I have determined that when I swim, based on my heart rate, I am burning an enormous amount of calories. The other day, I wore my HR monitor and based on my average HR, time spent swimming, and my weight, I burned 1053 calories. Now, the next day, I ran for 40 minutes and burned 453 calories.
I have noticed that when I just swim over a number of weeks, my LDL cholesterol readings go up and my body fat goes up as well. When I just run and don't burn as many calories (according to my HR monitor) my LDL drops, my HDLs go up, and my body fat decreases. I've noticed this now over the course of 13 years.
Anybody know of any studies out there that might explain this? Why would an activity such as swimming that obviously burns a bunch of calories cause an increase in body fat?
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Former Member
Brief comment on taking heart rate:
After going for my first (and hopefully last) session of "beat the machine", the cardiologist told me that using a finger to take your pusle is often inaccurate. I don't know the exact biology of it, but it had something to do with your finger's pressure on the arteries in your neck causing a counter reaction by your heart.
In my case, it seemed my heart was skipping a beat, when in fact it was a "normal" occurance of an early beat. Happened during intense all-out drop-dead sprint workouts, then would return to normal during a recovery drill.
Personally, I've not been able to lose much weight by ramping up swimming mileage, even with the summers at Hains Point in sometimes soupy water. I agree that running and/or biking might be the key. Weights seem to increase some muscle mass, perhaps a trade-off, but not a decrease of overall weight in my case.
DV
Brief comment on taking heart rate:
After going for my first (and hopefully last) session of "beat the machine", the cardiologist told me that using a finger to take your pusle is often inaccurate. I don't know the exact biology of it, but it had something to do with your finger's pressure on the arteries in your neck causing a counter reaction by your heart.
In my case, it seemed my heart was skipping a beat, when in fact it was a "normal" occurance of an early beat. Happened during intense all-out drop-dead sprint workouts, then would return to normal during a recovery drill.
Personally, I've not been able to lose much weight by ramping up swimming mileage, even with the summers at Hains Point in sometimes soupy water. I agree that running and/or biking might be the key. Weights seem to increase some muscle mass, perhaps a trade-off, but not a decrease of overall weight in my case.
DV
