. If the water temp is less than 80, the body seems to hold on to its fat for protection.
Hope this helps................Kay |
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Thu Jan 03, 2008 5:06 pm |
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| saraaaahhhhhh
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I must disagree (respectfully!), and does anyone else know anything about this??
When I was in high school, I probably lost 10-20 pounds swimming, and that was doing it 4 times a week for maybe 6-8 weeks. I swam on the swim team at night.
It was great exercise. Hard, and boring, I thought, but it's supposed to be good for people with asthma. I definitely noticed I felt a lot better after those 2 months.
Now, of course...I'm much heavier than I was even before the swimming, but I'm going to try swimming some for my exercise and see if I can lose weight doing it.
Has anyone on here had problems losing weight by swimming? Maybe for me it was the swimming in addition to warmups...but all we did was run a lap around the track and stretch every night for maybe 10-15 minutes before practice. |
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Fri Feb 22, 2008 10:05 pm |
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| ladybugnessa
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rushsmom wrote: Swimming is a wonderful cardio workout. It's easy on the joints, and you WILL get a great aerobic workout if you put even a little effort into it.
That being said, I've never known anyone who lost weight swimming. Studies into this phenomena have suggested the body holds on to the fat due to the cool water. If the water is 80 degrees or above, the body will burn the fat. If the water temp is less than 80, the body seems to hold on to its fat for protection.
Hope this helps................Kay
IF that was the case skiers would not lose weight either.
do you have a citation for this? |
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Fri Feb 22, 2008 10:13 pm |
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| luvs_torun
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Here is an article from WebMd that makes a similar suggestion as Kay...
However, the article also suggests that swimming can result in weight loss... and fwiw... all the swimmers I know are stick thin! :)
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/fitness-basics-swimming-is-for-everyone
(from the article)
But can swimming help you lose weight?
There are some questions about how efficiently swimming burns calories, says Robergs.
"Research done on swimming showed that weight loss seemed more difficult," he says. "The theory is that the water submersion initiates a complex [nerve pathway] to lower metabolic rate." And with a lower metabolic rate, the body uses fewer calories to maintain normal function.
While Robergs says these explanations need further research, Stratton says swimming can be a boon for weight loss -- if you follow the same principles as with any other exercise, and challenge yourself.
I'd not heard of this "theory" myself.
Interesting........... |
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Fri Feb 22, 2008 10:40 pm |
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| OanaBanana
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| i've heard the same thing from a nutritionist and a doctor - i just never really believed it. But it looks like more and more people are saying the same thing about swimming. |
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Sun Feb 24, 2008 4:42 pm |
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| Jane St.Clair
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So this post is a little late relative to the original request but I just joined and swimming is near and dear to my heart.
I, too, have to disagree with the bad rap swimming gets. I've been at both my heaviest and leanest while swimming daily. I think the important thing to remember while swimming, or engaging in any exercise, is intensity. It's very easy (at least for me) to go for a lackadasical swim and still call it exercise, when really it probably amounted to nothing more than a stroll in the park. My advice, FWIW, is to find some swimming workouts - just do a google search and you'll come up with tons of sites. These are nice because they give you goals and a plan for your workout - something I've found helps me immensely is to have my workout broken up and laid out for me. Depending on your pool length and your swimming experience the split times may be way off, but just remember it's really the principle that should guide you. Use all the strokes you know, throw in at least one length of butterfly if you can, if you stop - rest no more than 30-60 seconds, and have fun! One of my all time favorite workouts is a really simple alternating ladder. Basically:
1 lap easy
1 lap mod-hard
2 laps easy
2 laps mod-hard
3 laps easy...you get the point. Try to go 4 and 4 and then work your way back down the ladder to extend the workout.
The other part to the whole "it's harder to lose weight with swimming" idea is the enormous appetite that you have when you exit the pool. I know there's been some research on this as well...Forgive me I don't remember the numbers and am not in a place to look them up but one study showed that after a workout of the same duration swimmers ate substantially more calories than people who biked. Anecdotally I totally confirm this. I'm always ravenous after swimming, especially if I'm in a colder pool. Best advice - plan to have a substantial, healthy snack afterwards and adjust your next meal accordingly. I also found that a hot shower right after the workout helped get my body temp up and my hunger down but YMMV.
Enjoy the water! |
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Thu Feb 28, 2008 5:57 pm |
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