Swimming Myths

Carbo loading is a myth?!? I did not know that - I still carbo load before meets. Is that bad? I know about this one. A couple of problems about carbo loading before a meet are: 1) if a person doesn't carbo load or eat a lot of carbs on a regular basis, the body will not appreciate the change so close to a race and 2) carbo loading should be used for long durations of exercise and usually during a meet, even though racing will be of a higher intensity, you aren't truly swimming very far compared to workouts. The hydration drinks are more important than carbo loading before a swim meet. No eating/drinking changes before a race is the way to go but bananas have been shown to be a great plus. Of course with open water swims, it will be very helpful.

Swimming doesn't give you big shoulders or back, same as soccer and cycling don't give you big thighs. :joker: Shopping for clothes is a nightmare for me. Clothes are not made to fit women who swim, cycle and play soccer. At least not to fit in more than one place at a time - if pants fit my thighs, I can fit the soccer ball in the waist. If blouses fit my shoulders, I hide the soccer ball in front of my stomach. All I can say is, thank goodness for stretcy materials. I hate buying tops now ... which is very sad. It probably explains why I have so few now ... I have to go up a size to get them to fit in the upper back/shoulders/and arms but then it's huge in the stomach area ... even sometimes with stretchy material. Thankfully tank top season should be upon us but seeing as it's snowing like crazy here ...

I guess it is just that you eat more than you spend while swimming. But you tone your muscles and look better. Here is the deal: swimming will make you lose weight, but it takes too much time if you are not in it full time or as a student, college whatever. Running or weights or cycling on the other hand takes less time to spend more energy. I lost once 12 pounds true weight over a two week period walking up and down mountains for a minimum 10 to a maximum 25 miles every day. A couple of months later I got it all back. Walking will make you lose weight, if you walk about 6 hours a day. billy fanstone P.S. The lipo thing, it is done in your arm pits and areas around, when you are doing *** surgery. They even lipo suck you in the back. I am talking from a perspective of someone who is participating actively in this activity by making sure no pain is felt during all this lipo sucking away. The whole problem with swimming doesn't drop weight and running (insert your favorite here) does is that people generally don't compare comparable workouts. You walked 10 to 25 hours on mountain trails. it probably took you 3 to 8 hours. If you were to swim continuously for the same time period for two weeks, you would have lost weight and probably about the same amount of weight. (Of course your skin would have looked like prunes probably.) Some of the things I would suggest contribute to the myth: 1) Most people don't understand that swimming a workout is a whole lot different than just swimming. We had a health program here at work that tracked exercise and attempted to convert it to a common denominator - walking steps. The conversion was ridiculous. Running an 8 minute mile got you more than swimming for 5 minutes even if you did 500 yards in that time because they didn't differentiate effort. I will give then credit though, they did differentiate strokes although I have no idea where they got their data. 2) When someone starts swimming they are more likely not to see a drop in weight than a runner because of the nature of the sport. The swimmer will be using muscles in the upper body that are not used much and can gain significant muscle mass (which is denser than the fat they are using). A person who takes up walking or moderate running is doing something they naturally do on a daily basis so the potential for rapid increase in muscle mass is lower. Hence they see the loss in weight more quickly. The problem with the myth is that it is answering the wrong question: can a sport make me loose weight. The real question should be something like: can a sport make me healthier and more fit. Swimming can definitely do that. Leo

The problem with the myth is that it is answering the wrong question: can a sport make me loose weight. Personally, I prefer tight weight, but that's just me. ;)

I'm guessing most people who exercise a lot eat a high percentage of carbs in their diets anyway. I know I do. Then there is no problem whatsoever if the body is already accustomed to it. I don't eat many carbs because they don't exist here :shakeshead:. Here's another myth: A fellow who is a rich kid down here with a silver spoon in his mouth and always bragging nonsense said he could swim those 18 miles in about 3 hours. Oh, he isn't a swimmer by the way. I'll tell you this, I think all the people from all over the world who moved here are trying to be those somebodies they never were and because there is no way to "check", they think us pretty sound and smart people will buy it. HA. So, for those folks that normally eat carbs, CARBO LOAD away before your meet!!! But I want to know why I am so hungry after I eat carbs but not protein; I'm starving an hour after any pasta dish.

I heard on NPR yesterday a stat that completely astonished me. It was a segment on health and fitness and the commentator quoted a stat that 40% of Americans are 100+ pounds overweight. It could also have been that 40% of overweight folks are 100+ pounds overweight. Either way, that is the most horrifying thing I have heard in a long, long time. I can certainly understand how it's possible, easy even, to put on a few pounds, but packing on that kind of extra weight is terrible overall. So, in summary, it might be easier to lose weight running versus swimming or vice-versa but it certainly appears that a ton of Americans could really give a rat's behind about weight loss in the first place.

This was my favorite myth: Eat powdered jello before/during your meet. Nothing like the immediate sugar rush and then the low-down drained feeling after that lasts much longer. As to "swimming won't help you lose weight" - meh! When I started swimming last summer I weighed 197 at 5'10". I've now been consistently weighing 175-178. I'm consuming more calories because of swimming, and weight training has stayed the same. Actually, I didn't do anything over the easter weekend, weighed in Mon. morning at 179, and am now back to 174. Whatever. Here's the banana :banana:

Any one can swim 20 miles in two hours if you have a 22 foot tide going out of the Saguenay River along with the river current.

Any one can swim 20 miles in two hours if you have a 22 foot tide going out of the Saguenay River along with the river current. :rofl: Then there's hope for me yet provided the Gods run the current toward Utila and run it fast; nothing like being "taken" to your target rather than not.

the whole "swimming doesnt help you lose weight" is most likely true for the average Joe, who really doesnt know how to swim. He/she either swims so slow, that they really dont get a work out, doing a 25 in a minute is basically standing still, or the stroke is so poor that they get so tired churning away in the water for a few laps they can't do it for more than 10 minutes. humans were not designed to swim, whereas running (and by extension biking) is pretty natural for us. anyone can get out and run/walk on a regular basis without a real learning curve. you can't do that in a pool.