Can swimming help maintain muscle tone after stopping strength training?

[Smoll]

Hello, I'm after some advice about swimming.

I am 51 and having gone though the menopause at 42 I have been strength training at the gym for the past 5 years. I started for bone density but it has 'toned' my body in a way that the swimming and running I used to do never did. (I am aware that 'toning' means building muscle.) I feel and look so much better and I love it.

However, I keep pulling my lower back and it puts me out of action for weeks at a time. I have had PT sessions to check form and adapt exercises and I have had lots of physio and seen an osteopath. I do pilates and physio regularly but it keeps happening and I am wondering whether I would be better off swimming.

My question is this - has anyone managed to stay toned just through swimming? I know about the other benefits of swimming, I'm interested in whether it can also help me look better. It didn't before but that was only once or twice a week, I could fit 4 times a week for half an hour into my schedule. Will it help me maintain what I have achieved in the gym?

Thanks

I would expect
it it would help maintain, and it’s a good all round exercise - have you considered classes in water? Aqua aerobics and such?

Hi, thanks for answering. I have tried but found them too easy, Also, I have set times when I can fit in exercise around work/kids so I prefer thing like the gym or running where I can just go when I'm free.

Id say it would, If you swim for long/fast enough with a decent technique. Half hour bobbing along breast stoke won't do you any harm but I don't think it would maintain what you've got now.
Swimming whist isolating your arms and or legs is good for muscle or holding a float under your back during backstroke to engage core to hold it in place.
Aquafit/Aerobics is great for cardio, as you get better at this you can start to isolate areas/hold flaoties in your legs etc to make the exercises harder.

I am aware that 'toning' means building muscle

Does it? There was discussion years ago on MN what does "toned" mean? : I didn't know what the word meant. I thought MNers were saying that it meant without visual flabby bits, which is not same as "building muscle". I never thought it meant building muscle, just not having obvious cellulite/flab. Very skinny people would be toned even if they had low muscle mass (just like anorexics get a six pack), younger people more likely to look toned than older.

Anyway, I hope you feel better soon and can enjoy the swimming in meantime.

Skinny people can be flabby if they don't have decent muscle mass. Toned means somewhat muscled with low body fat.

What type of swimming? If it’s easy breaststroke whilst trying to not get your hair wet or run your make-up off then probably not. If it’s a coached session at a Masters club or triathlon club, then probably.

I don't think two hours swimming would be enough.
I'd also consider swimming lessons to improve your technique.

I'm very toned from only swimming and running. You have to do both properly though and it takes longer to build muscle than with weights. Using zoomers helps

Realistically you will lose some of the gains you have made, it's hard to maintain muscle as we got older even with strength training. Taking creatine and eating plenty of protein will reduce this but only a little. Swimming uaes the whole body but is low impact, and much more cardio than strength, plus good technique means doing everything you can to reduce water resistance. Adding paddles to increase resistance and doing aqua type moves in the water could be worth a try but may set off the same back issues.

What sort of strength training are you doing, and can you narrow down what specifically is causing the problem? It should be possible to work out a programme that doesn't trigger your back but you need to know what is going wrong. You may need to avoid some moves altogether (deadlifts and squats for example) or use machines which give you support for your lower back. Can your physio give you a programme to correct any misalignment and build the muscles needed to protect your lower back?

I wonder if a weightlifting belt might help @Smoll

No experience of using them myself but just an idea.

Thanks everyone, lots to think about and look into. I'm grateful.

I do breast stroke and backstroke and I go as hard as I can, perhaps not with the best technique. My arms ache the next day and I feel my core engage while I swim.

It sounds to me like the best course of action is:

1. Try to adapt gym routine using machines and avoiding certain exercises and maybe go lighter on the weights and up on the reps
2. swim one or twice a week anyway for the other mobility benefits
3. keep going with looking for cause/physio

thanks, will google these!

I swim for cardio and do yoga for strength. They are complementary exercises. Swimming can be good for when you've had injuries because the water resistance reduces the chances of hurting yourself further. That said, I have still managed to exacerbate issues with my shoulder when swimming. But a combination of yoga focussing on gradually returning strength and flexibility to my shoulder and regular gentle swimming (swapping strokes about depending on what hurts) helped.

I think it can maintain muscle tone but best when done at speed which is normally front crawl. I used to do 3 times a week swim 100 lengths front crawl each time and that maintained muscle tone very well. Doing 10 lengths of breast stroke won't do that much. It doesn't need to be for that long, an hour of swimming if at pace with only small gaps would be enough.

My personal experience is that nothing works like weights. I walk, swim and lift. I walk and swim daily, lift three times a week. I definitely get more out the weights than the other two combined.

No it won’t. Swimming is not a swap for strength. Neither is yoga- it’s a great accompaniment but not replacement.

There is something wrong with the programming, load, volume or your form with the strength training you are doing. You shouldn’t keep having back issues- it should be helping with that.

If you have a regular PT and you’re having issues and they aren’t addressing it, change your PT.