Swimming

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chellseaworley101
chellseaworley101 Posts: 16 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Is swimming laps a good form of exercise? How many laps is a good work out? How many times a week?

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  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
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    Swimming is great exercise! I love it, and it works almost the whole body:) Start with around 20 min. and work up from there. I usually swim laps for 30 min 2-3x/wk during the summer, but am doing about 45-60 min or so (including drills and short breaks) with triathlon training once a week for now. Crawl or freestyle is my speed stroke and breaststroke is my recovery stroke. I switch between the two.

    Since swimming is low/no-impact, you can pretty much do it as often as you like.
  • Capt_Apollo
    Capt_Apollo Posts: 9,026 Member
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    swimming is a great form of exercise. however, many people don't know how to swim properly, and they'll confuse their exhaustion with a good workout. swimming isn't like running or zumba where you can just suck in air whenever you want.

    but the best work out is the one you'll stick with.

    if you want some good swim work outs, check these out: http://ruthkazez.com/50swimworkouts.html
  • ImaWaterBender
    ImaWaterBender Posts: 516 Member
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    Yes, swimming is fantastic. Unless you swim in my pool, then it's HORRIBLE!

    --- By the woman who hogs the whole pool! :wink:
  • appygirl84
    appygirl84 Posts: 105 Member
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    Swimming is awesome. I would say swim until you are tired, then work on building up endurance or a faster time. The only time in my life I didn't have a weight problem is when I was on swim team... swimming 5 days a week.
  • MizMimi111
    MizMimi111 Posts: 244 Member
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    I swim 2-3 times a week. I love being in the water so I look forward to it.
    Until recently with the better weather it was the only exercise I did.
  • debbiesats
    debbiesats Posts: 65 Member
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    I love swimming and yes it can be a great workout - difficult to recommend time/distance without knowing how well you swim. I think this is a great setup:
    http://www.swimming.org/swimfit/about-swimfit/
    it's free and you can adjust the programme to suit your level of swimming and adjust as you progress. Their calorie guide is interesting too.
  • raggiemom
    raggiemom Posts: 139 Member
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    bump
  • chellseaworley101
    chellseaworley101 Posts: 16 Member
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    I'm a decent swimmer. I have been swimming since I was 2, & lifeguarding/teaching swim lessons for 5 years. I'm not the best, but I'm pretty decent. I'm only "fast" when adrenaline kicks in when someone is drowning while up in the stands. I work at Humble Pool & it's pretty big I'd say. I swim from shallow to deep. I want to swim more laps this year to help me reach my goals & get a a flatter stomach.

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