Swimming vs bike/eliptical crosstrainer for cardio

[SwolK]

Hey guys,
Im so sick of doing cardio in the gym. i have joint problems, so i have been doing bike and the eliptical crosstrainer. I really can't stand to do much more. So I have started swimming, but i heard it is not as good as the bike and treadmill. When i swim it feels like it is even better! What do you guys think about burning fat/cals swimming vs the treadmill, eliptical, or bike?
thanks

 

[SwolK]

come on guys, someone has to know if swimming is good cardio compared to the others

 

[BOOEY]

Depends if you're doing laps at a slow pace or high intensity swim sprints. Swimming is great, but it shouldn't be your only form of cardio, maybe once or twice a week. Too much of it coupled with weight training can definitely lead to some overtrained muscles. Swimmers are usually ripped to shreds, but they are scrawny fucks too.

 

[SwolK]

thanks for the reply, im doing somewhere in the middle of what you described. im swimming at a moderate pace. enough to make me heart rate increase. after 30mins it feel like i have just done 30min on the bike- worn out.
any more replys would be appreciated

 

[Synpax]

Hi,

Lets talk science. Consider your cardio activities in terms of multiples of your resting energy expenditure (MET). If you are doing nothing, lying still, your MET is 1.

Jogging at a 12 minute mile pace (that's practically walking fast) is 8.7 MET. Swimming continously, however, is a mere 7.0. Running at a 7 minute mile page is a 14.5. That's more than twice your swimming rate.

It is true that swimming will make you feel worn out - in part because it works so many of your muscles so completely. However, it is difficult to get your heart rate up as high as you would when you are running, just as it is difficult to get it up very high when you are doing heavy lifts. Swimming is sort of a half-way between weight training in cardio (ok, maybe it's a lot closer to cardio than to weight training, but you get the picture).

It is hard to get a good cardio workout without using your legs vigorously. However, you can try rowing machines if your leg joints are hurting. Rather than stopping running entirely, try mixing it up a little and not doing it quiet as often.

One more thing -your joint problem may be a result of your shoes (yes, even if you are on an eliptical). Consider going to a running store where they can do stride/gait analysis.

Good luck and be sure to let us know how things go.

(link to some documentation: http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cach...+cardio+swimming+versus+biking&hl=en&ie=UTF-8)

 

[SwolK]

Thanks i appreciate that advice. I have had 2 knee surgerys and just had a screw put in my foot. so the impact of jogging is a litttle much right now. i think i will rotate swimming, eliptical, and bike thoughout the week.

 

[Scotsman]

Other problem with swimming is it can keep you body temp lower and prevent some fat burning. Though it is a great workout for the whole body and isn't a bad idea to do on a periodicity basis.

Cheers,
Scotsman

 

[Clean]

Other problem with swimming is it can keep you body temp lower and prevent some fat burning. Though it is a great workout for the whole body and isn't a bad idea to do on a periodicity basis.

Cheers,
Scotsman

I disagree with swimming keeping your body temp low and preventing fat burning. I swam in pools as low as 65 degrees when the heater wasn't working, and yes it sucked at first. However, I like it to be around 74-78 degrees depending on my workout. We swam aerobic and anaerobic sets and you sweat your ass off if you are doing anything worthwhile in the pool. If you think it is too cold, you aren't doing anything IMO. If you don't lose weight, your diet is not proper. We ran and did weights but swimming was by far the best. Muscles are more striated and flexible. I don't swim competitively anymore, but I know several people on college teams and alot of them aren't skinny wusses like you would think. If you can get yourself a good swimming workout your results will be phenomenal.

Edit: If you are interested in swimming, I will gladly write you a workout

Clean

 

[Clean]

Swimmers are usually ripped to shreds, but they are scrawny fucks too.

You are ignorant, they are not skinny fucks, I don't know what swimmers you know.

