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[(Rage)]

What does swimming exactly is good for?

My Questions;

1) I know it's cardio, but does it work mucles, too? WHAT PARTS? Abs? Legs? Arms? Back?

2) If & when I go to a gym, and want to workout 3 days for muscles, can I do this;
- 2 days with equipment
- 1 swimming?
- 3 days the usual cardio? (Mix though, like basketball, maybe boxing if it's possible by then).

3) I met a girl who got amazing, defined arms with muscles (not talking huge big ones, but obvious, and solid..who got muscles from only; swimming, playing basketball & whether cricket or squash, I'm not sure. And she used to do some cardio in the gym sometimes, fast walking only.
So, you don't really need dumbells to get muscles in your arms. Some cardio actually offer it.

I'm not going ahead, and follow step 2 just yet, maybe when I return to uni, or when I list in a gym -if i will.

Today I went to the beach/pool..and spent the day busy, from about 10 am till 5.
Walked around,went into the beach/pool, played baskteball for a little while..and so on.
I think I burned so many cals today in 5 hours than I usually in half of the day.

I know that whole "swimming/basketball" thing to build muscles takes time.

4) Swimming = burns fat?

I have a body builder friend, who told me he got his psychique from only swimming. It was his cardio & and he used to jog outside, he hates the treadmill.

So...any insights.

Cause when I go to uni, the days that I fit to go to the gym, would be the days I want to go swim & I really miss swimming, today was the first time in 2 years...more actually..so?

[/b]

[swanso5]

- good for cardio fitness for SWIMMING
- swimminjg would be a cardio day, not a workout day
- you do need wts to get muscles
- swimming and bball won;t build muscle

[(Rage)]

Overtime, swimming & bball do build some muscles, don't they? Even if little?

Honestly, I'm still confused to how workout with the muscles deparment. I want something I can do. Excersizes that will work, and make me feel that I did something.

Like, I don't know what workouts to do for my chest, since I used to use a machine for that.

Back, I don't know many excersizes, just few or couple. Where you hold dumbells on your side, and then lean down, and then up...there is the superman thing, but it used to kill me, and I never felt i did it right.

For my arms, my using the dumbells we have at home doing pushups against the wall, and on the floor ( i can't do guys' style, at least not more than 4 reps, my chin is never close to the ground.. )...is girls style any good at all, since it's a lot much easier?!

Can I actually GAIN any muscle, like seriously without any equpiment and just use stuff around the house? or my own body that is?!

& since my only problem is actually my HIPS, do normal aerobics workout help better?

Like doing a circle with your whole body (damn i dont know the excersize names...and such), but the stuff that are usually printed in books, and seen on Tv...

[nitecrawler]

you gain gain muscle also by doing Bw exercises only. and there is lot of way you can progress. Also if you have light dumbbells you can still actually make that exercise really tough depending upon where you are holding the weights. in sides or in front or overhead. just try doing squats by holding dumbbells in different positions and you will know the difference.

1. Chest -> Pushups will do. you can progress like pushup on elevated surface --> Normal pushups --> pushups with feet elevated and so on.

2. Back -> Pullup/chinups will do that. trying using all the 3 grips and see what suits you best. you can do negative only till you develop strength

3. arms -> Chinups will do Biceps and if you can do close grip pushups maybe on knees only then triceps would be worked out.

4. Legs -> For legs there are so many exercises that you can do without weights, for that you can check swanso reply in "best squat alternate" by doing single limb training you can get better result and most importantly you will be working your core along with it. also there is more hip activation in single leg exercise.

If you browse thru sites like T-nation you will find many information, sometimes reading different stuff also helps coz you would be able to judge effectiveness of various exercise for yourself.

[(Rage)]

What is bw?

I don't have anything at home that I can preform chinup, and pull ups. I tried search for something to hang on, but there's nothing.

Oh yeah, about the dumbells it does depend on position, but for my biceps, 3 kgs seems so little, except in one excersize, which I used to do in a machine, but it's sort of do-able with dumbells, I raise the dumbells above my head, and then sort of pull down. It works the upper back I guess & biceps, butthe funny thing is, I used to be able to do 40 lbs or something with the machine, but 3 kgs with dumbells, why does it differ anyway?!

Eh I read so many things, seen many excersizes, even if i save the excersizes, I keep forgetting how to preform the excersize, it gets confusing =s!

Legs, that, I'm not worried about, other than basic excersizes, like squats and so on, running helps, high tension level in the ellptical works...biking...and all those stuff, dont they?

[nitecrawler]

bw means bodyweight

I guess you can easily get chinup bars that you can attach to door hinges. these should not be costly.

With free weights you also have to recruit your stabilizer muscle to balance the weights from falling, thats why free weights are lot better then machines.

sqaut and other should be good just keep doing some single limb exercise for better Glutes and core recruitment.

try to make simple plans in beginning and try to stick with it.

for weights you can use anything like sandbag, suitcase , water bottles etc...

[(Rage)]

My dad won't agree to buying those. For more than a year my sister and i been begging my parents for "a bunching bag" and they never agreed to us, and got us.

Btw boxing (bunching bag) helps with building muscles in ur arms, right?
We have one in uni, I never got the gloves, but im planning to, and use the punching bag in uni like 3 months from now...

What do you mean by free weights?

Damn, ive been working out for a while, and i still don't understand some terms! Damn.

Let's say I'll use a flour bag or sth and suitcase, and such, how could I use them? in what sort of excersizes?

