I'm out of shape and needed to make a change in my life. So I joined a gym and have been swimming for a few weeks now. I'm not particularly good at it, but I can do the backstroke and breaststroke to some extent. I know how to freestyle, but I find the breathing technique too difficult to do it for long. Between backstroke and breaststroke, I have worked my way up to 66 lengths, which is supposed to be about a mile.
1) Does anyone have tips on what I should be doing if I want to focus on slimming down?
2) Is there anything to avoid so I don't injure myself? I'm doing this without a trainer.
3) Also, I'd really like some tips on how to breath while doing freestyle and breaststroke.
1. Learn to flip-turn if you aren't, because it'll cut down on your downtime when you don't need to rest. Freestyle is the best stroke for burning calories, if you want to work specific muscle groups instead then other strokes may be better for that. Get the technique of your strokes down - it's not as important for swimming to burn calories as for swimming for racing, but it will still help. It's amazing how much more energy efficient a well-executed stroke is than a clumsy one, and it translates to both speed and endurance (and is tied with breathing).
I'm not sure how it actually affects your efficiency, but you might consider resting by treading water instead of holding the lip of the pool. As a guy who played water polo and had to get good at eggbeater, if you try you will get to the point where you can eggbeater indefinitely and casually recover while doing it. It strikes me as a much less awkward position. People tend to find it hard and tiring as a beginner, but hey I guess that means you're burning calories.
2. Since it's so low impact, nothing really beyond the general things like not pushing yourself too hard. Don't hold your breath for overlong, it's not worth the strain because it won't even help as much as having good streamlined breathing for your strokes. And of course, don't run into a wall or dive into the bottom. A swimmer's dive should be very low angle with the surface of the water anyway, if you feel like diving.
3. For freestyle, you want to turn your head to the side as your opposite arm is finishing its reset (nearing full extension). By the time it begins its stroke (pulling), you should be done breathing with your head back down. In this time you should be able to get your mouth to the air mostly by turning your head and only very slightly tilting your neck back. The idea is you don't want to lift the crown of your head up. Exhale through nose while your head is in the water so you can purely inhale (through mouth) when you go up. If you have trouble staying going straight, alternate the side you breath from (every 3 strokes). Make sure you don't drop your arm deep into the water when you breath - it should be easy to fix if you aren't moving your head/spine/shoulders.
On the side you're breathing from, at the time you're breathing your hand should be pulled completely back just above your shoulder/near your neck and around the time to come out of the water to extend and reset its stroke. A neat thing of note with this is that it has just passed your mouth and created a small trough, making it easier to breath. This is good because the less you have to turn your neck, the less torque makes you want to turn the lower parts of your spine and the less you deviate from a hydrodynamic position. In freestyle, your momentum doesn't really stop so it's very impactful.
For breaststroke, at the end of each glide you should be going above the surface. Inhale through mouth then, exhale through nose below. You reset the stroke while above water and should be back to gliding position by the time you're starting the stroke. Think of resetting the stroke as drawing a heart (point away from you) that comes in fairly close below your pecs (at this point you are fairly upright with chest thrown a bit forward, above water breathing), and then the stroke is bisecting that heart as you kick and put your head back in position. Then glide until you reset again. Breathing for breaststroke should be very easy if you're doing the rest right.
Note that for both these and other strokes, the idea is to use as little effort as possible to reach the air during rest position, take a fast breath by inhaling only, and return to a hydrodynamic position before the actual propulsive movement of the stroke begins again.
As a former high school swimmer and summer swim coach it is more important to work on your form over speed. Slow down your stroke and make sure you are fully extending your arm for each stroke and it is coming back along your side and not down into the water. Practice breathing to one side only at first at every other stroke on the same side. So breathing to the left would be Breath-extend L-R-L-R-Breathe to the left as your left arm passes your face. Until you are more comfortable with your breathing, glide and turn your body to allow you to breathe. Then turn horizontal to continue your strokes.
When using swimming as a weight loss and body toning exercise it is more important to build up your endurance so you can swim longer. A proper form will allow that and allow you to continue through the weeks as you wont injure your spine. You may want to look up videos on combat side stroke. It is a cross between freestyle and breaststroke that allows you to breath normally since your head is above water but lets you relax while still swimming.
The fundamental point of doing any physical activity for conditioning/athletic purposes is that it must be challenging in some form or fashion. If you're swimming a mile without feeling severely winded, then either you're going very slowly or you're in way better shape than you think you are.
