Hi all - I have an odd post for you to ponder :)
Recently I've decided enough is enough and it's time to shift some unwanted poundage. Over the past few months through exercise and eating much better I've dropped about 15% of my original body weight, going from 207lbs to 175lbs. At the same time I've been swimming a bit and making an effort to keep on some muscle too.
I know it's a very very hard question to answer but am looking for people's estimates on what this sort of weight loss would do to your swimming time over longer distances if I was able to keep everything else static (stroke, flexibility, strengtht etc). The only difference if possible would be there would be less body weight, and hopefully a better shape for moving through the water.
I know that due to water being denser it's not as easy to say as it would be in relation to running etc, but say over a 5km open water swim, what would people guess the % improvement would be as a result of this?
Cheers
GC
Hi all - I have an odd post for you to ponder :)
Recently I've decided enough is enough and it's time to shift some unwanted poundage. Over the past few months through exercise and eating much better I've dropped about 15% of my original body weight, going from 207lbs to 175lbs. At the same time I've been swimming a bit and making an effort to keep on some muscle too.
I know it's a very very hard question to answer but am looking for people's estimates on what this sort of weight loss would do to your swimming time over longer distances if I was able to keep everything else static (stroke, flexibility, strengtht etc). The only difference if possible would be there would be less body weight, and hopefully a better shape for moving through the water.
I know that due to water being denser it's not as easy to say as it would be in relation to running etc, but say over a 5km open water swim, what would people guess the % improvement would be as a result of this?
Cheers
GC
I don't know that one can put a percentage on improvement due to weight loss because so many factors come into play when weight loss occurs such as good nutrition and low stress outside of the pool. Perhaps these things might have come about without a weight drop and one would see an improvement.
When talking about strength being static, did you start your weight lifting when you started losing weight or had you been lifting weights for a bit of time? If you had been lifting regularly before you started losing weight, were you able to maintain the same amount of strength?
Also, much depends on your height and your build. I've always heard that generally, a woman should take 100 pounds and add 5 pounds for each inch she is over five feet. For example, a woman who is 5'8" should generally weigh around 140 (100 + (8 x 5) = 140). For men, I've heard it to be generally 100 pounds and add 6.5 pounds for each inch over five feet.
So, without knowing your height, I wouldn't know if weighing 175 is a good weight for you in which you would see improvement or if you have gotten a little thin and perhaps lost your power. If you are 5'11" and male, I would imagine that you would see an improvement in your swimming times. If on the other hand, you are 6'5", I would imagine that your times might actually suffer.
I learned the hard way in high school that what works well for distance running does not work for well for swimming. My junior year of high school, at 5'9", I weighed 128, down from my weight of 140 as a sophmore. My running times were my best that year, never to be matched again, but my swimming times suffered terribly, including my 200 and 500 free.
Except for CreamPuff, most ultradistance swimmers I've known are not usually skinny. So, I'm not sure a weight loss assessment is applicable like it is in running ( In running, each pound lost is supposed to result in a 3 second improvement per mile).
Good luck to you!! I hope you achieve the goals you have set your heart on. Sometimes I think motivation and desire are more important than any amount of weight loss.
Hi all - I have an odd post for you to ponder :)
Recently I've decided enough is enough and it's time to shift some unwanted poundage. Over the past few months through exercise and eating much better I've dropped about 15% of my original body weight, going from 207lbs to 175lbs. At the same time I've been swimming a bit and making an effort to keep on some muscle too.
I know it's a very very hard question to answer but am looking for people's estimates on what this sort of weight loss would do to your swimming time over longer distances if I was able to keep everything else static (stroke, flexibility, strengtht etc). The only difference if possible would be there would be less body weight, and hopefully a better shape for moving through the water.
I know that due to water being denser it's not as easy to say as it would be in relation to running etc, but say over a 5km open water swim, what would people guess the % improvement would be as a result of this?
Cheers
GC
I don't know that one can put a percentage on improvement due to weight loss because so many factors come into play when weight loss occurs such as good nutrition and low stress outside of the pool. Perhaps these things might have come about without a weight drop and one would see an improvement.
When talking about strength being static, did you start your weight lifting when you started losing weight or had you been lifting weights for a bit of time? If you had been lifting regularly before you started losing weight, were you able to maintain the same amount of strength?
Also, much depends on your height and your build. I've always heard that generally, a woman should take 100 pounds and add 5 pounds for each inch she is over five feet. For example, a woman who is 5'8" should generally weigh around 140 (100 + (8 x 5) = 140). For men, I've heard it to be generally 100 pounds and add 6.5 pounds for each inch over five feet.
So, without knowing your height, I wouldn't know if weighing 175 is a good weight for you in which you would see improvement or if you have gotten a little thin and perhaps lost your power. If you are 5'11" and male, I would imagine that you would see an improvement in your swimming times. If on the other hand, you are 6'5", I would imagine that your times might actually suffer.
I learned the hard way in high school that what works well for distance running does not work for well for swimming. My junior year of high school, at 5'9", I weighed 128, down from my weight of 140 as a sophmore. My running times were my best that year, never to be matched again, but my swimming times suffered terribly, including my 200 and 500 free.
Except for CreamPuff, most ultradistance swimmers I've known are not usually skinny. So, I'm not sure a weight loss assessment is applicable like it is in running ( In running, each pound lost is supposed to result in a 3 second improvement per mile).
Good luck to you!! I hope you achieve the goals you have set your heart on. Sometimes I think motivation and desire are more important than any amount of weight loss.
