Then I guess that means I’m pretty stylin’.
I’d like to try it sometime. But I’d have to do it on vacation some place they have nice water. I used to swim off LA beaches all the time when I was a young woman, but you couldn’t pay me enough now. Nasty, dark, freaky…ugh.
I might feel better about it in a crowd.
What if they tried not eating? Or reducing their calorie intake to a fraction of its current value. Are you suggesting they’d still be fat, no matter what?
Some people do have medical problems, and they are obviously medical problems without any question. But most people who are fat are fat because their diet, over a number of years, has involved the consumption of more calories than they are expending. No amount of wriggle gets you around this fact.
Alexander is a remarkable man, but does not get to opt out of the above facts. He eats too much and would benefit from losing a few pounds. He would also likely be a better athlete. But if he’s happy as he is, then does it matter?
Yes, some people are more prone to weight gain than others. We all have different constitutions and some people inherite the “fat gene”. That means they have to take greater efforts if they want to be slim. And some other people seem like they can eat just about anything and have little no weight gain. Those are the breaks, some people are lucky. But it still comes back to your calorie input.
And the guy who can eat anything and not grow a gut could just as likely be piling it on in the arteries. No-one totally escapes the effects of a poor diet.
As to the OP; no, you are not an athlete. An athlete is in the top percentage of their sport and competes. I’m assuming you’re not likely to achieve either of these criteria. But why should you care? Is this why you swim? You’re a good swimmer and the swimming is doing you good. End of story. Would you be a better swimmer and closer to athlete status if you weighed less? Probably. But that’s a different story and that alone isn’t going to make you an athlete.
I think you need to reread my post, SlowMindThinking. I’m stating that I do half the distance (i.e. half a mile) in half the time (i.e. 25 minutes). This is therefore the same speed as the OP. I’m also stating that this rate is not particularly good.
And at 230 pounds with a 39" waist, I’m a lardass.
I’m confused. First how are you count your laps? Is a lap for you once up and then back or is it from one wall to another? Also how long is the pool? From what I can gather, the pool is 20 yards long and a lap for you is up and back.
Now as for a 44 minute mile, I can’t really say, I can do one in ~25 minutes, maybe a bit quicker. But I’m a swimmer normally and I do compete regularly. Just for comparison though an olympic swimmer would do the same in around 16:30 for a woman, maybe a bit slower.
Personally I think you are doing an ok job, there are people on my team who are about your speed. You could do better by doing different strokes, different times, and different distances. You might also want to look into a Masters swim team in your area, you will get a better workout.
You can not really compare open water swimming to pool swimming. In open water they tend to use a wet suit which does help with bouyancy. That makes it easier to swim. You might, though I really don’t know, be helping yourself because of your size. If you want I might be able to come up with some good workouts for you, you will not always get the distance in, but distance is not everything in swimming for fitness.
Eddie, who is in training for the World Masters.
Stoid, I think you’ve by now realized there really isn’t a standard operating definition of “athlete” that everyone accepts.
Here is what I think:
-Do you go for your swim even on the days you don’t want to?
-Do you miss it when you don’t do it?
-Do you strive for improvement?
-Do you schedule your life around when you can get to the pool?
-Have other aspects of your life changed because of your workouts?
If you answer yes to these, I personally think you’re an athlete. Maybe not a good one, in terms of skill, but you’ve definitely got the mindset.
For me, I’m a runner. And may hell rain it’s fury on anyone who calls me a “jogger” because my pace hovers around 10 minutes per mile. I have run in the pouring down rain when everyone else has blown off a workout. I have given up staying up late and drinking alcohol because it hinders my athletic performance. I have now become mostly social with others who run. Basically, my life revolves around running. And I love it. And I miss it when I skip a workout. And I’m always trying to get better. You bet your sweet ass I’m an athlete.
It’s all in the mentality, is what I’m sayin’.
I responded to this earlier, but it apparantly disappeared. You are right. I am wrong. I’m sorry.
Edward the Head is right about the times. Everyone else should be aware that the mile swim is not really a mile. The high school swimmers, at least, swim more of a 1650 (yards). Beats me as to why, although you obviously can’t swim exactly 1760 yards in any normal pool. Edward, do international swimmers swim 1600 meters when they swim a “mile”? That would be quite close to one mile. Congratualtions on your times. I wish I swam somewhere near your speed. What I need is a coach. The masters group I swim with is quite good; I think the masters group I swim with actually has some faster swimmers than you, but those guys a pretty unusual. (They compete in triathlons and not masters events, though, so you won’t run into them.) Unfortunately, coaching is only available on Saturdays, which I can’t make for kids’ swim meets.
Back to the Op, I originally wrote something along the lines of what scout1222 wrote. If swimming is not something you do during your free time, but rather something you schedule your free time activities around; if you do workouts to improve your swimming and don’t just putz around; if you change your other habits to improve your performance, then you are an athlete in my book. Most people consider me an athlete, because I’m a pretty good runner, and not a bad swimmer, but I think it is more of about attitude. People who know me might say, “he’s a pretty good athlete”, because of natural talent. They say “he’s an athlete”, because they know athletic performance is a part of my life.
