I absolutely LOVE swimming, actually I am addicted to swimming. My mom used to be afraid I was going to sprout gills when I was younger. Over the last 3 months I have been in the pool getting back in shape. I have lost quite a bit of weight, which was only part of my over all goal. That being to loose weight, but get into an exercise routine I would stick with so I could keep fit. Right now I am swimming distance at a steady pace. That right now gives me an hour workout and it has kept me loosing around 2-3 lbs a week, which is perfect.
My question is this....should I keep the pace/distance workout or should I go to some interval training workout? I was under the belief that workouts that went anaerobic caused your body to not burn fat, which is what I am trying to do for the time being. Would doing interval training, even though it is at faster rate accomplish what I am trying to do by increasing my heart rate to a greater rate over a longer period or would it be going against what I am trying to do?
If you want to swim faster and/or be more fit, then you definitely need to try interval training. The higher exercise intensity will get your heartrate up. It also adds more variety to workouts, keeping you from getting bored.
I would recommend adopting it gradually, do a mix of longer swims and shorter repeats with rest. Make sure the interval work is at a significantly faster pace than your long swims.
As far as losing weight, you will burn just about as many calories (maybe more) in the same time period as before, so long as your intervals are not too too easy. You might not swim quite as far but you'll make up for it with higher intensity.
Good luck.
Well...I did a workout with some friends today...WOW...we did 32x25's on .30..I think thats how you write it....Didn't do to shabby, but it was a different but GREAT workout. After that I went ahead and did 64 laps to make up 80...my legs and arms felt like jelly for the first 10 of the 64 :)