In any case, it's hard to hurt yourself while swimming. There is very little resistance being applied to your body, so you probably don't have to worry about that.
As always, I am impressed with and thankful for the depth of knowledge the members on this site have about any given subject.
Turns out I'm doing a lot of things wrong. I'm not popping out of the water during the breaststroke, and I'm not moving my arms in nearly the right way I guess. I move my arms in wide arcs more or less.
I do get winded pretty often during a swim. When I first started, I did like 3 lengths and felt like I was going to die. So I did what the old ladies in the pool were doing and just walked the length until I caught my breath again. Then I figured out I could do the backstroke to recover. So, now I do the breaststroke for a few laps, then I flip over and do the backstroke. I can do a relaxed pace and still feel like I'm doing something, or I can push a little harder if I feel I'm up for it. I'm trying to work my way up to doing freestyle regularly, but it is going to take some more time. I just can't catch my breath after about 2 lengths/1 lap.
That's fine and dandy, but be sure that those breastrokes are actually hard.
Interval training works. The problem is that a lot of people don't actually push themselves during said intervals. So nothing much happens in terms of actual improvement in conditioning/health.
Something like a length with a solid speed, then 2-3 length of relaxed pace, vice versa.
Another is to time yourself and attempt to do as many laps within a certain amount of time. There's lots of ways to get athletic conditioning done.
As always, I am impressed with and thankful for the depth of knowledge the members on this site have about any given subject.
Turns out I'm doing a lot of things wrong. I'm not popping out of the water during the breaststroke, and I'm not moving my arms in nearly the right way I guess. I move my arms in wide arcs more or less.
I do get winded pretty often during a swim. When I first started, I did like 3 lengths and felt like I was going to die. So I did what the old ladies in the pool were doing and just walked the length until I caught my breath again. Then I figured out I could do the backstroke to recover. So, now I do the breaststroke for a few laps, then I flip over and do the backstroke. I can do a relaxed pace and still feel like I'm doing something, or I can push a little harder if I feel I'm up for it. I'm trying to work my way up to doing freestyle regularly, but it is going to take some more time. I just can't catch my breath after about 2 lengths/1 lap.
Here's the deal: the primary concern in any athletic discipline ever is proper form. Your first order of business is always proper technique. Improper form is how you get injured.
Practice proper form with the strokes. Once you get that down, then you're looking to sustain that form over time, which means building your endurance. I imagine if you search on Google for a beginner swimming program, you'll be able to find one.
Work towards being able to swim continuously without stopping for a prolonged length of time. Once you get that solid base of technique and endurance, then you can worry about speed.
This is unrelated to swimming, but does your gym also give you access to free weights? If so, you might look into adding strength training to your exercise regimen along with the cardio.
Work towards being able to swim continuously without stopping for a prolonged length of time. Once you get that solid base of technique and endurance, then you can worry about speed.
He wrote in his OP that he swam 66 laps continuously before. That is a feat in of itself if you're not a swimmer, and certainly suggests that swimming continuously is not an issue for him.
I know very little about swimming, but I know that if your primary goal is slimming down, the most important place to make a life change is in your diet. This is not to say you shouldn't be swimming. Excercise burns calories and contributes significantly to overall health. But it is much easier to not eat 500 calories than it is to burn 500 calories.
Disclaimer: spent 8 years as a competitive swimmer and a brief stint as a technique coach.
My real big recommendation for you is that you find someone with a competitive swimming background that can teach you proper technique including breathing, I say this because none of us can see how you swim right now so we don't know what to work on and if we did get a video or something, we may have trouble explaining it through words, having someone in person physically show you and you mimicking is the best way to learn. Breathing, and good technique overall goes a long way as it not only lets you swim more laps in less time but also with less effort, it also prevents some of the most common swimming injuries including the shoulder and knees.
When you get good technique down I suggest working on a combination of long distance (lap #) and sprinting goals (time). A combination of the two will definitely give you a good fat burning workout
One of the biggest things to consider when you're slimming down is how many calories you're taking in compared to how many you're burning. Depending on how much you weigh now, a mile of swimming can burn between 400-700 calories. If you're passively burning off more calories for the rest of the day combined with that amount as compared to how much you are taking in, then you will be losing weight.
