Does anyone swim?

PinkMom

PinkMom

Cathlete
Hi,
My DH and I are training for a birthday challenge on his 42nd birthday in June, and part of the challenge is to swim a certain distance. We went this morning to swim 1000 meters. I was really surprised by how difficult it was. (And I consider myself to be in good shape -- we biked 21 miles on Saturday, ran 10 miles on Sunday, did Core Max 1 and Stretch Max 1 yesterday.)

Anyway, I'm looking for any suggestions any of you who swim might have or any resources that might be helpful.
Thanks a bunch!
 
Hey Kristi! Swimming isn't as easy as it looks!! I'm training for a sprint triathlon in June so I've been swimming regularly since January.

I'm sure that AquaJock will chime in, she's the swimming expert around here!
 
Not exactly sure what kind of advice you´re looking for. I´ve been swimming for more years than I care to say ;) . If you´re looking for form pointers there are some videos/magazines out there, or you could let me know what strokes you are doing. If your stroke/s are pretty good and you´re looking for strength and endurance, there are free workouts at http://www.swim2000.com/ That site also offers vids and anything you might want :) Also, itrain has new a new swim workout. You need to have an mp3 player that you can attach to your cap. I have the workout and it is good. HTH

BTW, good luck and have fun!
 
Thank you both for your encouragement and advice! It is definitely not as easy as it looks! DH just informed me that we didn't swim as far as we thought this morning! :-(

If anyone else has any advice or resource suggestions, I appreciate them!
 
I love to swim, but it really isn't as easy as it looks. I find it a lot more gentle on the body though. I was on the swim team for several years and I think it just takes time to build the endurance. Like most things, it becomes easier once you do it more since your body adapts. I don't know if anybody else feels this way, but I'm always starving after swimming. With other types of exercise, it's completely the opposite.


:)
 
I don't swim personally, but my son did swim team last fall and all I can say is it is hard work! It took him a while to build endurance and the advice from everyone was to swim as often and as much as you can. He was going 3-4x a week for an hour a shot. They did some drills, but the majority of it was lap after lap after lap.

Good Luck! It is much harder than it looks!!!
 
I'm always starving after I swim, too, unlike other forms of exercise! Thought it was just me:)
 
What helped me was lessons and a Masters team. I also use tips and work-outs from the Master's website at www.usms.org.

Swimming is great. I learned to swim 9 years ago. I swam over 200 miles last year. It really helps keep my weight in check. I have competed in Master's meets which are loads of fun, but really it is just a way to work-out, and feel good!
 
I love swimming but it makes me too hungry. DH says it's because of the water pressure. It presses on the organs (including the stomach) causing gastric emptying. So, in the water you feel full but once you get out, your stomach feels empty and you're starving. This is why he recommends to his patients not to swim too much if they're trying to lose weight.

Carolyn
 
Thank you all again for your input! I agree that it makes me hungry! I also agree about needing to build up endurance for it; apparently endurance for one activity isn't necessarily endurance for another (but I think I probably already knew that -- I was just hoping it would be easier. ;-) )

Carolyn: That is really interesting about gastric emptying; I have never heard that.

Dorothyrd: WOW -- 200 miles; that's awesome! I'll check out that website.

Lala1: I subscribed to a series of free workouts on the site you suggested, and I think DH may have ordered a DVD.

Thanks again!
 
>I love swimming but it makes me too hungry. DH says it's
>because of the water pressure. It presses on the organs
>(including the stomach) causing gastric emptying. So, in the
>water you feel full but once you get out, your stomach feels
>empty and you're starving. This is why he recommends to his
>patients not to swim too much if they're trying to lose
>weight.
>
>Carolyn
>
>

Interesting since I lost 40 pounds and swimming was my main form of cardio. And if I take a break from swimming, I seem to struggle more with regain. Swimming keeps me trim.
 
>>I love swimming but it makes me too hungry. DH says it's
>>because of the water pressure. It presses on the organs
>>(including the stomach) causing gastric emptying. So, in the
>>water you feel full but once you get out, your stomach feels
>>empty and you're starving. This is why he recommends to his
>>patients not to swim too much if they're trying to lose
>>weight.
>>
>>Carolyn
>>
>>
>
>Interesting since I lost 40 pounds and swimming was my main
>form of cardio. And if I take a break from swimming, I seem
>to struggle more with regain. Swimming keeps me trim.
>

I'm sure one can lose weight swimming, as it is a form of cardio. It's just overcoming the eventual hunger that usually follows for most that is the problem.

Carolyn
 
>>>I love swimming but it makes me too hungry. DH says it's
>>>because of the water pressure. It presses on the organs
>>>(including the stomach) causing gastric emptying. So, in
>the
>>>water you feel full but once you get out, your stomach
>feels
>>>empty and you're starving. This is why he recommends to his
>>>patients not to swim too much if they're trying to lose
>>>weight.
>>>
>>>Carolyn
>>>
>>>
>>
>>Interesting since I lost 40 pounds and swimming was my main
>>form of cardio. And if I take a break from swimming, I seem
>>to struggle more with regain. Swimming keeps me trim.
>>
>
>I'm sure one can lose weight swimming, as it is a form of
>cardio. It's just overcoming the eventual hunger that usually
>follows for most that is the problem.
>
>Carolyn
>

It is like any other form of exercise. It takes planning to fuel. If I swim before work, I always eat something light, a banana, some yogurt, something around 100 calories or so, then my normal breakfast afterwards. If I swim after work, I plan a 100-200 calorie afternoon snack about 1 hour before. I don't usually have the starvin marvins if I do this. If I swim a 5000 yard work-out I might, but I keep it around 3000 so this just is not an issue. I like to eat mini meals all day anyway, for weight management, so it fits right in.
 
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