Maybe this question sounds a little crazy, but it's been bugging me, so I thought someone on here might be able to help.

I've been swimming 1-2 miles everyday (25-60 minutes). When I tell ppl this, they are shocked/impressed/whatever. I know that for some this would be a great distance and burn lots of calories, but I just feel like I am barely burning anything. I am never tired or out of breath (or even really breathing heavily) during the swim.

As a former competitive swimmer I am worried that perhaps my technique is such that I conserve energy a lot and don't burn very much swimming? Is this possible?

I really don't know the answer to your questions but if you do the same exercise all the time, after about 4-6 weeks it stops it's benefits, you reach a plateau. You need to either start swimming for longer periods, more intensely, or just change your workout all together by doing some other type of cardio, like walking or running, biking. You should also do some weight training to supplement your workouts...

I also found this article which explain very well why we don't burn as many calories swimming as other activities...

Maybe you could start using swimming as a cross training exercise as mentionned in the article...

Hope this helps, good luck keep us posted on your progress...

1760 yards in 25 minutes is pretty impressive, though certainly not a crazy pace for a former competitive swimmer (decent 500 time in my high school was in the 6 minute range). It's definitely not something I'd expect most people to be able to do.

As a former competitive swimmer, your good technique does make you more efficient at covering a given distance than a less accomplished swimmer. So yeah, you're burning fewer calories in 50 yards than the dude in the next lane sputtering and floundering. But, in the time it takes him to do 50, you've done 100, and he's pretty much spent and can't do any more while you're cruising on to 2 miles.

Are you swimming the 1-2 miles straight, or are you mixing up set durations and intensities? Go back to some of your former workouts, or look some up online. Maintain your current distance, but try some sprints, mid-paced sets, and longer sets on different days. Or check out a local Master's swimming club, for adults over the age of 18. I have a friend who just joined one, and she's had a great experience with it so far.

I don't know the answer to your question, but can relate. I was swimming regularly for some time. Usually about a mile but up to 2 miles. I got the same responses from people, but never felt tired after a swim. I did find that I don't lose weight as fast swimming as I do running, cycling or on the elliptical. But everyone is different. My best friend lost 35 pounds by swimming.

I have good form as well (though I'm not nearly as fast as you) so I feel like I don't get as good of a workout as the person next to me who is thrashing around in the water, giving everything they have.

I used to swim as my main source of exercise, but I have now gone down to only doing it once or twice a week. When I do swim, I keep track of how many laps I am swimming in a given time limit (usually 1 hour) and I try to increase the number of laps each time. This way, I end up forcing myself to go faster, thus making me actually lose my breath and feel the burn.

I swam 2 miles in just under two hours! I realized after swimming two hours and feeling like I could do more, it was no longer the exercise for me. And speeding up wasn't working.

I work by perceived exertion. Whatever I do, I need it to be difficult to hold a conversation. My running keeps getting faster because of this. Spin class is great because it's constantly all about perceived exertion. Anything that is easy for me personally I consider light cardio, which is fine, but not what I'm after most of the time.

I agree that if it isn't exerting you that much, it isn't good for cardio. However, if you look at swimmers, their bodies are amazing because of the toning and muscle build that swimming creates. So, it kind of depends on what aspect of exercise you are going for.

I think it's entirely possibly you are conserving your energy and not burning very much. As another former competitive swimmer, I remember doing 3,000 or 4,000 yards - of sprints - during practice.

1650 at a comfortable pace doesn't really compare to that type of workout. I don't know how long it's been since you competed, but you probably still have a some of that muscle from years ago and excellent form still.

When I was competing, I probably could have swam at a comfortable pace all day long and not been tired. Now drills were another thing...Can you get more into that mentality? Does your pool have a clock, so you can time yourself and maybe do sets of 100's for part of your work out? If you just want to do 1650's maybe try to pick up the pace a lot and see if you can get your time down...or you could try cycling, doing one fast 500, one slower 500, one faster 500. Sort of like an interval thing?

thanks for all the great suggestions and info!

the pool i swim at is pretty crowded so it can be frustrating to do sets, however with the cold and now that i have scoped at the non-peak times, i think i am going to start doing more complicated workouts that include some pace work.

i am also thinking about doing some drylands. a necessary evil i think.