I had the honor of watching the Novaquatics work out on Friday. I was there to observe my 4 year old's swim lesson, but the Nova's were plying their trade - maybe 11, 12, and 13 year olds. I've never seen really good swimmers that young working out. Unbelievable swimming. I clocked a female doing 200's sub 2:30 while throwing in two 25 yard legnths doing breastroke drill. And the sprinters were knocking out 50's in 26 seconds from a push, and then joking at the wall waiting to have another go. And with their thin, muscular bodies, it was a bit of an ephiphany for me. I will never swim that fast. Ever. I mean the physics of them hauling their bodies through the water compared to me is just so vastly different. I keep thinking I'm going to become a 1:25 swimmer, and then a 1:20. Might happen, but probably not. I can never swim as fast as those young age-groupers, but I can aspire to swim as well as they do.
I had the honor of watching the Novaquatics work out on Friday. I was there to observe my 4 year old's swim lesson, but the Nova's were plying their trade - maybe 11, 12, and 13 year olds. I've never seen really good swimmers that young working out. Unbelievable swimming. I clocked a female doing 200's sub 2:30 while throwing in two 25 yard legnths doing breastroke drill. And the sprinters were knocking out 50's in 26 seconds from a push, and then joking at the wall waiting to have another go. And with their thin, muscular bodies, it was a bit of an ephiphany for me. I will never swim that fast. Ever. I mean the physics of them hauling their bodies through the water compared to me is just so vastly different. I keep thinking I'm going to become a 1:25 swimmer, and then a 1:20. Might happen, but probably not. I can never swim as fast as those young age-groupers, but I can aspire to swim as well as they do.
Eric
But if you replace swimming with weightlifting, aspiring is as far as you'll go.
You know I think the weightlifting bug is already passing 🙂 I only did it once a week for 20 minutes with a trainer, but it was hell. Leg press with 400 pounds and time under load exceeded 3 minutes. You feel a little woozy and nauseous when you're done. How much fun is that?
But I did review the math, and it is compelling. It takes between 50 and 100 calories per day to keep one pound of muscle alive on your body. So let's say you intensely weight train once per week and are able to add 5 pounds of muscle to your body. That means you automatically burn an additional 250 to 500 calories per day. That's the equivalent of a decent aerobic workout per day without doing anything. It allows you to eat that much more per day without gaining weight.
So for some, weight training might be the way to go. Burning those extra calories by playing "wall tag" in the pool may seem like a lot of work to some people.
You know I think the weightlifting bug is already passing 🙂 I only did it once a week for 20 minutes with a trainer, but it was hell. Leg press with 400 pounds and time under load exceeded 3 minutes. You feel a little woozy and nauseous when you're done. How much fun is that?
But I did review the math, and it is compelling. It takes between 50 and 100 calories per day to keep one pound of muscle alive on your body. So let's say you intensely weight train once per week and are able to add 5 pounds of muscle to your body. That means you automatically burn an additional 250 to 500 calories per day. That's the equivalent of a decent aerobic workout per day without doing anything. It allows you to eat that much more per day without gaining weight.
So for some, weight training might be the way to go. Burning those extra calories by playing "wall tag" in the pool may seem like a lot of work to some people.
Oh, I'm very much for doing some strength training in addition to swimming. If you just do swimming, you will lose muscle mass with age, I think. But I just don't think people who like swimming will also like power lifting. Nor do I think the two sports are compatible. I recommend light weights in a class setting with aerobics music, and spinner classes, and the step machine, and kick boxing classes. But, to each his own.
I had the honor of watching the Novaquatics work out on Friday. I was there to observe my 4 year old's swim lesson, but the Nova's were plying their trade - maybe 11, 12, and 13 year olds. I've never seen really good swimmers that young working out. Unbelievable swimming. I clocked a female doing 200's sub 2:30 while throwing in two 25 yard legnths doing breastroke drill. And the sprinters were knocking out 50's in 26 seconds from a push, and then joking at the wall waiting to have another go. And with their thin, muscular bodies, it was a bit of an ephiphany for me. I will never swim that fast. Ever. I mean the physics of them hauling their bodies through the water compared to me is just so vastly different. I keep thinking I'm going to become a 1:25 swimmer, and then a 1:20. Might happen, but probably not. I can never swim as fast as those young age-groupers, but I can aspire to swim as well as they do.
Eric
Yeah Novaquatics has always been a good team. They used to swim at Heritiage Park in Irvine when I worked there decades ago.
Speaking of which I heard last year they reopened with a new name and no more aluminum pools? How is the place? I have always loved the 50 meter pool and the diving tank with the 10m platform was fun after hours (shhh, don't tell).
And yes it is a little depressing to be getting myass kicked by 12-22 year olds where I swim, but at least my technique is good <g>
