XP: Are you swimming? Question

JFH2010

I just started swimming and plan to go twice a week as long as I can. I loved it! Gravity is not my friend right now. But I've never swam (swum?) for exercise before, so I'm wondering if you have a pattern that you follow to keep things interesting. Yesterday I just did freestyle at a moderate pace for a half hour, but I think I'll be more likely to stick with it if I have a pattern of some sort. 

Also - here's the girly question - do you do anything to protect your hair? I have very dry hair already and I'm afraid of what biweekly chlorine baths will do to it! 

Thanks in advance for any tips! 

lulamagoo

JFH2010:

I just started swimming and plan to go twice a week as long as I can. I loved it! Gravity is not my friend right now. But I've never swam (swum?) for exercise before, so I'm wondering if you have a pattern that you follow to keep things interesting. Yesterday I just did freestyle at a moderate pace for a half hour, but I think I'll be more likely to stick with it if I have a pattern of some sort. 

Also - here's the girly question - do you do anything to protect your hair? I have very dry hair already and I'm afraid of what biweekly chlorine baths will do to it! 

Thanks in advance for any tips! 

Get yourself a swim cap, it won't keep all of the water out (at least mine never does) but it does limit the amount.  Also, I use a "swimming conditioner" when washing my hair, I think it is Malibu Swimming Conditioner or something like that.

Have fun swimming!

mb314

I'm newly preggers, but I've been a swimmer for as long as I can remember.  I like repetition and distance, so I usually swim for about 20 - 25 minutes without stopping and then alternate between kicking and other shorter sets.  If your pool has kickboards, fins, pull buoys, and paddles for your hands, those accessories are a great way to mix up your exercize a bit and work different sets of muscles.  Plus, they help improve your swim stroke.  Fins in particular are a lot of fun.  Doing butterfly/dolphin kick with fins, either with a board on your stomach or while floating on  your back without any board, really works your butt and stomache muscles.

I think a good shampoo and conditioner is your best bet for keeping your hair in shape.  Swimming twice a week shouldn't cause too much damage.  Wearing a cap helps prevent tangling.  I've heard some people will put conditioner in their hair (and not rinse it) before swimming with a cap to prevent drying, but I have no idea if this works and it seems unnecessary.  You can buy shampoo for swimmers, but again, I think having any good quality shampoo should keep your hair from getting too gross. 

JFH2010

That's very helpful, thank you!

SwKc29

Glad you are taking up swimming! I have been swimming since I was little and swam in college. Yes, chlorine is not great for the hair, but 2 days a week shouldn't be huge. Like mentioned before,  a swim cap will help. Also, a good tip is to buy a silicone cap, rather than latex. I have very fine hair and the latex caps tend to break my hair when i pull it on/off. The silicone are more ($10-$15) but last forever and are so much more comfortable to me.

If you can, try to mix up some different strokes to add variety. Also, race against your self. Do a 100 (4 lengths in a 25yd/typical pool) and time yourself. Say it takes you 1:30, then do 5 X on 2 minute intervalls but going faster than 1:30 each time. Adds a little competitive component with yourself You can do the same type thing kicking with a kick board like mentioned previously as well.

Good luck!

gimmietimmies

LOL, I don't think a new swimmer is going to do a set of 100's at a 130 pace, but good example!  But I would vote for getting a silicone cap and latex cap and see what works better. I personally can't stand silicone, they are too tight and too hot. I do put conditioner in my hair, it's a must in our salt water pool, even at 2x week.

I peek at the white board to see what workouts have been put up from either the age group club or the masters club (if I'm not training with them that night) and adjust if needed. The masters club always has a workout up for beginners too. My other thought is to ask a lifeguard, the ones at our pool are often on the swim team and can recommend a good workout or tips about equipment/sets. Or look at the program guide for the pool, often they have a class for beginners to learn how to do workouts.

SwKc29

Haha, I completely agree... the time was just an easy example ;-) I wish more people at my YMCA swam even close to that, but most of them take a lap lane to "water walk" lol

sosoph

I've also read that going in with wet hair from a shower "seals" your hair so the chlorinated water won't penetrate as much. No idea if it's true. I was a lap swimmer long before pregnancy, so just kept up my old routine, and added more leg workouts and aqua jogging as I had to scale back on running. I never had a backache in my whole pregnancy. If you want a moderate workout, just do whatever you can to keep moving for 20-30 minutes keeping your heartrate where it would be for a light jog. If you want a harder workout, do sets, etc.

gimmietimmies

SwKc29:

Haha, I completely agree... the time was just an easy example ;-) I wish more people at my YMCA swam even close to that, but most of them take a lap lane to "water walk" lol

There is always a few of us at my pool in the evenings, it's rare I don't have a workout partner. But there are also a lot of people that do Masters and Triathlons, and "retired" competitive swimmers that live in my town, so I think we're the exception. The water walkers don't come anywhere near us for fear of being run over, the guards kindly gave them a lane in the teach pool.

See, we could always use more training buddies. I did that set pregnant. I'm working at "beating" my test set; sets of 3 x 50, starting at 2:00, dropping 10 sec until you reach 45sec, then dropping 5 sec until you fail. I failed my 3rd @ 30sec. I haven't done that set since I was a few months along with S...time to get with the program.