Swimming for exercise, am I doing it wrong?

[Thebloodynine]

I needed to do something to get myself moving as I am overweight but also started getting burn out from work and didn’t do anything for my mental health. Used to love swimming so have started that again, but I don’t know if i’m wasting my time. So advice from anyone who swam to lose weight please!

I have a shoulder injury from years ago which limits how fast I can swim. They’ve done all they can for it, it is what it is and won’t get any better without surgery (which comes with a 50:50 chance of helping or having no affect but months of recovery) so, I’m never going to swim any faster and I feel a bit like i’m just wasting my time and this won’t help with weight loss or fitness if I can’t get my heart rate up more.

I’ve been swimming a mile every weekday, which is about 1600 meters and it takes me around 45/50 minutes. I’ve been told that’s slow but even if I get fitter and stronger, my shoulder can’t take any more so am I wasting my time or doing this wrong? How long before I see some kind if change in my body!?

I'm taking a swim drill class and come out feeling fairly worked out. When I was shown how to catch the water in the strokes it became a harder workout - before I was moving but not pushing the water correctly. Certainly dont mind the amateur coaches at the pool - wear swim ear plugs!

You can mix it up a bit. If you get a flat float you can do a few lengths just legs. You'll be really tired and it does wonders toning up your bum. As you get stronger you can add swim fins to make it harder. It'll give your shoulder a rest too. It's very easy to slip into bad habits swimming where you rely most on your arms and forget to work your legs and abs.

The best exercise is the exercise you enjoy, which makes you feel good (afterwards normally 😆) and you do regularly. Swimming, or any exercise by itself, won't give you dramatic body changes overnight, but you will get better at what you are doing over time. If it makes you feel good, even for a little while, that's a win!!!

I've also tried using a float for legs but I get really bad neck ache, even if I keep my face in the water. Do you have any tips?

I'm not a qualified instructor, but train with a coach a couple of times a week. There are a few things it could be, but it might be something else entirely. You could just be holding too much tension in your neck and shoulders, in which case relax and use your abs instead of your neck to hold you flat in the water. That's good for your abs too! You can practice changing your body position holding onto the side. It can also be quite difficult breathing because you don't have the rotation so you have to crank your head round or up. Two easy solutions: take occasional arm strokes without pulling to get the rotation when you want to breathe, which will keep your body flat in the water; or buy a front snorkel and never have to worry about breathing again.

@StamppotAndGravy thats brilliant thank you so so much! All makes total sense. 😊

I just checked out a central snorkel. Oh my goodness. It’s just what I needed.

They're brilliant, especially if you came to swimming later in life and just never quite got the hang of breathing! They can help protect your shoulders from dodgy technique and just make life easier with one less thing to think about (apart from when you forget to pay attention and swim into the wall)

Is there a lido near you OP? They’re particularly good for mental health.

Well done for getting started. While random men at the swimming pool may feel the need to comment on random things that are none of their business, but this does not mean they are right!

That said, you probably need to up it a bit, can you fit in a second swim, even if much shorter. Are there any aqua gym classes in your pool? The ones in ours are quite challenging and help use different muscles.

You can also do legs only on your back- much easier for breathing and head position/ neck strain etc. Learners usually clutch the kickboard to their chest to begin with but most decent swimmers can manage without a kickboard. Backstroke kick or butterfly kick on your back -really works your abs too.

I’m swimming every weekday. Do you mean two swims a day?

Ignore random man. That is about my speed and quantity but I only manage once a week. I'm in a Tri club and I'm in the bottom or next to bottom lane so 'slowish' compared to competitive swimmers but am confident I could beat most of my friends outside the club! Maybe just mix it up with some kick only, drills, sets of different speeds. I think once you're fairly ok at swimming it doesn't really raise your heart rate unless you push yourself.
I also have a sore shoulder and breaststroke for a few lengths every so often helps.

I can swim about 2.5km in an hour and that usually makes me pretty much the fastest for long distance in the pool unless there are racing swimmers there. So that is only about 20% faster than you, so I don't think it's slow.

What's the situation with your shoulder, is it that that's limiting you? I often find actually if I am bringing my arms out a bit wider from my body during crawl that I can increase the use of my back muscles and lats which might help?

I would say though that I don't think I have ever really lost weight from swimming. I do find it good for my core though, and good for building my upper body strength.

I'm a strong swimmer (3-4 times a week in the sea for an hour each time) but don't lose a single gram. Never get tired despite a fast pace - I must be an efficient swimmer. The only exercise I lose weight with is high impact cardio like running - if I feel my fat jiggling I know it's working!