 

[Synpax]

I disagree with swimming keeping your body temp low and preventing fat burning. I swam in pools as low as 65 degrees when the heater wasn't working, and yes it sucked at first. However, I like it to be around 74-78 degrees depending on my workout. We swam aerobic and anaerobic sets and you sweat your ass off if you are doing anything worthwhile in the pool. If you think it is too cold, you aren't doing anything IMO. If you don't lose weight, your diet is not proper. We ran and did weights but swimming was by far the best. Muscles are more striated and flexible. I don't swim competitively anymore, but I know several people on college teams and alot of them aren't skinny wusses like you would think. If you can get yourself a good swimming workout your results will be phenomenal.

Edit: If you are interested in swimming, I will gladly write you a workout

Clean

It is very hard to isolate, especially in an anecdotal situation, exact causal relationships. I'm exceptionally hesistant to offer up my experiences to establish such relationships.

Anyway, in terms of using calories, it should be pretty easy to determine the effect of temperature, ceterus paribus. The "How does temperature affect calories burnt when swimming" question sounds like a good 6th grade science project.

My hypothesis would be the colder the water, the more calories you would burn, because your body uses more energy to keep itself at the 98.5 degrees. Consider - ifyou aren't swimming, just sitting still in water, what would burn more calories - 50 degree water or 80 degree water?

 

[Scotsman]

I disagree with swimming keeping your body temp low and preventing fat burning. I swam in pools as low as 65 degrees when the heater wasn't working, and yes it sucked at first. However, I like it to be around 74-78 degrees depending on my workout. We swam aerobic and anaerobic sets and you sweat your ass off if you are doing anything worthwhile in the pool. If you think it is too cold, you aren't doing anything IMO. If you don't lose weight, your diet is not proper. We ran and did weights but swimming was by far the best. Muscles are more striated and flexible. I don't swim competitively anymore, but I know several people on college teams and alot of them aren't skinny wusses like you would think. If you can get yourself a good swimming workout your results will be phenomenal.

Edit: If you are interested in swimming, I will gladly write you a workout

Clean

I read that somewhere the water can keep you from achieving peak fatburning due to lower body temp. I wasn't trying to say that you don't burn fat at all. Also thanks for the offer, but I am a powerlifter and not terribly interested in getting leaner or doing a lot of cardio. Swimming is a great workout but possibly counterproductive to my current goals.

Cheers,
Scotsman

 

[Clean]

of course, if you just sit in cold water, your body temperature will go down. That's why I hate to hear people complain that the water is too cold; it is because they are not doing anything. If all you wanted to do was a kick set (kickboard) or threshold swimming, you will definitely feel the burn and I bet most people could not finish the set without having to take a break. My swim coach trains football players and I have seen them get out of the pool and puke because it was so strenuous. What is the point of sitting in cold water though? My body is always tighter after swimming. If you want to run then run, but whatever you decide to do then do it like you want it. There is nothing wrong with swimming every day or 4 times a week. We worked out 3-4 times a week, swam ever afternoon, and even doubles a few times a week (swimming twice). I did not see many overtrained muscles as BOOEY is convinced of. He sure knows next to nothing about swimming, as is obvious. College swimmers usually swim 4 hours a day, split into two practices. They workout, they have muscles, do you think they would do it if they were being overtrained. Of course if you start out doing it everyday then yes you will probably hurt yourself.

Sorry for the rambling, BOOEY just makes me irritated at how little he knows but still talks like he does. I would give you red just for being an idiot.

 

[Clean]

I read that somewhere the water can keep you from achieving peak fatburning due to lower body temp. I wasn't trying to say that you don't burn fat at all. Also thanks for the offer, but I am a powerlifter and not terribly interested in getting leaner or doing a lot of cardio. Swimming is a great workout but possibly counterproductive to my current goals.

Cheers,
Scotsman

I understand, I don't know the science behind it, maybe you do, sounds interesting though and I will try and research it. I am not too sure if it will help or not help your powerlifting, but my coach trained football players (the good ones), so it must have helped them. Thanks for the info.

