swimming to tone up

bobby19666
bobby19666 Posts: 57 Member
edited November 21 in Fitness and Exercise
Anyone used swimming alone to tone up. And how many lengths e.g I do 50 x 25 a day. 30-40 minutes. Other advice on swimming welcome

Replies

  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
    bump. I'd like to know too.
  • vorgas
    vorgas Posts: 741 Member
    Toning generally means a combination of fat loss and muscular definition without significant bulk.
    Swimming can help with the fat loss, but will do nothing for the muscular definition.
    For best results, vary your workouts.
    • Drills (finger drags, thumb to thigh, kicking, reaches, power, etc)
    • Intervals (down and back as fast as possible, 15 second rest, repeat 3 - 5 times)
    • Different strokes (crawl, breast, butterfly, side, back)
    • Distance swims
    • Breathing laps (breathe on 11 strokes, then 9 strokes, then 7, then 5, then 3)
    • Kickboards
    • Use wrist pads and fins to improve strength in wrist, legs
  • cheshirecatastrophe
    cheshirecatastrophe Posts: 1,395 Member
    I don't know; I built some nice arm definition in the pool for 3000yds 2x/week last year. Mostly freestyle; some IMs. Very little pull-only and kick-only.

    Hand paddles (the "wrist pads" @vorgas mentioned) are a useful tool if and only if you have really good freestyle (crawl) form. Otherwise, you run a higher risk of shoulder injury.

    If you Google "swim workout generator," you'll get some really helpful results. You can decide which one looks best to you.

    If you're intending to use swim to aid in weight loss, be aware that the prolonged exposure to water will probably ramp up your appetite even more than you're burning calories. It's not a dealbreaker; just be aware of your swim hunger and track your calories so it doesn't end up setting you back.
  • bobby19666
    bobby19666 Posts: 57 Member
    Nice to know I did 100 lengths today so 2.5km once fats off il get muscle lol
  • angelexperiment
    angelexperiment Posts: 1,917 Member
    I don't know about swimming but water running /jogging/walking is killer especially deep water. Or taking a deep water aqua cize class is very helpful wuth toning.
  • lseed87
    lseed87 Posts: 1,105 Member
    I don't really keep track since I can be in the water for so long
This discussion has been closed.

Categories