[Fiend]

In my case, specifically for calorie burning and weight loss.

Yes/no??

A lot of sites I've just googled rank it quite highly for calories / hour, more so than the current gym bollox that I do.

[tomtom]

Great for shoulders too I would imagine... can't see it exactly being bad for the core either..

Sadly I'm shit at swimming. I wish I could get as good as friends/ex's who've swum regularly and seem to be able to 'get in the zone' and just pile on a load of lenghts as if in some sort of metronomic trance. Its always a struggle for me

[mrjonathanr]

Great for shoulders too I would imagine...

It's an overhead sport so can be pretty hard on shoulders, not good if you've impingement issues. More moderately I believe it's good for strength and ROM of shoulders, good for fatties if you make an effort rather than keeping your hair dry doing breast stroke at 1mph whilst having a chat to your mate 2m away like quite a lot of older ladies who frequent the pool I use.

[shark]

It's bad for skin. MTFU. Pull heavier weights. Eat better and less.

[Dolly]

Agree.
Despite his species Shark is right.
Isnt there some old folklore about not stressing the same joints you use in climbing but in an unweighted environment ?

[lagerstarfish]

stressing the same joints you use in climbing but in an unweighted environment ?

that's wanking whilst lying down, right?

[Oldmanmatt]

Nah, it's great for active rest. The great thing about it is you can make it as hard or as gentle as you like (ooh, er, missus. I meant the swimming).
Also shoulder issues can be catered for in the choice of stroke / use of floats.
Never given me any skin issues.
And cross over or not, it's not a good idea to let your aerobic fitness slip too far and running is a damn sight more stressful to joints/spine than swimming.

[ducko]

its good, i go swimming good for burning off weight,
just vary your style when swimming and dont go mad, even if you do breast stroke at a moderate pace your still burning calories off!

[moose]

Sadly I'm shit at swimming. I wish I could get as good as friends/ex's who've swum regularly and seem to be able to 'get in the zone' and just pile on a load of lengths

Swimming can just  "click". I had a swimming phase when an elbow injury precluded climbing (and being on the dole meant it was free). Initial sessions were horrible, I swam like a bronze anvil, weaving through mother-and-toddler groups like a drunk crossing a six-lane highway. After an hour of moist flailing I would barely manage twenty lengths. A few weeks later, I was casually cranking out fifty lengths in half an hour.  I don't think it was due to improved fitness, more just timing - coordinating breathing and movement. That said, although getting better at swimming was gratifying, as soon as I could  climb at all I dropped it like a red-hot turd.

[BB]

If done properly, swimming shouldn't be about the shoulders. It should be a matter twisting your core and pushing with the lats. Most people who  can't swim very far before being destroyed (myself included) are using shoulders and biceps to pull themselves through the water which is damn hard work.

My girlfriend has been having ocean swimming lessons and after altering her technique is now able to swim faster, for longer distances using fewer strokes and practically removing the need to kick, which is useful for triathlons. Mentally hard to change your swimming style though as you initially get worse!

[Fiend]

It's bad for skin. MTFU. Pull heavier weights. Eat better and less.

My skin is already fucked and when I've swum more regularly in the past it's made no difference. I'm already maxing out weights after 4 reps (plus a lot of the sites I've looked at don't rate this as highly as swimming). I've improved my diet hugely since coming to Scotland and am still doing so.

As for MTFU, yes great banter etc, haha. It does start to grate a bit when I am already trying hard to deal with fitness shit and am just wanting to find out about the various possibilities....I generally value the views and experience of people on UKB hence me asking on here.

Now can you please move this to Diet Training And Injuries, ta. I have no idea how I posted it here.

[Fiend]

Generally I've found it fine on the shoulders. I'm not really too concerned about that based on past experience. I used to do it fairly regularly as active rest but gave it up because nowhere in this god-forsaken 3rd world hole does £3.50 swim+sauna like S10 did. I am just interested in the fat burning side of it since I can't run.

[tomtom]

I've improved my diet hugely since coming to Scotland and am still doing so.

Phrases you dont hear very often about moving north of the border....

gave it up because nowhere in this god-forsaken 3rd world hole

Thats more like it

[battery]

I swam a lot when I was injured last year. It's fantastic for fat burning and I found it quite calming too. I had an ankle injury and wasn't able to kick so I put a float between my legs which actually increased the effort needed and burnt more fat!

Last time I went a couple of months ago Bellahouston and Gorbals were £2.80. Free parking, lanes for different speeds, clean facilities, friendly staff and a jacuzzi. You can pay extra for the sauna etc. but I never bother so have no idea how much it is.

On a different note, I'm intreagued by this and would love to know more...

 

If done properly, swimming shouldn't be about the shoulders. It should be a matter twisting your core and pushing with the lats. Most people who  can't swim very far before being destroyed (myself included) are using shoulders and biceps to pull themselves through the water which is damn hard work.

My girlfriend has been having ocean swimming lessons and after altering her technique is now able to swim faster, for longer distances using fewer strokes and practically removing the need to kick, which is useful for triathlons. Mentally hard to change your swimming style though as you initially get worse!

[slackline]

On a different note, I'm intreagued by this and would love to know more...

 

If done properly, swimming shouldn't be about the shoulders. It should be a matter twisting your core and pushing with the lats. Most people who  can't swim very far before being destroyed (myself included) are using shoulders and biceps to pull themselves through the water which is damn hard work.

My girlfriend has been having ocean swimming lessons and after altering her technique is now able to swim faster, for longer distances using fewer strokes and practically removing the need to kick, which is useful for triathlons. Mentally hard to change your swimming style though as you initially get worse!

