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Swimming?

Started by kesenaie, October 13, 2011, 03:46:47 PM

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kesenaie

Since swimming helps you build muscle and lose weight, I was just wondering if it's good to swim often?
I love the swimmer bodies, not the overly muscled, imo creepy bodies... so I was wondering if you slightly bulk up a little bit.
I'd post this in the sports health section.. but I think there's only MtFs there.

also thinking about inline skating (the tricks, freestyle one, not the one with big wheels).
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mm

Swimming is good exercise.  Until you start T it will be hard to build up much muscle mass. Swimming is not the best for losing weight, but if you decrease your calorie intake you can lose.
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mm

I forgot to ask what are you wearing for a swimsuit?
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Vincent E.S.

You don't really lose a lot of weight (I'm guessing since I didn't gain much when I stopped swimming competitively), but you get really lean.
It's definitely a good form of exercise, but you won't really 'bulk up' very much. It's lean muscle.  If you start swimming a lot, or swimming in competitions, you'd actually have to increase your calorie intact just like you would with any other sport.

For me, swimming made my feminine figure pretty obvious even in loose clothing, but that was before my strange hormonal issues kicked in, so I don't know what it'd be like now. Also, at the time, I had to wear a one-piece girl's swimsuit, so there was no chance of passing while swimming.

Even so, swimming is still a really good exercise that I'd recommend in general, just for fun or relaxation. It's good to swim often because it's good to exercise often.
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kesenaie

Yeah I don't have to lost that much weight, I'm too light already but my body looks flubby. But don't you just not lose weight because your muscles are growing which are heavier? :p
I might just go with some small swimming trunks and a swimming shirt.
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Cyndigurl45

I swim twice a week part of cardio overall core workout, it keeps lean muscle flexible and limber.

I wear a IN FLIGHT SUPER PRO like this one :)

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kesenaie

Damn, I hate those kind of things, lol. But they do cover up a lot.
I am thinking of buying one of those Osprey Boys Rashguards on ebay.
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Mika

Holy crap yes, swimming thread! Yes, swimming is great exercise. I swam competitively for most of growing up (~9 years). It's a great, low-impact total body workout. Kinda along the lines of running, there's a difference between sprint work and distance swimming, so you can tailor your sets to fit your needs. If you're going for the traditional lean swimmer body, I would recommend a concentration on distance swimming. One summer, I swam ~1mile (1650 m) freestyle every day. For training, a good breathing cycle is 3-2 (three strokes, breathe, two strokes, breathe, three strokes...). Holy crap, you'd be surprised what that training did for my endurance, my breath control, and even my stroke technique--my coaches even noticed and ranked me up.

I'm not sure your comfort/experience level, but for most people a non-stop mile is out of reach if you haven't been training. The important thing is to remember to warm up--start with at least 200 m (8 laps) at a easy-moderate rate. Then, you can vary your sets. Maybe some days you'll want to do sets of 100's at a moderate pace with short breaks (either free-style or in IM order--fly, back, breast, free). Or you could do some sets of 25 m sprints, free or IM order. Or you could do 2 sets of 500 m free at a moderate pace. If you're not up to those, maybe do a set of five 50m moderate-fast of the stroke of your choice. Whatever. Switch it up, push yourself but don't hurt yourself either. Varying the rest periods between sets has an impact on your workout--for teams, we always use clocks and are meticulous. Longer rests allow lactic acid to dissipate some, shorter rests keep your heart rate up. But always remember to do at least 200 m warm-down. 
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Wolfsnake

I'm not really a swimmer (I nearly drowned when I was four so I can't go into deep water), but I like to futz around in shallow water. I wear trunks and a rashguard or triathlon top over a binder. It doesn't really make me look manly, but it at least gets me androgynous.

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kesenaie

#9
Hey Mika, thanks for your indepth reply :D
The lanes here are 20 or 25 meters, I believe. It's been a long time since I went swimming, but I think I'll make at least 200 meters.
My mom is very positive about me getting off my arse and doing something healthy, and also spoke about how amazingly broad shoulders you get from it x) is that true? Because on other sites I keep reading you need to also lift weights to achieve those kind of things.
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Mika

I would have loved my shoulder to get much broader, but personally I kept a mostly lean muscular body. Now that I've stopped swimming I'm just a bit chubby lol, but at the time. If you swim a lot of backstroke and butterfly, that concentrates a lot on your shoulders, especially fly.
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kesenaie

ugh.. swimming pool doesn't allow rash guards.
I'll just get a top and go early when no one else is there.
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Felix

I really love swimming, and I have injuries and stuff that make swimming the ideal exercise for me, but I'm taking a break from public pools right now. Clothed, I make people uncomfortable in the women's locker room, and I'm certainly not transitioned or skilled enough to pass unclothed or in any kind of swimsuit in the men's.

My kid likes to swim enough that I think I might call parks and rec and ask how flexible they are on what can be worn while swimming, and if maybe there's a private place for me to change. People in this city are so eager to be welcoming and inclusive that there's got to be a way for everyone to be comfortable.
everybody's house is haunted
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