Clean

 

[SwolK]

CLEAN karma for you. and i would be interested in more information or if you could even write a swimming workout.
thanks to everyone who replied with different opinions and information

 

[Clean]

swolk, pm me and I can help you out if you want to swim bro.
Thanks for everyone else's input as well.

Clean

 

[BodybuildingUniverse]

Swimmers are usually ripped to shreds, but they are scrawny fucks too.

srawny compared to you?

 

[Lee]

swimming is much more of a cardio workout then running, biking, stair stepping, and ellipticals.

 

[BOOEY]

hey jackasses, show me a built swimmer with quality mass ... they appear to look built b/c they are so damn ripped, but in fact there lbm isn't as high as one would think

 

[BOOEY]

and to get back to my point, having swimming as your only source of cardio can lead to overtraining your muscles b/c it demands such an effort from almost ALL muscles. if SwolK did 4-5 days worth of swimming and weights, he would lose much of his size (lbm)

 

[Scotsman]

I understand, I don't know the science behind it, maybe you do, sounds interesting though and I will try and research it. I am not too sure if it will help or not help your powerlifting, but my coach trained football players (the good ones), so it must have helped them. Thanks for the info.

Clean

It would be great for general fitness for sports so I can see the carry over for football. Now I am just trying to keep my weight up and build more mass.

Cheers,
Scotsman

 

[thumpcbd]

I disagree with swimming keeping your body temp low and preventing fat burning. I swam in pools as low as 65 degrees when the heater wasn't working, and yes it sucked at first. However, I like it to be around 74-78 degrees depending on my workout. We swam aerobic and anaerobic sets and you sweat your ass off if you are doing anything worthwhile in the pool. If you think it is too cold, you aren't doing anything IMO. If you don't lose weight, your diet is not proper. We ran and did weights but swimming was by far the best. Muscles are more striated and flexible. I don't swim competitively anymore, but I know several people on college teams and alot of them aren't skinny wusses like you would think. If you can get yourself a good swimming workout your results will be phenomenal.

Edit: If you are interested in swimming, I will gladly write you a workout

Clean

I agree with this statement as well. As an ex-competitive swimmer, it is rare to find a scrawny collegiet swimmers. Althought the muscles aren't bulky in the weightlifting sense, there are very big folks who swim.

Swimming, however, is usually done best in a group. I would recommend not swimming by yourself, since you will just be swimming laps without a plan. Just like when you go to the gym and workout you know what your plan is (what muscles to hit, pace, intensity, ect) you need to plan for swimming as well. A good done by a coach who knows what he/she is doing will help anyone out immensly.

Casey

 

[UA_Iron]

Ultimately its all your diet that will determine how much fat you will carry on your body. Dont let these people tell you that you wont be able to build muscle if you swim, thats just preposterous.

In your case swimming would be a great exercise because of the minimal joint impact.

If someone notices a "scrawny" swimmer could it be due to the fact that this person doesnt lift weights. Someone jumped to conclusions when they made that statement. I see a ton of males in my gym who lift 3-4 times a week-yet they are still scrawny.

My neighbor is a swimmer, and swims 4-5 times a week. He has great development in his upper body. This person also works out 3 times a week and can do dumbbell flys with 65 pound dumbbells, and he is always increasing/improving on other lifts.

they appear to look built b/c they are so damn ripped....but in fact there lbm isn't as high as one would think

LBM = fat free mass. Ripped = Low body fat. How can someone who is ripped not have a high LBM? Clearly a lack of thought put into that statement.

If you've found a cardio activity you actually enjoy, you're golden.