Additionally, what you eat is also a factor. If you sit down after your workout and eat a bunch of chips, well, you're countering your progress. Eat lean meats (chicken, turkey, fish), fresh greens and fruit (spinach, lettuce, strawberries, apples), and good fats (nuts, beans, fish). Cut out unnecessary carbs, like bread, pasta, white rice, and potatoes (unless you're drinking, and then potatoes help you flush your system of alcohol). If you have to have carbs, make it things with lots of protein and isn't bleached in some way, shape, or form - so things like quinoa, brown rice, etc. Also, remember that if you're drinking alcohol that your body puts burning fat on hold and processes alcohol, instead.
Being healthy is an entire lifestyle change. You can't necessarily reap the benefits by solely exercising more. Eating correctly is just as important, if not more so.
By the way, how often are you swimming? Daily? Bi-weekly?
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By the way, how often are you swimming? Daily? Bi-weekly?
I'm trying to get in 3 days a week, 1 hour each session.
As for diet, I have made changes there, too. I eat smaller meals and snack more frequently. This is a technique that has worked for me in the past and is working again now. The important thing for me is that I am doing something I feel is sustainable in the long-term. I'm not crash dieting or making overly radical changes. I still eat pizza and sandwiches and drink up to a couple times a week. But I do eat more lean meats, smaller meals as mentioned, and a lady at work turned me onto sugar snap peas as healthy snacks. She's been fantastic motivation in other ways, too. Small, sustainable changes.
I've only lost 8 to 10 pounds (from about 250) over the past 2 months, but progress is regular, which is important to me. My pants and belt are definitely looser than when I began, which is just further motivation to continue.
As for weightlifting, it would cost an additional $20 per month to get access to all the non-pool equipment (it is a very well outfitted gym). I really just have so little interest in any of that stuff that it simply isn't worth it to me. I've tried lifting before and was constantly bored out of my skull. Swimming is something I enjoyed doing as a kid. As soon as I walked into the pool room the first time at the gym and breathed in that chlorine smell, I knew it was something I could do long-term now.
Honestly, the hardest part of joining the pool was knowing I'd be mostly naked in front of anyone else around. It's embarrassing, but I really, really needed to make a change for so many reasons.
Then good for you for making positive changes in your life.
3 days a week seems good. Are you spacing them out through the week or doing a 3-day-in-a-row thing? Either way, you're going to passively be burning a lot more off than you would be, otherwise. Just don't forget that rest days are also important!
2011: Best Mafia Performance (Individual) - Best Newcomer
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
He wrote in his OP that he swam 66 laps continuously before. That is a feat in of itself if you're not a swimmer, and certainly suggests that swimming continuously is not an issue for him.
He just said he couldn't do more than one lap of freestyle continuously.
Also, if his form is wrong, which he stated before, then that's of paramount concern.
I do get winded pretty often during a swim. When I first started, I did like 3 lengths and felt like I was going to die. So I did what the old ladies in the pool were doing and just walked the length until I caught my breath again. Then I figured out I could do the backstroke to recover. So, now I do the breaststroke for a few laps, then I flip over and do the backstroke. I can do a relaxed pace and still feel like I'm doing something, or I can push a little harder if I feel I'm up for it. I'm trying to work my way up to doing freestyle regularly, but it is going to take some more time. I just can't catch my breath after about 2 lengths/1 lap.
My recommendation would be keep doing these intervals and try to work your way up to being able to swim 30 minutes continuously at slow speed with the breaststroke and freestyle.
Once you get that base down, then play around with speed and distance work.
I've only lost 8 to 10 pounds (from about 250) over the past 2 months, but progress is regular, which is important to me. My pants and belt are definitely looser than when I began, which is just further motivation to continue.
You don't need to preface that with "only," man, that's fantastic progress. They say that healthy weight loss is about 1-2 lbs per week, so you're right on track. Great work!
As for weightlifting, it would cost an additional $20 per month to get access to all the non-pool equipment (it is a very well outfitted gym). I really just have so little interest in any of that stuff that it simply isn't worth it to me. I've tried lifting before and was constantly bored out of my skull.
That's fine. But I would advocate strength training of some sort, even if it's bodyweight stuff. If you're losing a good amount of weight, you'll want to make sure you're building muscle simultaneously.
I disagree that the OP should be worried at all about speed at this stage.