[swanso5]

here are some progressions to look at for bodyweight stuff...start at the easiest one and work down once you can 3 sets of 10 with perfect reps

Lower Body:

2-Leg Hip Bridge/Extension
2-Leg Stability Ball Curl
2-Leg Hip Bridge/Extension on Ball
1-Leg Hip Extension
Wall Ball Squat
Bodyweight Squat
Prisoner Bodyweight Squat
Y-Squat
Belza Split Squat
Split Squat
Reverse Lunge
Forward Lunge

Upper Body:

Incline Pushups
Kneeling Pushups
Pushups
Close-grip Pushups
Off-set Pushups
1-Leg Pushups
Elevated Pushups
Feet on Ball Pushups
Decline Pushups
Hands on Ball Pushups
Spiderman Pushups
Shoulder Press Pushups

search google or even youtube for these exercises...if there's an exercise you can't do for equipment reasons simply go to the next one and continue...these are all without wts too i think and only a swissball is required...the first few may be easy but still do them to get them right

Back can be hard without equipment but try DB Rows and Inverted Rows (these are best if have a bar about waist ht or so) are your best options at this point

Now as i stated the other day doesn't matter what workout yuo do as long as it's hard and consisitent so here's what you'll do

day 1 - do the first 2 exercises from lower / upper body progression as well as either of the back exercises and whip through them all circuit style like this:

day 1 - lower exercise x 15 / back exercise x 12 / upper exercise x 12 x 15mins straight no rest just quick 5sec drink breaks after each "mini" circuit

day 2 - progress exercises if you can and perform ladder sets...you'll need a about a 30m patch of grass or so for this...maybe even a triangle with 30m sides would be better...anyway you'll have 3 stations with 1 x lower, back, upper exercise at each...station 1 is lower, station 2 is back and station 3 is upper...start at station 1 and do 1 rep of lower, get up sprint the 30m to station 2 and do 1 rep of back, get up sprint the 30m to station 2 and do 1 rep of upper, ghet up sprint to station 3 and then do 2 reps of lower and so on until your either:

a) up to 5 reps for each then work back down to 1 (1 reps, 2, 3, 4, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) or,

b) go all the way up to 10 (come back down if you want!!!)

day 3 - progress exercises again if you can again choosing 1 from each section...this is similar to day 1 but you'll do 3 x 10 minute blocks going from one to the other as fast as you but what you'll do is count your total reps and try and at least equal in the next 10 minute block...rest 2mins between 10 minute blocks

off you go now!!

[(Rage)]

Wow, thank you, this is much easier to follow. I'm off to bed soon, but I'll check the excersizes tomorrow, since tomorrow is weights day. and I'll see which I can do!

Thank you again/
Btw, I never drink while excersizing, am I supposed to?

2day, silly me forgot to be dehydrated b4 excersize, and i got some trouble, i felt like il lfaint if i dont drink water, so i sipped a bit..while excersizing. Its dangerous i guess, but i didnt want to stop, nor i didnt want to let the water go.

I always have water sometime b4 excersize, and afterwards AFTER the protien shake...is that right?

[x_rated_mo]

yeah, after ur workout have a shake with an infusion of carbs, they help ferry the protien to ur muscles for them to begin recovering immediately

swimming is great, i do go to the beach 3x a week for cardio (wed, fri, sun) and train 3 days weights (teus, thurs, sat) its a great schedule, lots of fun
dont forget to pay attension to ur diet too

[(Rage)]

I always have a shake after workout.

I have couple of more Q's about cardio;

When do we really start losing fat?
I know about the heart rate thing, what I mean is;
Do we lose in the session itself (depending on how it works?)
Or
after some sessions?
OR after a long time of working out, we suddenly drop a percentage or 2?

I've been thinking for later on (God, im such a freak), anyway, once I go to a gym, or when I go back to uni,
I want to mix my cardio.
I don't want to stick to the treadmill, or ellptical only.

I want to do different things, like swimming, boxing (punchin bag more likely), playing basketball, and so.
Will mixing cardio, and doind something different everyday will help me lose fat or NOT? Do I have to stick to one thing so I can lose fat?

Swimming helps losing fat, right?

[swanso5]

- yes drink something water before, during and after exercising and during the day
- yes protein shake than water afterwards
- lose fat afterwards if you didi it right otherwise you won't lose it ever
- the fat burning zone is a load of shit
- some will lose bodyfat constatntly say 1% a week and others will lose in "lump sums" say nothing for 3 weeks than 3% in 1 week...every one is different
- for fat loss the more mixture you can have the better ecpsecially for cardio so mix up modes, times, speeds, inclines etc but always make it as hard as you can
- i'm not really sold on swimming for fat loss...fitness yes, fat loss no

[(Rage)]

Okay, i needed to know that. Well, for swimming im planning to add that once a week for cardio, maybe even for fun, not just cardio...what about boxing and basketball, cause in both you move your body, and in basketball, there is running, and jumping and such...all those contribute?

eh, i guess i gotthe slowest body form.
I lose 1% every 3 weeks as how I've seen it works.
Wel, i guess its because my body shape (apple shape)...
im cursed!

[swanso5]

boxing and basketball are fine just don't do other cardio on the same day and over do it...wat time is over there??? it's 7pm friday night here in oz..are you up late again ragey dearest??/

[(Rage)]

okay dokey...

u caught me swanso...i dont know what happened to me today. Planned to wake up at 10 30 or so, and ended up waking up at 12...*hides face*
I don't know, but exhuastion is suddenly killing me, but since i woek up late today, I WILL NOT NAP. That's how I punish myself. Plus, I have in mind things to do.

Read, workout, sit my ass on the laptop like everyday.
You know what?
Gimme things I can do other than a workout plan...arond the house to stay active.
All i do is sit in front of my laptop. I could always play with my baby bro, which I do when the sun goes down, cause it's pretty hot outside now...other than that, I do nothing. Summer vacation!

Its 1:09 pm, Friday, here.