swimming as an exercise
 

i cycle on my trusty mountain/streetbike hybrid but its getting cold again and i want to stay in shape. About 2, sometimes 3 times a week i would cycle 30 to 40 mins. I refuse to go to a gym and sit on a hometrainer next to other suckers, when i drive by a gym and see all of them sweating together in a room it is just depressing to me.
Besides cycling i do ab workouts at home and pushups every other day.
Now i thought of swimming laps and i have heard and read that it is a total body workout, including muscle workout... so when i start swimming, thinking about going 3x a week, will it also replace my muscle workouts along with the cycling cardio?

im not sure, but im also interested in getting into swimming, i know its good for your back
and of course the stomach..lol

i play basketball once a week, and i need at least 2 other days of heavy cardio per week

If you are not looking to bulkup then its great all round and will put biking to shame. It is a full body workout and cardio workout all in one, but like I said it will not bulk you up.

Did swimming for years until I starting pushing a mouse across a desk and getting out of shape.. just started swimming again.

his workout is not for everybody. But if you are looking to work on you IM, endurance, endurance butterfly or just want to get a 4000+ workout... this is the workout for you.

Pulled this from a swimming form *and made a few edits*

Long warm-ups are essential.
During your warm-up there are many things that go through your mind and body.

1. Getting used to the water tempeture.
2. Stretching out all those kinks and sore muscles
3. Forgetting all about work related issues and concentrating on stoke technique and breathing.
4. Forgetting about any personall troubles you may be having and begin daydreaming.
5. Counting laps, some of use like to count by laps while others like to count by 50's or 100's.
6. While warming up it's ok to stop once in a while to stretch out a muscle that needs stretching. Once we start the main set you should be ready to go.

warm up:

1400 yards- Mostly free but throw in occastional laps of stroke
to mix it up.

800 IM

The biggest accomplishment of this workout is to make it through
a 200 fly. *most people just starting out will not be able to do 25 fly let alone 200 so do what you can until you can hit 200.

Just try to stay relaxed and make it through the fly.. you will find the backstroke leg of this set a chance to get your wind back.


Then take a minute or two
and start the next round

16 x 75's -- 5 to 7 seconds rest between each 75
(If your next to somebody of equal speed these two seconds help
pace eachother)

50 fly, 25 back, 50 back, 25 breast, 50 breast, 25 free...
(continue this cycle until you've done a total of 16)

200 warm down -- (4000)

5 x 100's on 2 minutes
Just try to hold your stoke at a good pace.
first 100 fly, back, breast, free and the last one
100 IM.

4500 yards

You should not be able to do all of this the first time you try.. Do what you can and build to it..

swimming is great for everything.. mornings and evenings are best if your doing public pools because most pools have lanes up and no kids splashing around.

I don't think you should use it to replace any muscle workouts, a little bit of free weights is good for a lot of things, it also works as a good cool down for weightlifting. However, it is all you would ever need for cardio.

If you are a novice swimmer buy this book: Total Immersion Swimming by terry laughlin. It teaches you how to swim efficiently and has a lot of good drills in there to help keep you in shape, there are some good youtube videos that this guy did as well that can help you with the visuals. I have read a handful of books on the subject but this one alone turned me from a 50m swimmer into a 3km swimmer within a few weeks.

Waterproof headphones and a waterproof ipod case can make swimming laps enjoyable and even more stress eliminating too. Highly recommended form of exercise, one of my favourites and I have done them all :)

swimming is super tiring and hard, its difficult to just jump into it. i think its one of those things you have to ease into to get really good at. will definitely tone your entire body

i heard swimming is one of the best exercise it help our heart healthy and strong :)

i also cycle when it's ok weather and swim during the winter.

and yes cycling on the gym cycle that goes nowhere sucks :)

Good idea, swimming is great. I am thinking about starting again, I normally only swim during summer but with a sore knee I can't go running 3 times per week.

As for your muscle workouts you should make sure that you do a large variation (rugslag, schoolslag, borstcrawl) so that you really train each muscle group.

I grew up swimming competitively from the age of 5 - 25. It's something I've always loved as much as I hated, and it was hard fucking work.

That said, swimming is BY FAR the best exercise for your entire body. It's great for cardio, and there's very little impact on your bones and joints.

The thing is though, that just getting in the water and swimming a few laps isn't gonna be enough, it would probably be best to work with a swim coach or someone who's trained before, much like you'd work with a personal trainer.

4000+ yards is not something anyone, even myself, would jump right into...but that workout posted above would be a nice one to do every few days once you get to the point of being able to manage it.

thanks for the useful info guys and girl;) think ill be going for a test run (or swim) tomorrow.

a winter of roids and deadlifts fuck it.

Nobody on this board could do that workout. Not even close.

thanks man

If you're brand new to swimming or haven't been in the water for a while, try a pretty basic mile ladder.

You are going to swim the following lengths (e.g., 1 means there, 2 means there and back, etc.), and want to rest 5-10 seconds between segments.

1
2
3
5
6
7
9
9
7
6
5
3
2
1

When you get finished with the ladder, you will have swam a mile.
This should take anyone who is in decent shape roughly 20-30 minutes at a comfortable pace. Since you are building up, don't feel like you need to warm-up. Just get in and swim it. This is a great way to determine if swimming is something you want to incorporate into your weekly routine.

Swimming is a very good whole body workout.

If you are looking for muscle work, get yourself a pair of these:
http://www.comfortchannel.com/images...bells_hero.jpg
If you keep the weights and your shoulders under the water, you can get a pretty good workout just from the water resistance and keeping the foam weights submerged. Mix it up by incorporating some lunges and leg work while you're using the weights.

It's definitely not something I'd jump in and do today after not swimming all summer, but I could do that and have. There are a few others here who were swimmers that probably wouldn't blink at the thought of doing 4000 yards, but it's definitely not for most...especially anyone thinking considering swimming as a workout. They should start out with the basics and learn proper stroking and kicking before doing anything.

this sounds like a good way to start things up :thumbsup