Swimming and Cardio...

[Legendary]

Just signed up at new Gym/fitness center and they happen to have a pool. My father, who is going through some physical therapy uses the pool because he has bad knees and joints. I have heard the it is a good exercise, but does it compare to running? I assume it can more and more beneficial the larger you are because knees tend to wear down quickly. Not being a large guy, (5,10.5) 155 lbs which would I get more benefit from?

 

[scoopj]

They make great cross training partners. Do them both. Your post begs the question... what are your goals?

 

[Tosa]

Begs the question actually means something was assumed that shouldn't have been. As in, it begs you to question it. Rather than meaning it raises a question. I don't want to nit-pick, but it's a much more interesting phrase that way.

Whichever is more specific to your goals is a bettet choice. Unless your goal is something general, like cardiovascular health, in which case whichever you can put more time and effort into is the better choice. (The impact of running being something that could potentially limit the amount of time and effort you can put into it). Of course, you can do both, and if your goal is something like general health, a certain amount of variety in your training would be a very good thing.

 

[Airglow]

...Unless yout goal is something general, like cardiovascular health...

If your goal is cardiovascular health then I would do whatever cardiovascular exercise I enjoyed the most. You're more likely to do it more often that way.

I like to run, and I know running is hard on almost everyone's legs. So I have been wanting to start swimming 2 days a week and running 4 days.

My point is that you should do both, but how much of each is dependent on your goals.

 

[Legendary]

My goals are to have well rounded conditioning for both combat sports and for general health. To be the best i can be physically.

I plan to do both, probably running 2/3 of the times and using swimming on days i am sore/ staying busy on off days along with taking away some of the impact on the knees.

I made a thread because it seems that this subject doesnt come up much here. Anyone have comparative experience in both?

 

[gspieler]

I like both, and they seem to complement each other well. Running can improve aerobic and anaerobic conditioning, increase bone density, improv cardiovascular health, etc. Swimming won't increase bone density, but provides most the other benefits, with the addition of decompressing the spine/joints. I think you got the right idea ,TS, about it for general health and fitness. Just do some of each. Other activities, though, will require sport-specific conditioning.

 

[LatFlare]

Swimming is a more hypoxic form of aerobic training than running because you breathe less often, so it trains you to tolerate higher levels of CO2 in your blood while performing aerobic exercise.

It will also improve the muscular strength and endurance in your back and arms, while running will not do that at all.

As far as cardiovascular benefits I would assume that you need to work in the same HR ranges as you would running to get the same benefits.

From my own experience swimming laps, the most immediate improvement I noticed was the ability to swim faster (i.e. greater power output at higher HR) and for more laps before that burning discomfort of needing to stop and catch breath, or slow down, kicked in.

edit: I don't have experience doing both at the same time regularly, I was only swimming laps because i injured a knee and couldn't run for a few months.
However, when I was younger i used to surf a lot and back then I could hold my breath for 2 min. Now, I have a RHR of around 50 but I am training quite regularly, but for about 5 years riding waves was the only exercise i did. Make of that what you will.

 

[Legendary]

Swimming is a more hypoxic form of aerobic training than running because you breathe less often, so it trains you to tolerate higher levels of CO2 in your blood while performing aerobic exercise.

It will also improve the muscular strength and endurance in your back and arms, while running will not do that at all.

As far as cardiovascular benefits I would assume that you need to work in the same HR ranges as you would running to get the same benefits.

From my own experience swimming laps, the most immediate improvement I noticed was the ability to swim faster (i.e. greater power output at higher HR) and for more laps before that burning discomfort of needing to stop and catch breath, or slow down, kicked in.

edit: I don't have experience doing both at the same time regularly, I was only swimming laps because i injured a knee and couldn't run for a few months.
However, when I was younger i used to surf a lot and back then I could hold my breath for 2 min. Now, I have a RHR of around 50 but I am training quite regularly, but for about 5 years riding waves was the only exercise i did. Make of that what you will.

Good post, good to get more input.

 

[wildman1717]

It depends on your goals, they are good for cross training. They have very little carry over though. I was running on a competitive basis and started swimming for crosstraining and I couldn't believe how bad the carry over was. It is like anything else, if you want to get better at something you have to work at that sport or event. If you are doing it for general fitness their both good and recommend both.

 

[LatFlare]

It depends on your goals, they are good for cross training. They have very little carry over though. I was running on a competitive basis and started swimming for crosstraining and I couldn't believe how bad the carry over was. It is like anything else, if you want to get better at something you have to work at that sport or event. If you are doing it for general fitness their both good and recommend both.

If while you were running you only took a breath every 5 steps then you would have found swimming a lot easier in the beginning imo, but who the hell is gonna breathe like that when they run.

Your previous running training probably allowed you to adapt to the swimming faster than if you hadn't been doing it previously I reckon. Just a guess.

 

[sudo jr.]

One of the best benefits of swimming is that it has no eccentric component making it a great recovery aid.

The type of training you are doing (long distance vs sprints) will depend on how relevant it is to helping your sports performance. That being said, I know there is an ongoing debate whether on-land vs off-land training helps each other. Not sure what the current view is.

 

[wildman1717]

If while you were running you only took a breath every 5 steps then you would have found swimming a lot easier in the beginning imo, but who the hell is gonna breathe like that when they run.

Your previous running training probably allowed you to adapt to the swimming faster than if you hadn't been doing it previously I reckon. Just a guess.

Bike riding had a better carry over for running then does swimming. I read that in a book by a former Olympic marathon runner but I can't recall his name. He said that they have good 5K times even though they didn't run on a regular basis.

 

[Midnighter]

Bike riding had a better carry over for running then does swimming. I read that in a book by a former Olympic marathon runner but I can't recall his name. He said that they have good 5K times even though they didn't run on a regular basis.

Olympic marathon runners didn't run on a regular basis?

 

[Someguy99]

I'm an experienced triathlete. Swimming and running are perfect compliments for each other. Getting good at swimming takes a good deal of practice, but once you get a decent stroke going, its one of the best forms of exercise - especially if you train as if you were going to do some long distance, open water racing.

To be honest, though, swimming back and forth in a pool gets pretty boring. There is far more adventure in running than swimming.

 

[LatFlare]

Bike riding had a better carry over for running then does swimming. I read that in a book by a former Olympic marathon runner but I can't recall his name. He said that they have good 5K times even though they didn't run on a regular basis.

I'm sure it did. The action your body performs on a bike is much closer to running than swimming is, plus the environment is the same (I.e. The open air, not underwater)

Interestingly, some runners put on a float belt and 'run' underwater for rehab and cross training. Obviously it's beneficial if you have an injury and can't run on the road but I can't remember the other reasons for it. On my phone now so can't Google a link.. might edit this later