Seriously?

kaytbognar

So, I busted my butt today in the pool--I'm working on improving my freestyle form and speed with a bunch of different drills and stuff. It was about an hour all told, and it was a good workout. I feel awesome, but not SUPER exhausted.

when I logged my swim MFP told me I'd earned an extra 550cals (and I low-balled my time/intensity to account for rest intervals between different drills)--is this for real? I generally find I feel best when I eat close to all my exercise calories, but this seems like a lot for only and hour worth of playtime in the pool. Am I crazy? Should I put my trust in MFP, which, to be fair hasn't let me down in the short time I've been with it?

Does swimming REALLY burn that many calories?

Anyone...anyone? Beuller...Beuller?

havingitall

Swimming burns a ton of calories and gives a good cardio workout too.

kaytbognar

well hot damn, I didn't think my favourite sport could get any better! Apparently, I was wrong

XFitMojoMom

I wore my HRM when I was free-swimming over the summer and yeah, it was about 500 calories for 40 minutes in the pool. Another time I was doing deep water aquafitness and that burned a record 640 calories/hr!

BrendaLee

If you busted your butt, then it definitely burned that many calories. I love summer...we have a pool across the street, and it's a great way to combine fun and working out.

paddlemom

I've lost 40 lbs since last January following MFP and logging my exercise according to the calculations here, with Swimming laps being my primary fitness activity 2 -3 times/week.

I log my total time in the pool and haven't lowballed it for resting between laps - cause I figure it's like interval training and my heartrate is still up while I'm catching by breath. At first it took me an hour to complete 20 lengths, now I can do it in 25 minutes. HUGE overall improvements in my day to day cardio, flexibility and endurance!!! Best exercise in the world!

iplayoutside19

I'm often skeptical of the calories listed for excersise here, but as long as it's working I'm going to go with it. And in your case I would beleive the number for an hour of swimming.

Swimming is one of those things where you get out of the pool and you feel pretty good. Not tired or out of breath. But like 3 hours later the intensity of your work out finally hits you.

kaytbognar

Paddlemom-- way to go on your improvements! What kind of strokes are you using when you swim? Do you usually dive in with time spent in the pool in mind, or laps completed? How big is the pool you swim in (mine is a dinky little 10m, I'm going to have to relearn how to do flip turns so I can maintain my groove a little better!) and are you indoors or outdoors?

Brendalee - You're totally right! I'm really excited to be in somewhere sunny and warm for the winter becuase I'll get to swim outside everyday if I want to!

mojogurl - I've heard aquafitness is a wicked workout. A girlfriend of mine used to go with her mom and said it was pretty rigorous.

I probably shouldn't be so surprised at the calculation MFP came out with, I just the math and apparently I swam 1850m (185laps) in just under an hour--didn't feel like that much. I guess I just always thought of it as playtime, not working out. If that makes any sense at all, LOL. I could swim all day long and not feel like I'm exerting myself, but I go for a jog and I feel like I'm going to die after 15-20 minutes!

paddlemom

Hi Kayt, I used to swim in a public indoor pool it is 25m, but I recently joined a gym that has one, built before we went Metric in Canada so it is 75 ft (23m). I do a minimum of 20 laps (1500m), I start with 4 laps easy breast stroke to warm up then do 16 laps front crawl. Then I do a couple of laps with the kick board. I haven't tried doing the flip turns yet... at this point, I'm happy when I can actually do the front crawl down and back up without stopping. It used to take me the full hour to get this much done in the public pool. Now I can do it in half an hour at the gym. I am finding that I am swimming harder though, so that may be why I am not able to just lap up and down.

Now that I have all the gym facilities I usually do a circuit first, then go for my swim, so haven't spent a full hour in the pool there yet.

lailavendar

I never knew swimming could burn so many calories! I like to swim and be in the water, but I have found that it's very hard for me to swim for extended periods of time. I know that I am not like totally out of shape, so I have no idea what the problem is. When I try to do laps and such, I get a headache. Like I'm not getting enough oxygen or something. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I get lightheaded after about 10 minutes. Maybe I'm not swimming correctly..... Any thoughts?

kaytbognar

I never knew swimming could burn so many calories! I like to swim and be in the water, but I have found that it's very hard for me to swim for extended periods of time. I know that I am not like totally out of shape, so I have no idea what the problem is. When I try to do laps and such, I get a headache. Like I'm not getting enough oxygen or something. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I get lightheaded after about 10 minutes. Maybe I'm not swimming correctly..... Any thoughts?

It could be a number of things, I've experienced headaches and general difficulty occasionally when swimming, but it's like second nature to me so I'm lucky that it doesn't happen too often.

You could be getting dehydrated, which might seem strange, but if you're exerting yourself enough in the pool, you will be sweating a losing moisture (haha, water water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink! eh?) so you can try having a bottle of water by the edge of the pool to rehydrate with as you go through your workout.

You also may not be breathing frequently enough. I find if I'm not mindful of it, I'll do almost a full length of freestyle without coming up for air. It doesn't seem like that long, but if you keep it up, it can make you dizzy and a little looped. What stroke are you using? I find when I swim, it helps to count my strokes between breaths (I usually do every 3 strokes, every 5 if I'm working on doing faster laps--the odd numbers also help to keep your breathing alternating evenly from side to side so you don't get lopsided krunk-neck!) Also, be sure that you're actually exhaling while you're underwater, I also have the tendency to just hold my breath and both ex and inhale when I come up to breathe. It's much easier to be exhaling evenly and steadily while you're underwater, and then you can make the most of the time you have above water to fill your lungs, instead of trying to cram two important tasks into a very short moment.

