Since it seems we have some experienced swimmers here I’ll throw this question out there. Some guys mentioned the “skinny fat” swimmers, I’ve heard that that comes from the fact that because the water is cold the body adapts by increasing its subcutaneous fat levels…any truth to that?
an aside: I used to swim competitively when I was younger and I still swim when I can especially in the summer and it is one hell of a workout. After a few laps of butterfly my chest is pumped.
The main source of power in swimming comes from the rotation of the body, the same as swinging a baseball bat, or a golf club. A person that is more muscular is able to achieve greater power out of that rotation.
I have also heard that swimming causes the body to increase its subcutaneous fat levels and it seems to be true in my 17 years involved with the sport.
[quote]OneMoreRep wrote:
Since it seems we have some experienced swimmers here I’ll throw this question out there. Some guys mentioned the “skinny fat” swimmers, I’ve heard that that comes from the fact that because the water is cold the body adapts by increasing its subcutaneous fat levels…any truth to that?
an aside: I used to swim competitively when I was younger and I still swim when I can especially in the summer and it is one hell of a workout. After a few laps of butterfly my chest is pumped. [/quote]
I may have exaggerated when I said “skinny fat.” Still, many of the best swimmers I have known aren’t ripped. They’re long, tall, and slightly above 10% bodyfat. The swimmers I do know who are ripped or strong have gotten that way because of what they’ve done with their diet or what they’ve done in the weight room. Swimming will put your cardiovascular system through one hell of a test since you don’t get to breathe nearly as much as you do in any other sport. Swimming will also make you better at swimming. But Swimming isn’t a very good tool for someone who wants to alter their body composition. If you want to look the same as you do now but be more fit, then swimming would be a good choice.
[quote]OneMoreRep wrote:
Since it seems we have some experienced swimmers here I’ll throw this question out there. Some guys mentioned the “skinny fat” swimmers, I’ve heard that that comes from the fact that because the water is cold the body adapts by increasing its subcutaneous fat levels…any truth to that?
an aside: I used to swim competitively when I was younger and I still swim when I can especially in the summer and it is one hell of a workout. After a few laps of butterfly my chest is pumped. [/quote]
People that eat like shit, look like shit… even if they work out. I’ve heard the subcutaneous fat thing too, and I’d say its fairly limited. I’ve seen more six packs on swimmers than in any other sports.
Butterfly isn’t my stroke, but even a couple laps leaves me spent. The guys that swim 200 butterfly are nuts. Hell, even they refer to it as the 200 dead moth.
First of all cool to see lots of good points from some pretty experienced people. I swam competitively through my freshman year of high school (I’m 20 now). FightingScott, I think you’ve been removed from beginners for too long though if you think this is truly a “beginner” swim workout.
[quote]FightingScott wrote:
If you just want to get into swimming
Then 25 = 1 pool length.
For a beginner swimmer:
200 Yard Warm-up
5X 100 IM on 2:00 interval
3X 200 Free on 3:45 interval
2X 25 Free Sprint from Starting Blocks
100 Yard Warm-down
[/quote]
Every time I’ve gotten back in the pool after any layoff of 3-6 months or more (and it’s been at least 5 times) I’ve been hard pressed to complete a set as simple as 10x 50 Free on 1:00 minute intervals. One thing we always did was just take however long it takes you to do a 50, and then take 15 seconds rest and repeat. Make sure you’re pushing yourself. If you want more intervals than do each 50 like a race and take 30 to 45 seconds in between.
A couple other things:
I think you see so many ripped swimmers because they just plain don’t eat enough, I remember your average high school teams spending 3 hours a day in the pool, getting your heart rate up for that long will burn a ton of calories no matter what, but it’s probably no good for building muscle. The only swimmers that build lots of muscle and are lean do it with resistance training and lots of attention to diet IMO.
I think a really good place for swim cardio in your routine is during the first 48 hours after a leg workout. During this time I’m usually too sore to run, and swimming will kick your heart rate way up without using a lot of leg muscles like was said before. But I would never totally replace running/sprinting/dragging a sled, something leg intensive. Ideally I get one of each type of session in per week.
