Hot answers tagged swimming
26
I stumbled onto a great resource of swimming information: Swimsmooth.com that happened to have a couple of great tips I'd like to share:
1. Focus on exhaling rather than inhaling.
The reason you want to breathe is not because you have a lack of oxygen. You only consume a couple percent of the 20% oxygen you breathe in, no the reason you breathe is to get ...
16
Mouth vs nose
Some exhale through the nose, some through the mouth and some through both at the same time. Both is somewhat better (it's faster, deeper and prevents water coming in) but maybe needs more practice to be done properly.
Rhythm
Anything from 1:1 to 5:1 is very common but 3:1 is considered the most efficient* (3:1 is 3 strokes for 1 breath). ...
11
The world record holder on 1500m is Sun Yang, an analysis of his stroke per length and stroke rate can be found at Sun Yang. His stroke rate (or frequency) is 0.96 (almost a stroke per second) and his strokes per 50m length is 27.
Your stroke rate is 0.85 (48 strokes per 56 seconds) or 51 strokes per minute, i.e. slower than Sun Yang (58 strokes per ...
10
Running is just one means to the goal of fitness. Personally, I haven't been running in any serious capacity for 22 years since I tore my Achilles tendons (yes, plural, as in both at once).
Any activity that keeps your heart rate elevated (~70% HR Max) for 30-45 minutes at a time will do. Keep get in a enough sessions to total 120 minutes a week and your ...
9
It doesn't matter if your body gets cooled down during swimming. What matters is the number of Calories you burn during any exercise. Fat loss happens when you expend more Calories than you take in. Simple as that.
Swimming is actually a very good Calorie burner. According to NutriStrategy, swimming at a leisurely pace for one hour can burn 354 to 558 ...
9
IMO swimming is a better all-around exercise for health; it can be tweaked to focus on upper- or lower-body, and is substantially less abusive.
That said, for absolute fat loss, it may not be optimal because of the heat loss encountered when in water. (Body: "This environment is costing me heat; I shall retain body fat.")
I say do what you enjoy--you're ...
8
First off, Ryans tip about doing calf raises in my own experience seems to reduce the risk of getting cramps. The easiest way to do these is by going to one of the benches around the pool near a wall and simply step up them with one leg. Repeat this 20x per leg should be a nice start of warming up your calves.
Then I highly recommend this post on Swim ...
8
The classic school of thought is that cardio == 40-60 minute periods at 2/3rds your heart-rate or so, as explained above by Christopher. On the other hand, I've personally (I'm about the same size as you) had much more luck with some HIIT methods, specifically Tabata; the research for it is compelling and I've seen the results on myself as well. Tabata means ...
8
Swimming is much more about technique than fitness or body type. I'm a fan of Total Immersion. I used Triathlon Swimming Made Easy to re-learn how to swim in order to swim much better.
This system makes you think about what you're doing and gives you fantastic tips on how to do it.
The second idea is to join a masters swim club in your area. That will get ...
8
Count Yards/Meters, not Laps
I suffered from losing count so many times. Then, I started counting yards (or meters). I typically swim in a 25 yard pool so I'll use yards to describe. But if you swim in meters, just substitute - its the same concept.
I simply count yards instead of laps. I start in the shallow end and swim towards the deep end and then ...
8
Speculating on performance in sports based on physical attributes is always difficult, there are always exceptions to whatever rule you find. My answer to your questions is split into two parts: 1) check that your weight in the the normal range for a non-athlete, this is important given your history. 2) compare your height/weight with other successful female ...
8
The rotator cuff group is comprised of four muscles, commonly referred to as SITS.
Supraspinatus, Infraspinatus, Teres Minor and Subscapularis. Most of these serve to rotate the arm, although the Supraspinatus is responsible for abduction (movement away from the body) of the upper arm.
Caveats - All of the exercises listed should be done with light weights ...
7
The answer for this is similar to the one for triathlons, is that you get faster by doing it more. However, the kick is one of the parts of the stroke that if you aren't "getting it", then it's hard to be able to do it properly without someone showing you.
I would recommend that you have a swim instructor look at your stroke and make sure that you are doing ...
6
There are four major strokes in swimming:
Freestyle,
Backstroke,
Breaststroke,
Butterfly stroke
Of these, freestyle is the fastest and most efficient swimming style. In my own experience the butterfly stroke is by far the hardest to maintain for long distances. How you fill in your workout depends on two factors, how well can you swim and how hard do you ...
6
Safety first, if you want to learn to swim (as an adult), make sure you try it in a swimming pool where you can easily stand up if things go wrong and have supervision around in case of an emergency.
