Does swimming burn as many calories as other sports? Unless you're putting in some real yardage, it doesn't seem like it does to me. I was chatting with some tri teammates awhile ago. They think they're slimmer when they're doing multiple sports and not just swimming. Me too, I think. Anyone else have thoughts on this? I guess I should be lifting weights ... Thanks in advance. :)
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Another list (no endorsement implied):
www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist.htm
A couple of things to keep in mind:
1) It's not how many calories per hour you burn, it's how many calories per workout. I've never been able to run longer than 30 minutes, so I burn more calories swimming for an hour.
2) You can gain weight exercising, and that's OK. When I lifted weights, I weighed 15 pounds more than I do now. It was all muscle. I looked and felt better. I've also seen women drop a couple of dress sizes as they gained weight, because they were turning fat into muscle.
3) Unfortunately, I run into a lot of people who just assume going to the gym three times a week will let them keep their poor eating habits. For most people to lose weight, they must eat less. This may not apply so much to the 5x a week swimmers here, but the average overweight person working out 3x a week will only burn about 2000 calories through exercise, and I would bet less because they probably lack the aerobic capacity to exercise continuously, so the actual burn is probably less. A pound is roughly 3000 calories, so the exercise regimien burns less than one pound a week. You could do the same thing switching to black coffee at Starbucks and drinking diet Coke. That's not to say a person shouldn't exercise, just saying that exercise alone won't do the trick for the typical American.
4) Ding-dongs were the best if you ask me. (My wife loved Devil Dogs.)
5) From the list I posted, I notice that ping pong burns as many calories as walking on crutches.:joker:
Another list (no endorsement implied):
www.nutristrategy.com/activitylist.htm
A couple of things to keep in mind:
1) It's not how many calories per hour you burn, it's how many calories per workout. I've never been able to run longer than 30 minutes, so I burn more calories swimming for an hour.
2) You can gain weight exercising, and that's OK. When I lifted weights, I weighed 15 pounds more than I do now. It was all muscle. I looked and felt better. I've also seen women drop a couple of dress sizes as they gained weight, because they were turning fat into muscle.
3) Unfortunately, I run into a lot of people who just assume going to the gym three times a week will let them keep their poor eating habits. For most people to lose weight, they must eat less. This may not apply so much to the 5x a week swimmers here, but the average overweight person working out 3x a week will only burn about 2000 calories through exercise, and I would bet less because they probably lack the aerobic capacity to exercise continuously, so the actual burn is probably less. A pound is roughly 3000 calories, so the exercise regimien burns less than one pound a week. You could do the same thing switching to black coffee at Starbucks and drinking diet Coke. That's not to say a person shouldn't exercise, just saying that exercise alone won't do the trick for the typical American.
4) Ding-dongs were the best if you ask me. (My wife loved Devil Dogs.)
5) From the list I posted, I notice that ping pong burns as many calories as walking on crutches.:joker:
