Pool Workouts

XFitMojoMom

I rarely do the crawl - I opt for 20-30 lengths (25 yard) of breaststroke with a rest after 5 lengths. At the end I'll do 5 lengths with the kickboard.
Sunny - it's hard for me to determine if the trainer is "worth it" because I've been with him for a little over a year now and lost 10 lbs and gained 10 back after seeing a nutritionist who suggested I eat 1500 calories/daily. Since then, I have not managed to lose the 10. I'm seeing an endocrinologist tomorrow and hopefully we can sort this problem out.

sunnysmile

Hi everyone.

Welcome Workingitout and Paddlemom ... nice to see you here (and Paddlemom, I enjoy our other chat area too).

Some thoughts for Workingitout re: breathing ... because I have neck injury from an accident in 2005 (hit by SUB while walking across the street) I have some difficulty turning my head comfortably for normal swimming breathing (although this is improving with time) ... what I found that solved this was snorkel set ... I use the snorkel goggles and breathing tube. Now I don't have to do any of the breathing moves, can concentrate on my stroke more and can always take deep breaths which helps my swimming. There are a few types of snorkels. I have tried the swimmers snorkel which can rotate so you can do freestyle and then backstroke later ... but I found it difficult because they want you to breath in the tube and out the nose I think ... when I used a nose plug with this it was better. Then I decided to try the snorkel swimming set ... PERFECT ... my nose is covered by the mask and I breathe in and out of the tube very naturally. I can only do freestyle and breast with it, but if I want to do backstroke I take off the breathing tube. I hope this idea might be helpful, if you try it let me know how it turns out.


Paddlemom ,,, what kind of exercises did they give you for sway back? I am wondering since I don't raise myself up for breathing or for using the flippers (since I don't need the kickboard to breathe) if I am avoiding swayback. My shoulders tend to hurt after swimming but not my back at all, that is gaining strength. Firerox knows a lot about swayback and the proper technique for swimming, I am still learning but I do love my snorkel and mask.

I am thinking tomorrow I may try the fins for a few lengths ... first time in a while. Today I did some Wii Fit, a new program that encourages you to do walking by building a town as your walk ... it counts your steps if you step on the beat ... I think I did about 2000 steps (not the best but not the worst).

Sunny

paddlemom

Paddlemom ,,, what kind of exercises did they give you for sway back? I am wondering since I don't raise myself up for breathing or for using the flippers (since I don't need the kickboard to breathe) if I am avoiding swayback. My shoulders tend to hurt after swimming but not my back at all, that is gaining strength. Firerox knows a lot about swayback and the proper technique for swimming, I am still learning but I do love my snorkel and mask.

I

I need to look for the machine that he was describing at my gym, it is basically a bar across my mid back that you push back against, like sitting bent over then pushing back to a leaning back position. He told me to try the same thing with a theraband; anchoring it and then holding it in front of me while sitting then leaning back - kind of like 'backward' crunches, so that you are contracting that lower back area when you are pulling up. I also found this website that has some of the pretty basic back exercises http://www.globalspine.net/exercises.html

I swim Mon/Wed/Fri and try to get to the gym Tues/Thur (in an ideal world :bigsmile: ) and have been using the gym equipment, and I realized that I'm working my abs and my upper body, but have done nothing to work my lumbar area, which is why I think I put my back out in the first place.

I also need to get a new stability ball, it's marvelous for that lower back, just using it as a seat when I am watching TV or working on the computer. Another lady has hers here at work, I told her I was going to bring mine in and we could be BA's with Balls..:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

sunnysmile

Hi everyone! Happy Friday

Thanks for the website Shari. I looked at it and it has great photos and explanation of why certain moves are good and others are bad. I like the seated stretch for the back before and after swimming, I'm going to have to add that in. Luckily they have some bleacher seating at the pool so that should not be too hard to add in.

Today I weighed myself and I am up 0.4 pounds from last week (not a lot). It's not a lot but it is frustrating as I did track calories and exercised. I did go out to dinner Saturday and brunch Sunday but I tried to be careful. Oh well, I am continuing. I got great advice on the 300+ chat about it, so that is encouraging.

Today I did aqua jogging in the pool, 35 minutes (to avoid making my skin itch I am limiting my time to 35 minutes and then oiling up after my shower. I used the aqua jogging booties ... they are really good.

