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Can I swim instead of lifting weights...

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Replies

  • scubasuenc
    scubasuenc Posts: 626 Member
    Swimming is good cardio but does not substitute for strength training. I have a routine with dumbbells and exercises in the water to provide a water based strength training. I have been mixing that in with dumb bell, stretchy band, body weight based exercises at home.

    If you are trying to maintain muscle mass as you lose, you really should think of including some form of strength training in your routine. Body weight exercises are a great way to build your strength without spending a lot on equipment.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    It depends on what kind of body you want. Last week I was in the pool and a young guy in his 20's arrived--speedos and all--and he had a jaw dropping body( muscles, sleek etc). I've seen great bodies at the pool, but this guy was something. Then another, and another arrived. They were a visiting water polo team. So, lifting gives you one thing--but swimming sure can give you another.:wink:

    Pretty sure waterpolo teams weightlift.

    http://www.waterpoloplanet.com/HTML_Mike_pages/mr01_Strength_Training.html

    yup.

    One way you can tell though is if they have very defined and large looking muscles. If they do then they weightlift. It really is the only way to get that, you don't get that from cardio.
  • Flossiesdoll
    Flossiesdoll Posts: 48
    sorry you aren't "developing" muscles you are just uncovering what you have already.
    You're wrong. My deltoids have grown since I started swimming regularly. They're not particularly big, but they are bigger than they were. I am aware of the difference between muscle growth and fat loss, and my deltoids have grown.
    Water might provide a little bit of resistance but what it also provides is a ton of buoyancy which means you are no longer having to struggle against gravity. Its actually harder to make that arm motion in air than it is in water for that reason.
    And crawl involves lifting the arms out of the water and moving them through the air against gravity.
  • frood
    frood Posts: 295 Member
    You're using your arms for locomotion. You're dragging your whole body along. Of course you are going to develop those muscles.
  • missdibs1
    missdibs1 Posts: 1,092 Member
    no...you can't gain muscle unless eating at a surplus and doing a progressive load lifting program.

    Will it help define the muscle you have....a calorie deficet will do that...by getting rid of the fat over it...but if you aren't doing some form of resistence training and getting enough protien you will lose muscle too...now is swimming resistence training...I would say to a point.

    Will it help create a calorie deficet yes...

    If you want the results from lifting you have to lift...

    Now the question is why do you find it boring? length of time it takes? bored with the number of reps?

    the program I do has a total of 5 lifts alternating them 3 days a week, 5 sets of 5 reps takes me 1min per set (most of my time is spent in rest period due to the weight I am lifting but at the start took me maybe 30mins a day.

    ETA: Stronglift summary link

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/560459-stronglifts-5x5-summary

    I'm a dance teacher (ballroom, ballet, latin and freestyle) and I don't like being still....I find weight lifting dull because its on the spot (maybe...just trying to rationalize my crazy brain :huh: )

    Perhaps HIITS with weights I do this 4-5 days a week
  • shapefitter
    shapefitter Posts: 900 Member
    Resistance training is just as efficient in water as it is on land. I suggest you search on Google, as There's some epic ways to increase overall bodytone. Failing that, have you thought about aquatics?
  • PJPrimrose
    PJPrimrose Posts: 916 Member
    Michel Phleps lifts! LOL. I'm getting into heavy weight lifting for my sport (Martial Arts). If you want to increase your diving performance weight resistance training will help. Also, unlike swimming, weight resistance increases bone mass. This is important for most women!

    BTW, I find it boring too. It just is. When I'm doing drills (perfecting my form hopefully), trying not to get kicked in the head by a black belt, or concentrating on Kata forms(kinda like tai chi) time goes by quickly. With weight lifting, time draaagsss by, even when I'm trying to perfect my form for some reason. It's fairly slow moving so maybe that it? I'm really hyper.
  • h7463
    h7463 Posts: 626 Member
    at least to start with, I've tried lifting before and it bores me :( I used to be a awesome surfer/scuba diver when travelling and would like to get back into it this summer.....would swimming help me gain muscle and tone up the way lifting might do?

