- Joined
- Aug 11, 2020
- Posts
- 5,544
Any swimmers here? I know of at least one @AG_PhamD. 
I used to run, until knees, and then I walked, until back, and I remember thinking, ok, I’m just going to get fat now. But somehow swimming came to my attention. I had not swam since the days I was preparing to go into the Navy. Really running was my thing until cruel life forced a change and swimming saved me, it saved my physically active life Is what it did.
Swimming is the old folks exercise as well as young people‘s. The oldest person in my pool is 95, bunches in the range of 60-90. Generally speaking, I can jump in the pool and work out hard without hurting myself. I imagine most people can with some caveats. If your knees are torn up there might be issues, but you will avoid impact stress on both your knees and back. I have degenerative disk disease, my back can bother me when I take the trash to the curb, but it feels fine, as I bound out of the pool after a 90 minute session.
I started about 7 years ago. I started struggling through 20 laps. During the way up I experienced both elbow and shoulder issues, for a while wore straps on my bicep and forearm but those issues went away, not sure way, perseverance? Maybe my technique got better? Honestly I’m not 100% certain, but one day when my shoulder was bothering me during a swim, I decided after to go to the weight section and see how it felt lifting light weights. Surprisingly my shoulder felt fine, and I decided I would devote more time to weights along with my swimming. This has paid off, since then no elbow or shoulder issues.
I slowly worked my way up to 70 laps (briefly), but then quickly realized that was too much and cut back to 50 laps (100 lengths of the pool). I do 6 sets of 8 laps +2 to make it 50 (2500 meters), with a variety of strokes, side, breast, and crawl (freestyle) Mixing it up. My reasoning is that I don’t want repetitive motion injury and I think the variety helps.
I have some effective flippers which I use for about 14 laps, split up throughout the 50 laps. They make a significant difference for your legs. Note not all flippers are the same, the cheap silicon, lap flippers are not as effective. Arena brand is effective and reasonably priced. I use a lap snorkel for about 14 laps when I use my flippers, this because I started coming out of the pool with a sore neck. Too much neck rotation during freestyle swimming. A better technique also helps with that. And I have some hand paddles that I use for 8 laps. The caution there is don’t overdo those, work up your arm muscles slowly or you can create shoulder issues if you go too crazy with them.
My major dissapointment is that I am doing more exercise, putting out more effort time wise, then I did when I was young, but showing less for it. I’ve built some muscle, but my weight is still 218, 58 lbs above my running prime, at 71% lean body mass. At my age of 69, calories intake counts more than burning calories. I can burn 500 calories in the pool and wipe that out with one dessert, although that still is a 500 calorie net loss, it could be 1000 calories if I could get the sugar monkey off my back, a life long addiction.
My final tip is that to keep your goggles clear of fog, instead of purchasing an anti-fog product, at the end of a swim, you can simply put a small drop of shampoo on each lense, smear it around with your finger, let it sit a few minutes, and then give them a light, short (2 second) rinse with water. Then I toss them in my net bag and let them dry until the next swim.
I used to run, until knees, and then I walked, until back, and I remember thinking, ok, I’m just going to get fat now. But somehow swimming came to my attention. I had not swam since the days I was preparing to go into the Navy. Really running was my thing until cruel life forced a change and swimming saved me, it saved my physically active life Is what it did.Swimming is the old folks exercise as well as young people‘s. The oldest person in my pool is 95, bunches in the range of 60-90. Generally speaking, I can jump in the pool and work out hard without hurting myself. I imagine most people can with some caveats. If your knees are torn up there might be issues, but you will avoid impact stress on both your knees and back. I have degenerative disk disease, my back can bother me when I take the trash to the curb, but it feels fine, as I bound out of the pool after a 90 minute session.
I started about 7 years ago. I started struggling through 20 laps. During the way up I experienced both elbow and shoulder issues, for a while wore straps on my bicep and forearm but those issues went away, not sure way, perseverance? Maybe my technique got better? Honestly I’m not 100% certain, but one day when my shoulder was bothering me during a swim, I decided after to go to the weight section and see how it felt lifting light weights. Surprisingly my shoulder felt fine, and I decided I would devote more time to weights along with my swimming. This has paid off, since then no elbow or shoulder issues.
I slowly worked my way up to 70 laps (briefly), but then quickly realized that was too much and cut back to 50 laps (100 lengths of the pool). I do 6 sets of 8 laps +2 to make it 50 (2500 meters), with a variety of strokes, side, breast, and crawl (freestyle) Mixing it up. My reasoning is that I don’t want repetitive motion injury and I think the variety helps.
I have some effective flippers which I use for about 14 laps, split up throughout the 50 laps. They make a significant difference for your legs. Note not all flippers are the same, the cheap silicon, lap flippers are not as effective. Arena brand is effective and reasonably priced. I use a lap snorkel for about 14 laps when I use my flippers, this because I started coming out of the pool with a sore neck. Too much neck rotation during freestyle swimming. A better technique also helps with that. And I have some hand paddles that I use for 8 laps. The caution there is don’t overdo those, work up your arm muscles slowly or you can create shoulder issues if you go too crazy with them.
My major dissapointment is that I am doing more exercise, putting out more effort time wise, then I did when I was young, but showing less for it. I’ve built some muscle, but my weight is still 218, 58 lbs above my running prime, at 71% lean body mass. At my age of 69, calories intake counts more than burning calories. I can burn 500 calories in the pool and wipe that out with one dessert, although that still is a 500 calorie net loss, it could be 1000 calories if I could get the sugar monkey off my back, a life long addiction.
My final tip is that to keep your goggles clear of fog, instead of purchasing an anti-fog product, at the end of a swim, you can simply put a small drop of shampoo on each lense, smear it around with your finger, let it sit a few minutes, and then give them a light, short (2 second) rinse with water. Then I toss them in my net bag and let them dry until the next swim.
. They’re good for sore quads and as tech suits but otherwise they impede range of motion.
