good cardio = swimming?

[Love_Deadlifts]

me too backstroke is hard
i think freestyle is a complete body workout
it burns yr body fats
esp after stronglifts 5X5

you guys feel the same?

Just about any style of swimming you choose is going to pay dividends.

[Nicketzsche]

Make sure you get extra carbs on nights before you go swimming. I can only imagine 1-1.5 hours of swimming's got to burn at least 1500 cals.

I mean yeah the goal's weight loss but 1500 cals. is a lot of burn

[ken20008]

ok. i have started swimming after sl 5x5, however the pool is at least 15 to 20 mins away from my gym, so i eat something straight after 5x5 and then head for pool, where i stay for about 1 to 2 hours. 1000-2200 calories perhaps? that is great for losing fat, i think.

[JLD2k3]

Hey guys,
I was a national level swimmer in HS and I do not touch water anymore. However, swimming is the best cardio you can do. Zero impact and it is a complete body workout. When I was swimming, lifting, plus basketball, football, and track I was cut like you wouldn't believe. I couldn't gain fat if I tried.

Some pointers:

Freestyle - as someone stated above, if you can't do a 50 or 100 free without stopping it is your technique, not your fitness.

Backstroke - if your legs are sinking, you aren't kicking and your balance is off.

Balance for Free and Back - The most important thing for you to remember is that you don't swim free on your front and you don't swim backstroke on your back. You swim both on your sides. Rotate from the hips, not the shoulders. Press down with your chest on free to keep your legs up, and vice versa for backstroke. The head stays still except when breathing for free with the water line just above your eyebrow. Kick water - not air. If you're making a lot of splash, you're wasting your energy.

Breaststroke - Not just for rest! when you pull in, suck your hips forward and use your abs. When you kick down (not out) thrust forward with your arms. Your elbows should suck in tight when you pull in. When you kick up, keep your knees close. your ankles should be farther apart than your knees, then turn the feet outward and kick down hard (not out)!

Butterfly - sack up fellas! This is the stroke of men! Fly will work your abs the most. Kick from the hips and extend your pull forward. Try to get your hands to eneter out front as close together as possible and pinkies first. It's hard to learn, but a joy to power trough the water once you get it going.

Also, I don't recommend resting in the hot pool. You sweat a lot when you swim and you dehydrate quickly because you don't notice it. The hot pool will expedite the dehydration. If you have to rest, stretch right by your lane and drink water.

Watch some olympic races on youtube. It's good to have a visual goal before you try to do it on your own. Also, take a class if none of this makes sense.

Good Luck!!!

[sailo888]

Sweet, thank you JLD2k3 for your input! I mean I thought my fitness is alright but I cannot really do freestyle 50 to a 100 non stop... I can prolly do a 50 once in a while if I have the rest but I can't. I thought my form is "alright" since I used to swim everyday when I was a kid but stopped for a good 7-8 years. However, I tried to get the life guards to give me some pointers and they seem to think my form is *ok*.

Is there any websites you can advice me to go or ?... I mean I still swim twice a week and I am SLOWLY improving but still not any where NEAR my goal.

By the way, just out of curiousity, why did you stop swimming?

[pandapower]

Breaststroke - Not just for rest! when you pull in, suck your hips forward and use your abs. When you kick down (not out) thrust forward with your arms. Your elbows should suck in tight when you pull in. When you kick up, keep your knees close. your ankles should be farther apart than your knees, then turn the feet outward and kick down hard (not out)!

er what's kick up and kick down?

do you mean when kicking, you should kick at an incline downwards
NOT kick parallel to the ground?

[JLD2k3]

Sailo: I stopped swimming because of burnout. In HS I practiced 4:00-6:00 before school, 3-6 after school M-F, then 6-10am Saturday (then half the weekends we had meets that took up the whole weekend). I didn't even really like it. It was my best shot at a scholarship and I could have gone to plenty of schools to swim, but I decided to move on and go to the school I liked the best (and I'm really glad I did). I kept coaching five more years, but I didn't have the drive to compete anymore. WRT getting swimming advice from lifeguards...don't. It's like asking the gym attendant how to do squats, as Mehdi says. Find a swim coach or look into Masters swimming (swimming for 18+ year olds). I'm not saying dive full-on to a team, but coaches in those arenas will be able to help you a lot better than the lifeguard. Masters coaches are very open to helping you and will likely invite you to work out with their teams (especially b/c you're young). Lifeguards tend to know how to not die in water. Swimmers know how to swim (Disclaimer: I was a lifeguard, too).

Panda: Your kick WRT the surface of the water is basically parallel. Breaststroke kick is often taught incorrectly that you kick out and around. This drastically increases your drag profile and takes away all of your power to generate forward thrust. Also, people bring their knees apart while their feet are still together as well as bringing the knees up under the hips (I wish I was in a pool with a video camera to show what I'm trying to say...). So that's why when I teach breaststroke I always refer to the kick as up (feet to the butt) and down (drive down, not out to the sides). It emphasizes the power aspect and keeps the stroke tight and efficient.

Good Luck, Guys! I might just go for a swim. Heck, it's been 10 years...

[ken20008]

how to i swim freestyle? i run out of steam after less than 20metres and i cant seem to propel myself forward...

[JLD2k3]

how to i swim freestyle? i run out of steam after less than 20metres and i cant seem to propel myself forward...

It is hard to say without seeing you swim, but if you can't make it across the pool, the first place I would look is your balance in the water.

Balance for freestyle starts with your head position. The water should hit just above your eyebrows. You should look forward toward where the wall meets the bottom at the end of your lane (not down at the line below you). Your head turns only slightly to the side and only to breathe.

Next is your chest. You press your chest down and forward (kinda like where you are looking - where the wall meets the bottom of the pool). This will bring your hips up. Kick lightly in this position to get the feel for this balance. This is not about speed or cardio. This is just finding your balance so you can build up to using this as a cardio exercise.

After you master the 'front balance' you move on to the 'side balance.' In a previous post I said that you don't swim freestyle on your front, rather on your sides. Find your front balance, then - with your head keeping its same position as the front balance, roll your HIPS (not your shoulders) to one side. If you need to breathe, turn your head slightly and return immediately to the forward position with the water slightly above your brow. Kick lightly on each side to find the balance on each side. Press your chest forward and down to elevate your hips. Your kick will keep your legs up. Once you get these things down you will have a lot easier time getting across the pool.

If all this makes no sense, I'll see if I can make a YouTube or something.

[ken20008]

k thanks man. i will try that out when i next hit the pool.