*EDIT: For those of you who have never competitively swam, and don’t know much about form, whatever you do BEND YOUR ELBOWS when you pull down with your arms. If you extend them straight down into the water like a windmill you will absolutely nuke your shoulders like you wouldn’t believe. (wouldn’t be a bad shock principle thing I guess though)
[quote]Asgardian wrote:
FightingScott, I think you’ve been removed from beginners for too long though if you think this is truly a “beginner” swim workout.
FightingScott wrote:
If you just want to get into swimming
Then 25 = 1 pool length.
For a beginner swimmer:
200 Yard Warm-up
5X 100 IM on 2:00 interval
3X 200 Free on 3:45 interval
2X 25 Free Sprint from Starting Blocks
100 Yard Warm-down
[/quote]
I was doing that at least when I was like 12.
For someone whose totally deconditioned cardiovascularly and
can’t do Butterfly at all I would recommend that they just work up to swimming 500 yards without stopping on the wall or the bottom of the pool.
[quote]Asgardian wrote:
I think you see so many ripped swimmers because they just plain don’t eat enough, I remember your average high school teams spending 3 hours a day in the pool, getting your heart rate up for that long will burn a ton of calories no matter what, but it’s probably no good for building muscle. The only swimmers that build lots of muscle and are lean do it with resistance training and lots of attention to diet IMO.
*EDIT: For those of you who have never competitively swam, and don’t know much about form, whatever you do BEND YOUR ELBOWS when you pull down with your arms. If you extend them straight down into the water like a windmill you will absolutely nuke your shoulders like you wouldn’t believe. (wouldn’t be a bad shock principle thing I guess though)[/quote]
I agree with your first statement. Totally agree.
The thing about the elbows, you’re kinda making it sound like you’re doing a kickback in order to move yourself, which is terribly inefficient. Try to think about tunneling yourself through the water. All Olympic races have cameras under the swimmers. See how their elbow bend matches their hip rotation. You’re moving through the water like a drill bit.
Haha, well yeah so was I after about 2 good weeks of breaking back into it, but even after track season without swimming regularly for a few months I wouldn’t have been able to repeat that.
Well maybe my description in words wasn’t very good, but between your two sentences of explanation and any youtube video like this:
Everyone will get the idea. (Just thought it was worth putting here even if it saves one person some serious frustration and unexpected DOMS)
[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
Swimming is damn hard work, especially if you lack the Bouyency provided by fat. Fat is less dense than water of course, which is why oil floats on water.
Swimming is not recommended for cutting because the body tends to adapt by actually storing subQ fat. I don’t know if this is in response to thermal loss or to improve Bouyency levels.
Bushy[/quote]
The body doesn’t adapt like that.
[quote]bushidobadboy wrote:
FightingScott wrote:
bushidobadboy wrote:
Swimming is damn hard work, especially if you lack the Bouyency provided by fat. Fat is less dense than water of course, which is why oil floats on water.
Swimming is not recommended for cutting because the body tends to adapt by actually storing subQ fat. I don’t know if this is in response to thermal loss or to improve Bouyency levels.
Bushy
The body doesn’t adapt like that.
You know, I hear you, really I do, but I’m positive I read a fairly convincing study (maybe more than one) that said for equivalent calories burned through exercise, swimmers had a higher proportion of sub Q body fat. Of course there could be numerous factors at play like nutrition or rest, but these were proper athletes, not just serious recreational exercisers.
If it wasn’t for that, and other ‘evidence’ (I use the term lightly, lol - mostly what I see of swimmers physiques (great shape but not that lean IMO)), I would totally agree with you. Nature it seems, may see things differently. I can’t say for sure, even in my own mind, so I’m not going to try and convince anyone else, lol.
Bushy[/quote]
Cause and effect just doesn’t occur like that with induvidual adaptations. Swimmers are not as lean as other athletes, that’s true. Their ideal bodyfat is about 3 percent higher than the ideal bodyfat for other sports, but their ideal bodyfat is still pretty lean.
