[ Q ] Metabolism while swimming

Jay said:

Hi to all,

I am recently told that heartbeat during the course of swimming is less than 70% of that while
running so long as it's under same intensity.

Is what I heard right? Then, is it because of skin-deep water pressure^^?

Please let me know.

Thanks in advance.

Jay

Typically in my experiance HR of any activity is related to the fitness of the person in
that activity. For instance even though in general it is easier to get ones HR up while
running, many proffesional cyclists can reach as high or higher HR while cycling than
running. I would assume that it would be the same for swimming. OTOH the reason it is
generally easier to raise ones HR during running than it is for swimming is for the most
part you are using the larger muscles of the leggs and buttock in running then the smaller
muscles of the back and arms for swimming. I would venture to guess that someone who trained
equally in running, biking and swimming would always have a higher HR in running then
cycling then swimming at equal effort. 70% seems like alot to me. For instance if someone
had a max HR of 185 while running they would have a MAxHR of 130 while swimming. Not likely.
I've done LT tests in all three disciplines and the difference for me was more like 11% from
running to swimming with cycling almost exactly in the middle. I'm fairly even in all
disciplines as far as performance goes.

~Matt