Body composition and swimming

I have more then a thin layer of fat. Because you are part sea lion. :) Marathon swims in the deep blue isn't for light weights.

I am enjoying this thread and want to interject a question. How much of these results are affected by age? IOW, someone mentioned fluctuating HDL/LDL levels and other specific health markers. These can worsen with age, especially if you have a genetic component. My weight is controlled by swimming alone. But I also know that as I age (I am 42 now), my metabolism will slow down and my health markers could worsen. To what extend would changing up exercise (and eating right, of course) still help these factors, or does age override all? My LDL was over 20 points lower at 37 than 29, and HDLs were 20 points higher at 37 than 29. The only thing that changed was I started running and backed off my swimming. I did not lose weight, I got older, my diet got worse, yet my cholesterol levels significantly improved. When I got my horrible reading of 153 LDL this past June (I'm 42), I had been training hard recently in swimming for Nationals. When I got the bad reading, I started running again. Unfortunately, I only have had time to run an average of 5 miles per week. I did not change my diet. I did not lose weight. My LDLs were measured the other day and have dropped to 139. I am not going to change my diet and will up my running to 20 miles a week starting this week. I will try to get measured in another 4 months and I bet my LDL drops 20 points. I'm still swimming the same, but adding the running to test out my theory. I'll keep y'all posted. P.s. My diet is not horrible. I was, however, extremely good at 29, yet my levels were higher than 37 when I ate muffins, donuts, and candy bars. Have cut out how much I eat this stuff, but refuse to give it up completely. Also, I do not plan to become a vegetarian.

Interesting thread. I have been swimming Masters for almost 30 years and I have wondered why with all of my exercise, that I keep the same 176 pounds on this 59 year old 5' 10" body. I have just begun to use a HR monitor and have read Sally Edwards' book, "The Heart Rate Monitor Guidebook". Regarding burning fat she says: Fat is burned in every heart zone. The percentage and total amount of fat burned changes depends on many factors principally how fit you are and how hard you are exercising. There is not one fat burning zone, rather, the exercise intensities that burn the most fat is called the fat burning range. ...This illusive zone is really not a zone but a range of heartbeats that gets bigger as you get fitter. The bigger your fat burning range, the more fat calories that you burn with every beat of your heart. ...Oxygen must be available for fat to burn. When there is insufficient oxygen, there is no additional fat burned. The fat burning range is the exercise intensity level when you are aerobic, not anaerobic. 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 am enjoying this thread and want to interject a question. How much of these results are affected by age? IOW, someone mentioned fluctuating HDL/LDL levels and other specific health markers. These can worsen with age, especially if you have a genetic component. My weight is controlled by swimming alone. But I also know that as I age (I am 42 now), my metabolism will slow down and my health markers could worsen. To what extend would changing up exercise (and eating right, of course) still help these factors, or does age override all?

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

When I got my horrible reading of 153 LDL this past June (I'm 42), I had been training hard recently in swimming for Nationals. When I got the bad reading, I started running again. Unfortunately, I only have had time to run an average of 5 miles per week. I did not change my diet. I did not lose weight. My LDLs were measured the other day and have dropped to 139. That's exactly what I was looking for--thanks! I don't want to alter my diet (I swim to eat!), but adding some jogging in is doable...albeit painful, mentally speaking.

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.

Cholesterol is more genetics then what you eat.

There is really a simple reason why anaerobic training does not burn as much fat as aerobic training. Training at higher intensity levels requires more "fuel" than training at lower intensity levels. Fat is a "slow" source of energy. The body cannot use fat to convert it fast enough to supply the muscles. So the body switches to carbohydrate. For the most intense exercise the body uses glycogen stored in the muscles. Activities shorter than 30 secs can be satisfied completely from stored glycogen. That's why you can sprint with little or no breathing - oxygen is required to use carbohydrate and fat for energy. If you want to burn fat through swimming - you should swim more long sets at aerobic pace. Your body will choose the energy source that best meets the requirements. For long duration exercise at a moderate pace fat meets the needs. Disclaimer - I am not any kind of expert on these topics. But search "energy pathways" and you fill find many good articles on this topic. Sorry,but the "fat burning zone" as the best way to lose weight myth is not good physiology.Yes in the so called"fat burning zone" you are using primarily fat for fuel and at faster speeds you are primarily using glycogen for fuel,but that is not the whole story.At faster speeds you are still burning some fat,but you are burnung more glycogen.You are also burning more calories and if you do not eat more after a hard workout than after an easy work out you will lose more weight.Your body will draw from the fat to replace energy stores.There is an additional advantage to the harder workout,namely you take longer to recover and that recovery takes energy.Further,sprint type workouts build more muscle mass and muscles burn calories at rest.

Re: Blah blah blah swimming makes me fat Stop eating so many refined carbs. I don't eat many refined carbs. :mooning: In fact, I just made a nice spicy lentil chili. If so many athletes, especially so many women, experience this phenomenon, we aren't crazy. Here's a point of comparison. Go to a triathlon or a 10K road race and compare the women there to those at a masters swim meet ... I guarantee you that the former are leaner.