These are the aqua joggers I use:
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00635445000P?vName=Fitness & Sports&cName=Scuba&Swimming&sName=Specialty Accessories&psid=FROOGLE01&sid=IDx20070921x00003a

(odd that Sear's carries them). I was reading the description and for the first time I realized I can put these on my hands for some extra upper body resistance. I will have to remember that and try that soon.

I could use some encouraging words today ... I know that sometimes when losing weight you can not lose sometimes and then the next week even lose double ... I also know that my body feels better, more toned, I am standing better, moving better, more flexible, stronger. So I need to think about that. And I am lighter than I was in January ... and I guess 0.4 increase could be from a lot of things and not mean much.

Have a great day!
Sunny

FireRox21

Hey Sunny, no worries! Since I started this journey, I have gone a couple of weeks in a row without losing anything or even gaining a pound. You just have to remember that our bodies take time to adjust to new things and occasionally will resist. Persistence is the key. Also, being female has a BIG impact on weight loss. Women just biologically have more going on than men. And every woman is different. There are tons of factors like age, environment, even race/ethnicity that will affect how weight is gained or lost.

So, hang in there and keep up the good work. Don't get discouraged. This is a lifestyle change and though it takes time AND can be one of the most frustrating and/or challenging things we have ever done to ourselves, it pays off in the end!

You CAN do it!!!! :happy:

Sweetie_Pie92

I love pool workouts! In fact next term at the college I'm taking a water aerobics class, which should be a lot of fun!

jessmomof3

I'm glad that I found this thread!! I am a somewhat swimmer. I call myself that because I'm mainly a runner/ biker but I got into the swimming to do triathlons a couple years ago. I was never much of a swimmer, so it was a challenge when I first started! Learning how to be efficient at freestyle has taken a lot of practice (and I'm still not a super speedy swimmer, but I have great endurance! :laugh: ).

Anyway... I am currently NOT running because I'm injured (possible stress fracture in calcaneus on left foot and tendonitis in right from marathon training... :grumble: ). But... I can spin, elliptical, and swim... anything non impact. So I've been getting in some good pool time lately! I love using the pull buoy and I'm trying not to kick too much w/ my darn feet. I also just ordered an aquajogger so I can start pool running, my Dr. highly recommended it to keep up my running endurance.

Any tips or workouts would be great!

Take care!

Jess

sunnysmile

Hi everyone, and welcome new pals Sweetie and Jessmom .... so glad you have joined the chat,

I love water aerobics. You will love it Sweetie. A little known fact I learned in the class about resistance in water ... you have 6 times the resistance in water than you do in air so water aerobics which focuses on pushing the water and pulling the water really can help shape you up and build strength while being lots of fun.

Aqua jogging, Jess, is amazing for building walking muscles and running muscles. Imagine, before you hurt yourself (and I'm sorry you did) you were running and had no extra resistance in the exercise (although it was challenging, fun, and burned calories like crazy) ... aqua jogging is a wonderful way to not only stay fit but some websites say that professional runners supplement with aqua jogging to increase their abilities. I have some booties I strap on my feet that let me add even more resistance to the water (don't know if that is good for your injuries). There are some great websites that list deep water moves. I bought a VCR tape a while back that shows these moves. It came with a laminated cheat sheet that shows the exercises. There are so many ... you can even do bicycling in the deep water, stomach crunches, cross country skiing, jumping jack moves.

Best suggestion ... if you have a water proof mp3 player, use it when you aqua jog (and swim)... I do and it makes a big difference in fighting boredom.

Let us know how you like the new things you try.

Today, I thought I would go to the pool and use the flippers for the first time in a while, but we got busy with other things and I ended up using this Wii program for walking for about 30 minutes. Doesn't burn as many calories but it is good for me to build some weight bearing exercise so I can go for some walks with my husband or visit the museums in the Spring (almost here, hooray!)

I have to see if I can use the pull buoy sometime. I guess that helps you build upper body strength? I love using the mask and snorkel ... I have a new one (broke the last one) and it's pink ... why not, adds some color to the pool.

And an update to those who listened to me being upset about not losing ... I got on the scale this morning and I am down 1.2 from last week, so I am glad to see movement down. Thanks for your encouraging words!

Sunny

NinaMyers

Hi Folks!!

I'm new to this site.

Just found it last week and am so far really impressed.

