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Swimming to get muscular physique?
Some time ago, I have written a controversial article about how
an Australian research team published in the American Journal of Sports
Medicine concluded that you may gain
weight with swimming as an exercise. Amongst the many reasons stated in
the report, one of the main culprits is that swimming makes you hungry and you
may over eat.
Since then, I have received numerous emails, some courteous and
some not so, telling me that there must be something wrong with that research.
This is especially when the swimmers competing in the Beijing Olympics 2008
with their magnificently
ripped body shape with awesome
six pack abs and especially that of Michael Phelps were beamed world wide.
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Lose weight get
ripped CDs
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Therefore in this article, I will publish one of the typical emails I have
received about this subject and my reply to it. Here goes.
Dear Chris,
In swimming, you might build a bit of muscle but very little like you would in
weight training. I would assume that most people who are
reading this or partake in information from your website want to pack on the
muscle. But swimming?
Furthermore, are you taking into consideration that once someone is done with
lifting weights and then doing some sort of cardio activity, i.e., swimming
.......that is when they need to eat to replace glyogen levels? So,
it makes sense to eat afterwards anyway. If they were a
housewife and didnt burn that much then sure they would gain weight but and
athletic person who eats the proper fuel.....
This article doesn't sound correct.
Regards
Gregory
PS....Michael Phelphs eats constantly when training....about 12,000
calories a day and he is ripped however, with that said.....he is more on the
skinny (ripped) side even though he has some muscle. You
are not going to be a bodybuilder swimming.
My reply:-
Hi Greg,
Thankyou for your feedback. That article was just a report I have found while
doing some research and thought that my subscribers may find it interesting.
Here are a few comments on your feedback.
Personally, I don't encourage cardio after weight lifting because:-
a) If your weight lifting session is intensive enough as it ought to be when
you are building muscles,
you will be too tired to do any effective cardio exercises.
b) After each intensive weight training, I encourage my clients to eat
immediately (like you said, to replace glycogen and also to feed the muscles
with protein). So by embarking on cardio right after weight training, the
window for maximum feeding potential closes as time expands.
c) Again after a bout of intensive weight training, my clients are encouraged
to rest or even sleep for muscle recovery.
Furthermore, the article was written for the ordinary folks who swim for
leisure or even with the intention to lose weight and not for competitive
swimmers. For them, the energy expanded from leisurely swims would not deplete
the glycogen store so much so that replenishment is needed.
Conversely, they may eat more than the energy expanded and thus gain weight.
Besides, if they want
to lose weight, then it may be a good idea to deplete the glycogen store
so that the body will start to burn fat instead of glycogen as its first
source of energy.
As for Mike Phelps eating 12,000 calories, there is only one Mike in the
world. Unless one trains like him, then you need a lot of energy and thus
12,000 calories. Can you imagine if you ask anyone else besides international
competitive swimmers to eat just only half of what Mike Phelps eats (6,000
calories)? They will be a walking heart attack waiting to happen, right?
Furthermore, competitive swimmers also do weight training. Read this article How
To Get A Swimmer's Physique.
Click
here to get a Swimmer's Body Fast And Easily!
Best Wishes
