Swimming the best Cardio exercise?

[MOTHER DUCKER]

I have problems running recently on hard pavement/road i get bad pains in my shin area and i have to walk a fair bit to find a park area to run in and don't have the time. But i have heard really good things about Swimming that you can burn around 10 Cal a min with moderate swimming. I have been doing it for the last week and i love it...

I have no problem going 50-60 mins straight no stops (could never do this running)

Zero pains during or after the activity, i can do it 5-6 days out of 7 no problem while when i was running i had problems motivating myself due to pain/aches.

It's a full body work out rather then running which is mainly legs/tiny bit arms.

Am i missing something in regards to swimming then? cause to me it seems superior/equal to most other cardio exercises but with more perks. Yet my friends swear by good old running.

[josh-hill]

Well what you get from running can probably be solved by either good shoes or running on the balls of your feet. I think the reason people say running is that it is very versatile and builds mental determination like no other cardio. Swimming is better straight out cardio for weight loss or whatever. But boxers don't do cardio for cardios sake. We do it to improve endurace as part of our training. So things like sprints are key. So guess these do translate to swimming quite well. i meen you could do 5 legnths as quick as possible, then a rest. but maybe not as well? I'm not sure. I am going to try swimming though as soon as i remeber to get the times. ill let you know how i get on.

[Sam Donald]

swimming is the same

[Spartacus Sully]

nah runnings still better for cardio.

swimming is a matter of flailing about in the water while you randomly take quick breaths for the short periods of time your heads above the water.

purely on breathing practices alone running beats out swimming.

running all you do is keep your head up and keep going straight allowing you to concentrate 100% on breathing calm relaxed breaths along with the occasional deep breath to clear out your lungs on the occasion.

running guarantees better lung capacity, better regulation of breathing, and better regulation of heart rate through breathing making it a much better cardio activity.

[Del Coqui]

^^^^ I disagree, it all depends how much effort you put into it.

When it comes down to pain and joints, swimming is a much safer exercise. A good swimming pool is not accesible to everyone thou.

[Spartacus Sully]

^^^^ I disagree, it all depends how much effort you put into it.

When it comes down to pain and joints, swimming is a much safer exercise. A good swimming pool is not accesible to everyone thou.

hard swimming is going to put alot of stress on your shoulder cuffs and joints opening you up for injuries while actually boxing, hard running just your knees which is more often due to muscle imbalances then joint damage

even then hard swimining isnt any kind of steady relaxed breathing there are still going to be multiple times where your going to want to breath and you have to wait a second because your under water.

breathing is just as important to cardio as cardio is to cardio. if your running and you stop running and continue to take short fast breaths your heart rate is going to take forever to drop, if you stop running and take a few deep breaths then just continue with calm relaxed breathing by the time your done with the deep breaths your heart rate has allready droped. (cardio: the speed in which your heart rate drops after activity)

swiming is just quick frenzied beathing, the lungs hold much much more air then a person takes in or blows out with one breath and the lungs need this reservoir of air so they have a constant supply oxygen when you take short quick breaths all your doing is exchanging the air that you just breathed in while your reservoir goes stagnant. if you breath out too much air you have no reservoir. this rolling of the tides with each breath is one of the most important factors of breathing, with out a good breath you dont have good cardio.

purely on breathing alone id even say walking is a better cardio exercise then swimming and if you want to go with safe walking beats out swimming there as well, course your going to want to walk atleast 12 or so miles and sprint the last 2 or 3 back.

[Bastian Loc]

Swimming is superior for all the reasons you mentioned so you kinda answered your own question.

Running, particularly jogging is really a stupid form of exercise in that its ineffective and really damages your knees.

If I had a pool, it would be a no brainer.

[Bastian Loc]

hard swimming is going to put alot of stress on your shoulder cuffs and joints opening you up for injuries while actually boxing, hard running just your knees which is more often due to muscle imbalances then joint damage

even then hard swimining isnt any kind of steady relaxed breathing there are still going to be multiple times where your going to want to breath and you have to wait a second because your under water.

breathing is just as important to cardio as cardio is to cardio. if your running and you stop running and continue to take short fast breaths your heart rate is going to take forever to drop, if you stop running and take a few deep breaths then just continue with calm relaxed breathing by the time your done with the deep breaths your heart rate has allready droped. (cardio: the speed in which your heart rate drops after activity)

swiming is just quick frenzied beathing, the lungs hold much much more air then a person takes in or blows out with one breath and the lungs need this reservoir of air so they have a constant supply oxygen when you take short quick breaths all your doing is exchanging the air that you just breathed in while your reservoir goes stagnant. if you breath out too much air you have no reservoir. this rolling of the tides with each breath is one of the most important factors of breathing, with out a good breath you dont have good cardio.

purely on breathing alone id even say walking is a better cardio exercise then swimming and if you want to go with safe walking beats out swimming there as well, course your going to want to walk atleast 12 or so miles and sprint the last 2 or 3 back.

No, its actually an activity that engages your entire body at once under resistance from water.

Your last paragraph is laughable.

[Spartacus Sully]

No, its actually an activity that engages your entire body at once under resistance from water.

Your last paragraph is laughable.

resistance of water? you bodys like 70% water thats 70% of your body that you dont have to support the entire time that you swimming unlike running when your legs are under the entire resistance of gravity.....just like if you were say in a boxing ring.

so its a good exercise for your muscles.....for SWIMMING, the cardio aspect of it is just quick frenzied breathing. it is crap for cardio compared to running or walking and crap for exercising your muscles for boxing compared to boxing.

and why is my last paragraph laughable? walking is an incrediable exercise especially for heavy weights and tall people it also does an amazing job at burning the fat straight off your bones instead of creating a calorie deficit and hoping that the fat eventually burns away keeping a fighter toned but not over trained.

a good boxer dosnt go all out then spend 1 min between rounds recovering a good boxer is recovering every second they arnt throwing a punch. a good boxer does this with calm breathing and strong legs that can support ones body weight for hours.

plus when your walking or jogging you can shadow box as well killing two birds with one stone....like swimming but actually doing proper boxing movements and growing accustom/refining your ability to punch with your body weight as you take steps.

[GoogleMe]

Swimming is superior for all the reasons you mentioned so you kinda answered your own question.

Running, particularly jogging is really a stupid form of exercise in that its ineffective and really damages your knees.

If I had a pool, it would be a no brainer.

I agree that swimming is a good exercise. But as a boxer I would rate running higher any day of the week. Your legs are going to carry you all the way to victory, having strong and endurable legs and core are what you need. The term: your legs are going to carry you for a long time.