I don't recall anyone saying he should be. Yes, form is fundamentally important as with all athletics, probably even moreso than usual since swimming takes place in a whole different state of matter.
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Then good for you for making positive changes in your life.
Thank you. I definitely appreciate that.
3 days a week seems good. Are you spacing them out through the week or doing a 3-day-in-a-row thing? Either way, you're going to passively be burning a lot more off than you would be, otherwise. Just don't forget that rest days are also important!
Generally spaced out. Sometimes I do two in a row depending on what else is going on in my life. I'm kind of falling into a schedule of Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Although last Saturday was Independence Day here and this coming Saturday is the prerelease, so that isn't set in stone.
My recommendation would be keep doing these intervals and try to work your way up to being able to swim 30 minutes continuously at slow speed with the breaststroke and freestyle.
Once you get that base down, then play around with speed and distance work.
The impression I get is that it is better to work harder during a session than it is to lengthen the session. For example, pushing myself harder for an hour is better than going light for an hour and a half. Sound right?
You don't need to preface that with "only," man, that's fantastic progress. They say that healthy weight loss is about 1-2 lbs per week, so you're right on track. Great work!
The impression I get is that it is better to work harder during a session than it is to lengthen the session. For example, pushing myself harder for an hour is better than going light for an hour and a half. Sound right?
Can you swim freestyle for half an hour straight with perfect form with no effort, or would that constitute hard work for you?
It depends on what you're training.
The first thing you should always train is form. If you can't do something correctly, then you can't do something correctly over any length of time at any speed, right? So clearly, of highest importance is training proper form.
The second thing, once you get the form down, I would train is endurance. This is seeing if you can sustain the proper form over time. This is definitely something you want to go slow on, because if you can't do something correctly when doing it slowly, you can't do something correctly while doing it quickly.
Now, what I propose is to do this kind of work until you get to the point where you can swim with correct form for half an hour continuously without stopping or switching to walking. Once you can do that, I would recommend doing intervals with the other strokes until the point where you can do the strokes you want to do for a half an hour straight.
I propose doing that and THEN incorporating speed work, thus laying the foundation of proper technique and endurance before applying heavy work.
So yeah, magickware's statement of "severely winded" being the mark of whether or not you're doing it right is something I completely disagree with. The goal is not fatigue, the goal is improvement, and pursuing fatigue is not the same thing as pursuing improvement. Anyone can do something really fast and burn themselves out. The question is, are you training yourself to do it correctly?
He just said he couldn't do more than one lap of freestyle continuously.
Also, if his form is wrong, which he stated before, then that's of paramount concern.
I wish I had a quote of your previous post.
Anyways, I'm not entirely sure what the intent of your post here (both previous and current) is. He wrote that he can swim 66 lengths (I assume that means a half of a lap) continuously by alternating between the breaststroke and backstroke.
How does the fact that he can't do the freestyle form properly mean anything in relation to this? I can't do the butterfly at all. I can go for hours with the breaststroke and freestyle but the butterfly form seems virtually impossible for me to understand. Does this mean that I need to stop swimming the breaststroke and freestyle?
I don't think not taking a breath with every breaststroke is an egregious error by any means, and I really have no idea what he means by "I'm not moving my arms in nearly the right way I guess. I move my arms in wide arcs more or less." But based purely on "wide arcs", it seems exactly the way I was taught the breaststroke way back then. Based purely on what he wrote, I'm willing to hazard a guess that he is being overly critical of himself. If he was so inefficient with his form, I don't think he could go 66 lengths.
As for weightlifting, it would cost an additional $20 per month to get access to all the non-pool equipment (it is a very well outfitted gym). I really just have so little interest in any of that stuff that it simply isn't worth it to me. I've tried lifting before and was constantly bored out of my skull. Swimming is something I enjoyed doing as a kid. As soon as I walked into the pool room the first time at the gym and breathed in that chlorine smell, I knew it was something I could do long-term now.
Recreational weightlifting is arguably the best form of physical exercise for long-term health, largely because it fights against most every physical issue that comes with aging without being dangerous to the body.
Refined grains like white flour, sure. Sugar, yeah definitely.
But carbs themselves are not bad for you, and indeed things like whole grains, legumes, and root vegetables are great for you. In general, carb-rich things have a tendency to be fiber-rich things, which is good because people don't tend to get enough fiber in a Western diet.
If you can't do something properly, you can't do it fast properly.
