swim laps for cardio?

[Crazymank]

i had to skip back tonight. Just way to much... Bodies telling me to slow down.

I have to figure something out. Maybe while im swimming this much, i need to cut my back routine down to 1x per week.

 

[Get_Swole]

damn man 10 minutes to get your heartrate up? shit if i get on the elliptical and just bust ass at like 12mph and 10 on the level i can be at 150 in a matter of 2 minutes or less. Try just walking in the pool? ive done that before way harder then regular walking but also not crazy hard on your muscles plus really easy on your joints. Just walk as fast as you can from one end to the other if your pool is like normal gyms and isnt too deep.

 

[Crazymank]

lol!! yeah, it has something to do with my current foot condition. If i swam balls out, i could get my heart rate up in like 1 minute. Problem with that is if i accidentally hit either of my toes, i would go into shock from the pain and probley drown cause even all of the life guards they have on staff couldnt get my whale ass out of the pool!! haa haa.

Im going to try breast stroke today- just to try to hit 150 faster. Im benching later tonight, so i dont want it to mess with my 3 second pause routine.

btw... damn lats still feel tight. I wish i was on gear right now, cause im sure they'd be growing like wings.

 

[Crazymank]

swimming is a ball breaker!! F-breast stroke.

I tried to swim at a faster pace and burnt out my shoulders in 5 minutes. I couldnt continue to swim. So i resorted to swimming to the end and back. My heart rate was getting as high as 160, Id rest for about 10 seconds, heart rate would drop back down to 140, then id go again balls out again. I continued to do this for 25 minutes-got out of the pool and felt like puking my guts out.

 

[irishhammer]

thats good man means your burning lots of calories how much progress have you made any differences in your bf%?

 

[Crazymank]

I do think im leaner already. But seriously. Its only been a total of 3 swims so far. Im considering going every day.... but it think that may start cutting into muscle.

 

[irishhammer]

Doubt it man, as long as well you know how to figure your calorie needs mate you can still lean out and not lose muscle. Say your only eating 200 over your daily input your body will just burn away at the fat u know that bro. Human body loves fat easy way to store extra energy your bodys gonna go through that before it breaks down your muscle mass. Im thinking about adding in swimming to my routine see if I can add extra mass to my back and chest.

 

[Crazymank]

Im maxing out the hammer strength machines at my gym for back. I mean, i grew massive strength in the lat area over the last 2 years for some reason. But holly crap!! this swimming had my lats sore almost every day. I think it might be cause i never went beyond like 10 reps, and swimming obviously is non-stop lat. So im hoping this will develop my back even more. Maybe shred it up.

You guys ever look at mmx's profile pic? i want that.

Im taking your advice irishhammer. Im going to start every day now. Im a little less sore today, so maybe my body is adjusting.

 

[Crazymank]

Every consecutive day gets harder and harder. Today was a bitch. Its weird cause its fing grueling, but its only 20 minutes. maybe im just a pussy...

 

[irish2003]

when you build up your endurance....you can start doing sets.....start out like 10x25yds at 30seconds each for example.....all thru high school i swam anywhere from 10-15,000yds a day during morning and afterschool practices, plus weights.....i wonder why i looked like a gymnast and couldn't get over 135lbs my senior year...

 

[Crazymank]

I was wondering what people did in swimming. I can swim constantly for about 5 minutes, then everything swells up and the next 15 minutes is a bitch. The only way i can continue right now is taking a break, letting my hrt rate get back down to 140, and then swimming to the end and back. When my heart rate gets to 160, i feel like im going to drown...lol!!!

Going early today, I feel a ton of energy this morning. Not sure if its cause of the swimming, or my body finally feels better after my last cycle.

 

[MdTNT]

swimming is one of the most all around even work outs you can get, it works virtually every muslce in your body so dont just consider it cardio by any means...

Md-

 

[Crazymank]

Yeah, even my quads hurt after a week.. lol. Im swimming every day now. f-it.

If i swim in the short pool its 22 ft from one side to the other. I guess if i do 80 laps its 1 mile.

 

[Crazymank]

when you build up your endurance....you can start doing sets.....start out like 10x25yds at 30seconds each for example.....all thru high school i swam anywhere from 10-15,000yds a day during morning and afterschool practices, plus weights.....i wonder why i looked like a gymnast and couldn't get over 135lbs my senior year...

i cant even fathom doing 10-15,000 yrds a day. How long where you in the pool??

 

[irish2003]

i cant even fathom doing 10-15,000 yrds a day. How long where you in the pool??

anywhere from 2-3 hours each session......sometimes longer on saturday practices and days off from school.....i looked at a team photo that i was in on facebook and it's hard to believe i'm the size i am now....i walked around with I.L.S. every practice lol!

 

[Crazymank]

Thats insane!!! i think ill limit my time from 20-30 minutes. Im afraid that ill start burning muscle.

 

[irish2003]

ya.....i'd recommend a beginner workout of maybe 250yds warmup any stroke/no time limit, then 10x25 :60seconds each (so you sprint then rest however much time you have left of the 60seconds, then 250 cool down......each week you can challenge yourself by adding kicking only sets or pulling only sets if your pool has kickboards and pull buoys......let me know as you progress if you need help....like i said...i swam competitively from age 12 to 19 both YMCA teams and middle school and high school....went to nationals a couple times as well as high school state my jr and sr years (i got creamed, but at 5'5" what d'ya expect!)

 

[Crazymank]

Its been a week. Today was the first day i can actually see some progress. I felt damn good today, everything was tired, but for some reason i made it through the 20 minutes and didnt feel like puking after.

I also noticed my hrt rate is changing. Its coming down faster. So instead of waiting 20 seconds for it to come back down to 140, its only taking 5-10. The end result means im doing more laps in that 20 minutes. Im becoming very reliant on my monitor. If i didnt see my hrt rate is already down to 140, id say f-this!!! id never go for another lap. But seeing it, makes me want to do another lap, then once i start going i realize its not that bad.

Not quite sure how much weight i lost, cause i was 270 at my peak. I think i was around 262-264 when i started swimming. Today i was down to 255!! I know a lot of that is water weight, Im also hitting the steam room every day.

 

[Crazymank]

even though i felt great on friday, I was really over training. Went to bench on saturday and had a ton of strength loss. I've been having memory loss and a real hard time sleeping. All this didnt really sink in till sunday. I skipped cardio yesterday. Took some sleeping pills last night and finally got a good night sleep.

I decided to cut back. So im going to start alternating workouts. HIT training (swimming) 3 days a week and LIT (stairs) 3 days a week. And 1 day off from cardio.

 

[Crazymank]

Im going to deviate from the above plan, just for this week cause im getting the pins out of my feet. They have to cut them out, so i wont be able to swim for about a week.