Free style or lap swimming?

This will depend on your level of inspiration, health, flexibility and overall buoyancy. It is possible for you to burn calories at a rate of about 3 calories a mile per pound of bodyweight. Let’s suppose that you weigh 150 lbs. and that you can swim one mile in 30 minutes (1,760 yards or 1,600 meters). At this rate the energy expended will be nearly 900 calories in one hour. This would be the typical scenario for a seasoned athlete who practices routinely. Many people will fall somewhere between this tall example and something far shorter; such as this: someone in their later 40’s who has never swum a lap in their life!


If you are just recovering from an injury, or have some condition such as weight that may limit your ability to glide through the water you may wish to start out just treading water, move to where the water is just a bit too deep to stand without tipping, Tuck your knees up behind you and move both arms in a figure 8 under the water on a horizontal level plane while trying to keep from touching the bottom. This is harder than it might sound. Keep your breathing steady and pace yourself. Start out trying to remain afloat for just 5 minutes… when you have worked up to 20 minutes you will be much stronger and ready to proceed with some forward swim strokes.

You will want to ask the life guard on duty for any specific rules that the pool has for lap swimmers. Be sure to stay in your designated lane and try your best to go the length of the pool before stopping. Mimic other swimmers as you learn. The front crawl is a very useful swim stroke to master. Use a swim cap if your hair gets in the way. You may wish to glide through your laps doing a side laying kick stroke. Life guards are great about explaining simple techniques and strokes to new comers. You need not feel funny for taking a bit of their time to inquire on how to accomplish a particular stroke that you see someone else doing or that you would like to learn to do yourself.

Remember why you want to do this!

I believe the answer is to get into much better shape, save your joints and feel better about yourself. This is just the beginning. With regular practice swimming will build your endurance, your muscle strength and your heart health. You may use swimming as a cross-training element. Before a land workout, you can use the pool for a warm-up session.

Swimming with increasing effort to gradually increase your heart rate and stimulate your muscle activity is easily accomplished in the water. After a land workout, swimming a few laps can help you cool-down, move blood through your muscles to help them recover, and help you relax as you glide through the water. On the other side of this argument for swimming are those dry land exercises that will help you become a better swimmer. For information on these and to learn specific swimming techniques that will enhance any level of fitness that you may have please log on to www.swimplan.com This website will allow you to design your own specialty routine which will never become mundane or boring!

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