Fat Burning Cardo(swimming?) etc

[Acemanhattan]

Been trying to get some info to put together a fat burnging program for myself. I was shocked to find that swimming, as great as everyone says it is, apparently gives poor results as far as fat loss goes. Curious if anyone has experience with that, and thinks otherwise or agrees.

What are your thoughts on interval training on a stationary bike, or on an elliptical machine? How would my results differ, and would anyone suggest MULTIPLE cardio sessions daily? I am thinking 2 30min interval sessions daily one poss on the bike the other on the elliptical. I cant run cause I had ACL surgery on AUG 1 so treadmill is not really an option. I am hoping to combine that with some circuit lifiting (havent done much research on that). Does this sound reasonable any thoughts?

[qdmcg]

please list your sources for where they say swimming is poor for fat loss. there is tons of misinformation out there, and as far as cardiovascular exercise, swimming (i suspect) would be very helpful.

[Martina]

Swimming builds you "soft" muscle, and I wonder if that is the reason your sources think it takes less time.

I like doing a stationary bike exercise about 1 hr/session and 3 times a week with multiple programs; hills(i.e increasing resistance) or endurance.

I also suggest doing weight training about twice a week when you are not doing your cardiovascular workout, since muscles are natural fat burner. Therefore after a few months of doing both, you'll have your regular cardiovascular workout and your muscles working for you while you are idle.

[Splendour]

This is just a guess here so I may be wrong, but I can see swimming as bad for fat burning because fat keeps us warm. Maybe the body can resist fat loss when it feels the temperature of the water. Animals like whales and walruses have to have fat/blubber to survive in cold temperatures.

[goodguy_1]

-it has been shown thru research that swimmers in general have higher bodyfat %'s than other endurance athletes.

-also swimmers tend to eat more post workout in many studies vs. other endurance athletes leading to higher bodyfat%'s.

-fat makes you more bouyant which naturally makes it easier to float and swim. Woman definetly have an edge in this category because they have higher bodyfat% and carry it in their hips where it helps them to float better.
In studies I have read it appears that swimming in cold water and the body's natural tendency to store fat when exercising in colder temperatures causes this extra layer of fat.

-like any other endurance event sprinters thu who train by doing intervals of shorter distances will have more lean muscle mass and less fat than those that do long slow workouts. Look at the best olympic sprinters bodies male or female they are strong and lean.

-i've also read that swimmers burn more glucose than other enduarnce athletes and so they get out of the water feeling starved and hungry as a horse..compare this to running where your appetite is surpressed for an hour or two.


-swimming is a great all-around body workout but is not a great way to lose bodyfat unless you really work hard. If you are extremely overweight you will lose fat with regular workouts but probably stall out with your weight loss unless you include other forms of exericise ie strength training, core work or other cardio.

-the best way to lose weight is to combine strenght training and cardio incl. swimming.

-swimming also works many muscles in your body-mostly back, arms specifically triceps, upper chest, your core and legs but you dont really blast one area of your body all at once say like when you squat or bench.
The intense stress placed on your muscles via strenght training forces your body to burn more calories in recovery ..this happens somewhat in swimming but not like in strenght training where your metabolism is raised for long periods of time post-workout burning fat.

-I personally have noticed that by adding lots of core work and strenght training exercises using my own bodyweight ie pullups, situps, dips etc that my bodyfat% has gone way down.. My metabolism has risen ..if I really went full out and lifted again heavy I would no doubt lose more bodyfat% but technique wise it might hurt my swimming and bodybuilding is not really my goal.

- I also have decided to focus more on speed work at shorter distances ie 50, 100, 200 meter freestyle, some fly instead of longer intervals of 500, 1000 or say 1/2 hr non-stop swims...the reason is that longer bout of endurance training can easily break down muscle unless you are carefull with your nutritional planning..ie now I take protein supplements and always replace glucose stores during and always immediately after swim workouts ie accelerade/endurux.

[ottsville]

I've recently read exactly what goodguy says in point 2: swimmers tend to eat a lot post workout.

I do a lot of distance cycling and notice the same thing among cyclists. Both these sports seem to stimulate the appetite. If you are just starting either one, you'll probably lose some fat%, but there may be other activities that are better.

However, doing shorter workouts 2x or more daily will probably lessen the appetite stimulation. Some studies have recently shown that 3 10-minute cardio workouts are as good as one 30 minute on. Some even say it's better due to the repeated lingering boost to HR and metabolism.

[cbloom]

Well let's not get too silly. Lots of exercises burn calories. If you eat a ton afterwards, guess what, you won't lose weight. Calorie differential = weight difference.

Swimming and cycling are both basically low intensity steady state cardio/endurance exercises and thus don't really build the big muscles.

Most people who do them seriously tend to push until their bodies have very low blood sugar, which is not the ideal way to workout for body composition change, you never want to really reach that "starving" state.

If you're just trying to look better you can of course do intervals of either swimming of cycling. A lot of people who swim a ton of laps will just get into a relaxed groove and have good technique and can just glide without a lot of effort; since you're not fighting gravity your calorie burn can be very low if you're not pushing.