Swimming Questions

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  • mikeykhan2003
    mikeykhan2003 Posts: 177
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    Hey dude,

    I was in the exact same boat. I started swimming around 360, and I'm down to 311 now, with swimming as my exercise. I've always been a decent swimmer, but of course at 360 there's a lot of drag when you swim so it's pretty slow going. I do use intervals, I usually alternate that with swimming laps; I find the variety very cool, and I feel different muscles after each workout.

    If it were me (and it was), I worked every week on a couch to 5k swimming equivalent (I'll link it below); now I generally swim my mile in around 40 minutes. Still very slow, but hell it's an improvement of 30% in 4 weeks. When I first started swimming I would freestyle 3 out of every 4 lengths, and then backstroke 1 to get my breath back under control. As time has moved on I now backstroke only 1 / 10.

    If you have trouble with the first of the zeroTo1Mile workouts
    http://ruthkazez.com/Zeroto1milePreamble/pre-zero.html

    Zero to 1 Mile workout.
    http://ruthkazez.com/SwimWorkouts/ZeroTo1mile.html

    The interval workout I use
    http://www.rippednfit.com/fitness/swimming-hiit-the-pool/

    Good luck, and message me if you have any questions at all; I'd be glad to share my experience.

    m
  • FourIsCompany
    FourIsCompany Posts: 269 Member
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    I am obese (300 lbs) and I swim twice a week. It's actually a water aerobics class and I love it! We do some swimming, but also lots of water resistance exercises to build strength. I highly recommend spending as much time as you can in the water. I used to do some arc trainer work before the class, but for the calories I was burning (and as BORING as it was) I just spend extra time in the pool. In your position, I would up the swimming days to 3 or 4 per week, if possible and forget the other stuff.

    Unless, of course, you can manage to start a lifting program... I lift 3x per week and swim twice. It's a GREAT routine! Can't say enough good about it!

    Good luck!
  • GGDaddy
    GGDaddy Posts: 289 Member
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    Because of my awful endurance, and learning how to control breathing, I can't really do the freestyle for more than a length or two until i'm dying and swallowing water,etc. so i constantly switch off)

    Congrats on starting this routine, swimming is awesome!

    I had trouble doing freestyle more than a length when I started too. The method I used to swim for longer was as follows:

    Week 1: At each swim session, swim 1 lap straight, do whatever it takes to make it through
    Week 2: At each swim session,swim 2 laps straight. No matter what, finish.
    Week 3: 3 laps
    Week 4: 4 laps

    My goal was to get to 20 laps after 20 weeks. At week 7, something amazing happened--I had the strength to keep going, and got to 15. The week after I got to 20, and never looked back. Now I swim a mile in about 39-40 min.

    I discovered the trick is to hold yourself back on the early laps. Don't push yourself as hard as you can, or your run out of steam/breath by lap 3. Instead, save the energy, and make the goal to keep going--not to swim fast.

    If that's your goal, hope it works for you! Good luck!!

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