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.

Managed one swim in HK Hyatt hotel pool. It was as warm as a bath.
Now in Shenzhen and hotel pool not as lovely but hope to get a swim in. Long, long conference days.

Sorry not read any of the thread but have a few questions.

Is the breaststroke (i.e. the only stroke I can do) good for cardio?
Is it bad for dodgy knees?
Is it ok to do with your face above the water?

Is the breaststroke (i.e. the only stroke I can do) good for cardio?

Yes, if you swim it fast enough (most don't)

Is it bad for dodgy knees?

It can be bad for your knees if done incorrectly (which is common)

Is it ok to do with your face above the water?

It doesn't put your spine in a very good position so not recommended

Try backstroke and float kicking java that will get your heart rate up with out stressing the back or knees.

I got a swim In last night but it was busy and choppy I swallowed far to much as I kept mistiming my breathing on the crawl. Also squeezed in nice short swim with the kids last week at an outdoor pool at the bottom of a ski slope beautiful surroundings if rather pricey as we weren’t staying in the attached hotel.
Conferences I find exhausting rights hope yours go ok, and you get to do a little sightseeing too. Nothing more frustrating than being in amazing places & just seeing the hotel & airport.

What is float kicking?

Hold a float and kick your legs. Good work out either lie on front with float in front or on your back with arms stretched out and float above your head.

Thanks I'll give that a go!

Ski the days are long (talks and meetings) but enjoyable and interesting, and of course once the day is done I have no responsibilities and a lovely hotel room.

Just done 1K in pool. Tired now.

5 swims this week. I'm developing muscles in my shoulders that make me look like a fit person. I have never been so fit in my life. It feels great. I'm 56 and always hated the gym, classes or any exercise apart from riding or swimming. It's never too late. :)

Oh well done vera, you must feel fab.

While I have always exercised, I was quite late to start swimming and just love how toned my arms are now.

Back from lovely lunch swim. I've had a couple of days of no exercise so felt strong and refreshed. Only one nobber in the pool who wouldn't stop at the end to let me pass, so I motored down one length to get ahead of him.

Am doing swimathon as part of a team this weekend.

Need another swim suit, mine is fatigued and thin and very long!

Hello! I've not posted on here for a while and haven't caught up on everyone's news. Hope all is well. My morning swimming has been lovely in the last week or so with the sun making the water golden …

Hello Avocado! Where have you been?!

I have just been told to NOT EXERCISE for a whole week as my creatine kinase levels are too high. What a bastard.

Oh dear rights hope that doesn’t impact the Swimathon relay.

I had some swim coaching last week and put some of it into practice on Mondays swim. I was puffing more and couldn’t keep going continuously on F.C. but could feel more power which was interesting as it was only a couple of tweaks. Back & shoulder stiff this morning! We were told to have slightly spread fingers on the F.C. catch which id never heard before!? It appears to be working

I made a deal with my GP. Unfortunately I forgot that I also had a planned long w/e walking with my good friend. We've planned this since last year. I start my week off exercise 8th May.

I will discuss with my MH nurse next week.

I’d not heard of the condition before and just googled it. Doesn’t sound good, I hope the down time helps, it must be really hard to manage when you need the exercise buzz to make life enjoyable.

I am going swimming today, first proper swim for 2 weeks!! (Long story why). Really looking forward to it, in spite of lovely sunshine beckoning me outside instead. I chatted with someone who swims 9-10k/week last night nutter with no life. On top of other IronMan training.

RightsOfWomen: why were your creatine kinase levels measured? Looks like serious stuff not to mess with doctor's advice, though.

My bloods were taken because I'm not looking after myself very well.
I am coping with the aftermath of my abusive marriage (and continued agro) in unhealthy ways. The main concern with elevated CK levels is that it can indicate heart problems. This is very, very unlikely in my case, but the only way to rule it out is to have the level measure when I've been rested for a week or so.

Don't want to derail the thread. I'm OK, I'm being supported very well.

My sport is so important to me for so, so many reasons. You all get that I think.

Take care of yourself, Rights. That all sounds really grim but glad you've got support in real life – and in cyber life from us too!

Where have I been? Well, we had a week in Portugal over the Easter hols for my 40th. And the Mumsnet Talk app on my phone needs me to log in again for some reason and I haven't got round to doing it! So only found you all again via my computer.

Good swim today after a very crowded pool on Tuesday. 2km in 39:16 so I'm pleased with that. And the sun was catching the pool water again too and for some reason that makes me very happy!

RoW: I'd try to remember if this is the most disappointing news I got all year (no swimming for a week), then I'd be a very lucky gal. Maybe even scale that down to 'this month'. My lack of swimming in last fortnight is also due to a false-alarm health scare. (sigh)

Bodies are very curious things, aren't they?! I'm getting my VO2MAX tested soon. Quite looking forward to it.

@rights I really hope you are back in the pool soon and that this is not something serious. When you get into the fit zone and then a doctor tells you not to, it is a wake up call.

Can I join you on this thread? I use to swim loads when I was younger but fell away from it for years. I'm now 50 and in reasonable shape, but looking to tone up a bit as I'm definitely less fit than I used to be/would like to be. I started walking and cycling recently, but tore ligaments in my foot a couple of weeks ago so had to stop all that. I'm contemplating the local pool, but could do with some support and encouragement and advice on any training programmes or apps to track progress and goal setting.

The local pool probably has some kind of programmes on offer, PlainWhite. Ring & ask. With swimtag, they send you challenges to take part in so you don't even need local people to compare to.

Welcome PlainWhiteTea. I switched to swimming when I hurt my ankle running and haven't looked back. I get Swimtag with my membership and that is a good tracker, as lljkk says.

I've not found any straightforward way for tracking/logging swims I'm afraid PlainWhiteTee. My local pools aren't signed up to Swimtag.

There is SwimIO the app. But I don't find it great, so far I have apparently swum the Great Barrier Reef! But that means nothing to me in real terms.