Some questions about swimming's contribution to fitness
Former Member
Hi,
I am a new member here. Due to a serious knee injury (4 time dislocation), I am interested in taking up swimming. It is especially appealing as it is a low impact sport and involves all parts of the body.
How good is swimming for the heart? I know it forces my heart to work, but is it good to keep it in shape?
Is swimming good for strengthening a knee?
Lastly, swimming is the only sport/exercise I do. As a result, I assume I would have to do quite a lot of swimming to make up for the lack of other exercise. How many hours a week would I have to put in (assuming I swim constant lengths with some rest in between - or as far as I can, but not just standing in the pool).
Sorry for all the questions on my first post
Thanks
Parents
Former Member
With all sports you get out of it what you put in. Swimming is very good at getting the heart in shape because it is required for a full body work out. To keep it in shape there needs to be a training program set in place that works on more aerobic capacity to build more strength for the heart.
I am not sure how good swimming is for stregthening the knee but I'm sure there are some in water exercises that can be done for strengthening the knee. If there are huge problems then I would suggest not pushing off the walls because that is where a lot of stress would come from.
Your last question would be a hard one to answer because the more fitness you will gain will allow for you to swim faster to gain more ground in a set time period. So if you swam 100 on 3 min. for 1 hr. you would get 2000 yards/meters in but if you did it on 2 min. you are getting 3000 yards in. There needs to be an assessment of your fitness to determine how long you would swim for.
Also if you are swimming sets for a workout then you might cover less yardage but get your heart stronger through less rest. It is difficult to give a set amount if there is no starting point to base it off of.
Good luck with training.
With all sports you get out of it what you put in. Swimming is very good at getting the heart in shape because it is required for a full body work out. To keep it in shape there needs to be a training program set in place that works on more aerobic capacity to build more strength for the heart.
I am not sure how good swimming is for stregthening the knee but I'm sure there are some in water exercises that can be done for strengthening the knee. If there are huge problems then I would suggest not pushing off the walls because that is where a lot of stress would come from.
Your last question would be a hard one to answer because the more fitness you will gain will allow for you to swim faster to gain more ground in a set time period. So if you swam 100 on 3 min. for 1 hr. you would get 2000 yards/meters in but if you did it on 2 min. you are getting 3000 yards in. There needs to be an assessment of your fitness to determine how long you would swim for.
Also if you are swimming sets for a workout then you might cover less yardage but get your heart stronger through less rest. It is difficult to give a set amount if there is no starting point to base it off of.
Good luck with training.
