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?
Running and lifting weights are HARD whereas swimming is easy. Granted, fast swimming is not easy, but I feel far more fatigued after trying to run a mile than after trying to swim a mile ... even if I ramp the intensity to high on both.
Having grown up as a runner, I can say that I am the opposite. Trying to swim a 100 back, for me, is equivalent to running an 800m dash (in my opinion, the hardest race on the track). Within a very short period, I get my stride and my legs back and can crank out 6:00 miles. Not so much in the pool. I have been swimming for nearly two years now and have dropped about 30 pounds, though that's more due to changing my complete lack of exercise and the pack-a-day smoking habit than anything else.
Having grown up as a runner, I can say that I am the opposite. Trying to swim a 100 back, for me, is equivalent to running an 800m dash (in my opinion, the hardest race on the track). Within a very short period, I get my stride and my legs back and can crank out 6:00 miles. Not so much in the pool. I have been swimming for nearly two years now and have dropped about 30 pounds, though that's more due to changing my complete lack of exercise and the pack-a-day smoking habit than anything else.
Yes, having done the track thing also, the 800 is the ultimate killer. Gosh, one has to be in such good shape to do that one - what I think of as an endurance sprint!
Is that 6:00 your training pace?
