V5

Can't be helped - not often you swim round corners!!

SteveV-WRX

V5

Im a Manager at a West London Sports Facility. Similar to a couple of people above I was also a county swimmer and lifeguard.

I have a lot of contacts in the SW area of london and know of some very good instuctors that may PT depending on where you are.

a couple of posts above give probably the best answer so far, if you are swim training to loose weight and/or muscle build you are looking at a minimum 45 minute fartlek (intensity) and endurance session. The distance is pretty much irrelevant for what you are trying to do it all goes on your current specific fitness level and works on from there.

If you would like any more specific help or advice please get in touch at my work email s.veevers@imperial.ac.uk

Steve

V5

Cheers Steve. All offers of more knowledge greatfully received. I probably won't get a chance today, but I'll email you with some more details about what I'm up to etc.

It's gotta be said, this place can be fantastic! I've been inundated with offers of help and assitance. Fab!

Thanks again, guys and gals.

Iain

dba

some good advice Steve,cheers

I was wondering what the optimum programme was for me,i swim 4 times a week and didn't know whether to swim like a mad **** for 30 mins or plod like a fat **** for an hour

you said 45 mins,so bang in the middle

Popeye P1

Swimming is best way to get fit. Exercises all you're body muscles.

V5

Gitbags!

After this morning's workout in the gym I did a short (500m) swim doing intervals of sprint and slow alternate lengths. It was harder!! Checked my heartrate at the end and it was about 128bpm, so 67% of my MHR. Not entirely sure I'm looking forward to trying at least 1000m of it tomorrow.

SteveV-WRX

just to give you a bit of an idea of what you should be doing.

about 10 - 15 minutes of low intensity main stroke just to get the HR and lungs opened up and working.

then any combo of the below would work well;

pyramid on either time or distance, e.g.
keep the distance the same (50m/100m) and time yourself, decrease this by a realistic target (2-3 sec) 3 to 5 times so on the last one you will be aiming to be somewhere between 6 and 15 seconds faster than the first distance (and feeling it!!) do this in reverse back upto your original time.
rest period should be just enough top get your HR to about middle fat burning zone and during exercise pushing up into anaerobic.
as you get more competent you can increase the pyramid size past 5.
distance is the same principal but obviously on lengths.

doing a set distance (500 - 1000m) each length vary the amount of breaths or strokes that you are doing per length (PL). this does not have to be a gradual increase or decrease as above and will be of more benefit if you massivly vary.
the more breaths PL you are doing the slower you should do the distance and nearly sprinting with the minimal breaths. (as an idea I get upto eight stokes per breath over 50m, this should hurt!)

alternate legs only, arms only and full stoke, with and without the kickboards or pullbouys (fig of 8's that go inbetween your legs)
again variety of lengths/times/intensities will work better than just poodling along.

hope this helps and if anyone wants specific training plans or advice i take payment in beer or chocolate muffins!

Steve

SteveV-WRX

just as an afterthought.

please remember to do a proper cool down at the end of your sessions, especially if you are following any of the above advice and playing with intensity training.

if you do feel ill or faint when doing any exercise please stop and speak to either the lifeguards or your GP and dont blame me because i will just laugh at how weak you are!

CarpetCleaner

its very good if you are constipated. mate on hols was bunged up and ended up doing lengths in the pool after a shed load he got moving

dba

thats too complicated for me Steve,thanks anyway

i think i will just continue to float with style and wave my arms about a bit

V5

LMFAO @ dba floating with style!

Steve, cheers for that. If I can find my waterproof watch I might give the time pyramid a go. Don't think I'll give the hypoxic swim a go - there aren't any lifeguards at our pool and I do sometimes end up swimming alone.

I think I'll give the sprint interval workout a go tomorrow. I'd like to aim for a mile, but I'm not sure I'll be able to 'sprint' for half a mile! LOL

andym172

Just thought I'd add one more thing that I don't think has been mentioned:

If you're wanting to lose weight/fat, try to make sure you swim in a warmish pool - swimming in cold pools often results in the body adapting by storing fat so that you don't lose too much heat, hence why salt water swimmers are usually quite 'tubby'

V5

Andy - it is quite a warm pool.

Well, I decided to be sensible and only do 1000m of intervals. It was quite hard work! My heartrate was about 124bpm at the end, so into the 'fat burning zone'.