I used to swim pretty regularly back in my teens, was a fairly competent swimmer. Recently got the bug again and have started back at my local pool. The enjoyment is still there, but my technique is a little rusty lol

Anyway, I'm trying to make it to the pool 3 times a week. My pool is a 25metre pool, I started out doing 40 lengths, but have increased this to 50 (breast stroke)
I now have an eye on 64 lengths as this will be a mile!!

Really glad to have found this thread, some good sites mentioned in here.


Bit annoyed just now, as i am suffering from the cold, so giving the pool a miss until I feel better, it's driving me mad lol!!

sunnysmile

Hi everyone and welcome Nina.

This is a great site, I am impressed by the people I chat with and the way the site runs. Nina, I am impressed that you can do 40 to 50 lengths with an eye toward 64. That's terrific. My husband swims 100 lengths almost every day but I make it to about 30 lengths in 35 minutes. If I stay in longer my skin reacts, so I am now just beginning to supplement my swimming with some light aerobics.

The swimming, aqua jogging, and water aerobics are my core ... everytime I do it I feel like I improve somewhere. I just wish I had known how wonderful the snorkel/mask idea was years ago, it would have made a big difference in my life.

I did succeed at 30 lengths today. I was thinking about the swayback idea and concentrated on my form. So far, no longer back pain, no change in alignment with hips. Just shoulder soreness. I added in some new stretches for that today ... the ones FireRox suggested, plus with my chin tucked I linked my arms behind me and stretched downward. I was told that whenever you do something with your arms behind you to tuck your chin, that protects your lower back more.

Have a great day and write how you all are doing when you have time.

Sunny

sunnysmile

Success!

Today I aqua jogged for 35 minutes using resistance booties. Much of this time was spent running as fast as I could in the water and then my muscles burned I switched to cross country skiing in the deep end of jumping jack moves. It is challenging but it is helping improve my walking and burning calories.

Hope everyone is having a great day and fun in the pool.

Sunny

sunnysmile

Hi there. How is everyone doing? This AM I swam at the pool. Someone noticed my pink goggles and snorkel and asked me if they were anything special, I told them no, just average snorkel set. I had on a new bathing suit, black with pink trimming so I think I looked like I was trying to match when it happens this bathing suit comes with the pink trimming and the snorkel set that fit when I bought it was pink. So I am stylish in the pool without any effort, LOL.

I swam 35 minutes, 30 lengths. Can't seem to increase the number of lengths within that timeframe but perhaps overtime that will happen naturally. I do think I am swimming better and faster (at least that is my perception).

Hope you all have a great day.

Sunny

paddlemom

Love the fashion forward swim stylin'!!! Last year I got myself this crazy flowered swim cap, just for fun. I loved it, but my DD refused to be seen in the pool with me I figured you can't take life that seriously sometimes! At the end of the day, it was too hot to wear (it was covered in rubber floppy flowers!!!), but I am trying to get up to a swim store I heard about that has some really fun printed latex ones - I'm hoping they have the booties you are talking about as well, 'cause I think they would be good for me too!

I'm managing to get a little faster too! I did my 40 laps in 50 minutes on Monday. Because I'm still a little worried about my back, I changed it up every few laps and did some of everything including the back stroke, instead of my usual front crawl only. I am liking the back because it works different muscles in my arms and shoulders. I try and be sure to reach high and straight overhead to encourage flexiblity. It was going great until the big guy doing "splash laps" in the next lane swamped me totally!!!!:mad:

I'm lucky, I have pretty tough skin, but I was thinking about your itchies and wondering if maybe using one of those barrier creams that gardeners use on their hands might give you some protection if you smooth it on before you go swimming. I don't know if it's practical, just throwin' it out there.... I also use the chlorine removing shampoo and conditioner on my hair, I wonder if it would work as a body wash too?

Also you mentioned a waterproof mp3 player??? I was thinking about that, but didn't know there was one - can you tell me what one you have?

Anyway, today is another pool day!!! Yay.

FireRox21

Good job everyone! Way to stay in the pool. Increasing the number of laps will occur over time with the increase in endurance and strength. Also, stroke technique has a huge impact of the number of laps that you can swim. This is something that will also come with time and experience.