    Thanks

    Hello! Nope, swimming will make you leaner...if you are watching your food intake that is, but it won't help you much with performance in your sports. I know, because I have been under water with a double pack of steel tanks on my back and an underwater video with lights and battery packs on the front....I wish I had known about weight lifting then...there was a lot of dragging my hind end and everything else in the process...and a lot of non-ladylike cursing, too....lol
    If you are bored with regular stationary lifts, try high intensity circuits with hand weights....lunges, step-ups... You can do jumps and pullups with ankle weights, pushups.... All those will strengthen your body all over much better than swimming alone. It might also improve your posture and strength for dancing... Did that, too, wish my back had been stronger then, too...
    Good luck!
  • beertrollruss
    beertrollruss Posts: 276 Member
    You can do swimming as your primary exercise, but I would also include at least some walking. My grandfather almost made the Olympics as a swimmer and he swore by swimming but he'd complain after walking 100 feet.
  • shapefitter
    shapefitter Posts: 900 Member
    It depends on what kind of body you want. Last week I was in the pool and a young guy in his 20's arrived--speedos and all--and he had a jaw dropping body( muscles, sleek etc). I've seen great bodies at the pool, but this guy was something. Then another, and another arrived. They were a visiting water polo team. So, lifting gives you one thing--but swimming sure can give you another.:wink:

    trust me those boys lift weights....

    ETA: http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2011/07/21/meet-staci-your-new-powerlifting-super-hero/
    this link shows the difference between lifting and not lifting but exercising.


    Now I'm so sorry I didn't ask them----maybe next time.

    Polo is a performance sport. A lot of hard training, goes into it, and speed is paramount. Lean and mean, is the key. It's considered, a royal sport in England, much favoured by prince William, and Harry. Water polo, is a derivative.
    Anyway, here's how.
    www.waterpoloplanet.com/HTML_Mike_pages/mr01_Strength_Training.html
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
    sorry you aren't "developing" muscles you are just uncovering what you have already.
    You're wrong. My deltoids have grown since I started swimming regularly. They're not particularly big, but they are bigger than they were. I am aware of the difference between muscle growth and fat loss, and my deltoids have grown.


    Actually no I am not wrong, number one you are eating at a deficet...you need a surplus to build muscle, 2 you are a woman and it is very hard for women who eat at a surplus, do a progressive load lifting program to build muslce , 3 you are not even getting in enough protien to help maintain the muscle you have...

    My delts are very well defined now as well, even "appear" bigger...from lifting a progressive load heavy program, I do get lots of protien and I am not building muscle...because I am a women eating in a deficet...not a surplus
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    sorry you aren't "developing" muscles you are just uncovering what you have already.
    You're wrong. My deltoids have grown since I started swimming regularly. They're not particularly big, but they are bigger than they were. I am aware of the difference between muscle growth and fat loss, and my deltoids have grown.


    Actually no I am not wrong, number one you are eating at a deficet...you need a surplus to build muscle, 2 you are a woman and it is very hard for women who eat at a surplus, do a progressive load lifting program to build muslce , 3 you are not even getting in enough protien to help maintain the muscle you have...

    My delts are very well defined now as well, even "appear" bigger...from lifting a progressive load heavy program, I do get lots of protien and I am not building muscle...because I am a women eating in a deficet...not a surplus

    Yup. Swimming builds muscle in your deltoid about as much as running builds muscle in your quads, ie it doesn't. You can get lean, you can tone, you can increase strength and endurance, you can increase vascularity and have a larger pump but you will not add mass doing high repetition exercises let alone at a caloric deficit.

    I am a man doing weight training 3 days a week with 8-rep lifts and I have zero expectation that I will be putting on muscle during this time because I am also eating at a deficit. That said my chest, shoulders and arms look bigger...as you would expect given the training which is going to increase vascularity and water retention but it isn't muscle mass. That is full on weight training with heavy weight as a man, there is no way a woman eating at a deficit would build muscle mass swimming, none.

    Do you know how hard it is to actually add muscle mass? In the best of circumstances, an athletic man doing regular weight lifting eating at a surplus the most you can reasonably hope for is about 10 pounds added in a year.
  • albayin
    albayin Posts: 2,524 Member
    If it's something you enjoy, why not? Once you are into that "exercise mode", I bet you will start looking for more ways to have fun every day. :) Maybe by then you can try lifting again...but if you find it boring, don't start with it.

    I know people who just do swiming and have a very lean body.

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