I found a website that gives you a rough idea on how many calories certain exercises would burn. As always, your mileage may vary, but these are a good enough approximation for you to get started with should you be interested in what you are burning.
But that is not the reason for this aside. No, the reason I am writing this is because 140 characters was simply not enough. The other day I saw mention that the best way to get started with any fitness or weight loss program is to incorporate weight training. In my opinion, that statement is a mistake and is going to cause people to hurt themselves as they try to toss around weights as if they were twenty years younger.
No sir, if you really want to see results over a short period of time, then go jump in the pool. You get all the benefits of strength training combined with the fat burning of cardio. Plus, it reverses the aging process as described in this documentary with Wilford Brimley who is still alive at 137 years old. Well, it might be all that oatmeal, but I am certain the swimming is a big reason why as well.
So, for those looking to partake in Active August, go jump in the pool. Your body will thank you. Swimming offers very little pressure on your joints, it gives you just enough resistance as if you were lifting weights, and it increases your lung capacity. I have often heard and read about people in their 80’s that swim moderately a few times a week have the same lung capacity as people less than half their age.
It really is the fountain of youth. When combined with some extra training (running, tennis, basketball, soccer, racquetball, weights, etc.) you can see amazing results in just a few short months. But Active August is about the 31 days, and I intend to make the most of it that I can.
Thanks for the link and the idea about swimming is right on. No one should jump into weight training without getting some training from a qualified person.
adding some muscle mass is key to weight loss, no question. but you need to be very, very careful how you go about getting started. swimming is a great way to get back into weight training as it offers good resistance. you can then start to add in things like push-ups, sit-ups, or even pull-ups, i always like to do exercises without any additional weights. once I am comfortable with that, and no noticable injuries, i start to pick up the weights again.
Thank You Tom for the link…i am actually desparately thinking to burn some of my calories 🙂
it gets harder when you have children, but as they get older it gets easier. i could probably chase my kids around the yard for an hour tonight before they dropped of exhaustion…i wonder if that is listed in that page; “chasing kids in back yard”…nope, not there. oh well, i will estimate that it burns 3,000 calories and relax with a pint of ice cream when i am done.
yep..i agree chasing ur kids would be the most efficient way for burning calories..i guess you have burnt lots of ur calories using this way…:)
Swimming is great exercise, but even at high intensity, it seems hard to actually burn fat from it.
Good link, it gives you more incentive to do the exercises that you know are going to burn the most calories