As someone who has learned several children to swim, I'd say its pretty hard to learn it yourself properly. Why? Because you can read the words, but that ...
6
While I couldn't find the publication where the calculation was based on, you managed to find a formula on which its likely based:
A mixed model was used to derive the following equation for predicting
physical activity energy expenditure (EE):
EE = -59.3954 + gender x (-36.3781 + 0.271 x age + 0.394 x weight +
0.404 V[O.sub.2max] + 0.634x ...
6
Several factors are involved:
Your body warmed up enough --> thus less need for stretching
Swimming actually regulates your breathing system, it is like some sort of "heavy" yoga breathing session, specially if you "crawl" or do "Butterfly Stroke" which both require some time below water and thus deep breathing when above water to recuperate. Thus you ...
6
With a short pool, you are limited, especially if you have an efficient flip turn. Since you are a beginner, I don't think that is a problem (Not a knock, just a fact. Flip turns take lots of practice to be effective).
I would take a pull buoy with you and concentrate on form drills. As a beginner swimmer in a very technique driven sport, this would serve ...
6
I am going to assume that you are coming from a mostly non competitive swimming background.
There has to be a baseline of both, but I lean towards the emphasis that you need to be a fitter swimmer before you can really start effectively working on your form. Even if you do 2000 yards/meters in increments of 50 (two lengths or one lap) working strictly on ...
5
Your teacher is correct: aerobic conditioning is specific and practice running will make you a better runner, but won't necessarily do much for your swimming. For one thing, running doesn't help you adapt more efficiently to the movements required by swimming. Furthermore, cardiovascular fitness is specific at the cellular level; it's not a systemic thing ...
5
Swimming, if done for speed/efficiency is actually more of an upper body workout than lower body. In fact, much of the focus of swimming improvement is in efficiency, which of course reduces calorie burn but results in the ability to swim longer and faster.
Also because you are floating, a lot of the work of carrying your own weight is skipped.
Running is ...
5
There are various reasons for using fins. Don't give up on them as they can be an excellent training tool.
As a swim coach, I do not take a 'one-fin-fits-all' approach, especially with training adults. Yes, foot size does matter and if the fin is ill-fitted (too small OR too big) the foot and ankle and foot will have to flex/tense more to use the fin.
In ...
5
Other than the obvious causes of cramps (lack of electrolytes and/or hydration), I think time will help you out. I used to experience calf cramps frequently while swimming, albeit a few 100 yards in to my workout.
Not kicking off the wall can help, but it's kind of fun to do so. Your body probably just needs to get used to using that kick-off calf ...
5
Swimming is an excellent cardiovascular workout. You can give a very strong effort, and since there is minimal body impact, you can give a pretty intense workout just about every day. It most definitely will help with fat burning, assuming that you are eating an appropriate, healthy diet.
It will assist in muscle building, but only so much as it takes to ...
5
A similar question was asked here.
That question included data from the 2009 Ironman Triathlon Championship in Kona, Hawaii. As you may know, the race consists of a 2.4-mile open water swim, a 112-mile bicycle ride, and a 26.2-mile marathon. A version of the scatterplot matrix from that question is shown here.
The scatterplot matrix above plots the ...
5
By gaining weight, I think you meant gaining lean muscle mass! And if this is your main concern, then here are a few rules you need to follow:
Lift weights - especially heavy weights by focusing on the major muscle groups like chest, thigh, butt, back and core. Try squats, deadlifts, benches, chin-ups, bent-over rows and lat pull-down machine next time ...
4
Here is a very interesting thread for you where “Star Queen” explains how your breathing pattern during swimming can cause excess air to go into your stomach as you inhale. This can occur especially if you hold your breath followed by gasping or gulping for air, such as in turns and while pushing off the wall or when trying to increase your speed.
So the ...
4
The best way to get rid of your belly without running is to control your diet (sorry you have to) and get into resistance training. Cardio training will burn more calories in the short term, but you will be making your body more efficient overall, reducing BMR. The best way to track physical conditioning is looking in the mirror, you will know you reached ...
4
This is a very tough question.
A few starting questions:
1) How is your starting block reaction time?
2) How many strokes is it taking you during one length of the pool?
3) How many breaths are you taking each length of the pool?
4) How are your turns?
Training for longer distances than 200 meters can only help your swimming endurance. ...
4
The stroke that will burn the most fat in general is the stroke that allows you to get the most vigorous workout. Look up some of these questions and answers to get a better understanding of how to implement your swimming program to meet your goals:
Regarding why to use different strokes: Swimming for muscle building and fat burn
Regarding swimming and ...
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