no story

i just really like the picture- its been on some Cadets shirts with a caption of something like:
"Man, these guys are good..."

been doing some research- just figured i'd share: (these are all taken from other sites- not my own words)

if you're trying to lose weight, you may want to immerse yourself in another activity. Why? Water conducts heat away from the body, keeping your body temperature - and your metabolism - lower than when you work out on land.

It is believed that the body’s metabolism increases at higher body temperatures. Since the body is cooled while swimming, this could reduce the metabolism and the subsequent amount of food energy burnt by the swimmer."

Research published in the American Journal of Sports Medicine shows that in the absence of a controlled diet, swimming has little or no effect on weight loss [1].:
• Test subjects following the walking program lost 17 pounds of weight during the three-month study. • Those following the cycling program lost 19 pounds of weight. • However, subjects following the swimming program actually gained 5 pounds.

One of the reasons a properly designed weight-training program is so effective at burning fat is that just one workout can give your metabolic rate a real boost. In some cases, this rise can last for well over a day [4]. When your metabolic rate goes up, you burn more calories. And more calories burned means faster weight loss. (yeah Aryan, I know you've been telling me that for like a year now...soooorry)

One of the things that contribute to this rise in metabolic rate is the muscle damage caused during resistance exercise [5]. And it's eccentric muscle actions (pronounced ee-sen-trick) that appear to cause most of this damage. So, what does all of this have to do with swimming? Most of the work your body does in the water involves concentric muscle actions. There's virtually no eccentric work there at all.

Is swiming as effective as a land based exercise program?

No. This is because although swimming is great as a form of "starter" exercise program, your body weight will always be supported by the water around you. This means there will come a time where you would have reached a limit of how much calories you would burn during a given swimming session. It is therefore recommend that after 3-4 weeks into yor weight loss program that you start to introduce a form of land based exercise.

"Ask The Dietitian"

Q I would like to know if swimming a good exercise to lose weight. Thank you.

A Swimming is a good exercise, but the body doesn't seem to lose as much fat during water sports as land sports.

(OK Its me again)

See- i've just been REALLY frustrated with this whole swimming thing- I've been swimming like a MAD MAN for over 6 months- i mean really going at it-at no point during the last 6 months did i swim less than 3 miles a week- and many weeks this was 5 or more... towards the end i was even doing some 6's.... i've been with friends who swim with me and they are always suprised at how far I go and how fast i can do it-
I had read stuff before bashing swimming as a weight/fat loss exercise but I really didnt buy it- "how could that be? Its so hard and i feel really tired when i'm done..."... but it occured to me one day when i was at the sportsplex in nashville- i was swimming 48 laps- a mile and a half and this guy jumps in the water 2 lanes over... this guy was my height and EASILY 300 lbs and it we're not talking muscle here- big old gut- i dont hesitate to say that this guy was just plain old fat in a big way... well he jumps in that pool and takes off... "i wonder how many times i can lap him" i'm thinking in my head... but he was awesome- he was actually an AMAZING swimmer and he lapped me no less than 3 times during my workout and was still going when i finsihed- and i wasnt having an off day- i actually sped up and pushed myself as hard as i could go to see if i could keep up with him- i gave it everything i had and i was moving pretty fast- but he still pulled ahead of me-... it really got me thinking... this guy looks like he does this a lot, he had all the moves, kick turns, strokes, great form, everything... but he was huge... i could go on about some of the revelations that appeared to me at this point, but hopefully thats obvious to you with the facts given-

over the last 6 months of swimming (august-Jan)- i lost not a single pound- i'm actually the exact same weight i started with... and something is just wrong there- i was really dedicated, Aryan, Brent, and several other of my close friends can attest to it- i KNOW that putting that same effort back into running and lifting would have given me better results because i've done those before and seen the results with my own eyes- (did i mention we got an awesome weight bench at the fraternity house after christmas? you can do just about everything on it- bench press, incline, decline, curls, and a couple more- but all the main things that Chun taught me to do in the Gym)...

long story short- with that experience (and one josh told me exactly like it)- coupled with the research i've been doing the last couple of months- I've switched back to running- actually i did that 2 weeks ago and i just didnt really tell anybody- I'm up to 3 miles which i can actually do relatively easily (one of the good things about swimming for the last 6 months was that it got my cardio back in shape- made this transition easier)- and lifting every other day- like aryan, chun, and several other fit guys in my class have been telling me to do- i guess this just kinda goes a long with my delayed taking of advice--

there's a guy from my class- i lived with him my p1 year- he was a really nice guy- pretty quiet... he decided after P1 year that he was going to go to the gym- he actually made a huge transformation- and lost 50lbs- and i asked him all along the way "hey man.. how are you doing that?"... "just lifting weights and running"...huh...

you think he's doing a little better now?