300lb +? The perfect exercise for you! - PLEASE READ!

[Helena_HastingsUK]

SWIM NOT GYM

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While swimming today I was thinking how much better it is than the gym
- especially for super-sized people!

• There is no strain on the joints

• You can do all your stretches and warm-up, but underwater

• You stay in one place instead of having to climb off one piece of equipment and climb on to another to do a different exercise

• The permutation of strokes, movements, speeds and moods is unlimited ..

• ... and you can change from one to another in the blink of an eye

• You can devise movements which exercise any muscle in your body (for example, today I worked out a way of mimicking an abdominal exerciser)

• You can make the exercise 'cardio' by swimming a length or two at high speed till you are out of breath

• When out of breath you can simply float or 'sit' in the water till you have recovered.

• With your ears under the water you can hear nothing, and are free to let your thoughts meander

• I can swim without having to talk to anyone, and I am left alone to think my own thoughts

• You emerge feeling fresh and clean instead of hot and sweaty

• You walk straight into the shower without having to get undressed!

• There is no annoying pop music blaring at you

• There are no annoying TV screens displaying moronic daytime TV

• There are no vain 'musclemen' posing with weights

• I don't have to see fit people cycling fast while I puff and pant to do 5 minutes on level 1.

• Nor must I watch them using machines I'm too fat to use.

• In the water fat people are more equal: I can swim better and faster than some thin people

• Nobody watches you - they cannot really see your fat body when you are under water

• Mostly, you see only the other swimmers' heads and are not intimidated by their thin, fit bodies

• Many of my fellow swimmers are fat, saggy, old or wrinkly

• Under the water, my tummy feels almost flat!

Bountiful Babe

[Desertthorn]

Great post. Its good for us older folks also

[TheNewSpartan]

Swimming is alright, it gets some of the job done, but will not suffice for maximum effort.

There is no strain on the joints

That string on your joints and ligamnets is needed, because your body will strengthen them.

You stay in one place instead of having to climb off one piece of equipment and climb on to another to do a different exercise

If you want to burn fat, There are 3 main exercises that will get the job done effeciently. Unless you are a body builder, all those little cocentration exercises are worthless.

You can make the exercise 'cardio' by swimming a length or two at high speed till you are out of breath

Yeah carido maybe, but for fat burning you want to be working your muscles full force, and the biggest muscles are on your bottom half, thats why running will burn more fat and keep it going all day.

I don't have to see fit people cycling fast while I puff and pant to do 5 minutes on level 1.

Some my not like seeing those people, I do, Gives me a goal

[Helena_HastingsUK]

Stunned and shocked!

I cannot beleive that, of 99 people who read my piece, only two replied, and one of those was totally negative AND seemed to miss my point - it is totally stupid for anyone weighing 300+pounds to jog or run as it puts unbearable strain on the knees and ankles.

[artgirl7]

Just a note from a hard core exerciser...

While I recommend you begin your workouts slow and steady, try various exercises. Swimming is a great exercise and will work many areas of your body but you do need more variety and higher impact.

I suggest that you walk 3-4 times a week and swim the other days. Walking will help build your muscles and your stamina, in time you can begin brisk walking. Walking is probably one of the best exercises you can do. If you have trouble with you knees and joints, begin on a tradmill or rubber track versus payment or concrete. Buy yourself an excellent pair of running/walking shoes, it will be the best investment you can make.

When I first started, I could barley walk up hills and go for more than 30-40 minutes. After two weeks of walking everyday, I was up to one hour. My knees and joints hurt alot when I started but it wasn't because I was out of shape, but because my 5'4 body was carrying 200 lbs. I started to run and walk once I lost about 20lbs. It was not easy and sometimes I could only run for 10 minutes, walk 10 minutes and so on but after time, I was up to running 5 miles a day. Only since the weather has changed, have I gone indoors to run on the treadmills and eliptical machines.