Right. Which is why he doesn't do the freestyle.
Look, if you argued that I shouldn't have suggested that he push himself more with the breaststroke because he doesn't have much confidence in his form, then fine. But I really have no idea how the freestyle figures into this at all.
I have no interest in a struggle for who can get the last word in, magickware99. I will address you one more time: the OP should focus on form first, then endurance, and then speed. He should not be worried about speed right now. And the idea that he should be "severely winded" or he's not doing right isn't just wrong, it's a recipe for injury.
1) Does anyone have tips on what I should be doing if I want to focus on slimming down?
2) Is there anything to avoid so I don't injure myself? I'm doing this without a trainer.
3) Also, I'd really like some tips on how to breath while doing freestyle and breaststroke.
Thank you in advance.
I'm not sure how it actually affects your efficiency, but you might consider resting by treading water instead of holding the lip of the pool. As a guy who played water polo and had to get good at eggbeater, if you try you will get to the point where you can eggbeater indefinitely and casually recover while doing it. It strikes me as a much less awkward position. People tend to find it hard and tiring as a beginner, but hey I guess that means you're burning calories.
2. Since it's so low impact, nothing really beyond the general things like not pushing yourself too hard. Don't hold your breath for overlong, it's not worth the strain because it won't even help as much as having good streamlined breathing for your strokes. And of course, don't run into a wall or dive into the bottom. A swimmer's dive should be very low angle with the surface of the water anyway, if you feel like diving.
3. For freestyle, you want to turn your head to the side as your opposite arm is finishing its reset (nearing full extension). By the time it begins its stroke (pulling), you should be done breathing with your head back down. In this time you should be able to get your mouth to the air mostly by turning your head and only very slightly tilting your neck back. The idea is you don't want to lift the crown of your head up. Exhale through nose while your head is in the water so you can purely inhale (through mouth) when you go up. If you have trouble staying going straight, alternate the side you breath from (every 3 strokes). Make sure you don't drop your arm deep into the water when you breath - it should be easy to fix if you aren't moving your head/spine/shoulders.
On the side you're breathing from, at the time you're breathing your hand should be pulled completely back just above your shoulder/near your neck and around the time to come out of the water to extend and reset its stroke. A neat thing of note with this is that it has just passed your mouth and created a small trough, making it easier to breath. This is good because the less you have to turn your neck, the less torque makes you want to turn the lower parts of your spine and the less you deviate from a hydrodynamic position. In freestyle, your momentum doesn't really stop so it's very impactful.
For breaststroke, at the end of each glide you should be going above the surface. Inhale through mouth then, exhale through nose below. You reset the stroke while above water and should be back to gliding position by the time you're starting the stroke. Think of resetting the stroke as drawing a heart (point away from you) that comes in fairly close below your pecs (at this point you are fairly upright with chest thrown a bit forward, above water breathing), and then the stroke is bisecting that heart as you kick and put your head back in position. Then glide until you reset again. Breathing for breaststroke should be very easy if you're doing the rest right.
Note that for both these and other strokes, the idea is to use as little effort as possible to reach the air during rest position, take a fast breath by inhaling only, and return to a hydrodynamic position before the actual propulsive movement of the stroke begins again.
When using swimming as a weight loss and body toning exercise it is more important to build up your endurance so you can swim longer. A proper form will allow that and allow you to continue through the weeks as you wont injure your spine. You may want to look up videos on combat side stroke. It is a cross between freestyle and breaststroke that allows you to breath normally since your head is above water but lets you relax while still swimming.
In any case, it's hard to hurt yourself while swimming. There is very little resistance being applied to your body, so you probably don't have to worry about that.
Turns out I'm doing a lot of things wrong. I'm not popping out of the water during the breaststroke, and I'm not moving my arms in nearly the right way I guess. I move my arms in wide arcs more or less.
I do get winded pretty often during a swim. When I first started, I did like 3 lengths and felt like I was going to die. So I did what the old ladies in the pool were doing and just walked the length until I caught my breath again. Then I figured out I could do the backstroke to recover. So, now I do the breaststroke for a few laps, then I flip over and do the backstroke. I can do a relaxed pace and still feel like I'm doing something, or I can push a little harder if I feel I'm up for it. I'm trying to work my way up to doing freestyle regularly, but it is going to take some more time. I just can't catch my breath after about 2 lengths/1 lap.
