Dumb swimming question
Momepro
Posts: 1,509 Member
Does swimming get harder when you lose lots of weight? I am a terrible swimmer, but I float well. Is that due to my high body fat? I usually flounder around in a barely better than doggie paddle stroke, and although I have tried to learn better techniques, I am rather...coordination challenged, lol.
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Replies
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I'm not super lean, but I haven't noticed any issues with decreased buoyancy. If anything, the increased fitness, greater mobility (arms moving more freely and legs not rubbing together) would be a great help. You might have less floaty fat, but you're still trying to more yourself forward and not just stay on top of the water in one spot, and that's a heck of a lot easier to do when you weigh less!
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I've always been a good floater.
My heaviest was 130 lbs and my normal is 100-105.
If you are struggling with coordination, especially the breathing side, I would highly encourage you to take a set of 8-12 adult swimming lessons.
They are generally offered in small group as well as individual.
I will never be a brilliant swimmer, but a couple of sets of lessons (I had to start with the scared stiff type as I wasn't comfortable in deep water), really helped me understand the mechanics of swimming so I could progress, rather than stagnate with poor skills, so much so I go off the side of boats to snorkel in the Caribbean!
As for you and floating, I honestly don't know if it will change as you lose. Bone size/density may enter the picture as well as fat mass.
Cheers, h.3 -
I am over weight and think being fatter helps you float.
I am not a strong swimmer and this is my 2nd week of swimming everyday. My arms and shoulders are wrecked.
Might get a kick board so i can write my legs more.3 -
@leeanne_aquilina, if you are just starting exercise, or returning after a long break, be kind to yourself and swim alternate days until you have built up the strength and endurance to swim daily.
Though one should expect sore muscles when starting a new routine, doing it everyday, without recovery days, can lead to burn out or injury.
Maybe swim 3 days and walk (or whatever else you may like) 2 days.
Cheers, h.3 -
@middlehaitch Ive had 2 days off lap swimming as we had Australia Day last week where you're crazy to go to a beach and on Sunday I swam but didn't do laps in a friends pool.
I can see your point about doing something different on an inbetween day. I could go back to the gym as Ive still got 3mths left.
Atleast Im eating and sleeping better2 -
It definately got harder after I lost a lot of weight. I used to float like a bar of ivory soap,was pretty much unsinkable.After loosing 60 lbs I definately sink, it was the only thing about loosing weight I didn’t like!2
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Depends. Definitely easier to float when you're heavier; definitely easier to actually swim (i.e., move through water without floundering) when you're smaller and more streamlined. Or so I've found.3
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Thank you so much! Guess I'll have to join my daughters swim lessons when I get a bit closer to goal, lol. At least I'll probably be able to touch the bottom
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Swimming is more about body line and technique that using fat to float. Hopefully by the time you lose weight you'll be stronger and more fit, which makes swimming easier.
I wouldn't use floating ability as an excuse to stay fat and I wouldn't use weight loss as an excuse not to swim.
Swimming is not mainly about coordination ability. Anyone can learn basic swim techniques with proper instruction, and maybe that's what you're missing. Coordination skills can be learned too. Consider taking an adult swim class. If you enjoy the water, you'll be glad you did!7 -
I really didn't notice much change in my buoyancy when I was losing weight. I have always floated well. I find swimming much easier at a lower weight.
Olympic swimmers certainly have no problem swimming and they have very little body fat
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Swimming is more about body line and technique that using fat to float. Hopefully by the time you lose weight you'll be stronger and more fit, which makes swimming easier.
I wouldn't use floating ability as an excuse to stay fat and I wouldn't use weight loss as an excuse not to swim.
Swimming is not mainly about coordination ability. Anyone can learn basic swim techniques with proper instruction, and maybe that's what you're missing. Coordination skills can be learned too. Consider taking an adult swim class. If you enjoy the water, you'll be glad you did!
I love being in the water. Certainly wasn't planning on letting it stop me, but as I was doggie paddling through my laps yesterday, it occurred to me that if I ever gave to depend on skill, and actual coordination, I'm gonna drown
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Swimming is more about body line and technique that using fat to float. Hopefully by the time you lose weight you'll be stronger and more fit, which makes swimming easier.
I wouldn't use floating ability as an excuse to stay fat and I wouldn't use weight loss as an excuse not to swim.
Swimming is not mainly about coordination ability. Anyone can learn basic swim techniques with proper instruction, and maybe that's what you're missing. Coordination skills can be learned too. Consider taking an adult swim class. If you enjoy the water, you'll be glad you did!
I love being in the water. Certainly wasn't planning on letting it stop me, but as I was doggie paddling through my laps yesterday, it occurred to me that if I ever gave to depend on skill, and actual coordination, I'm gonna drown
That's why I encourage you take a few adult swim classes. This will help you enjoy swimming even more!2 -
Swimming is more about body line and technique that using fat to float. Hopefully by the time you lose weight you'll be stronger and more fit, which makes swimming easier.
I wouldn't use floating ability as an excuse to stay fat and I wouldn't use weight loss as an excuse not to swim.
