Swimming and eating

[redjedi]

Not at the same time obviously.

I'm going for my first swim after work this evening. I intend to make this a regular occurance to help with my overall body fitness not just a lower body workout which I get from cycling.

But I'm not sure if I should go home, have dinner then go for a swim or the other way round.

I've heard/remember that swimming make you hungry so dinner afterwards would be welcome. But I'm normally quite hungry after my ride home

or can I have 2 dinners

Also whats a good amount of time to spend in the pool for beginners?

I haven't done any swimming for years but used to be quite good.
Is 30-45 mins of mixed strokes a good starting point?

 

[bonj2]

swim first then eat.
Have a light snack before but not much, and preferably not straight before.
I used to have my normal breakfast of cereal before swimming (i go in the mornings) but used to get stomach pains late morning, so now i just have a slice of toast first then a bacon sarnie afterwards.
30- 45 mins is pretty good. I've heard that > 20 mins and you're into cardiovascular fat burning zone, but i suspect it's different for different people.
I personally just do 40 lengths, which takes me about 25 mins.
also get goggles, you can swim better if you put your head in the water.

 

[karen.488walker]

Have a banana or something after work. I would also recommend wearing a heart rate monitor. It'll show you your progress and push your training. Zoggs has a good website for all levels of training aswell to give you some focus. I'm getting back to swimming next week. Enjoy

 

[Steve Austin]

You should never eat before swimming. If you need to eat before, you should try to eat at least an hour before. when you are exercising your body can't digest any food as all resources go towards the exercise, so any food eaten before swimming will just sit in your stomach making you feel heavy. an energy bar or bananaanana an hour before but no more.

I used to swim a lot. every day, at least a mile. breaststroke county standard at one point many years ago.

20 mins is good enough to get warmed up, do some sprint lengths, and warm down. But you need to work to your time to use the time effectively. no pint thinking I'll swim a bit and then get out. Spend at least five mins warming up and five warming down, you'll have a better swim if you do

 

[fossyant]

Wot dat lot sayz....... wish I could swim at the mo....... not much fun standing in the pool watching my kids swim about...... ah well....

 

[redjedi]

Thanks guys.

I've just got back. Boy it was hard work.

I did eat before going as I didn't go as early as I wanted, I'll do it the other way around next time.

It must be at least 10 years since I did anything other than splash around, and it took me a few lengths to get my breathing in sync.

I lost count of how many 25m lengths I did but I swam for about 25 mins. Mainly breaststroke but a few sprint(ish) freestyle.

The later session is for adults only and there were only about 10 people at that time. And I'm glad I wasn't the chubbiest one there (I'm a bit self conscience)

Looking forward to next time, probably tuesday.

 

[Speicher]

I have discovered that my local pool does lane swimming at lunchtimes. So I could have a large porridge breakfast a bit later than usual, and then go swimming at 12 noon. Then normal () lunch, with no buying choccie bars on the way home.

 

[redjedi]

I have discovered that my local pool does lane swimming at lunchtimes. So I could have a large porridge breakfast a bit later than usual, and then go swimming at 12 noon. Then normal () lunch, with no buying choccie bars on the way home.

What!!!!!

But you have to reward yourself for all the hard work you've just done B)