How swimmers get their lean muscular bodies

How Swimmers Get Their Lean Muscular Bodies

As a physical fitness instructor, when I am meeting potential clients to assess their fitness objectives for the first time, a very common request would be “Can you help me develop a swimmer’s body?” The question seems like a no brainer, don’t you think so? The most logical and simplest answer would be to swim more often, isn’t it?

Really, do you think it just that simple? If that is the case, you will see many people with lean muscular bodies in your neighborhood swimming pools, right?. So why isn’t that the case?

Firstly, we need to know what do my clients mean by getting a swimmer’s body? Is it the body of your local lifeguard or of world class competitive swimmer’s physiques like those of, say, Ian Thorpe? I put my last dollar down that they meant the latter.

Most of you would have seen Ian Thorpe’s superb body shape in swimming competitions or commercials that he is endorsing. Do you really think world class competitive swimmers get their awesomely well toned muscular body by merely swimming? Of course not. The reason for them having such fabulous body shapes are that they include weight training into their exercise program. So their toned muscles are built mostly in the gym and not in the pool.

The perceived misconception about swimmers having well sculpted lean muscular body is that people only see them swim but did not see them working out in a gym.

Yes, swimming is a fantastic exercise and will get some people into shape, but not the body shape of world class competitive swimmers. Now, unknown to most people, although swimming is a fantastic exercise, trying to get a muscularly toned physique through swimming may get you into trouble because swimming only develop the muscles that are used to pull and not to push.

You can swim in any stroke and in any style, your swimming actions are all pulling actions. That means that swimming only develops your pull muscles. This can lead to muscle imbalances. An imbalance in a muscle group will cause the opposite muscle to work too hard, causing pain, loss of strength and endurance in that muscle group. Never thought of it that way, did you?

Now, since the opposing muscles (push muscles) are not being trained, the development of the pull muscles will also hit a plateau pretty quickly since your muscles like to grow and gain strength symmetrically. This is your body’s natural way to protect you from muscle imbalances and will put the swimmer’s improvements to a screeching halt. That is one of the reasons why competitive swimmers have to train with weights not only to strengthen their pull muscles but to develop the push muscles as well.

So you see, competitive swimmers get their muscularly toned body not by swimming training alone but through weight training as well. So if you are one of those who desire to get that fabulous swimmer’s body, then you must include weight training into your swimming program.

The mass confusion that dominates in fat loss & fitness today

The Mass Confusion That Dominates In Fat Loss & Fitness Today

People are confused more than ever about how to burn fat. They are confused about the best way to go about achieving the body they want. They are confused about what works and what doesn’t, and the reasons why. There are countless individuals slaving away in gyms and fitness centers around the country right now.

They are working tirelessly, almost every day, on the treadmill, stair-climber, elliptical, etc. to burn those calories and fat. They also might be lifting weights several times a week for hours at a time to build some strength and muscle. They might even join a few aerobics or spinning classes too.

They are probably also trying one of the latest diet strategies that promises miracle fat burning and weight loss. They could also be spending a lot of money on the latest and greatest dietary supplements that could be that miracle pill that will aid in weight loss. They are also carefully watching the scale as their main judge of fat loss progress.

If it goes up a pound or two, they may behave rashly and maybe even change up their entire workout or diet program! And of course there are others are doing variations on that same theme.

After all, this is the kind of stuff that many of the popular fitness and diet gurus typically recommend to burn fat. But with so many different strategies and plans being pushed as the be all and end all, what happens is we tend to overboard.

And when that happens, we lose sight of what really matters in achieving lifelong fat burning, fitness and health…the principles than many people don’t know about, most people have forgotten, and only a select few put to use to achieve lifelong health and fitness. These are the same principles I used to drop over 40 pounds of unwanted body fat, keep it off, and revitalize my life!

With any exercise or nutrition program, you’ll probably lose some fat initially, but far too often the progress doesn’t continue or doesn’t come as fast as the person would like because they’re using a temporary mindset. They’re only focused on the short term and one specific goal. So they end up switching to something else, and the cycle continues until they’ve become consumed by this cycle of confusion.

I believe that this is one of the biggest, if not the #1 reason for the lack of fat loss and fitness progress that is being experienced by the masses of exercisers and dieters in the world. They are jumping from one fad diet or exercise routine to another, while losing sight of what’s really important, and what really works.

Simply put, they are exercising far too much, not nearly intensely enough, and trying to adhere to unrealistic diet recommendations.

If instead they focused on a long term plan, a lifestyle as it’s often called, and didn’t worry about “losing 10 pounds by summer”, they would find it far easier to do the right things most of the time.

And those right things include brief, progressive, and intense resistance training, eating a diet full of nutrient rich foods, drinking tons of water, and getting plenty of quality sleep and rest. The students of my Fat Burning Furnace method understand this and are reaping the life long health and fitness rewards because of it. Are you?

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Swimming tips for beginners to dive right in

3 Swimming Tips For Beginners to Dive Right In

For many beginners, swimming can be quite a daunting task, especially for those who have had issues with the open water in the past. While there are many swimming classes out there, they might not have the tailor made techniques needed to ensure that you are on the optimal needed for you to get out there and start swimming within a few months. This is not to say that you need to abscond form these classes out there, as by themselves , they are good enough for you to learn all the basics of swimming and get you afloat. But what about after that?

You cannot be paying everytime you need to improve yourself and to get better, you need to practice and practice on your own time. This brings us to the very first point of swimming tips for beginners. The pool and the ocean is your friend, and you should try to visit them as often as they can. Practicing on your own will ensure that you are in tip top shape at all times and that you are constantly improving in the pool. As time goes by, you will be able to notice a tangible difference in your swimming times and your overall fitness, so this is the very first thing to note. Too often do swimmers get out of their classes and remain transfixed in their room, only sporadically visiting the pool or only coming near the water whenever they are near the ocean.

This is not how things should be – swim as often as you can. Another thing that you should note is finding a buddy to practice with, which can be particularly useful when it comes to self improvement. A small dose of healthy competition is the spur you need to improve one another and it becomes more of a race that is both fun and engaging. It is also the motivation that you will need to keep practicing and go to the pool, as we all know, practicing by yourself can be quite boring and tedious sometimes. Partner yourself with someone with the relative same skill sets, so that there isn’t a great discrepancy in talents, which could mean the difference of someone giving up because the talent marker is just too high for them to keep up with. Last, but not least, always keep a journal of your progress.

Keeping a sort of diary is very useful when it comes to tracking your own personal progress. That way, you are able to sort out what is working for you and what is not. Seeing a plateau in your performance means that you can introduce new skills, a new stroke or even up the ante on your daily practice so that progression will always occur. In the end of the day, swimming should also be fun and exciting. With these 3 methods, you as a beginner, will be able to dive right in and make the improvements you need to be a competent swimmer.