Are the way you stroke with your right arm supposed to be semetrical with the way you stroke with your left arm, because I stroke in a different pattern with my left arm than with my right, I suppose that's normal. Also is swimming considered an anerobic or aerobic sport or both?
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Originally posted by jean sterling
As for whether swimming is aerobic or anaerobic, it depends on your intensity. If you swim long and easy and get your heart rate in the training zone, swimming is aerobic. However, if you do sprints or intervals with a lot of intensity, such that get your heart rate close to max, then swimming is anaerobic. When you go to a meet, a 50 free is definitely anaerobic, while a 1500 would be mostly aerobic. Anaerobic is when you go into oxygen debt. Runners say that aerobic is when you can talk and carry on a conversation, and anaerobic is when you can't talk because you are too out of breath.
I'm no expert on this, but I don't believe that's quite an accurate explanation of the two terms.
To put it simply, aerobic exercise uses groups of muscles to work the cardiovascular system. Anaerobic exercise focuses on specific muscles and their size, endurance and strength.
Running is primarily an aerobic exercise, because the exercise is primarily working the heart and lungs. Even when you're out of breath, it's still an aerobic exercise, because you are still working the circulatory system. You may not be working the system as efficiently, but you are still working the system; and whether you go into oxygen debt has little to do with it.
Weightlifting is primarily an anaerobic exercise, because the exercise is focusing on individual muscles or muscle groups and NOT the circulatory system. You can get a good weightlifting workout without ever getting out of breath or going into oxygen debt.
Swimming is a hybrid of the two types of exercise. You use groups of muscles to elevate the heart rate and work the cardiovascular system. At the same time, the water provides resistance to work individual muscles to develop strength and endurance and to increase muscle mass.
Some types of swimming provide more or less of an aerobic workout than others, but they all provide some of both type of exercise. Sprinting is more anaerobic than distance swimming, because sprinting stresses the individual muscles more than distance. Distance swimming is more aerobic than sprinting, because sprinting elevates the heart rate and works the circulatory system for a shorter time than distance swimming. Yet both sprinting AND distance provide at least some aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Granted, a single 50m sprint won't provide much of an aerobic workout, but several sets of them on good intervals will.
There are also issues about how aerobic and anaerobic exercise trigger the burning of fat or carbs, and the behavior of "white" and "dark" muscle, but that's another discussion.
Originally posted by jean sterling
As for whether swimming is aerobic or anaerobic, it depends on your intensity. If you swim long and easy and get your heart rate in the training zone, swimming is aerobic. However, if you do sprints or intervals with a lot of intensity, such that get your heart rate close to max, then swimming is anaerobic. When you go to a meet, a 50 free is definitely anaerobic, while a 1500 would be mostly aerobic. Anaerobic is when you go into oxygen debt. Runners say that aerobic is when you can talk and carry on a conversation, and anaerobic is when you can't talk because you are too out of breath.
I'm no expert on this, but I don't believe that's quite an accurate explanation of the two terms.
To put it simply, aerobic exercise uses groups of muscles to work the cardiovascular system. Anaerobic exercise focuses on specific muscles and their size, endurance and strength.
Running is primarily an aerobic exercise, because the exercise is primarily working the heart and lungs. Even when you're out of breath, it's still an aerobic exercise, because you are still working the circulatory system. You may not be working the system as efficiently, but you are still working the system; and whether you go into oxygen debt has little to do with it.
Weightlifting is primarily an anaerobic exercise, because the exercise is focusing on individual muscles or muscle groups and NOT the circulatory system. You can get a good weightlifting workout without ever getting out of breath or going into oxygen debt.
Swimming is a hybrid of the two types of exercise. You use groups of muscles to elevate the heart rate and work the cardiovascular system. At the same time, the water provides resistance to work individual muscles to develop strength and endurance and to increase muscle mass.
Some types of swimming provide more or less of an aerobic workout than others, but they all provide some of both type of exercise. Sprinting is more anaerobic than distance swimming, because sprinting stresses the individual muscles more than distance. Distance swimming is more aerobic than sprinting, because sprinting elevates the heart rate and works the circulatory system for a shorter time than distance swimming. Yet both sprinting AND distance provide at least some aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Granted, a single 50m sprint won't provide much of an aerobic workout, but several sets of them on good intervals will.
There are also issues about how aerobic and anaerobic exercise trigger the burning of fat or carbs, and the behavior of "white" and "dark" muscle, but that's another discussion.