I wouldn’t use Alexander as an example of why some people just can’t lose weight. He is very unusual. He has always been the poster child for fit but fat. I have never met a triathlete like him, and there are none at the elite level. Sumo wrestlers are better examples of fat athletes. There is no denying that they are athletes; they are also way overweight by any measure. They aren’t necessarily fit, but they are athletes.
Snippity snip…
This is a huge, huge discussion, and in order for me to participate fully I would have to drag out all my real world cites and reasearch and type and devote time that I just don’t have at the moment, and I’m being incredibly disciplined by NOT doing this. But I’m not. Not right now.
Keep an eye for a thread i shall start sometime in coming months to discuss these matters in greater depth. It will be in Great Debates.
See ya there and then.
Exactly. There is a big sign on the wall explaining that x length = X distance. 88 lengths is 1 mile, and I am swimming 100 lengths/50 laps.
I’m such a dope…I realized I’m doing a little better than I thought. I was comparing my 50 laps to the swim times for a mile, and you are right, I’m doing a 44 minute mile.
Well, I certainly wasn’t referring to Olympians! Just wondering where that line between “exerciser” and “athlete” is thought to lie.
This has been suggested to me. I may look into it.
Yeah, I know, and I have to break myself of that.
Yes, actually, to all of the above, and that’s why the question occurred to me. My whole attitude has shifted, and it’s rather thrilling.
Brilliant! Keep at it. I only swim for 25-30 mins - all I can manage in my lunch hour - and it’s too short.
A couple quick questions:
What is your best time/distance without using a snorkel?
Doesn’t the snorkel inhibit your cardio workout, and thus your “fitness”?
Just wondering, as I always found that half the battle in swimming was the breathing part (which got the heart rate going), and so would consider using a snorkel cheating a bit.
Well, *I’m * jealous - I love to swim, and I can do about three laps before I’m done in. You’re an athlete in my eyes, Stoid.
As for the fat by diet/genes issue, since I stopped dieting and messing with my metabolism and let my body get as fat as it wanted, it got to a certain point and just stopped getting any fatter. I eat what I want, I exercise when I want, and I’m the only person I know whose weight doesn’t vary by as much as five pounds. I don’t even put on Christmas pounds. I think my personal experience goes some way to proving that everyone’s body has a set point for weight. I really wish we could get past using weight as a way to judge people’s worth.
I have no idea, because I don’t do it. I had to swim snorkel-less in the pool in Vegas last summer, and I found I still had all the skills, I just didn’t care for it.
Not at all, jsut the opposite. If I am working my heart and lungs very hard, I have to breath much faster (although that is becoming a little less true) and having to constantly grab for air either messes up my stroke or forces me to slow down even though my body can actually work much harder. Using the snorkel allows me to breath the way all other forms of cardio exercise allow you to breath: at will, as needed. Imagine having to spend the majority of your time holding your breath while you ran? Why should swimming be any different?
I’m not sure what you mean by the breath battle getting the heart rate going. It’s the exertion of the exercise of swimming which gets your heart rate going, not having to hold your breath.
Having to deal with breathing in the water is one of the handicaps of swimming, to my mind. As I said, our bodies are designed to breath steadily and regularly, and more rapidly as our heart rate rises, and swimming makes that difficult.
I have lately been getting back to making sure that my stroke is more like a regulara “gotta grab some air” stroke, because it’s more work and faster swimming. But I don’t actually have to be grabbing air to do it.
If you decide to try the snorkel route, make sure you get one that has an automatically close on it, that will shit off the air valve if you go under water.
And before anyone comes in to correct me, I know that when one swims (correctly) one should not be “holding your breath”. I get terribly sad when I see how badly and inefficiently some people have been taught to swim and that’s kinda what they do, because they don’t know how to properly breathe when swimming.
But when you are swimming hard and fast, it’s a bitch to “breathe” correctly and in the end there’s some breath holding happens.
** featherlou: ** don’t be jealous, girl, get in the pool! I didn’t start out being able to do this!
Since it’s close to being the Oylmpics we can go over the events quickly.
They will swim 50, 100, 200, 400, 800 (women only), 1500 (men only) free.
There is also 50, 100, and 200 in the other strokes, fly/back/breast, and 200 and 400 Individual Medley where you swim Fly, back, breast then free. If you ever want to torture yourself try doing either a 200 fly or a 400 IM.
There are also different types of pools, the most common are 25 yards and 25 meters. Fifty meter pools are what the Olympics are held in, but because they are so big are uncommon, or are split in half. And there are 20 yard pools, though I don’t know of any around me, I think a lot of Ys have them.
I’m not sure why they call the 1500meter/1650 yards a mile, that’s just what they call them. The reason it’s so strange is that they try and keep yards and meters at least close. A 500 yard swim is close to a 400, the 800 meter is close to 1000 yards.
As for the OP, I really don’t know what and athelet is, I don’t think in such ways. I guess I will say what some of the others say that if you go out of your way to do something, especially like swimming or running, not golf, though I love golf too, you can say you’re and athelete.
As for breathing, you do hold your breath, though you are supposed to breath every third stroke, I hate doing that and breath every other so I do breath all the time. Breathing while swimming is something you have to work at to learn.
Watch closely during the 50 metres events at the Olympics. Most of the competitors in the later events will breathe once during the race.
Or less. Then again they are only doing a :21 50 free. Then again watch some of the non US swimmers do the long events and watch them breath to one side.