Interval training works. The problem is that a lot of people don't actually push themselves during said intervals. So nothing much happens in terms of actual improvement in conditioning/health.
Something like a length with a solid speed, then 2-3 length of relaxed pace, vice versa.
Another is to time yourself and attempt to do as many laps within a certain amount of time. There's lots of ways to get athletic conditioning done.
Here's the deal: the primary concern in any athletic discipline ever is proper form. Your first order of business is always proper technique. Improper form is how you get injured.
Practice proper form with the strokes. Once you get that down, then you're looking to sustain that form over time, which means building your endurance. I imagine if you search on Google for a beginner swimming program, you'll be able to find one.
Work towards being able to swim continuously without stopping for a prolonged length of time. Once you get that solid base of technique and endurance, then you can worry about speed.
This is unrelated to swimming, but does your gym also give you access to free weights? If so, you might look into adding strength training to your exercise regimen along with the cardio.
He wrote in his OP that he swam 66 laps continuously before. That is a feat in of itself if you're not a swimmer, and certainly suggests that swimming continuously is not an issue for him.
My real big recommendation for you is that you find someone with a competitive swimming background that can teach you proper technique including breathing, I say this because none of us can see how you swim right now so we don't know what to work on and if we did get a video or something, we may have trouble explaining it through words, having someone in person physically show you and you mimicking is the best way to learn. Breathing, and good technique overall goes a long way as it not only lets you swim more laps in less time but also with less effort, it also prevents some of the most common swimming injuries including the shoulder and knees.
When you get good technique down I suggest working on a combination of long distance (lap #) and sprinting goals (time). A combination of the two will definitely give you a good fat burning workout
Additionally, what you eat is also a factor. If you sit down after your workout and eat a bunch of chips, well, you're countering your progress. Eat lean meats (chicken, turkey, fish), fresh greens and fruit (spinach, lettuce, strawberries, apples), and good fats (nuts, beans, fish). Cut out unnecessary carbs, like bread, pasta, white rice, and potatoes (unless you're drinking, and then potatoes help you flush your system of alcohol). If you have to have carbs, make it things with lots of protein and isn't bleached in some way, shape, or form - so things like quinoa, brown rice, etc. Also, remember that if you're drinking alcohol that your body puts burning fat on hold and processes alcohol, instead.
Being healthy is an entire lifestyle change. You can't necessarily reap the benefits by solely exercising more. Eating correctly is just as important, if not more so.
By the way, how often are you swimming? Daily? Bi-weekly?
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2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
I'm trying to get in 3 days a week, 1 hour each session.
As for diet, I have made changes there, too. I eat smaller meals and snack more frequently. This is a technique that has worked for me in the past and is working again now. The important thing for me is that I am doing something I feel is sustainable in the long-term. I'm not crash dieting or making overly radical changes. I still eat pizza and sandwiches and drink up to a couple times a week. But I do eat more lean meats, smaller meals as mentioned, and a lady at work turned me onto sugar snap peas as healthy snacks. She's been fantastic motivation in other ways, too. Small, sustainable changes.
I've only lost 8 to 10 pounds (from about 250) over the past 2 months, but progress is regular, which is important to me. My pants and belt are definitely looser than when I began, which is just further motivation to continue.
As for weightlifting, it would cost an additional $20 per month to get access to all the non-pool equipment (it is a very well outfitted gym). I really just have so little interest in any of that stuff that it simply isn't worth it to me. I've tried lifting before and was constantly bored out of my skull. Swimming is something I enjoyed doing as a kid. As soon as I walked into the pool room the first time at the gym and breathed in that chlorine smell, I knew it was something I could do long-term now.
Honestly, the hardest part of joining the pool was knowing I'd be mostly naked in front of anyone else around. It's embarrassing, but I really, really needed to make a change for so many reasons.
3 days a week seems good. Are you spacing them out through the week or doing a 3-day-in-a-row thing? Either way, you're going to passively be burning a lot more off than you would be, otherwise. Just don't forget that rest days are also important!
{мы, тьма}
2012: Best (False?) Role Claim - Worst Town Performance (Group) - Best Mafia Performance (Group) - Best SK Performance - Best Overall Player
2013: Best Non-SK Neutral Performance
2014: Best Town Performance (Individual) - Best Town Performance (Group) - Most Interesting Role - Best Game - Best Overall Player
2015: Worst Mafia Performance (Group) - Best Read
2016: Best Town Performance (Group) - Best Town Player - Best Overall Player
Also, if his form is wrong, which he stated before, then that's of paramount concern.
