Does anyone swim? I started yesterday at the Y just doing a few laps of what I already know how to do and it was hard!
Any tips or specific workouts you would share with me?
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I used to swim at the Y pre-baby and loved it. Low impact (I have bad knees) and a great workout. I'm not much for "sweating" so swimming is perfect for me and it hits every muscle. I started out slow and worked my way up to more. I would do breaststroke, backstrock, and freestyle mostly. I just mixed it up every few laps.
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Do they offer any classes like aqua aerobics or aqua Zumba? Our Y is supposed to be offering them in July. Those can be fun. My mom swims & she often uses the weights they have to do extra exercises besides just swimming laps.
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Swimming is great exercise! I swam competitively for years and never have been in better shape. I swam at the Y for a while just for exercise, and wish I never fell out of the habit! You can use a kickboard for some extra leg work too. Breaststroke kicking is great for your thighs.
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Swimming is sooo gentle on the joints, it's a great exercise! I can only suggest sticking with it. It's HARD so that means you may not be able to swim long at first but keep at it and it will get easier and easier and you'll swim for longer periods of time!
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@jhd: they do offer classes, but I have a hard time getting there at the same time all the time. For the time being laps work best for me.
@lazylightning: I don't know what a kickboard is? I'm sure that's a dumb question.
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i loooove swimming, i used to just do 8 laps ... need to join a gym that has a pool. miss it so much!
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I don't swim, but I do water zumba. Love it!
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@Mrs. Polish: it's basically a big blue piece of foam you hold on to. Keeps your upper body floating and head above water so you can just kick
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@mrs polish i second the idea of the kickboard. i just couldn't remember what it was called! my arms get tired way before my legs do so it's nice to hang on to & kick!
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I love swimming as a work out... when I got tired I could switch to back stroke or breast stroke and just go slow. It's so great for cardio, but the water provides resistance, so it will help tone you also. Remember stop stop and drink water periodically though, you don't notice the sweat because you're in the water, but you're still sweating and losing fluids.
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I used to in college, but I don't have access to a pool anymore
Definitely miss it!
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Swimming is an amazing workout, you don't have to do it for long bc it uses your whole body.
I try to have a plan before I get in the pool so I'm not just aimlessly swimming back and forth. For example, I often do a routine where I do: 1 length freestyle, 1 length breast stroke, 2 lengths kicking-only. Then I'll repeat that 5 times and that's my workout for the day. Good luck!
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Swimming is great for toning, and can be good for cardio if you do it the right way! (You need to get your heart rate up.)
When I was training for triathlons I took swim lessons and learned about doing drills for cardio. For example, I'd do a 50 to 100 meter slow freestyle warmup, then do 25 to 50 meters of a certain stroke at hard effort, 25 meter slow freestyle for recovery, then 25 to 50 meters hard effort again with a different stroke. And repeat. I'd do it for time or distance, so either swim a mile total, or swim for 25 minutes total, or whatever.
In addition to kickboards, they make pull buoys, which you clamp between your knees, and they keep your legs afloat while you pull only with your arms. Several lengths of only kicking or only pulling is GREAT for toning.
ETA: Swimming makes me hungrier than any other exercise for some reason. I'd first thing in the morning, before work, and be starving all. day. long.
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I used to swim for exercise when I lived right by a LA Fitness. I will dig up a routine of stretch exercises I used to do post swim specific for swimmers and post later.
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I love to swim, and is my prefered cardio! I used to do a modified training version of my swim team days.
-Warm up with 100m freestyle
-Swim a minimum of 100m of just legs with hands on a kickboard
-Swim a minimum of 100m of just arms with a floaty between my knees (the floaty is specially made for the legs)
-Swim non-stop for 20-30 minutes (any stroke of your choice). Take breathers as necessary, but just swim as much as you can.
-Cool down with 100m swim (style of your choice) -
I'm so glad you posted this! I just started swimming for exercise recently. I have bad feet and heels. I love everyone's tips. Here's my two cents:
I love being in the water, but I would get so bored. My husband bought me a waterproof mp3 player (Jlab Go 4 GB Waterproof, Sweatproof, Sports MP3 Player Headphones) and I LOVE it. I download NPR podcasts to listen to while I'm swimming. It works really well and also acts as earplugs.
I used to coach kid's swim team. There are a ton of books out there with different drills to help perfect your form. If you never took lessons, it might be worth it to try them to make sure your form is good. It also helps you focus on one thing since it can be overwhelming to make sure you are doing everything correctly - breathing, kicking, arms, posture, etc. It also makes workouts a little more interesting.
My breathing needs a lot of work, I get out of breath very easily swimming freestyle. I swim backstroke and breast stroke much more because it's easier for me. In order to get my heart rate up, I do deep water aerobics in addition to laps. I get a lot of those workouts from youtube.
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I used to and I loved it and now miss it. Tips for starting out, would be to give yourself a small goal, like 15 min of lap swimming and build up over time in 5 minute increments. Once you can swim your allotted time fairly comfortably, change up what you are doing with drills or different strokes.
I would swim 30-45 minutes and mostly just alternated between free and breast with no real goals other than to stay moving the whole time. Also, I loved using a kick board, especially when pregnant.
Definitely miss it!
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