So, keep working hard and keep working out! Many times on this board we may not like what we hear, but it comes from people who have been doing this WOL for awhile and know what works. Best of luck to you!

[Christina]

I did my first aqua class the other day... I loved it! I still used the treadmill before hand, and my regular workout. The gym has aqua classes 2 times a week, so it's good to add it on to my regular work out :yes

I considered it after I read your post aswell. So I came back to post! :hug

[love2beeamom]

Just wanted to add that I think swimming is a good exercise that is also very fun.. I enjoyed adding some swimming to my other workouts last summer. I read your post and was jealous, kept thinking how I wish I had somewhere to swim before summer.

[siksak]

Just want to ad a little tip. Buy a pair of flippers and use them together with your normal swimming scedule.
hard stiff flippers = hard work ( but take care that they can bend a bit or they are no good for surface swimming.
Swimming with a pair of flippers will increase the amout of exercise and wil open up for some new exercises that you can do in the water.( more things you can do = less boredom)

Get a styrofoam-board (don't know the english term for that ) and take laps on your stomach, holding the board in front of you using only your flippers to propel you. That wil surely take care of your lower body muscles, put some impact in your exercising and get your heartrate up :yes . It also helps exercise your knees.

lie on your back and keep your flippers together and try to swim like a dolphin using your stomach as the main focus point. the first time you do this you properly wont be able to make a lap, but keep it up. :icondance

or just play around

Have fun.

[shawnee]

I swim 2500 Metres a day 5 days a week (1&1/2 Miles)
I do this in around 1 hour in a 50 metre olympic pool which means a good steady pace & flip turns at every turn.

Health & exercise professionals all agree that swimming is the ultimate all aerobic, calorie burning exercise

The water is the most pefectly designed workout machine in the world, the faster you swim the more resistance you get. Slow down & the resistance decreases

It is totally nonimpact (no injuries) endurance building activity & if you ramp up the speeds it becomes anerobic strength building too.

The people here that are pooh poohing it probably coudn't swim 500 metres straight w/o a break so need to listen to them

Swimming rocks & is a great starting point for severly obese people to get them exercising again w/o injury

I do also run, lift, use a Nordic Track as part of my regular program BUT swimming is my CORE exercise! & for all around health it is the BEST of them all. I have been swimming at my current pool for close to 10 years & it is 80% the same people in the morning that I started w/10 years ago.

It is an activity that you can continue to do as you get older, Nobody runs or lifts or goes to the gym consistantly for decades(trust me maybe a couple of years max) but regular swimmers do keep it up & the number of extremely healthy older people you see at the pool is because they have been swimmers for decades as their core activity too!

If you swim every day YOU WILL BE HEALTHY

[dave318]

I started off by swimming, but it only lasted about two weeks, then got into the gym and (gasp) running.
The swimming was certainly good and I built it up over those two weeks. (I was swimming at least 3 times per week.)
I know what you mean about the jogging thing though. My DW and I have started a program to run 10K in 13 weeks. I am still over 19 stones and, although quite fit for my size, I do worry a bit about my joints. Especially my knees. My DW is worse than me for her knees, but we have persevered and are now on week four and still on track.

As for swimming though, I am not very good at it, as I have never liked the water. I can only do the breast stroke, which bores me after a while. I also get lane rage if the pool is busy and you get the good swimmers going up and down with no thought or care for other swimmers. If they are that good, surely THEY can move out of your way quicker than you can get out of their way.
I saw one guy, obviously a fast swimmer, come in one busy day. There were kids, old women, and people like me just trying to get a lane to go up and down slowly in. He jumped in and started Front Crawl at a great pace of knots, causing splashes and kicking water up behind him. He got about half way of this 25m pool, when he had to stop because someone was in front of him. He did this 3 or 4 times, then stood up, threw his goggles and float (obviously trying to improve leg technique) to the side of the pool and climbed out in a huff, muttering obscenities under his breath. Needless to say I was not the only one to make comments to him as he left.

