Common Swimming Myths

Here are a few prominent myths about swimming that I must dispel.

• Swimming in cold water causes your body to store fat.There is a phenomenon called the cold-water immersion response that tends to spare body fat for insulation. As soon as you begin exercising at an intensity great enough to elevate your core temperature, however, this becomes a moot point. Most swimming pools are kept at 78 degrees or warmer, plenty warm to allow all but the thinnest people to elevate core temperature. In fact, if a pool is too warm, a swimmer can become overheated, which decreases work capacity and fat metabolism. Swimming in cool water allows greater exercise volume and intensity than does any exercise that is performed in air that is too hot. Even English Channel swimmers experience significant fat loss during their 55 ˚F (13 ˚C) ordeal. By far, intensity and duration most greatly influence fat metabolism.

• Swimming is performed in a prone position, which means that your heart rates during training will be lower than in other sports. You therefore don’t get as much of a workout.Just being in the water reduces the amount of work that the heart must do to circulate your blood, because it no longer must pump against the force of gravity. While this does reduce your resting pulse rate, it has no influence over how hard you can push yourself. Regardless of training intensity and duration, the workout you can get in swimming is no less effective than if you invested the same intensity and time in another sport.

• Swimming makes you hungry. Okay, you got me. It is true that most swimmers tend to be hungry after workouts. The same is true in nearly every sport. But the timing of after-exercise hunger is more directly related to body temperature than to the type of exercise. You are less likely to be hungry when your core temperature is far above normal resting levels. Runners and cyclists generally have elevated body temperatures for longer periods after their workouts, postponing hunger. Swimmers, on the other hand, generally spend enough time in cool water after intense training to lower their body temperature enough that hunger seems more directly linked to the workout.

 

So now are you convinced? Swimming will be your next life challenge and passion. Now you need a swimsuit and a few other goodies and you’re off to find a swimmin’ hole!