Calories burned question?

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robinaddison
robinaddison Posts: 232 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm a swimmer by nature, but trying to mix it up a bit, so I'm doing some treadmill and elliptical work as well these days. My question is this: when I swim, I can pull off a mile in about 35mins. Heartrate is up, I feel like I'm working at a moderately hard pace. On the treadmill/elliptical, to get my heartrate up to the same level as when I swim, I feel like I'm half way killing myself!! Yet, for the same amount of time spent doing it, mfp (and the machine too) award fewer calories spent per activity. What am I missing here?!

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  • Bubs05
    Bubs05 Posts: 182 Member
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    Could it be that on the treadmill/elliptical it feels you have to work harder because you don't have the natural resistance of the water?
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
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    Also the possibility that you are using more and different muscles when swimming than on the machine. Combine that with the water resistance...
  • dragonbug300
    dragonbug300 Posts: 760 Member
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    You'll get used to it. I'm a land-lubber, so things like elliptical and treadmill are natural to me. Then I get in the pool, swim moderately, and can't even breathe afterwards (and it's not from drowning...).
    Plus, pools create a natural coolant. The sweat literally comes right off. But with land exercises, you have to sweat to stay cool, so you heat up much easier so it feels like you're working harder.
  • jamie1888
    jamie1888 Posts: 1,704 Member
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    Swimming engages many big muscle groups! Elliptical & treadmill are just lower body really. Do you have a heart rate monitor? It's a good way to monitor what your hear is doing. What we feel may not always be what's really happening. My HRM is waterproof and you can wear while swimming too.
  • robinaddison
    robinaddison Posts: 232 Member
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    Dragonbugg I think you're onto something - I'd forgotten how much I hate sweating which is why I got into swimming in the first place!! I guess that's why rowing also seems easier - being on the river in the cold and even though my heartrate is way up, I'm not sweating. Maybe I need to take to running outside...or wear an icepack indoors lol!

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