Congrats on getting started! Some of that soreness is just from using muscles you haven’t used much. It should pass. If you’re still as sore after the next session try doing a little less the next time and then working your way back up to give those muscles a chance to get stronger.
Yay you!
I swam for fitness for a number of years. It’s a great exercise because with most strokes, if you do them properly, it’s a full-body workout and naturally anaerobic(cause you can’t breathe underwater). I started very slow, about two laps with crawlstroke and breaststroke(100 yards, the local pool was configured for high school swim meets, so yards not meters). I monitored my progress by heart rate and how hard I was breathing. The pool had big clocks for people who were working on lap times, so it was easy to just take a quick pulse reading after a lap. But I worked up to 6 sets of 3 laps in a full size pool at the gym, about 900 meters, sometimes I’d do more.
Here’s what one of my sets looked like at the point when I was using it as my primary exercise.
Kick off the wall and dolphin kick underwater as far as I can. This starts me off with a strong anaerobic stress. Surface and finish out the first 25 meters(half lap) with crawlstroke, freestyle, or breaststroke.
Rebound off the wall into backstroke and backstroke the return 25 meters. This moves me into aerobic territory and I can recover my breath.
Start the second lap as soon as I finish the first, using a different stroke after I surface, but otherwise the same.
For my third lap of each set I always had a kickboard handy and would do kicks only. One half of the lap face down, one half face up.
So basically 150 meters without stopping, switching up my techniques every 25 meters or so.
Between sets I’d check my pulse and adjust my wait time based on my heart rate. If it was low I’d start my next set right away, if it was higher I’d let myself cool down a bit. This is one of the big things that people miss when training. The cardio is all about the heart. Monitor your heart rate and adjust your exertion to keep it in your target zone. If you go over then your body goes into a more stressed mode and starts cannibalizing emergency energy reserves. If you don’t keep the heart rate high enough then you’re really not getting the benefit you are working for.
I felt better, slept better, had more focus and better health numbers. I still mix in swimming into my workouts whenever I can. Right now I’ve pulled something in my leg and can’t do my usual 4-6 hours/week in the dojo, so I’m back to walking and swimming.
For you, right now it’s enough to move. Be thinking about the future and what you want from this. Do you want more energy? Weight loss? Muscle tone? Water sports are a great low impact exercise and there’s tons of ways of use it, from water aerobics to endurance training. As you get more comfortable in the water, but before you develop really bad habits, take some time to learn the proper techniques. You’ll get a better workout, lessen your chance of injury, and improve your chances of being able to stick with it long term if you use the right techniques.
Enjoy,
Steven
Wow, Mtgman, that’s a lot of great info!
Gonna keep in the for now “it’s enough to move” midset. But I’ll re-read your post with more and more interest as time goes on.
On my second day, I did a YouTube search for Stretch Before Swimming. I stretched out real good before getting into the pool. Then I stretched afterwards. I continued stretching my arms intermittently throughout the rest of the evening, to great effect. No soreness.
Soylent Juicy mentioned following this Thread “freeload the advice”. Well, I’ll add stretching to the advice. I’d hate for anyone else to go through an aching sleepless night like I did after that fist swim.