Swimming is not mainly about coordination ability. Anyone can learn basic swim techniques with proper instruction, and maybe that's what you're missing. Coordination skills can be learned too. Consider taking an adult swim class. If you enjoy the water, you'll be glad you did!
I love being in the water. Certainly wasn't planning on letting it stop me, but as I was doggie paddling through my laps yesterday, it occurred to me that if I ever gave to depend on skill, and actual coordination, I'm gonna drown
That's why I encourage you take a few adult swim classes. This will help you enjoy swimming even more!
I'd second that suggestion. A couple of years ago I could barely swim 100m continuously (it wasn't fitness.....I was running half marathons and riding metric centuries) but with coaching from my tri group I was able to complete several olympic distance triathlons last year (1,500m swim) and completed a 3km open water swim. It's all about learning good technique, I'm still far away from calling it effortless but with coaching and practice you can make great improvements.2 -
I'm only about 7-10 pounds from goal, but as an adult learner (I've only been swimming for a little over 3 years), I can tell you that I think it's more about technique. There are women I swim with who weigh much more than I do, but are gorgeous swimmers. I'm envious of their skills.3
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I’m a pretty decent swimmer and swam regularly at a higher weight. This week, 4 years and 80# later, I swam laps for the first time. Honestly, it seemed pretty much exactly the same. And yes, I felt it in my shoulders the next day.
Worst part? Goggles digging into my face that has significantly less fat to poof them out.2 -
If you float easily, float on your back. When you become comfortable, kick a little (gently at first) to move across the pool. When that becomes comfortable, add arm strokes. That will probably feel really awkward at first, but will look much more graceful to others than you imagine. That's it! You're doing the backstroke!0
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corinasue1143 wrote: »If you float easily, float on your back. When you become comfortable, kick a little (gently at first) to move across the pool. When that becomes comfortable, add arm strokes. That will probably feel really awkward at first, but will look much more graceful to others than you imagine. That's it! You're doing the backstroke!
That's the one stroke I can do easily (although slowly), because it came pretty naturally fron the floating
I am definitely going to look into lessons when I get a bit closer to my goal weight. Maybe a couple months of lessons will be my halfway point reward
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Why not take lessons now to help motivate yourself and give you a new skill to help stay active?5
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I hate to swim (sigh) but have to swim (rower), so I took adult swim classes in my mid-40s (while obese). They helped a lot. It was hard (I'm soooo not a natural athlete! ), but very worth it. I can lap swim now.
I was worried about whether I could still do it after weight loss, given the buoyancy question and the fact that I hadn't swum in over a year (not about to buy a suit while quickly losing weight, and the old one sure didn't fit ).
Truthfully, it didn't seem much different, obese vs. thin.
Since you like the water, I'd encourage you to take a class now, and add swimming to your toolkit of fun fitness activities!2 -
Meh, double post0
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Being slimmer in no way makes swimming harder. Practice will mean you improve.0
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I second taking lessons. I've been swimming for 22 yrs. It's true lessons are expensive, but inform yourself at your pool. There are usually family plans, discount specials, group learning, or other ways to save. You'll get more bang for your buck if you learn to swim now instead of waiting. If all else fails get on youtube to try and learn some technique. Have fun.3 -
It can depend where you carry your fat. I coach swimming for triathlon, and often men have more difficulty with their body position than women. They have slim and muscular legs from running and cycling, giving them less lower body buoyancy than women who have more fat on their lower body. It's more likely to be as a result of some technical breakdown (breathing, head position, "pushing down" in the water), but if you combine a technical flaw and low body fat, then yes you may "get away" with more with more fat on the lower limbs. Correcting the technical issue will resolve the problem, though. Most children have low BF, and as someone else said, so do professional swimmers, and they manage just fine...1
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After a loss of 15 lbs in 4 months, I have seen no difference in my swimming speed. (3 or 4x a week with a master's group). Maybe a little less bouyancy, but offset by not hauling a bunch of useless fat around. In my masters club, there are plenty of super fast swimmers in a whole range of body types.2
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I should also add that natural bouyancy is only useful to the beginner swimmer. Intermediate and advanced swimmers will figure out a good streamline body position regardless of body fat.3
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see if you can work a deal with the people working with your daughter if they will do a discounted rate for 4 private lessons? they worst they can say is no- and you're already a customer so they want to make you happy.4
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I (re)started swimming as part of my initial weight loss and it was very effective. I had competed as a middle teen and had the basics down, just no endurance. Will echo all the good advice here. You will see an increase in efficiency and speed with better technique. I watched a lot of the videos from Total Immersion and others to make form improvements. I also followed the 0 to 1650 swim plan to build endurance and was able to do a non-stop full mile (a little more, at 1800 yards) at the end of six weeks. I need to get back in the pool!3
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As i said I'm new to swimming laps.
I make sure I get the lane next to the pool wall. That way the faster swimmers tend to prefer the middle lanes. I can also do a mix of strokes rather than just freestyle.
Don't stress and make it fun.3
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