Effects of Swimming

[Borg]

("effects".."affects"....whatever)

But, what are the effects of working out with swimming? I am curious.

Lately, I have gone away from running on the treadmill (to now only once a week)...and have tried to up my swimming (want to master this bad boy) to at least 2 times a week, but usually at least three times a week. (since January)

I am trying to swim laps for at least 1/2 hour up to an hour. (Mind you...I swim 50 yards, catch my breath, 50 yards...catch my breath)...you get the sorry picture.

However, I have not really 'dropped weight', but could it be that the effects are helping trim body fat? I have noticed that my clothes are fitting better, more room etc... can swimming affect your body in that way, in that amount of time?

Swimmers? Anything I should be happy about?

[Commando]

I'm not a swimmer, in fact I posted in the Swimming Thread about the same thing you did. I have been noticing that my upper body is looking a lot better.

[Jacob]

("effects".."affects"....whatever)

But, what are the effects of working out with swimming? I am curious.

Lately, I have gone away from running on the treadmill (to now only once a week)...and have tried to up my swimming (want to master this bad boy) to at least 2 times a week, but usually at least three times a week. (since January)

I am trying to swim laps for at least 1/2 hour up to an hour. (Mind you...I swim 50 yards, catch my breath, 50 yards...catch my breath)...you get the sorry picture.

However, I have not really 'dropped weight', but could it be that the effects are helping trim body fat? I have noticed that my clothes are fitting better, more room etc... can swimming affect your body in that way, in that amount of time?

Swimmers? Anything I should be happy about?

Measure you waist instead of your weight. But you aren't going to be building a lot of muscle by swimming, so any fat loss should be reflected in weight loss.

[Art Vandelay]

I had a bad experience after swimming once. The water was COLD!!!

[Borg]

I had a bad experience after swimming once. The water was COLD!!!

Dude!....use the shower stalls instead of the open showers. Gotta leave yourself some recovery time!! Ha!

[TripletDaddy]

I seem to recall a thread on CG wherein B to the Diamond B expresses her distaste for what she described as the somewhat freakish, disproportionate physiques of swimmers. Obviously this drew the friendly ire of Archaea and possible SteelBlue.

From what I gather, swimmers are generally quite toned or cut, but not pumped up. I guess this means that swimming will trim your fat but isnt really a great way to bulk up (although you will definitely gain some mass by viture of all that cutting through the water).

I prefer to not do community pools, otherwise I would totally want to be into swimming.

[Commando]

I prefer to not do community pools, otherwise I would totally want to be into swimming.

The Orem rec center is pretty nice early in the morning... also, my 24 hour fitness always has a vacant pool, so that's something to look into...

[woot]

Swimming is good for weight loss. Not only does it build different muscles than other activities, contributing to increasing metabolism, but it also requires your body to work harder to maintain proper core temperature.

Remember that exercise isn't the only thing you can do to increase calories burned. Because water conducts heat away from the body much more efficiently than air, just being in the water will help you burn calories.

If you're one of the lucky 50% or so of adults with a significant amount of brown fat, the water will also stimulate it to burn even more calories for use as heat.

Even if you don't swim, you can take advantage of this principle by taking cold soaks/showers, going running/walking with only a light jacket, etc.

[SteelBlue]

Swimming is good for weight loss. Not only does it build different muscles than other activities, contributing to increasing metabolism, but it also requires your body to work harder to maintain proper core temperature.

Remember that exercise isn't the only thing you can do to increase calories burned. Because water conducts heat away from the body much more efficiently than air, just being in the water will help you burn calories.

If you're one of the lucky 50% or so of adults with a significant amount of brown fat, the water will also stimulate it to burn even more calories for use as heat.

Even if you don't swim, you can take advantage of this principle by taking cold soaks/showers, going running/walking with only a light jacket, etc.

Interesting. I recently read an article stating that the cooler temps of the water may actually stimulate the body to add an insulating fat layer. This was for swimmers who are in the pool up to 3 and 4 hours/day. I like your news better.

[woot]

Interesting. I recently read an article stating that the cooler temps of the water may actually stimulate the body to add an insulating fat layer. This was for swimmers who are in the pool up to 3 and 4 hours/day. I like your news better.

Yeah that doesn't make any sense. Aquatic mammals often have an insulating fat layer, but their seasonal diets and every other aspect of their lifestyle corresponds to building and maintaining this fat layer. It isn't the water that stimulates its development.

Does anyone else remember during the olympics the feature NBC did on Michael Phelps' diet? He was eating something like 12000 calories a day, and yet was in the low-single digits in body fat. He'd have to be running multiple marathons a day to burn that many calories, so you know that something else is going on. Chances are he's got a good amount of brown fat helping him out (assuming his diet was accurately reported and accurately remembered).

[Commando]

Interesting. I recently read an article stating that the cooler temps of the water may actually stimulate the body to add an insulating fat layer. This was for swimmers who are in the pool up to 3 and 4 hours/day. I like your news better.

Yeah- that would explain why these olympic swimmers look slightly chub despite being in amazing condition.

[jay santos]

E is a noun, A is a verb

[Borg]

E is a noun, A is a verb

Jay...I even looked it up and I'm still confused as to the proper usage! Ugh.

[old_gregg]

Jay...I even looked it up and I'm still confused as to the proper usage! Ugh.

you used it correctly

there are of course exceptions to santos' rule, though. "effect" can also be a verb.

[Pheidippides]

Jay...I even looked it up and I'm still confused as to the proper usage! Ugh.

Jay is also incorrect. Effect can be used as a verb but the meaning is different than affect. Affect=to influence. Effect=to implement.