Swimmers

I'd like to get into swimming, but don't know where to start, so bump for later

I'm interested in the response..I used to swim on swim team too long ago..but now that I've lost the wt..I want to do some triathlons , I'll have to start training at some point. I'm curious about the advice people give.

I would think you should do mostly some sort of interval work in addition to long endurance. I'm sure there are plenty of workouts available if you Google it.

You can do HIIT workouts in any format, including swimming. Warm up in the pool for 5 minutes, then repeat intervals of 1 minute hard : 2 minutes easy. Start with 15-20 minutes of intervals, eventually working up to a max of 30 minutes. And if you wish to add more cardio, add some steady-state endurance swimming at the end of your intervals.

I recently broke my foot, so I've been doing this on my bike (on a trainer in my livingroom). It's a tough workout, and you can add as much endurance at the end as you'd like. Some days, I stop with the intervals, others, I add an extra 30 minutes.

I find backstroke gets me most out of breath so I would say probably that.

I started doing laps after Aquatic class.
Started out doing 10 laps, breast stroke at my own pace, then built up to 20 laps.

I had to do the breast stroke as one shoulder cuff is torn. I'd go one direction with breast stroke, and the other direction on my back floating/kicking, using arms with what motion I can.

But now I'm doing Zumba, I don't regularly swim laps anymore.


There are sites that give info on calorie burning, depending on how hard you swim.

Surprisingly breast stroke can burn a lot ! If you are actually swimming it as if you are racing. Of coarse the best stroke is butterfly and the hardest most tiresome. I suggest doing this 25 fly, 25 free, 25 back, 25 free, 25 breast, 25 free, 50 free. On that note try to limit resting when doing this if you are an intermediate swimmer you should be able to do this set without stopping. You will also benefit better if you can actually get technique down practice doing drills! The more you mix up your strokes you will most likely burn more

Let me aim some comments at those who are not yet ready for "full scale" training. First of all, swimming gives you cardio along with very low impact resistance training, this means that you can get started pretty much regardless of your current physical condition. Swim the stroke that you are most comfortable with (or trade off strokes if you like that better.) First, aim to build your stamina so that you can swim continuously for 20 minutes or so. Don't worry about the pace just now.

At this point you can go in a number of directions: Lengthen your swimming time --it is time that burns the calories, in fact, good swimmers burn fewer calories per minute than beginners. Do some laps working only arms and only legs – there is a tendency not to work your kick enough, so for this, legs should be your first choice. Add some intervals where you pick up your pace and then drop back.

At many pools there is a clock with a sweep second hand that is easily seen by swimmers – you can use it to monitor your pace but, unless you are training for short distance events, you don't want to get so burned out that you repeatedly stop and rest. You can also use the clock to monitor your pulse rate – look up how to take your pulse from the carotid artery in your neck, it is not very hard to do.

Thanks geezer. I appreciated your post! I can swim a mile in under 60 min. but will soon need to mix it up. Good pointers.

I just opened my backyard pool and swam some laps today. I have been running 3 miles 3x/week at a 10min mile pace, yet swimming back and forth 10 times in my 28 foot long pool had me way out of breath. Interesting how the different excercises affect you so differently