A question for swimmers

inuit

I do about 30 - 45 mins most weekedays, i am not a great swimmer and really struggled with breathing - good pair of goggles and plenty of practice with breathing - mouth open breath in and blow down nose under water, sometime i still get it wrong and that is when i come up coughing and choking, but it is getting rarer now. I do front crawl and back stroke, tend to do a length of each as i am still perfecting the breathing on the front crawl and sometimes when i get it wrong i end up very our of breath at the end of the length, so i swim back stroke on the return leg to get my breathing back to normal.

Cannot and have never been able to do breatstroke, cannot get the legs and arms together.

I use a under water mp3 player (mine broke a couple of days ago) cannot believe how hard i find it without the music.

I have lost about 5 inch off my hips and backside, ok have been eating healthier etc but the swimming has made a massive difference to that area.

engineman312

I highly suggest investing in a waterproof HRM. The calorie burns here on MFP for the swimming strokes are about 30% higher than what is actually burned. I spent a whole year OVEREATING because of this. If you are really using swimming as a workout, get a HRM for the pool.

any advice on models? and if they have a chest strap, do you swim in a full suit?

And to clarify, one lap is swimming from one wall to the opposite wall, NOT down and back!!! I don't know why that bothers me so much but it does.

yes, this bothers me too. "i did 2o lengths to warm up." "oh, 20 laps is a lot." "no, lengths. means ten laps. -_-"

healthchick

Underwater MP3 player for the win! Makes my swim go really fast. Not expensive on line.

This is what I do - I listen to audiobooks and it lets me swim for an hour or so before I even really notice time passing!

Do you have a website for this product?

FireRox21

I highly suggest investing in a waterproof HRM. The calorie burns here on MFP for the swimming strokes are about 30% higher than what is actually burned. I spent a whole year OVEREATING because of this. If you are really using swimming as a workout, get a HRM for the pool.

any advice on models? and if they have a chest strap, do you swim in a full suit?

And to clarify, one lap is swimming from one wall to the opposite wall, NOT down and back!!! I don't know why that bothers me so much but it does.

yes, this bothers me too. "i did 2o lengths to warm up." "oh, 20 laps is a lot." "no, lengths. means ten laps. -_-"

I use a Polar F7. It is very, VERY simple to use. It monitors heart rate, time exercised and calories burned. You can manually enter your heartrate and type of workout or you can input basic info like your weight and height and use the OwnZone feature. All you need to do is tell the monitor if your workout will be light, moderate or heavy and the doo-dad does the rest!! This model does come with a T31 coded chest strap. Coded means the information transfer will not be interrupted by other people's HRM, cell phones, Ipods, etc. This model DOES NOT sync to your PC, so you will have to enter all of your numbers into your PC yourself. Overall, the Polar models are very simple to use and there is a large variety to choose from. You have to be a rocket scientist to figure out some of the Garmin models!!!

This is an older model and might be a bit hard to find. I bought two of them last year from Amazon.com. I really like the F7 because it was basically made for swimming. There's no distance measurment, GPS, etc. I would recommend that you purchase a few replacement straps. You can buy just the stretchy part of the strap for about $7.00 from Amazon. If you are in the water everyday, the straps will wear out pretty quick. You can also try Ebay if you don't have luck with Amazon.

And thank you for agreeing about the lap issue. I am constantly asked "how many laps do you swim" and I always answer "I don't know, I don't count laps, I count meters". So I have them do the math and tell ME how many laps are in 3200 meters!!!!

FireRox21

And yes, I swim in a full suit. I kinda have to!!!! Otherwise my "girls" would give me black eyes :noway: :blushing: I have seen men wearing HRMs with straps and only wearing jammers. As long as the strap is tight enough, you shouldn't have a problem. Also, as with all HRMs, make sure the sensor part of the strap is wet before starting to run the monitor.

bexxgirl

Underwater MP3 player for the win! Makes my swim go really fast. Not expensive on line.

This is what I do - I listen to audiobooks and it lets me swim for an hour or so before I even really notice time passing!

Do you have a website for this product?

This is the product: http://www.chinavasion.com/product_info.php/pName/atlantis-4gb-deluxe-waterproof-mp3-player/
But I bought it from a local site, so if you just search "atlantis underwater mp3" you should be ok!

healthchick

Awesome, thank you

BobbyClerici

Are any strokes better at using up calories?
ANSWER: Butterfly -- Free stroke [at various intensities]

Are any strokes better at toning your tummy?
ANSWER: Same as above - remember, spot targeting muscles are best done in the gym - sit-ups, but spot reduction is a function of overall fat loss - not fat targeting. In spite of the infomercial claims, that does not happen.

How do I stop myself from getting bored?
ANSWER: I use the time in the water to think of business related items on my mind - my best, most creative moments are during cardio exercise.

FireRox21

Are any strokes better at using up calories?
ANSWER: Butterfly -- Free stroke [at various intensities]

Wrong.

Breaststroke. Sounds like B.S., but it's true. Fly does not burn as many calories as a semi-proficient breaststroke.

Beastette

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