Greetings group
I hope this doesn't come across as 'needing therapy' but I need your collective advice. I've recently rediscovered healthy living. I've lost over 50 pounds since March when I began walking, then running while eating better and cutting back on the booze. Yes, I still cuss and spit. The problem began when I upped my running mileage and did speed work. This brought back many of the old injuries which ended my healthful living in my early twenties. I now feel that running will always be a seconday sport for me. I'm simply too banged up and undisciplined to stretch/PT so as to maintain running health. I've choosn swimming as my main outlet.
Realize that I hate swimming and have yet to hit the pool. My questions are: how do I learn good form? What is a good beginner's workout? Do I really need to wear a speedo? Do I need to stretch? Will I bulk up from muscle gain? Or can I expect to get that sleek build typical of swimmers? What other advice do you have for a beginner?
Parents
Former Member
There's a book people recommend sometimes here called Fitness Swimming by Emmett Hines that will help answer your first two questions. Amazon has it:
www.amazon.com/.../103-2923507-3221435
A lot of your insecurity about your swimming will go away once you have a definite plan to follow. Just do YOUR workout and don't worry about what anyone else at the pool thinks.
You do NOT need to wear a Speedo. Trunks work fine. The reason swimmers wear Speedos is that trunks tend to provide too much drag, slowing you down in the water and making your workout feel like it's dragging. I personally hate the bikini-style Speedos, so I wear Jammers: they're tight and don't have much drag, but they cover more and don't have seems that cut into uncomfortable places.
You really should stretch. Doing so will help prevent injury. However, you might find that you enjoy stretching your upper body more than your legs. To me, the muscles feel different when stretched.
I don't really see many people bulk up unless they're doing extra work with weights for that purpose. You'll notice a little bit of gain in the chest, shoulders and arms, but you really shouldn't become huge.
As for other advice? Just get into the pool, start slow and build. You'll read talk on here about others' workouts that will seem ridiculously long, and you'll think that you could never reach that level. The truth is, while you may only be able to swim a 500 or 1000 yard workout now, your strength and endurance will come up quickly. Your body may complain about it now, but in a few months your muscles will have become accustomed to it and you'll be doing some of these longer workouts.
One final piece of advice: learn pool etiquette for lap swimmers. The thing that usually draws negative attention to a newbie is not his level of ability, but his failure to observe the "unwritten rules" of lap swimming. Customs may vary slightly from pool to pool, but most lap swimmers adhere to the same practices concerning dividing up lanes, passing other swimmers, letting other swimmers know your intentions, etc. Some pools will have guidelines posted somewhere on a wall, but many only have the regular pool rules about running on the deck, glass containers, open sores, where you can dive and other stuff not directly relevant to lap swimmers.
Actually, though, those rules aren't unwritten any more; there's a good primer on lap swimming etiquette here:
www.cartegic.com/pooletiquette.htm
Now go get wet. Good luck.
There's a book people recommend sometimes here called Fitness Swimming by Emmett Hines that will help answer your first two questions. Amazon has it:
www.amazon.com/.../103-2923507-3221435
A lot of your insecurity about your swimming will go away once you have a definite plan to follow. Just do YOUR workout and don't worry about what anyone else at the pool thinks.
You do NOT need to wear a Speedo. Trunks work fine. The reason swimmers wear Speedos is that trunks tend to provide too much drag, slowing you down in the water and making your workout feel like it's dragging. I personally hate the bikini-style Speedos, so I wear Jammers: they're tight and don't have much drag, but they cover more and don't have seems that cut into uncomfortable places.
You really should stretch. Doing so will help prevent injury. However, you might find that you enjoy stretching your upper body more than your legs. To me, the muscles feel different when stretched.
I don't really see many people bulk up unless they're doing extra work with weights for that purpose. You'll notice a little bit of gain in the chest, shoulders and arms, but you really shouldn't become huge.
As for other advice? Just get into the pool, start slow and build. You'll read talk on here about others' workouts that will seem ridiculously long, and you'll think that you could never reach that level. The truth is, while you may only be able to swim a 500 or 1000 yard workout now, your strength and endurance will come up quickly. Your body may complain about it now, but in a few months your muscles will have become accustomed to it and you'll be doing some of these longer workouts.
One final piece of advice: learn pool etiquette for lap swimmers. The thing that usually draws negative attention to a newbie is not his level of ability, but his failure to observe the "unwritten rules" of lap swimming. Customs may vary slightly from pool to pool, but most lap swimmers adhere to the same practices concerning dividing up lanes, passing other swimmers, letting other swimmers know your intentions, etc. Some pools will have guidelines posted somewhere on a wall, but many only have the regular pool rules about running on the deck, glass containers, open sores, where you can dive and other stuff not directly relevant to lap swimmers.
Actually, though, those rules aren't unwritten any more; there's a good primer on lap swimming etiquette here:
www.cartegic.com/pooletiquette.htm
Now go get wet. Good luck.