-UA_Iron

 

[Clean]

hey jackasses, show me a built swimmer with quality mass ... they appear to look built b/c they are so damn ripped, but in fact there lbm isn't as high as one would think

you are a fucking idiot, seriously

 

[gymtime]

I disagree with swimming keeping your body temp low and preventing fat burning. I swam in pools as low as 65 degrees when the heater wasn't working, and yes it sucked at first. However, I like it to be around 74-78 degrees depending on my workout. We swam aerobic and anaerobic sets and you sweat your ass off if you are doing anything worthwhile in the pool. If you think it is too cold, you aren't doing anything IMO. If you don't lose weight, your diet is not proper. We ran and did weights but swimming was by far the best. Muscles are more striated and flexible. I don't swim competitively anymore, but I know several people on college teams and alot of them aren't skinny wusses like you would think. If you can get yourself a good swimming workout your results will be phenomenal.

Edit: If you are interested in swimming, I will gladly write you a workout

Clean

It's not that low body temperature "prevents" fat burning. However it does make the process less efficient than other types of cardio. The body burns fat less efficiently at lower temperatures. That is a fact.

Swimmers are among the best athletes in the world IMO. However, I'd wager that precious few of them have ever dealt with significant weight problems. In other words, most of them swim for the love of the sport, for the overall health benefits etc. I doubt that hardly any of them do it primarily as a weight loss tool, which, when people talk about cardio, that's what their focus is.

Ultimately, there is no "best" cardio. The goal is to get your heart rate up for extended periods. How you do that is up to you. It's best not to focus on which excercise is best, but simply choosing one and putting in the time.

 

[Clean]

and to get back to my point, having swimming as your only source of cardio can lead to overtraining your muscles b/c it demands such an effort from almost ALL muscles. if SwolK did 4-5 days worth of swimming and weights, he would lose much of his size (lbm)

Then how do swimmers have any size then, I mean they MUST overtrain, right??? hmmm.....ignorance is not bliss

 

[BOOEY]

haha, i did not know you were apart of the Human Rights for Swimmers Association, uh oh watch out ... the point is, if he's weight training and using swimming for cardio 4x week, he's going to lose a lot of muscle, but hey whatever suits you.

 

[SwolK]

thanks for all the replys guys. i weight train 5 days a week. swim about 3 and do bike and eliptical 2. how does that sound?
BOOEY, you are saying that if i weight train and swim 4 days a week i will loose muscle? im not saying you are wrong, it just does not make sense to me

 

[BOOEY]

No. Maybe an example would provide better illustration to what I am saying. Say you work your shoulders with weights on Monday and you really hit them hard, heavy weights low reps, blah blah. Ok, then you swim on Tuesday and Wednesday. That's definitely going to tax your shoulders, in fact, it may even overtax. Which is why I said in my first post, that swimming as your only form of cardio isn't samrt because it can lead to overtraining. No one can convince me that swimming does not tax your muscles hard, b/c it does. Your muscles need time to heal and grow, thats why noone in their right mind trains the same bodypart on consecutive days.

 

[SwolK]

that makes sense, thanks

 

[Clean]

No. Maybe an example would provide better illustration to what I am saying. Say you work your shoulders with weights on Monday and you really hit them hard, heavy weights low reps, blah blah. Ok, then you swim on Tuesday and Wednesday. That's definitely going to tax your shoulders, in fact, it may even overtax. Which is why I said in my first post, that swimming as your only form of cardio isn't samrt because it can lead to overtraining. No one can convince me that swimming does not tax your muscles hard, b/c it does. Your muscles need time to heal and grow, thats why noone in their right mind trains the same bodypart on consecutive days.

so I should go tell all the college swim coaches not to have their swimmers weight train and even swim 4 hours a day, 6-7 days a week. Whatever...

 

[BOOEY]

Tell them whatever you want. SwolK isn't trying to be a professional swimmer. He's looking for cardio options, and I'm assuming (or at least I hope he is), that he's looking for the best scenario to keep all his muscle.

 

[SwolK]

Thanks Clean and Booey
i see both of you points. im going to weight train 5 days a week and swim maybe 3 and do bike and eliptical 2
and yes, i do want to keep my muscle