I saw this article online and it really dampen my spirit since swimming is my favorite sport and I am trying to loose weight at the same time. Any comment??
SWIMMING IS NOT GOOD FOR WEIGHT LOSS
If you want to lose weight, lower cholesterol, or help to control diabetes, swimming is better than nothing, but not that much better (1).
A recent report from the University of Colorado shows that obese people who start a supervised swimming program do not lower their fasting blood sugar, insulin, total cholesterol, good HDL cholesterol and bad LDL cholesterol levels. They also did not lose weight or redistribute their body fat (2).
These results are different from people who start land-based sports such as running, aerobic dancing, racquetball and cycling. When you exercise on land, your body is surrounded by air which insulates you, causing your body to retain heat and your body temperature to rise for up to 18 hours after you finish exercising. Increased body temperature speeds up your metabolism and helps you to lose weight and lower cholesterol. On the other hand, when you swim, your body is surrounded by water which is an excellent conductor of heat away from your body, preventing your body temperature from rising. If you want to lose weight by swimming, the best way is to do it is by using a swimming machine on dry land.
I'm Dr. Gabe Mirkin on Fitness.
1) H Tanaka, DR Bassett, ET Howley. Effects of swim training on body weight, carbohydrate
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Sure thing. Glad I could help.
So, here's the recap: The subject, "Swimmer Bill" went from three years of being totally sedentary to swimming 1-mile per/day, every day, seven days a week, very rarely missing a day.
During this time, the weight dropped from 265 lbs to 195, and the waist size decreased from 42" to 34". There were a couple short periods when the swimming volume increased, especially in the summer of 2002, but basically, it was a mile per/day swimming with no other exercise activity.
NOTE: This swimming activity was not leisurely, continuous swimming. It was interval training with a specific balance of kicking, pulling, swimming, drilling and stroke work -- and it included an unusually high percentage of kicking with fins.
One interesting observation from this experiment:
Not only can you lose weight swimming, but you don't necessarily have to do high-volume swimming to lose weight.
Even more interesting: the resulting improvement in swimming performance. This improvement has included almost 50 lifetime best swims, a 1-minute lifetime best improvement in the mile, and a 490 yard improvement in the One Hour Swim.
The mile/per/day routine continued until just a few weeks ago, when it was increased to two miles per/day. After just two weeks, the hour swim distance increased by another 20 yards during a 6000 yard postal swim.
...and the experiment continues...
Sure thing. Glad I could help.
So, here's the recap: The subject, "Swimmer Bill" went from three years of being totally sedentary to swimming 1-mile per/day, every day, seven days a week, very rarely missing a day.
During this time, the weight dropped from 265 lbs to 195, and the waist size decreased from 42" to 34". There were a couple short periods when the swimming volume increased, especially in the summer of 2002, but basically, it was a mile per/day swimming with no other exercise activity.
NOTE: This swimming activity was not leisurely, continuous swimming. It was interval training with a specific balance of kicking, pulling, swimming, drilling and stroke work -- and it included an unusually high percentage of kicking with fins.
One interesting observation from this experiment:
Not only can you lose weight swimming, but you don't necessarily have to do high-volume swimming to lose weight.
Even more interesting: the resulting improvement in swimming performance. This improvement has included almost 50 lifetime best swims, a 1-minute lifetime best improvement in the mile, and a 490 yard improvement in the One Hour Swim.
The mile/per/day routine continued until just a few weeks ago, when it was increased to two miles per/day. After just two weeks, the hour swim distance increased by another 20 yards during a 6000 yard postal swim.
...and the experiment continues...
