Hi Guys,

I've decided that since everyone says swimming is such good exercise I'd sign up for lane swimming and aquafitness with a former coworker. Anybody else swim alot?? Any tips you found useful when you were starting out??? I haven't been swimming in ages, but I remember LOVING it when I was younger.

I found out freestyle is a lot harder than I remembered. When I swim laps I do mostly breaststroke now just because I don't have the stamina to bust out some continuous freestyle anymore.

I agree with Brooksrm. I'm taking swimming classes to improve my form in free style & to learn some of the other strokes that got by me, years ago.

Thank goodness I've been doing other cardio work, because swimming laps has been extremely difficult, one of the hardest exercises I've ever attempted, & I don't know whether I'd be doing well at all if I hadn't built up some slight endurance before starting the classes.

I used to be on swim teams through out my whole child hood, and when i graduated high school and started gaining all my weight.. and also picked up smoking.. (not too proud) when i try to swim now, its very difficult. however, the most important thing is to remember to breath, and if youre swimming for exercise its not a race, so dont burn yourself out on the first few laps by going too fast or trying to hold your breath too long. a VERY good stroke to try is butterfly, its pretty difficult but it will def. work your shoulders and back. (this was my signature stroke for races) another thing that may help is to plan out your numbers before you go, so you have a goal to obtain and can see progress.

Example - one length of the pool is considered 25. so just from one side to the other, so there and back, is considered a 50... ect. start out with something like... "today im going to do.. a 200 freestyle"

i remember doing 800's for warmups on the team, i can barely do a 300 now. upsetting. lol.

I was also on swim teams growing up, I did manage to get on the team at college. When I go back to swimming every few years, I am shocked at how my body remembers everything. I definitely have had to work on my strokes a little bit, and my speed... well what speed is more like it! But overall it wasn't too hard for me. I would take it slow at first, and keep going! It's always tempting to stop to rest, but you want to push yourself, I always pull out a kick board when I'm starting to feel tired, your legs can take a lot! Good luck!

-Aimee

Okay, so lots of you were swimmers, I also have a non - weight related question.

Did you guys wear any type of headgear?? I'm worried that my hair is going to get crazy dry and I'm in the process of trying to grow it out.. like a lot, so should I wear a cap? Is it going to fall off half way through my laps? Is it going to make my forehead really itchy??

I wear a cap, it never comes off, make sure your hair is dry when you put it on! I feel weird when I swim without a cap, I guess from all the years of having to wear it. I never had my head get itchy from it, or maybe I block it out?

-Aimee

yeah a cap is a good idea, it doesnt come off, the hardest thing is getting it ON. it helps if you line the inside with baby powder before you put it on, so it doesnt pull your hair. i never had an itchy problem either!

Just me, when I was on swim team, I always hated the cap. It helped with speed, and I do remember it pulling on my hair and being uncomfortable to get on.
I used the cap more because I had swimmer's ear about every other week growing up. So I had to wear ear plugs and pull the cap over my ears to keep the ear plugs in (doctor mom's orders). Which still didn't work well. For anyone with swimmer's ear, I don't recommend ear plugs because in my case it trapped the water in and made things worse.

One more question..

There's a lot of debate as to whether or not swimming really is good weight loss exercise or not. Any thoughts? Am I wasting my time if my main goal is to swim to lose?? Don't get me wrong I enjoy swimming but, time wise, if it's not going to help with my weightloss right now, I will not make it a priority.

swim a few laps, and see how you feel when you get out of the pool. it will exhaust you in ways you didnt know were possible. it IS one of the best exercises out there, because depending on the stroke - youre working all your muscles, not to mention youre in the water so its easy on your joints. if youre not ready to sleep for 3 hours after you do some laps, then youre super woman. (or you didnt do enough laps. lol)

I just started swimming this year. took classes in february to learn the basics of strokes. i can freestyle the entire length of the pool one way if i really focus on my breathing but i try to focus on swimming half lengths for about 30 minutes. i've found that it's AWESOME for weight loss. i've been tracking my progress and the weeks where i swam twice a week I lost more than the weeks I didnt swim at all. i can feel it aerobically, not just because i've been holding my breath, but because i'm working my heart. i also love the burn it gives me in the arms, shoulders, abs, and legs. i think swimming is one of the most fun and effective forms of exercise. plus, submerging yourself in water helps expel sodium which helps with water retention and weight loss (i read that somewhere).
i wear an old fashion swim cap but my hair still gets wet of course. my hair dresser says just use a really really good conditioner every time after and swim and your hair should be great. i have really coarse hair and use Paul Mitchell Super Charged conditioner and my hair's doing just fine.

anyway, go swimming!

I don't swim but I go to Aqua aerobics..it's an awesome workout and so much fun!

Thanks so much guys!

A silicone cap won't pull your hair as much as one of the cheaper rubber ones, and usually lasts longer too!!