Sounds like...

[andy_e]

Is your girlfriend an eco warrior training to free all the world's killer whales?

[shark]

My skin is already fucked and when I've swum more regularly in the past it's made no difference. I'm already maxing out weights after 4 reps (plus a lot of the sites I've looked at don't rate this as highly as swimming). I've improved my diet hugely since coming to Scotland and am still doing so.

You mean you used to have sugar on your deep fried pizzas 

As for MTFU, yes great banter etc, haha. It does start to grate a bit when I am already trying hard to deal with fitness shit and am just wanting to find out about the various possibilities....I generally value the views and experience of people on UKB hence me asking on here.

 

Now can you please move this to Diet Training And Injuries, ta. I have no idea how I posted it here.

 

[lagerstarfish]

As for MTFU, yes great banter etc, haha. It does start to grate a bit when I am already trying hard to deal with fitness shit and am just wanting to find out about the various possibilities....I generally value the views and experience of people on UKB hence me asking on here.

perhaps we could have a Disabled Badge Scheme so that posters know when to lay off with the discriminatory banter

[shark]

perhaps we could have a Disabled Badge Scheme so that posters know when to lay off with the discriminatory banter

Sooo tempted 

[tomtom]

As for MTFU, yes great banter etc, haha. It does start to grate a bit when I am already trying hard to deal with fitness shit and am just wanting to find out about the various possibilities....I generally value the views and experience of people on UKB hence me asking on here.

perhaps we could have a Disabled Badge Scheme so that posters know when to lay off with the discriminatory banter

Shut it peg leg

[Snoops]

My problem with swimming, is I just find it fucking boring.

[underground]

I bloody love it during winter when I don't like going out in the dark, my experience was initially like moose's and I ended up doing really well, for me. Still nothing line the effortless people I couldn't keep up with but I definitely had a workout for an hour.

[moose]

My problem with swimming, is I just find it fucking boring.

I find that for all aerobic exercise, except on the rare occasions that I've taken it so far the pain has resulted in a strangely hypnagogic state of grace.  Generally, though it's been a combination of tedium and yer common-or-garden agony.  Climbing is the only "exercise" I have kept up for any length of time - likely because its variety means it doesn't feel like exercise - more of an exploration of exterior spaces and interior potential.  If I had to give up climbing I would likely revert back to the chunky house-bound alcoholic I was before I started.

[SA Chris]

My problem with swimming, is I just find it fucking boring.

Me too, sadly. You can get waterproof headphones though, which may take the edge off a bit.

Fiend, you could try using it to increase your anaerobic capacity? when I was going well I could do a length breaststroke underwater, followed by a length breaststroke to recover, and repeat about 5 x, whereupon I get a bit lightheaded and stop. Last time I swam I managed one lenght underwater and felt like I wanted to vom, so stopped.

[Fiend]

perhaps we could have a Disabled Badge Scheme so that posters know when to lay off with the discriminatory banter

Hehe....I don't mind people taking the piss when it's something genuine that I clearly put out....I mean FFS I do easy trad and jamming cracks, listen to death metal and gabber, paint toy soldiers, dress like a 20 year old rapper....it's hardly like anyone needs to make up shite about diet to have a good laugh.

This is not specifically about a disability, it's just about alternative fitness training that could suit some people in some circumstances....like yourself or Jasper (how the fuck did he break something??). Just like someone with tweaked elbows or shoulders might want to know more about running or other complementary training they could do while injured.

(Incidentally my elbow is still injured, otherwise I would be doing a lot more wall training specifically for climbing fitness, as per the Running and Climbing thread).

 

Swimming, I agree it is fucking boring. I would rather do 45 mins of heavy weights or 40 mins of running if I could. But I want something to compliment the weights....I was just surprised to read on various websites how much calories it burns (because, as per the Running and Climbing thread, that surely is the main thrust of tangential training exercises). I *can* do swimming and if it is more fat-burning than things I can't do (running) or find even more tedious (rec cycling), then that would be cool. If the wisdom of UKB agrees with it of course.

I'm on the lookout for a Glasgow Club centre that has a decent weights set-up AND a proper pool. So far it seems to be an either/or thing. 10 mins warm up, 40 mins heavy weights, 30 mins swim would suit me well (especially as I really struggle to keep going with other CV stuff after the weights).

Chris that is an interesting point. I used to be able to a length underwater at the S10 pool, 33m, which was pretty intense. I could get back into that. Although equally I could get into actually trying to breathe while climbing (after 15 years, I'm not sure why I've stopped doing this recently...)

[lagerstarfish]

Hehe....I don't mind people taking the piss when it's something genuine that I clearly put out....I mean FFS I do easy trad and jamming cracks, listen to death metal and gabber, paint toy soldiers, dress like a 20 year old rapper....it's hardly like anyone needs to make up shite about diet to have a good laugh.

I'm sure there's something missing from that list...

[Fiend]

Over-tolerance of knobheads online maybe??  I should take lessons from Dense 

[nik at work]

If I had to give up climbing I would likely revert back to the chunky house-bound alcoholic I was before I started.

Genius 

[Sasquatch]

If I had to give up climbing I would likely revert back to the chunky house-bound alcoholic I was before I started.

Me too.....

[tomtom]

My problem with swimming, is I just find it fucking boring.

Me too, sadly. You can get waterproof headphones though, which may take the edge off a bit.

Listen to whale music? or Dolphin sounds

[Sasquatch]

  Maybe it'll make you swim better