I went to the gym today and after I lifted weights for an hour, I went for a swim for about 40 minutes. I must say, after all that my body was absolutely exhausted! I'm looking to start a routine where I both lift weights and swim every other day.
Now my questions are:
IS swimming after a gym session a good idea?
IS swimming before a gym session a better?
IS swimming at all a good idea if I'm trying to lose weight??
Any help for this amateur swimmer would be greatly appreciated!
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I personally don't bother with weight lifting, or most any other dry land exercise. I do a little biking and running in the summer, but its about 95+% swimming for me. Combined with a focused eating plan, I lost over 50 lbs and have kept it off with swimming as my principal (and, for most of the year, exclusive) exercise.
I'm probably a bit of an outlier in this regard, however. The conventional wisdom is to supplement your swimming with weight lifting. That said, I think you'd find very few who would suggest doing them back-to-back in either sequence. You need recovery time after you lift, and you need recovery time after you swim. Ideally, you'd swim 3 times a week, and lift twice a week on days you don't swim.
I've not been able to lose weight just swimming, but it does help me lose fat and build muscle (trim-up). AS I"ve gotten older those results come much slower. Others on this forum have reported substantial weight loss while just swimming, so it may be somewhat individualized and clearly also dependent on your eating habits, metabolism, and age.
I have been able to loose weight combining swimming with improved eating habits and also combing with running, weights (very minor), and spinning/cycling. Lost 35 pounds in about a year. I have done doubles with a swim workout and personally prefer swimming after other dryland exercises when doubling. I was able to lose about 3 pounds per month when I combined this with cutting out most frivolous carbs and not letting the munchies get me after practices.
Good luck, remember time is on your side and see what works for you.
Runners have a saying, "You can't outrun a bad diet." You won't out swim it either. Focus on a better diet and the swimming will improve, not the other way around. Then with both, yes, you will firm up and lose weight.
I have never been a big fan of weight training before a swim session. I typically view strength training as an extension of dryland work. If I am doing a double on a particular day I will swim in the morning and then weight train in the afternoon.
