Swimming as an only source of exercise

Be sure you do some weight bearing exercise to keep your bones healthy. As effective as swimming is for your cardio and calorie burn, it is weight-bearing exercise that keeps your bones healthy. Perhaps some walking, jump rope sets, or short land sprints could be helpful in this way. If you have a daily occupation that keeps you on your feet all day that should help too.

Hi All, I am new to swimming (my swimmer wife and son both tell me my form is horrible, etc) but I absolutely love it and I feel like it is one of the most complete workout routines Ive ever done. I am working to increase my training times, distances etc and I am really feeling the burn in my muscles but its the good kind of burn you get when you know things are heading in the right direction! What I want to know is if I keep swimming will I see some good results in terms of getting slim and trim or will I need to incorporate other dry-land exercises into my routine? I know it wouldn't hurt but if I can get through with doing my entire exercise through swimming I want to go that route. Just curious if anyone has any transformation stories or input on this subject. I look forward to anything you can add. I feel like Ive found a new avenue in my life for staying in shape and I dont know enough other people who swim to talk about it with anyone. Thanks ~J i was a competitive swimmer in college but quit disillusioned with swimming after Olympic trials in 1992. Like a lot of swimmers when they quit I struggled with adapting my calorie intake to my new sedentary life and put on a lot of weight over the pursuing years. After 20 years out of the pool and several failed attempts at weight loss and exercise in the gym I decided to start swimming. I managed to loose 50+lbs during my journey. I documented my workouts and journey and hope my ramblings help. This is one I thought may help: forums.usms.org/entry.php

Well answered. Agree totally! Swimming has so many positive aspects.

i was a competitive swimmer in college but quit disillusioned with swimming after Olympic trials in 1992. Like a lot of swimmers when they quit I struggled with adapting my calorie intake to my new sedentary life and put on a lot of weight over the pursuing years. After 20 years out of the pool and several failed attempts at weight loss and exercise in the gym I decided to start swimming. I managed to loose 50+lbs during my journey. I documented my workouts and journey and hope my ramblings help. This is one I thought may help: forums.usms.org/entry.php My story and Stewart's are similar (former competitive swimmer who got quite out of shape, then went back to swimming to get fit again) except that he's a lot faster :) . I dropped 60 lbs and went from obese to quite trim doing pretty much nothing but diet and swimming. There was a little bit of running and biking in there, but no weight lifting. 95%+ of my work was in the pool. Swimming is a great total body workout. I wouldn't discourage you from doing anything else if you wanted, but you don't need to do anything else to get dramatic results. I blogged about my experience as well at 210dayfix.wordpress.com/ If you want to follow my story chronologically, start here: 210dayfix.wordpress.com/.../ Dramatic before/after pic: 210dayfix.files.wordpress.com/.../before-after-e1435074919932.jpg

It's really dominated by calorie intake vs versus calories used. Back in the day, 10 - 12 2 hour workouts per week tended to overwhelm whatever calories I could consume. Now in my 50's, I only swim 3 to 5 days per week for 1 1/2 hrs per day at most. Calories, both eating and drinking, figure a great deal into the "slim and trim" aspect of my life. Swimming remains the best total body workout you can find, but, in order to transform your body, you must work very hard and consume less energy than you expend.

I used to be a competitive swimmer and a competitive gymnast (rings & high bar was my thing) when I was a little kid. But then I quit when I went into middle school and was overweight through high school. After my first year in college, I fell victim to the infamous Freshman 15. I started doing masters swim in my second year and lost a pretty good 20 pounds in a couple of months. I also started doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in my third year and am currently active in both masters swim and BJJ. I am in really great shape and really enjoy all my workouts. When I first started masters swim, I can barely swim 1000 m per workout. Now, I usually swim 4000-5000 m per workout with at least 1000 m being butterfly. We all had to start from somewhere when it comes to getting back in shape. It definitely brings great results! All the testimonials you have read are great and very meaningful. I would just like to add that it is very important that you get some good coaching advice on your stroke. You will not get better solely by swimming more. And you run the risk of a typical swimming injury by continued poor form. Your current stroke faults "feel good to you". It's not eazy to change but not getting coaching on mechanics will make it almost impossible. One of the great things about swimming is we can get much faster through stroke improvements, something that's not nearly as eazy to do in other sports.

Great to hear how much you are enjoying swimming! It is a wonderful sport and can definitely contribute to weight loss and strengthening. It's not the only path to getting in shape, however. You'll want to consider the type of workouts you do. You might want to work with a coach to ensure that you are completing the right mix of intensity and stroke technique. As other forumites have said, technique is extremely important to ensure that you avoid any injuries related to poor technique. Swimming can also have the effect of increasing your appetite, so you will need to monitor your diet as well. This might be a good article for you: www.swimspire.com/.../ Enjoy and good luck!

I used to be a competitive swimmer and a competitive gymnast (rings & high bar was my thing) when I was a little kid. But then I quit when I went into middle school and was overweight through high school. After my first year in college, I fell victim to the infamous Freshman 15. I started doing masters swim in my second year and lost a pretty good 20 pounds in a couple of months. I also started doing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in my third year and am currently active in both masters swim and BJJ. I am in really great shape and really enjoy all my workouts. When I first started masters swim, I can barely swim 1000 m per workout. Now, I usually swim 4000-5000 m per workout with at least 1000 m being butterfly. We all had to start from somewhere when it comes to getting back in shape. It definitely brings great results!

Be sure you do some weight bearing exercise to keep your bones healthy. Great advice, Bobinator! This is especially important as we age.

Yes- swimming will help you lose pounds if you also cut back on the food intake. Try to get some coaching to make sure you do not hurt body parts when swimming with poor technique. This is the answer... also cut back on the food intake. I have never lost weight by swimming alone, and many days I am covering 10k. If I also stop eating puddings, cream cakes and chocolate, and drinking wine, the weight falls off me.