Swimming workout

[SirTenenbaum]

Hi everybody. I used to swim a lot (I was co-captain of the swim team in high school). I was wondering what other people enjoyed to include in their swim workouts. I like to try and include a lot of butterfuly since it's a very tiring stroke and works out your shoulders like none other. What is characteristic of your swim workout?

[shaun]

Swimming is an excellent cardiovascular workout because it is low-impact. Running on the road etc can takes its toll on your joints, and inhibit your weight training. Swimming is ideal for active recovery in between weight training session. I usually swim twice a week for about half an hour.

[fitnessk]

Swimming is a great idea. There are even water weights you can use to add a different aspect to your workout. I find that swimming is an excellent exercise for people with health conditions that might otherwise make it hard for them to exercise effectively.

[Stefano13]

Swimming is basically a full body workout.....friends of mine back in college were heavily into swimming, and i believe did laps for about 45 mins a day, and they got HUGE off swimming alone, they didnt even lift ANY weights at all!!

[Stefano13]

A triathlon coach suggests that the effort of 100 yards freestyle is comparible to 400 yards running or 1 mile biking. As a point of reference the time it takes to do each one is similar given the same effort in each event.

[shaun]

Swimming is basically a full body workout.....friends of mine back in college were heavily into swimming, and i believe did laps for about 45 mins a day, and they got HUGE off swimming alone, they didnt even lift ANY weights at all!!

I think you're exaggerating in saying they got HUGE, you can't get huge from swimming, impossible. You can build a strong and muscular physique, but huge muscle? That goes against the science of how muscle is built.

The only downside of swimming is the chlorinated pools. A friend of mine at school swam at a national level, he swam for 2 hours every morning and the chlorine caused him to go bald.

[1ufakin]

I would only do cardio workouts in the pool by doing laps and nothing else since i only know freestyle so i just freestyle until i cant do it anymore. But the chlorine in the pool really bothers me so i tend to only do this in the summer when the pool feels better than the hot gym.

[twinsmommy]

Swimming is probably one of the best workouts. It doesn't put strain on your muscles and it is actually fun. I can spend all day in the pool just swimming around.

[btatro]

I would love to get back into swimming. I recently strained one of the tendons in my foot, leaving me completely unable to run, much less walk decently. What can you recommend for a beginner?

[Sugarhill]

If you still want to run, do it in a pool. You'll get more than enough with an underwater workout and you won't have to worry about losing your stamina for running. You should be able to do laps without putting much, if any, pressure on your foot.