Different Strokes

Originally posted by hofffam Breastroke swum quickly consumes more energy than freestyle or backstroke because breastroke is essentially accelerating and decelerating over and over. However - many people choose breastroke to swim easy because it is easier to breathe. In that case I bet breastroke is less tiresome and consumes less energy. True that... but then if the person can sustain an easy breaststroke longer than freestyle or a fast breaststroke, let's say, s/he can burn more calories than if s/he tried to swim faster than conditioning/fitness allowed. But then I'm no expert in the calorie consumption aspect of these different strokes, since my goals usually have more to do w/ distance and improving speed and form than with calorie burning, which is more just an added bonus. I look to running for comparison: If a person strolls on the treadmill at 20 mins/mile pace for 30 minutes, and the person at the next treadmill is running at 6 min/mile pace for the same amount of time, the six-min. miler is of course burning more calories. But if the strolling person attempted six min. pace, s/he might get frustrated and gasping for air before that pace had any chance to do its work. So the person would do better at first to either increase his/her walking time or to slightly increase the walking pace or alternate it with very light running, then gradually replace the walking with running, then running faster. Similarly, when I first began swimming, I'd gradually incorporate faster swimming, alternating freestyle and breaststroke until I could do a mile all freestyle.

Originally posted by hofffam Breastroke swum quickly consumes more energy than freestyle or backstroke because breastroke is essentially accelerating and decelerating over and over. However - many people choose breastroke to swim easy because it is easier to breathe. In that case I bet breastroke is less tiresome and consumes less energy. True that... but then if the person can sustain an easy breaststroke longer than freestyle or a fast breaststroke, let's say, s/he can burn more calories than if s/he tried to swim faster than conditioning/fitness allowed. But then I'm no expert in the calorie consumption aspect of these different strokes, since my goals usually have more to do w/ distance and improving speed and form than with calorie burning, which is more just an added bonus. I look to running for comparison: If a person strolls on the treadmill at 20 mins/mile pace for 30 minutes, and the person at the next treadmill is running at 6 min/mile pace for the same amount of time, the six-min. miler is of course burning more calories. But if the strolling person attempted six min. pace, s/he might get frustrated and gasping for air before that pace had any chance to do its work. So the person would do better at first to either increase his/her walking time or to slightly increase the walking pace or alternate it with very light running, then gradually replace the walking with running, then running faster. Similarly, when I first began swimming, I'd gradually incorporate faster swimming, alternating freestyle and breaststroke until I could do a mile all freestyle.