I'm not overweight but I was wondering what would burn more body fat:
long distance type of workouts with a lot of even-paced long swim sessions or sprint workouts with mainly sprint intervals.
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Former Member
Since wave drag increases with the cube of velocity and form drag with the square it takes a lot more energy to swim a given distance at a higher velocity.
Consider two workouts:
10x100 on 2min at 1min per 100 pace
1000 at 2min per 100 pace
The first workout will definitely use more energy even though the two workouts take the same time and cover the same distance.
Also think about kicking 1000m versus pulling 1000m, kicking takes much more energy even if you complete the same distance in the same time.
Running is a poor analogy because air resistance is a tiny fraction of water resistance and efficiency is much less variable.
Since wave drag increases with the cube of velocity and form drag with the square it takes a lot more energy to swim a given distance at a higher velocity.
Consider two workouts:
10x100 on 2min at 1min per 100 pace
1000 at 2min per 100 pace
The first workout will definitely use more energy even though the two workouts take the same time and cover the same distance.
Also think about kicking 1000m versus pulling 1000m, kicking takes much more energy even if you complete the same distance in the same time.
Running is a poor analogy because air resistance is a tiny fraction of water resistance and efficiency is much less variable.