Your form may be causing you trouble, as well. Like with any sport, your biomechanics are important tools to prevent injury, imbalance and repetitive strain. For instance if your hips sink in the water or your head and neck are poorly aligned with the rest of your body, not only will your speed suffer, but you can come out feeling unduly sore.

I find that http://swimming.about.com/ and youtube (searching for freestyle drills) are great resources for me. I get swim workouts from about.com which are great becuase they give me specific goals for the pool, and are designed to cover a lot of bases and provide timed rest intervals, so I'm not dying from over exertion--about.com's 5 weeks of swim workouts by Mat Leubbers is one I am quite fond of, and look up how to do various different drills and check on my form on youtube (I find being able to see what I'm supposed to be doing really helps me to execute it when I'm in the pool.)

hope this helps!

kaytbognar

Hi Kayt, I used to swim in a public indoor pool it is 25m, but I recently joined a gym that has one, built before we went Metric in Canada so it is 75 ft (23m). I do a minimum of 20 laps (1500m), I start with 4 laps easy breast stroke to warm up then do 16 laps front crawl. Then I do a couple of laps with the kick board. I haven't tried doing the flip turns yet... at this point, I'm happy when I can actually do the front crawl down and back up without stopping. It used to take me the full hour to get this much done in the public pool. Now I can do it in half an hour at the gym. I am finding that I am swimming harder though, so that may be why I am not able to just lap up and down.

Now that I have all the gym facilities I usually do a circuit first, then go for my swim, so haven't spent a full hour in the pool there yet.

Check you out! That's a pretty solid routine, and good for you on decreasing your time! Do you ever do stroke-counts when you're doing your front crawls? It could help you keep track of your intensity, maybe even have you stopping slightly less between laps? You said you do laps with a kick board, do you ever use a pull-buoy and do laps focusing just on your arms? (I LOVE doing drills like that, I find it keeps my much more interested during my swims)

I've never been able to do flip turns, but I'm determined to learn before I leave Puerto Rico. My mini goal

You say you're from Canada! Me too! Whereabouts are you from? I'm originally from Toronto, but was living in Lake Louise for 9 months before I came down to PR.

lailavendar

I am really new at swimming. I haven't taken swimming lessons for a long time, so I don't really know what I am doing. I like the breast stroke, think, I don't really know what that looks like for sure You gave some really helpful advice. Thank you! I do think my form is totally off. Like I said, I don't really know how to swim properly. And I do think that I am trying to exhale and inhale in one breath, which doesn't really work. It seem like I don't have time to breathe when I go up for air. Also I am not an avid water drinker, so I'll try that when I go to the pool at my gym. Maybe I should take a water exercise class to get some instruction. But I'll definitely look at the videos you suggested. Thanks again!

kaytbognar

I am really new at swimming. I haven't taken swimming lessons for a long time, so I don't really know what I am doing. I like the breast stroke, think, I don't really know what that looks like for sure You gave some really helpful advice. Thank you! I do think my form is totally off. Like I said, I don't really know how to swim properly. And I do think that I am trying to exhale and inhale in one breath, which doesn't really work. It seem like I don't have time to breathe when I go up for air. Also I am not an avid water drinker, so I'll try that when I go to the pool at my gym. Maybe I should take a water exercise class to get some instruction. But I'll definitely look at the videos you suggested. Thanks again!

No problem! breast stroke is a great stroke to really feel the power in your legs and upper back. If you ask at your pool you may be able to find someone to give you one or two classes or something to help improve your form. Water exercise classes are always great, too. I know people who just SWEAR by their aquafit. I always liked to have my local parks & rec guide in the house somewhere (or bookmarked online) so I could peruse what kind of classes were available (not jsut at the pool but in the area in general) sometimes there's some real keepers.

Good luck, and if you ever need a motivation buddy to splash around with come find me!

lailavendar

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No problem! breast stroke is a great stroke to really feel the power in your legs and upper back. If you ask at your pool you may be able to find someone to give you one or two classes or something to help improve your form. Water exercise classes are always great, too. I know people who just SWEAR by their aquafit. I always liked to have my local parks & rec guide in the house somewhere (or bookmarked online) so I could peruse what kind of classes were available (not jsut at the pool but in the area in general) sometimes there's some real keepers.

Good luck, and if you ever need a motivation buddy to splash around with come find me!
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Thank you so much. I will definitely find you to be my pool pal! I am a member at the YMCA. I have been taking land exercise classes (like step classes) but I am a little intimidated to try the water classes. I don't really know what "Water Fit" would involve, but I'll never know until I try it. Because of you're advice and support, I think I am ready to try a water exercise class. Hopefully they will teach me about good form. Or I could ask my friend who's on the swim team. Perhaps she could help me learn some strokes.

I just wanted to thank you for giving me the boost I needed to "dive" into this, so to speak. Thanks once again and good luck on your own watery journey!

FitJoani

it does use every muscle in the body. and great cardio. so perhap...