I, too, wear bright colors for suits and caps. I've never been shy and love to bring humour to the water. It just helps to lighten the mood. Just a caution, be very careful of the cute rubber caps. I'm not sure of the constant temperature of your pools, but you DO sweat A LOT while working out in water. Sometimes, these rubber caps do no allow the heat from your head to escape and you can overheat your body. This can result in being too tired too soon and not being able to complete your workout. I always use latex caps, as they are cheap, colorful, and thin which allows for body heat to escape a little better.

Water proof MP3 players are out there. They can be a bit pricey. Check out swimoutlet.com They have a good selection and sometimes run great deals on older, closeout models. Also, you can research what you like there and then try overstock.com or amazon.com.

Great idea on changing up the strokes in your workouts. It is important to work different muscles while swimming to avoid burnout and fatigue and to give an overall better workout. Keep swimming!!!!!

paddlemom

Well I'm sayin' it all over the place, cause I can't believe it. I did 60 lengths in 60 minutes last night. FireRox - it really made a huge difference to change up my stroke every 10 lengths. I was really thinking before that I was "wimping out" cause I wasn't doing a steady front crawl, but by changing it up, I kept moving and worked different muscle groups and was really not as fatigued, yet I still feel like I got an honest workout out of it.

The cool thing is I even managed to do 6 lengths front crawl without stopping - that was a HUGE success for me! I think that part of the problem is that when I started to get a little winded I would feel panicked that I wasn't getting enough air, and I would just going to get more and more out of breath. This time I took it slow and steady and resolved that even though I was breathing more heavily, it was no different than when you are doing other workouts. So I pushed myself to keep it up and see if it would settle into a steady state and it did! So now I'm working on embracing the breathing....

I found this swimming site awhile ago....some of it can be pretty hard core, but I like reading the forums and there is a ton of good info on here even for a newbie like me....http://www.totalimmersion.net/

BTW, the current image on my ticker is my inspiration..... the guy jumping out of the back of the boat is my youngest son. He paddled the Moloka'i Hoe in Hawaii 3 years ago. It's an outrigger race between the Islands of Owahu and Molokai - 9 men on the team. They paddle 6 at a time and jump in and out of the boat on the fly to change paddlers during the race. That year they came 12th out of over 100 teams. It took them just over 5 hours!

sunnysmile

Shari, that's great. I didn't make it to the pool today and I miss it. I find that by alternating my stroke I can go further. I alternate between freestyle and breast changing each length. I am trying to do more than one freestyle in a row and sometimes I can but sometimes I can't. It will be nice to see a change as I get stronger.

Congrats on the big increase, nothing feels better than success.

The waterproof mp3 player I have is no longer made, it was made by Oregon Scientific who stopped making it at some point to focus on other things. If this one dies I will have to figure out another because I love to listen to music as I swim. Sometimes I download books and listen to them also.

I am hoping I can increase my time in the pool but when I tried 40 minutes I started getting itchy. I can live with regular itchy but sometimes itchy comes as hives, and that is not liveable. So 35 minutes with alpha keri oil after shower is my current plan. I do use a barrier cream on the areas that have traditionally caused my problems in advance. I put it on at home and let it soak in before putting on the bathing suit. That makes a big difference.

If my throat stops feeling a bit sore when I swallow I may be able to make the pool tomorrow AM. I am praying for that.

Sunny

paddlemom

Sunny, I hope you are feeling better soon! Take it easy until you do...a few days of healing doesn't derail the plan, trust me. In fact, I find that if I have had to take some time off, when I come back the first day is hard, but then I seem to get a nice bump in performance - that's kind of what happened here.

I googled mp3 players and there is one called Dolphin that looks promising...now I need to see if I can find it in Canada. I think it's pretty new though.

Today it's dry land - eliptical and weights. I hope the gym is cooled off, last time it was at least 80 degrees in there I barely made it through a bike ride!

sunnysmile

I googled mp3 players and there is one called Dolphin that looks promising...now I need to see if I can find it in Canada. I think it's pretty new though.

One suggestion - see if you can find some reviews on the item, I have found that to be helpful. And thanks for your words of support and encouragement.

Sunny

sunnysmile

Hi there, anyone out there swimming? I wasn't able to for several days, we have been without power and the Y is closed. We don't know when they will open but hopefully soon.

Keep in touch when you have time and hope all is well.

Sunny

paddlemom

Today was another dry land day, but yesteday I did my 60 lengths in 60 minutes again. It was really gratifying because I was worried that the first time was a fluke!

Sorry you can't get into the pool these days, but think how much you will appreciate it when they get the power back on!!!!