My recommendation would be keep doing these intervals and try to work your way up to being able to swim 30 minutes continuously at slow speed with the breaststroke and freestyle.
Once you get that base down, then play around with speed and distance work.
You don't need to preface that with "only," man, that's fantastic progress. They say that healthy weight loss is about 1-2 lbs per week, so you're right on track. Great work!
That's fine. But I would advocate strength training of some sort, even if it's bodyweight stuff. If you're losing a good amount of weight, you'll want to make sure you're building muscle simultaneously.
This.
Thank you. I definitely appreciate that.
Generally spaced out. Sometimes I do two in a row depending on what else is going on in my life. I'm kind of falling into a schedule of Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday. Although last Saturday was Independence Day here and this coming Saturday is the prerelease, so that isn't set in stone.
The impression I get is that it is better to work harder during a session than it is to lengthen the session. For example, pushing myself harder for an hour is better than going light for an hour and a half. Sound right?
I definitely appreciate the kind words.
It depends on what you're training.
The first thing you should always train is form. If you can't do something correctly, then you can't do something correctly over any length of time at any speed, right? So clearly, of highest importance is training proper form.
The second thing, once you get the form down, I would train is endurance. This is seeing if you can sustain the proper form over time. This is definitely something you want to go slow on, because if you can't do something correctly when doing it slowly, you can't do something correctly while doing it quickly.
Now, what I propose is to do this kind of work until you get to the point where you can swim with correct form for half an hour continuously without stopping or switching to walking. Once you can do that, I would recommend doing intervals with the other strokes until the point where you can do the strokes you want to do for a half an hour straight.
I propose doing that and THEN incorporating speed work, thus laying the foundation of proper technique and endurance before applying heavy work.
So yeah, magickware's statement of "severely winded" being the mark of whether or not you're doing it right is something I completely disagree with. The goal is not fatigue, the goal is improvement, and pursuing fatigue is not the same thing as pursuing improvement. Anyone can do something really fast and burn themselves out. The question is, are you training yourself to do it correctly?
I wish I had a quote of your previous post.
Anyways, I'm not entirely sure what the intent of your post here (both previous and current) is. He wrote that he can swim 66 lengths (I assume that means a half of a lap) continuously by alternating between the breaststroke and backstroke.
How does the fact that he can't do the freestyle form properly mean anything in relation to this? I can't do the butterfly at all. I can go for hours with the breaststroke and freestyle but the butterfly form seems virtually impossible for me to understand. Does this mean that I need to stop swimming the breaststroke and freestyle?
I don't think not taking a breath with every breaststroke is an egregious error by any means, and I really have no idea what he means by "I'm not moving my arms in nearly the right way I guess. I move my arms in wide arcs more or less." But based purely on "wide arcs", it seems exactly the way I was taught the breaststroke way back then. Based purely on what he wrote, I'm willing to hazard a guess that he is being overly critical of himself. If he was so inefficient with his form, I don't think he could go 66 lengths.
Recreational weightlifting is arguably the best form of physical exercise for long-term health, largely because it fights against most every physical issue that comes with aging without being dangerous to the body.
First practice form, then practice endurance, then practice speed. Don't worry about speed if you don't have form or endurance.
If you can't do something properly, you can't do it fast properly.
Track everything you eat (use an app like MyFitnessPal). Everything. If you prepare food use a kitchen scale wherever convenient.
Eat more lean meats and less carb-dense things.
I find weightlifting and circuit training excellent but if you like swimming it will work fine. Just make sure you find an exercise you enjoy.
Refined grains like white flour, sure. Sugar, yeah definitely.
But carbs themselves are not bad for you, and indeed things like whole grains, legumes, and root vegetables are great for you. In general, carb-rich things have a tendency to be fiber-rich things, which is good because people don't tend to get enough fiber in a Western diet.
Alas, I was not in the situation to be able to post anything at the time.
The form of freestyle affects the form for breaststrokes and backstrokes how?
Right. Which is why he doesn't do the freestyle.
Look, if you argued that I shouldn't have suggested that he push himself more with the breaststroke because he doesn't have much confidence in his form, then fine. But I really have no idea how the freestyle figures into this at all.