I am 54 and a few pounds heavy, though am very strong. I took up swimming as a main workout about 5 months ago after a 37 year lapse. My gym has a 25 meter pool. I am not anywhere near as fast as I was in HS but can now hold my own with most folks my age. I am pretty good in all 4 main strokes though I find the Butterfly to be a killer.
I worked my way up to 3250 meters but found this to be a bit much so I backed it down to 2100 meters of which I alternate between 100 meter Freestyle, 100 meters of Backstroke and 100 meters of breaststroke 7 times. I rarely do the Butterfly.
I am fighting arthritis and aging. Is swimming the 2100 meters about 4 days out of the week a good workout for the middle aged gent I now am? Right now the whole workout takes about 46 minutes and I hit the mile mark around 36 minutes. Am I doing okay?:) Thanks.
You sound exactly like where I was 3 years ago. I saw from 1967-76 (ages 9-18) for a club team, then not really much at all until I found myself 232 pounds with a 42 inch waist and diagnosed with type-II diabetes. I needed to exercise, but hate running, so what else(?)...I started swimming again and ended up competing in a non-sanctioned masters event and going under 40 seconds in 50 meter *** and 31.66 in 50 meter free after just about 6 weeks of training...at 220 pounds! I'm now down to about 208 and have a personal (masters) best of 30.37 in 50 meter free. That's only about two seconds slower than my 18 year old time of low 28s (back in the day, I was really only a middling swimmer, and I didn't feel like I was good enough for college). I still need to get under 200 (only 5'9" but down to 17.2% body fat, with a goal of 12%). There is no better thing you can do to stay in shape...anything else (racing, rankings, etc.) is gravy.
You sound exactly like where I was 3 years ago. I saw from 1967-76 (ages 9-18) for a club team, then not really much at all until I found myself 232 pounds with a 42 inch waist and diagnosed with type-II diabetes. I needed to exercise, but hate running, so what else(?)...I started swimming again and ended up competing in a non-sanctioned masters event and going under 40 seconds in 50 meter *** and 31.66 in 50 meter free after just about 6 weeks of training...at 220 pounds! I'm now down to about 208 and have a personal (masters) best of 30.37 in 50 meter free. That's only about two seconds slower than my 18 year old time of low 28s (back in the day, I was really only a middling swimmer, and I didn't feel like I was good enough for college). I still need to get under 200 (only 5'9" but down to 17.2% body fat, with a goal of 12%). There is no better thing you can do to stay in shape...anything else (racing, rankings, etc.) is gravy.
