Swimming

[Traymond]

Is it truly good for ab work?

[Bushido58266]

true it is. swimming works a ton of muscles in the body and burns a lot of fat but you wont build that 6 pack everyone wants without situps or crunches also

[tallgeese]

It's a great total body workout for sure. And light on the joint trauma. Your abs will get strenghened by it, but not on a focused basis. More on a "functional" level.

On a side note, you can have really strong abs and good core strength and still not sport the "six pack" look. Most of the defination comes from diet.

[DWx]

I think it also depends on the stroke you are doing and the technique. Some strokes are going to better than others for working the abs, and better technique is more likely to result in the full use of the body rather than predominately using the arms or legs or whatever.

[Traymond]

Ahhhh i see. So is it true that a diet high in starch is good for the definition of abdominal muscles while doing swimming?

[tallgeese]

Developing a diet around defintion will depend less on what particular exercises you are doing and more about how many calories you are intaking vs. how many you are burning.

To really get cut (like movie cut), you're going to have to seriously cut down (in all likelyhood) the intake of calories. Increase the burnt calories by incresing hte total workload of your activity.

As to all the variables about whet calories should come from where, I'll have to leave you in more experianced hands. Check out crossfit.com (yeah, I know I always say that) and look in their diet section.

I'm a big fan of their exercise protocol, although I can't say I use their dieting methods (a few more pounds isn't worth counting intake for me- I like burritos too much) but guys get really good results from what they push over there.

[Tiger1962]

One thing I know about swimming is that any time I sustained an injury either in martial arts or doing another sport, the only physical activity my doctor allows me to do while injured is swimming. It allows you to maintain cardio without putting a strain on your joints & supposedly its good therapy for arthritis and other ailments.

[Traymond]

Hmmm so. Now the only thing i have to overcome...is the thought of swimming next to someone who pees in the pool...haha. Thanks alot for your help once again. And I will definately check out crossfit for this stuff before I ask again, haha. Take care.

[Tiger1962]

Hmmm so. Now the only thing i have to overcome...is the thought of swimming next to someone who pees in the pool...haha. Thanks alot for your help once again. And I will definately check out crossfit for this stuff before I ask again, haha. Take care.

Just don't swallow the water and the chlorine probably kills all the germs anyway (I think)

[Traymond]

Haha....whuh...just thinking of swallowing the water...SICK! But at the gym I go to, I swear that they have chlorine in the shower heads....im so dry after I get out of the shower...no knuckles or elbows are safe afterwards...