Swimmers aren’t as lean as sprinters, wide receivers, and middle-weight boxers not because their body senses that they would go faster in the pool from having slightly more fat, but because swimmers don’t burn up that fat and people who are genetically pre-disposed to be world class swimmers carry that tiny extra 2 or 3 percent of bodyfat that allows them to be more boyant. If you go from being a runner to a swimmer, the reason you’ll get less ripped isn’t because your body is adapting to have a better composition for swimming. Your body is just not burning as much fat.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Swimming is hard as hell and good competitive swimmers have good physiques but I see a lot of really fat swimmers that can swim forever.[/quote]
I agree. But even the elite swimmers are not extremely lean, whereas elite gymnasts are.
My casual observation is that swimming doesn’t seem to help people get lean. I swear my neighbor’s son got more subcutaneous fat after he got into swimming. Not getting chubby like some kids do, just looking smoother all over.
I may be wrong, but that’s what it looks like to me.
After a while of practicing a certain type of sport/ exercise, the body will make adaptations to make it the most efficient at performing whatever task it is being asked to perform. Lift weights, you will get stronger and increase muscle size. Run 10 miles a day and the body will attempt to lose mass, as it is easier to run with less LBM.
As for swimming, it is a fact that bodyfat increases buoyancy, so it would follow that the body would adapt by holding on to fat. As a former competitive swimmer, I can at least say that this was true based upon my observations. Even if you look at Olympic swimmers, they are in good shape, but I would hesitate to call them ripped. And their training is oftentimes hours a day spent in the pool.
[quote]TJ4473 wrote:
After a while of practicing a certain type of sport/ exercise, the body will make adaptations to make it the most efficient at performing whatever task it is being asked to perform. Lift weights, you will get stronger and increase muscle size. Run 10 miles a day and the body will attempt to lose mass, as it is easier to run with less LBM.
As for swimming, it is a fact that bodyfat increases buoyancy, so it would follow that the body would adapt by holding on to fat. As a former competitive swimmer, I can at least say that this was true based upon my observations. Even if you look at Olympic swimmers, they are in good shape, but I would hesitate to call them ripped. And their training is oftentimes hours a day spent in the pool.[/quote]
WOW… Level 5, 12 posts, this obviously must hit close to home. Anyway, again I’ll say, swimming is great cardio when your legs are too sore to run, and that’s it. Otherwise there are better ways to skin the cat that is losing body fat.
[quote]FightingScott wrote:
The main reason you won’t burn many calories is you’re moving yourself with the smallest muscles in your body. Cardio where you use your legs makes it a lot easier to burn 500 calories than cardio where you propel yourself 90% with your Arms. [/quote]
I read that your legs are more efficient in the use of Cal burning and your upper body is not, that is why you get so hungry after swimming…
Don’t remember where I read it…
Just a thought
Yea, I swam in high school and enjoyed it despite the fact that I sucked. The “nuke your shoulders” got a laugh out of me cause my elbows were not exactly bent like they should. About three years ago I gave about two months of 6 one mile work outs a week basically with alot of sprints(50m and 100m free). Got more confident in the water and my breath control was much improved. Got a bit drained, cause I was doing it solo and with no input. When back to hiting the weights, I found that I had never been weaker. I did learn good lessons about frequency and intensity though, in improving performance that is. I can atest with the legg/hip dominant cardio/sprints/weights contributing to getting shredded.
[quote]BHCS18 wrote:
Where’s spade, you didn’t drown did you mate?
An Zap, how fast were they swimming? ;)[/quote]
Not super fast but there are a bunch of really fat guys that swim countless laps at our community pool. I cannot keep up with them.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
BHCS18 wrote:
Where’s spade, you didn’t drown did you mate?
An Zap, how fast were they swimming? 
Not super fast but there are a bunch of really fat guys that swim countless laps at our community pool. I cannot keep up with them.[/quote]
I also know quite a few serious cyclists and even some road runners older than 30 who can’t keep off the fat despite being very active. Their bodies have just completely adapted to whatever cardio they do, and has become so efficient at the activity that it’s no longer a good means of changing body composition.
Hell, if you haven’t swam much before, then swimming might be a good way to lose weight because you’ll be struggling the entire time to stay afloat. Your stroke will be pretty inefficient so you’ll be expending a lot of energy to keep moving.