What is a good beginner swimming exercise routine?

Question

So I've tried some exercise routines like running and jogging, and it's just not for me. I don't enjoy it and I dread going to the gym everyday. So I've decided to try to pick up swimming, along with my usual free weight lifting routines.

I've heard you can lose weight with swimming, and I've heard it's a terrible way to lose weight, but great way to build muscle. Anyone actually know if it helps lose weight?

But still, I'd love to build some muscle and I think I'll enjoy swimming. Can anyone help me build a good workout I can dive (pun!) into and maybe improve on with enough experience? I just don't know what I should do distance wise or how often in order to get some decent results, within, say, a month or two.

I have a YMCA membership, so I have a regular size pool (whatever that may be) to swim in. And before you start using technical terms, I don't have much experience with swimming, so dumb things down if you have to.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Answer 1

Well it depends, You can swim basic 50 meters aka going their and back... of free-style, breast-stroke, back-stroke, and butterfly.... if you have trouble with butterfly you can take a kick board and just practice the kick by keeping your feet together.

Answer 2

First of all, swimming is great exercised and a good way to build muscle. As for losing weight, I swim on a seasonal team and find that I lose a lot of weight fast at the beginning of the season (usually like ten pound in three or four weeks) but then level off and don't lose too much more after that.

As for a workout, a standard pool is usually 25 yards or meters, so a fifty is there and back a 100 is four laps and so on. I would start with about a 300 warm up of free style (or front crawl, whatever you call it, just swimming nice and slow and relaxed without stopping) and a 100 of any other stroke (back stroke, breast strokes- the frog stroke- or butterfly if you can do it). Then try doing 200-300 yards of kick using a kick board, alternating fast and slow every fifty (in other words, do one 50 at a normal pace and then sprint one). After that, I would do timed sets. Time yourself doing a fifty at a pretty fast pace (not sprinting, but not slow either- just enought to make you pant a little) and then add about twenty seconds to that time and set that as your pace. Say for example you did a fifty in one minute, you would set your pace at about 1:20. Try doing ten 50's at that pace. (So if you're doing ten 50's on the one twenty that means you would start with the second hand on the 12, swim there and back, and go again when the second hand hits the 4, swim there and back, and go again when the second hand hits the 8, ect.). You should have to work pretty hard to keep your pace on these. If you find you're not having to work at all or if your getting like thirty seconds of rest, then you need to make your pace faster. After you work out you should always swim down AT LEAST 100-200 yards.

For a beginning swimmer, a good work out is between 1000-2000 yds/m, and you should start seeing and feeling results pretty quickly if you do that a couple of times a week. It may take you a couple of practices to work up to that much, or that may be too easy for you depending on your skill level. As you start getting used to swimming you should increase your yardage. A 1650 is a swimmer's mile, and a competive swimmer does about 6,000-8,000 yds a day. I hope this helped. I think in trying to simplify things I may have over-explained some things or left some things out, but I tried to make it as easy to follow as possible.

Answer 3

Pretty much the same situation.  Can't wait to see some responses.

Answer 4

To answer the first question , yes swimming is great for losing weight and for building muscle . What my team did , if this appeals to you , was to do a long , some what relaxed warm up , followed by a series of faster paced shorter exercises.

The YMCA pool is most likely a 25 meter pool , so for a warm up try a 400 meter easy swim , don't stop during the 400 though. After that try either repeat 50 meter swims or all out 25 meter swims. If your into more long distance swimming , try repeat 100 meter swims.

Also , try to change things up from day to day , don't just do 25's every day.

Hope this helped =).

Answer 5

To comment on the weight loss thing, swimming is a great way to lose weight if you don't over eat.  I can swim for thirty minutes and be hungrier than if I cycled or ran for an hour.  It's easy to come home feeling extremely famished, and then over eat and ultimately not lose anything.