Swimming for fitness (part 3). Dive in!

[rightsofwomen]

Ohh la la....2nd thread filled up. Hopefully this Subject line will make it easy enough to find.

Everyone welcome.

But! Grr not both

That’s interesting ski. Glad you can feel some immediate improvement. Breakthroughs like this feel good in swimming.

Paul is lucky to have an Endless Pool in his back yard. I wonder how much they are?

And the answer is $14,000 😱
Won’t be getting one of those then!

Who's Paul and how do I get to be his friend?!

1K done last night. There was a knobber in the pool. He was fast and doing fancy strokes, but with me in the lane there was only 3 of us and there were people walking in the middle lane so I wasn't about to go in there.

So, I would wait at the end when he caught me up - every 4th length or so. All fine until person number 3 got out, leaving just 2 of us.
I waited at the end to let knobber go ahead and instead of skipping past me, he came straight for me (I had to leap out of the way) and turned to go back down the lane he'd just come up (ie up and down, not in a loop). I thought maybe he was signalling that we could just go up and down rather than round and round, but he didn't do that either.

I really didn't know what he was doing so I just carried on going round and round and let him do his thing. Twat. He didn't catch my eye to acknowledge my presence.

I rarely have this sort of thing and it's really off putting and unnecessary.

Wow, loads of swimming going on. It's warming up, so hoping to get in the pool soon. Running is turning into a warm activity!

Coffee my target for this year us to crack front crawl. Want to join me watching the videos?

Twenty minutes of crawl after an hour in the pool with the kids. Was bit busy so had to struggle to keep up in the fast lane and felt bit panicky but was just hungry I think as had done park run with kids too.

1K done at lunch time. More swimming, less running this week as I have a race (10 mile run) on Sunday.

Felt good today, all floaty.

It’s Nice when you feel floaty relaxed rights
I did some drills to work on the bilateral breathing tonight it works when I relax but then I forget want to speed up and go back to one sided breathing again. I’ll keep working on it as I’m getting there slowly. Did a few fast L too which was fun sprinting at the end. 35mins done no idea on distance wasn’t counting today, just enjoying my swim

Hello! Can I join too please? You're all inspiring me to go swimming. Haven't ever really swam properly for fitness or exercise before. I have a few questions I'd be really grateful for any answers and tips:

What should I aim to do to start off with? (I'm only really comfortable doing breast stroke) is there a set number of laps I should try and do every session or should I just go for a certain amount of time?

Also how regularly would you recommend going?

And if you go very late in the evening (i think I might aim for 9pm so it's quiet) would you recommend eating dinner before or after going?

Im going in order to tone up, lose weight and get some mental peace/space. Having searched some threads on mumsnet I've seen people say swimming isn't good for slimming down or you get too broad shouldered...is that true? Sorry I feel stupid asking such a frivolous questions but I was wondering.

Thank you so much!

Welcome whatsthegame! Plenty of room in the MN pool.

I came to swimming as an injured runner so started small. I couldn't even really swim very well.

I started off going 3 times a week for about 40 mins each time. I did the same routine each time (mentally, that worked for me) and slowly saw the improvement.

Now I go twice a week and do 1K front crawl in 25 mins. It took me about a year to build up to that and to learn to do bilateral breathing.

If swimming is your only exercise I'd say you should go three times a week for at least 1/2hr. I think it's better to go more frequently for shorter duration than just one big, long session, though obv that depends on the time you have available.

I can't comment on the eating cos I'm crap at that. Also can't comment on slimming down (already am slim). I do swim late.

What it has done though is really, really tone my arms up. They are not broad at all. If you're using more calories exercising than you're eating then you will lose weight. It's no impact so that's great.

The mental space it gives me is amazing.

Welcome WhatsTheGame.

I agree with Rights that exercising 2-3 times a week for 30mins is what you could aim for. When I started I managed 26 lengths of the pool (33m) in about the same number of minutes. 18 months later I can do 62 lengths in just under 40 mins. It is amazing seeing your progress.

Also, like Rights I think swimming has done some good toning. I didn't do it to lose weight (I'm a size 8 already), more to get exercise and keep fit, but I feel a lot more confident in fitting clothes etc. However, if you google swimming for weight loss it does seem to work (www.weightlossresources.co.uk/logout/sport/swimming.htm).

You'll be fine doing breaststroke to start with. You might find afterwards that you get braver doing other strokes. I'm rubbish at breaststroke (very slow) so I started swimming front crawl and then realised that alternating with backstroke (a stroke I've always liked) gave me a chance to catch my breath and I still alternate now.

Your question about eating before swimming really depends on what time you would eat. I swim first thing and have breakfast afterwards. but if you ate your evening meal 6-7pm you'd probably be fine swimming at 9pm. It wouldn't do your body any good to eat after the swim really as it would be very late.

Enjoy swimming and let us know how you are doing!

Agh, wish me luck! I’m paddling 20k tomorrow as part of the annual big swim from the mainland to an offshore island tomorrow. The swimmers are a team of 4. It should be a good day and lots of fun, I just hope I don’t fall in ( at least I can swim though).

Ah thank you singing and orig!! I'm ashamed to say I haven't been yet. Have been feeling lazy and demoralised but I'm going to give myself a kick up and go late this evening after work.

Yippee, will be thinking of you this evening whatsthegame. You will be very proud of yourself afterwards.

Corrigans huge luck – that sounds like a real big deal. Hope it goes well!

Managed 36 lengths in 25 minutes tonight. 0.18k I guess that is. Had a banana 30 min beforehand which totally stopped the shakiness afterwards... Hurrah!

pixie more like 900m /0.9km if it was a 25 m pool.

It was a 20m pool. Why can I not do maths? I did double maths a level! That is clearly 0.72 m

Love that I've found this thread. I grew up in warmer climates, so swam in lakes, friends pools and the ocean mostly. Swimming in Lanes and at indoor pools is a new and still strange experience for me.

I hope it's a bit further than that pixie

How did yesterday go, Corrigans?

Finally managed my first trip this afternoon. I swam 20 lengths in 25 minutes. It's a 30m pool. I felt ok afterwards a bit tired and a bit bored so I stopped. Do you think this is ok? Should I build up every session and push to do more or for longer or just see how it goes?

Hi whatsthegame, I reckon you should just do what feels comfortable. Keep going until you feel ready to stop. You'll probably find you start adding another couple of lengths and build it up.

I didn't make it this morning. I'm in Sussex and we've had snow!

whats I agree with Avocado, just do what feels good and manageable (but a good workout). Maybe stick to the same thing for a few sessions, and you might get a feel of what you'd like to work on or how best to stop boredom.

I missed my Monday swim as LO was home from school. He then got so bored he presented himself in my home office fully dressed for school.
Kids!

Have Not Swum This Week.

Lots of snow here so haven't wanted to drive. I work from home and DS2's school is just up the road so there's no need to leave the village really.

Am hoping they cancel Cambridge half marathon on Sunday as I really can't be arsed!

I can walk to the pool. Maximum No. people in pool during lanes today = 4. Mostly just 2 of us (me & teen DS!). I was superfast :). Came home to lay claim to everything edible in the house.

My local pool managed to open yesterday. But the condensation was so bad they had to plug the pool cover on every hour for an hour otherwise they couldn't see across the width of the pool.
I trudged there in the snow and then had to wait till the pool became visible again. I was treated to having lovely warm water and the pool all to myself. I did my 1km and was then joined by two other swimmers. By this time the steam was building up again so I hopped out.
Big thumbs up to the pool staff for even opening yesterday. I was stir crazy and needed that swim.