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?
Since so much swimming is done at or near the anaerobic zone, it follows that we won't be burning much fat or at least as much as the output of calories leads you to believe you are burning. So, if you want to burn fat while swimming, swim in the aerobic range not the anaerobic range.
I knew it. Swimming makes you fat, and sprinting really makes you fat. Lovely. I'm adding 2 x week of spinning this year to see if that helps. But I still miss my running body.
Anita, I think you can combat age somewhat with cross training and portion control. Although it's hard to battle a metabolic slow down. After being fairly thin and eating whatever I wanted my whole life, I noticed slight down ticks at 43 and 46. Although, 43 was when I started masters swimming and, at 46, I ramped up the anaerobic work. So perhaps the perceived slow down was just a change in type of exercise? In any event, I intend to go the Elise route somewhat and train more similarly to a triathlete. But it's difficult to do this and still swim 4-5x a week and prepare for meets, which is the reason I swim. Cross training and meets do not go together. For what's it's worth, my husband who runs 365 days a year and is 48 look almost exactly the same as 20 years ago. All he's done is cut out desserts and watch what he eats a bit more.
Since so much swimming is done at or near the anaerobic zone, it follows that we won't be burning much fat or at least as much as the output of calories leads you to believe you are burning. So, if you want to burn fat while swimming, swim in the aerobic range not the anaerobic range.
I knew it. Swimming makes you fat, and sprinting really makes you fat. Lovely. I'm adding 2 x week of spinning this year to see if that helps. But I still miss my running body.
Anita, I think you can combat age somewhat with cross training and portion control. Although it's hard to battle a metabolic slow down. After being fairly thin and eating whatever I wanted my whole life, I noticed slight down ticks at 43 and 46. Although, 43 was when I started masters swimming and, at 46, I ramped up the anaerobic work. So perhaps the perceived slow down was just a change in type of exercise? In any event, I intend to go the Elise route somewhat and train more similarly to a triathlete. But it's difficult to do this and still swim 4-5x a week and prepare for meets, which is the reason I swim. Cross training and meets do not go together. For what's it's worth, my husband who runs 365 days a year and is 48 look almost exactly the same as 20 years ago. All he's done is cut out desserts and watch what he eats a bit more.