Anyway, enough of me. I would say to you, if it works and you enjoy it, keep it going. Any exercise where you raise your heart rate is good enough, so don't let the anti swimmers get you down.

David

[Emo_Boy]

I swim 2500 Metres a day 5 days a week (1&1/2 Miles)
I do this in around 1 hour in a 50 metre olympic pool which means a good steady pace & flip turns at every turn.

Health & exercise professionals all agree that swimming is the ultimate all aerobic, calorie burning exercise

The water is the most pefectly designed workout machine in the world, the faster you swim the more resistance you get. Slow down & the resistance decreases

It is totally nonimpact (no injuries) endurance building activity & if you ramp up the speeds it becomes anerobic strength building too.

The people here that are pooh poohing it probably coudn't swim 500 metres straight w/o a break so need to listen to them

Swimming rocks & is a great starting point for severly obese people to get them exercising again w/o injury

I do also run, lift, use a Nordic Track as part of my regular program BUT swimming is my CORE exercise! & for all around health it is the BEST of them all. I have been swimming at my current pool for close to 10 years & it is 80% the same people in the morning that I started w/10 years ago.

It is an activity that you can continue to do as you get older, Nobody runs or lifts or goes to the gym consistantly for decades(trust me maybe a couple of years max) but regular swimmers do keep it up & the number of extremely healthy older people you see at the pool is because they have been swimmers for decades as their core activity too!

If you swim every day YOU WILL BE HEALTHY

Actually I can think of 3 exercises right off the top of my head that burns more calories than swimming. I have read fitness books galore now ~ but I do understand what you are saying. But the above person is not talking about consistent swimming with flip and turning back towards the end of the pool!

Also - exercise doesnt do much unless it is 30 or more minutes of medium-high intensity aerobic exercise. You must be breathing *somewhat* harder for exercise to work. Aerobic is WITH OXYGEN ... without breathing somewhat hard it means nothing.

[mkline71]

The swimming pool can be more intimidating than the gym. This is especially true for guys that are 300+. I weigh 265 now and I still am not comfortable with taking my shirt off at a pool. I know some guys are ok with it.

I go to gold’s gym and these days the majority of people have mp3 players and no one looks down on anyone else.

Swimming is great if you like the key to anything is consistency. As long as we move and exercise consistently everything will fall into place.

[Richt]

The swimming pool can be more intimidating than the gym. This is especially true for guys that are 300+. I weigh 265 now and I still am not comfortable with taking my shirt off at a pool. I know some guys are ok with it.

I go to gold’s gym and these days the majority of people have mp3 players and no one looks down on anyone else.

Swimming is great if you like the key to anything is consistency. As long as we move and exercise consistently everything will fall into place.

I totally agree with mkline71. I am only just at the stage now where I am comfortable taking my top off in mixed company.

[Emo_Boy]

The swimming pool can be more intimidating than the gym. This is especially true for guys that are 300+. I weigh 265 now and I still am not comfortable with taking my shirt off at a pool. I know some guys are ok with it.

I go to gold’s gym and these days the majority of people have mp3 players and no one looks down on anyone else.

Swimming is great if you like the key to anything is consistency. As long as we move and exercise consistently everything will fall into place.

I totally agree with mkline71. I am only just at the stage now where I am comfortable taking my top off in mixed company.

And I agree with both of you. Swimming - not my cup of tea.

[dreamof145]

I LOVE SWIMMING. When I first started this WOE, I was physically unable to walk very far (arthritis in knees and out of shape and had ruptured disks in my back when I started walking). I used the pool every day. I agree that the pool was a life-saver for me. As I felt better and became more physically able to walk and do other exercising, then I added them to my routine. But, had it not been for the swimming that didn't cause pain to my knees, back and feet, then I don't think I would have gotten as far as I did.

I think it is an individual decision and for those who can swim and like it, then it is an option to use if they are unable to walk or exercise.