Hello USMS forum,
First off I just want to say that it is great to be here and that I am really looking forward to speaking with you all. In my younger days, everyone would get togeather and go down to the local swimming pool and play around for hours. These days I haven't seen a pool for about 4 years. As a teenager and in my early twenty's, I always had a slim figure but as the years have gone by my stomach has begun to grow. So, it's about time I did something about it! Then swimming came to mind.
So the main question is how much do I have to swim? for it have an effect on my weight and health? I think the local swimming pool is 25 or 50m in length, as I said it's been a while. I purely want to do this to get a little exercise back into my life. I see there are a few group exercise sections but I'm not too comfortable in a group but I am quite happy swimming on my own. I have my fashionable swimming truinks from this site here: www.easyprices.com/.../swim-trunks-price haha, and goggles ready to go.
If there are some health and exercise specialist on here I will place a few details below that might help you know how much exercise would benefit me.
Age: 32
Height: 6ft
Weight: 82kg
Daily exercise: 0
Job: Sitting in an office
As you can see I haven't got the healthiest lifestyle and it could do with a few adjustments. I'm looking forward to some replies and seeing how beneficial swimming can be!!
Thanks guys
www.lobsc.org.uk/.../cust_bg_2504_1438822456879.jpg
I'm not a swim coach, but an old shot putter, runner, track & field guy. A long long time ago a coach gave me the best advice for taking on a new endeavor. "Start low, go slow". It works for everything. Just get to a pool, do a couple laps, next time do a couple more, repeat. A year from now you'll be amazed at how far you've come.
AJ swim, Jack gives good advice. I have been coaching masters for 20+ years and have coached many levels of swimmers. If you can give a little more history on your swimming background I could probably give you some more specific advice. You say you haven't seen a pool in 4 years. had you done some swimming then? Interval training is much more interesting than doing laps back and forth in the pool. Intervals keep you much more engaged and allow you to work harder and lose weight. I am happy to give you a little more advise with a little more information.
Two thoughts:
1. Be consistent. No matter how you start out, be consistent with your training. You'll never see any significant gains if you take off long stretches of time. It will be like you're starting over all the time. Make going to the pool a habit and part of your normal routine. I was taught the rule of thumb that you needed to swim at least three times a week to see any significant improvement.
2. Weight loss is going to be more related to your diet than your level of exercise. Swimming certainly will help, but you'll need to clean up your diet to see any significant weight loss.
Good luck with your training.
Getting the pool into my routine is what I am aiming for, this way it will become a habit instead of work.
So going with the starting slow, how should I feel when I leave the pool? tired or a little pumped? and should I be stretching before I go in? I know you are pretty much weightless in water but you still have to use muscles...
I am going to make myself a little swimming plan and get back to you guys after I have managed to do my first day. It's really exciting, to be honest! I want to get back in the water!
Getting the pool into my routine is what I am aiming for, this way it will become a habit instead of work.
So going with the starting slow, how should I feel when I leave the pool? tired or a little pumped? and should I be stretching before I go in? I know you are pretty much weightless in water but you still have to use muscles...
I am going to make myself a little swimming plan and get back to you guys after I have managed to do my first day. It's really exciting, to be honest! I want to get back in the water!
You can do a light warmup before, but I think it is better to stretch after. This will have an added benefit of helping recovery. For me, the best warmup for swimming is slow swimming, but I do some kicking while sitting on the side to loosen up my ankles and some arm circles to get my shoulders going.
There was an article a few years ago about adding swimming to workouts as a beginner. I think it was in Men's Health. They suggested swimming slow and easy for as long as you could to start off. Count the lengths. Swim that many lengths fast, resting after each one. Swim slow and easy and try to match the original distance. That can give you an idea of how much to start with.
