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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Former Member
I have lost about 30 lbs over the last 3 years of swimming only. I did crank it up from 4 days per week to 6. It was slow and steady, the right way to do it. Recently I added cycling to work my legs some. As a distance swimmer a two beat kick does nothing for the legs(my trouble spot) and managed another 5 pounds there. Running is too painful the next day due to a bad back.
Adding weightlifting is a great idea and will burn more fat. The one thing I had to remember through all of this was that even though I was not really losing pounds fast I was losing inches and that is what counts. Muscle weighs more than fat and looks alot better. So who cares what you weigh, its the inches that count. More streamline in the water.
Donna
Good point Donna about the inches and not the fat. Congrats also for losing the weight.....For me, I noticed more weight loss when I also cross trained....I'm hoping my new resurgence of spin classes will help me out again like it did before?? I also plan on doing some high rep type weight workouts a couple of times a week too if I can fit it in. And then of course I will have to .....gulp...diet....Thats a hard one to say!!
Newmastersswimmer
I have lost about 30 lbs over the last 3 years of swimming only. I did crank it up from 4 days per week to 6. It was slow and steady, the right way to do it. Recently I added cycling to work my legs some. As a distance swimmer a two beat kick does nothing for the legs(my trouble spot) and managed another 5 pounds there. Running is too painful the next day due to a bad back.
Adding weightlifting is a great idea and will burn more fat. The one thing I had to remember through all of this was that even though I was not really losing pounds fast I was losing inches and that is what counts. Muscle weighs more than fat and looks alot better. So who cares what you weigh, its the inches that count. More streamline in the water.
Donna
Good point Donna about the inches and not the fat. Congrats also for losing the weight.....For me, I noticed more weight loss when I also cross trained....I'm hoping my new resurgence of spin classes will help me out again like it did before?? I also plan on doing some high rep type weight workouts a couple of times a week too if I can fit it in. And then of course I will have to .....gulp...diet....Thats a hard one to say!!
Newmastersswimmer
