Swimming.......?

Question

How many laps should i do in an average length swimming pool in order for sucessful weight loss?

Answer 1

Swimming is very low resistance and lots of repetitions. The only way you can increase the effective resistance is by pushing harder against the water... i.e., try to go faster.

It's not the number of lengths. You can swim all day at barely a snail's pace and it will do you less good than the walk from your car to the pool. You might burn calories staying warm, but that's about it.

That's not to say you have to be an Olympic Swimmer to lose weight, but you have to keep improving. Either increase the repetitions (longer distance at the same pace) or increase the resistance--push harder (longer distance in the same period of time).

I know a guy who lost a bunch of weight in a very short time.... solely by swimming. Did a hard kicking workout early for an hour in the morning. Did a long, slow, stretching workout with concentration on strokes for an hour at noon. In the evening he worked out with a Master's team for an hour and a half, and then worked out with an Age Group team for two hours. Except for the noon "warm up" every minute in the pool was pretty high intensity. And we're talking about 6 hours... each day.

Most people can't afford that amount of time. So they cannot hope to get those results. Most people can't handle that amount of intensity. They too cannot expect to get the same results.

Captain Ransom Arthur, the guy who started the Masters swimming program, did so because a lot of his patients were dying... not from illness but because they were just out of shape. He figured that swimming was the best all-around sport. It's low impact and is something anybody can do. But, from experience, you have to be some kind of nut to swim up and down some stupid black line for hours on end. So he created the Maser's swimming program to induce people to improve.

So, in answer to your question, it depends on what you can do now. If you can do a mile (minimum) in 30 minutes (maximum), then push for a mile in 25 minutes... or try for 2,000 yards in 30 minutes. (A mile is 1760 yards).

If you can only take one hard length, then rest a few seconds before trying another one hard. Maybe stick in a slow length. Then try to decrease the rest and the number of slow lengths.

An incredibly strenuous workout is a "run-swim-run." You take a distance, say a quarter mile ... beaches are good for this... run the distance, then swim the distance, then run it again, then swim it again. Sandy beaches really make this a workout.

Whatever you do. go for improvement. I've seen people in what's called "aqua aerobics" at a local gym who have been doing the same lack of work with the same lack of effort for over a year. And they're still fat and out of shape. It's not the fault of swimming. It's the fault of the gym for not working them. It's also their own fault for not trying to improve.

Keep in mind that about a year ago, the President's Council on Physical Fitness posted an article that if you don't get your pulse rate up [the purpose of the warm up] and keep it up for at least 20 minutes, you're not getting any significant cardiovascular benefit from the workout.

That means that you won't be burning fat either.

Kicking is harder. it uses up oxygen faster. It uses larger muscles. But it also burns calories faster.

If your strokes suck... or if you're worried that they might, that will inhibit your ability to work out. Take lessons from a qualified coach. In 1969, a group of American Swimming Coaches Association members got together in Washington, D.C., and developed teaching progressions by which American Red Cross swimming instructors could teach competitive strokes. So there should be somebody out there to work with your strokes. But I've also seen so-called "coaches" and "instructors" who only know what they've read in a book somewhere. They cannot tailora stroke to you.

When you get a stroke down, improve efficiency. One way to do that is to count your strokes one length. Rest a few seconds, and then try another length but with fewer strokes. Make each stroke as perfect as you can.

Another thing I've seen people do is waste seconds on their turns. You don't need to do flip turns... a good flip turn beats an open turn, but a good open turn beats a bad flip turn. But the idea is not to hang on the wall.

If you're working out in a short pool, less than 25 yards, most of your time will be pushing off the walls. It's a waste of time. If you can get a 50-meter pool... you're going to get a lot of swimming time compared to turn and glide time.

If you don't get out of breath, you're not working.

Find somebody to work out against. If they're faster than you, try to keep them from lapping you (catching up with and passing you). If you're faster than they are, see how many times you can lap (catch and pass) them.

Equipment... Until you go competitive, any suit will do. Don't spend a lot of money on gadgets. There are hand paddles that increase resistance in your arm stroke. You can get swim fins called "zoomers" that do the same for your kick. You don't need them. I would invest in a pair of goggles. If you spend more than $10 you're getting ripped off. I got three pair of good goggles for about that amount and gave one pair that didn't fit to a guy with whom i swam. If you get a good pair, they'll last you almost forever. I have a apair i've had since the late 1960s. I've replaced the head band and the bridge a couple of times... but they fit me and still keep out the water.... and I wear contact lenses.... so if I pop a contact, the goggles keep them from getting washed away in the water.

Answer 2

Swimming is great great excercise but if you feel that you are really unfit then it's worth working on your cardio vascular fitness before going in to the pool to make sure that you can maintain a decent effort level for the duration. If you just paddle up and down then the weight won't come off as fast as you'd like.

Starting off on the machines with someone there to motivate would be more productive. It's boring and excrutiating but a few 20-30 minute sessions on a concept2 rowing machine or maybe an aerobike will get the system back on track and prepare you for the pool.

If by average length you mean 25metres, then 60-80 lengths in sets of 20, varying strokes and maybe using a kickboard and pullbouy to target muscle groups is a good target and should keep the weight off. There again I see people at the pool who really should be taking swimming lessons rather than doing lengths so that's another thing to think about.

Answer 3

My pool is 25 ft. I swim in it every other day. I started out small only doing 40 laps. Every week I added 20 more. I am now up to 200 laps a session. When I first started I would swim 4 and then rest for a minute or two. I now swim 10 and then rest for a minute or two. It usually takes about 40-60 minutes to do the 200 laps. That is about 1/2 mile.
As for results they are great. As soon as I started swimming my arms started looking really good. I can't believe the difference. My legs and stomach also received a good toning. I really liked the overall result.

Answer 4

You really need to swim for 1/2 hour to 1hour around 30/40 laps. I did 30 laps and helps to really tone body but you have to diet or eat healthy to lose weight, swimming alone won't help unless you have healthy eating plan as well!

Answer 5

In swimming, there is not a singnificant weight loss, its a alot of muscle biulding, but a great amount of exercize it may take some time b4 you actually notice big results, but a good lap amount for starters would be around 15. good lucK!

Answer 6

The many times going on previous annoying of “swim” is “swam”: “I swam to the island.” even though, while the be conscious is preceded with the aid of a assisting verb, it transformations to “swum”: “I somewhat have swum to the island every day.” Have is the assisting verb here, hence "swum" could want for use. Swam and swum are the two previous annoying. Swim is contemporary annoying and destiny annoying.

Answer 7

swimming is the worlds greatest exercise...but i got a few things for you to do...

do at least 35-45 minutes of it...and swim one lap tranquilly...then burst hard on the next one...this up and down throttle on your heart is the best way to loose wieght...

the other major piece of advice is....you will become very very hungry...deny yourself to over eating and you will be amazingly successful.

Answer 8

Do as much as your body allows you to