Swimming and bodybuilding together?

[tydragonfly]

I'm probably on the wrong forum for the best way to improve at swimming. For resistance training I know to go to the gym and how many exercises to do and I'm starting to figure out what gets me the best results. But for swimming it seems like I'm making no progress. I kind of hate cardio but I was kind of wanting to enter a triathlon as a team and do the swimming portion which is close to a mile. I didn't know if anyone knew the best ways to improve for swimming. I have trouble swimming laps consecutive. I want to take a break every 2 or 3 laps. I can get myself to swim 9 but it sucks. In this kind of training do I want to try to swim the distance i'm aiming for and gradually my time will increase, or swim at fast pace and try to maintain that pace for more and more laps as the weeks go by?

Also, what kind of effects will this have building muscle? As long as i'm eating enough and not do swimming for more than an hour at a time it shouldn't really tear down muscle, correct? Wrong place for this question, but diet? how many grams of carbs should I be getting and when?

Maybe i'm the wrong website for swim questions...?

[footballplaya23]

I'm probably on the wrong forum for the best way to improve at swimming. For resistance training I know to go to the gym and how many exercises to do and I'm starting to figure out what gets me the best results. But for swimming it seems like I'm making no progress. I kind of hate cardio but I was kind of wanting to enter a triathlon as a team and do the swimming portion which is close to a mile. I didn't know if anyone knew the best ways to improve for swimming. I have trouble swimming laps consecutive. I want to take a break every 2 or 3 laps. I can get myself to swim 9 but it sucks. In this kind of training do I want to try to swim the distance i'm aiming for and gradually my time will increase, or swim at fast pace and try to maintain that pace for more and more laps as the weeks go by?

Also, what kind of effects will this have building muscle? As long as i'm eating enough and not do swimming for more than an hour at a time it shouldn't really tear down muscle, correct? Wrong place for this question, but diet? how many grams of carbs should I be getting and when?

Maybe i'm the wrong website for swim questions...?

First off you want to keep aiming for swimming a mile, once you can thats when you try to swim it as fast as you can and find out what pace works for you.

If your goin to swim really often, you need to up your carb intake ALOT to maintain your weight, and even more to keep building muscle. Your carb intake depends on your weight/bf/height, and alot of different factors I wouldnt be able to tell you, but I can point you in the right direction to find out for yourself, heres an e-book Fullback7 is writing for calorie intake for athletes.

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The first thing we are going to do here is take the measurements of your body. We want to do this so we have an indicating factor of where we begin, and how we are progressing. This is vital to understand where adjustments need to be placed throughout the course of the diet. These measurements listed need to be taken. These are simple basic measurements, and without going into blood tests measurements, we will have a basic guide to understand many factors. I'm not listing BF% here because of the simple fact that almost no beginner knows how to properly use calipers, and will usually not have an adequate source to provide this information. However if you do then by all means include BF%.
-Weight
*measurements by body part*
NECK
CHEST
SHOULDERS
BICEP
FOREARM
ABDOMEN
THIGH
CALF

Starting Calories
The next thing we need to do here is find a starting base for calorie consumption. We base this by our Basal metabolic rate. Simply put the basal metabolic rate (or BMR) is the amount of calories your body would consume during it's resting state. Think of it like laying in bed all day. This would be how many calories your body will consume during this time. Now with extra activity requires extra calories over the resting BMR.

Now I won't subject you to calculating the formula for your BMR which is.. BMR = 66 + ( 6.23 x weight in pounds ) + ( 12.7 x height in inches ) - ( 6.8 x age in year ). Instead I will provide you with a link

You will need to plug your numbers into the calculator, and you will see a number at the top http://www.bmi-calculator.net/bmr-calculator/

So once we have our metabolic rate at rest we then need to determine our activity level. For this we use the Harris Benedict formula.

Quote:
1. If you are sedentary (little or no exercise) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.2
2. If you are lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.375
3. If you are moderatetely active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.55
4. If you are very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.725
5. If you are extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training) : Calorie-Calculation = BMR x 1.9

Now all of you will at least be in the 1.55+ group. #4 and #5 groups are those that either workout twice a day, play two sports, or play a sport and train on the same days. The category #5 will obviously expand more calories then the #4 category. However if you fall into one of these categories it is best to start off at the lowest then gauge progress. If it is too much at #4 decrease the overall calories, if you aren't gaining too much then increase the calories.

So here is an example on how to set this up. Hopefully you know how to multiply, and enter your variables into the calculator.

Athlete X is a male, weighs 200 pounds, is 5'11, and is 20 years old. This means that Athlete X has a rate of 2,065 calories at rest. Now athlete X plays 7-on-7 during the pre-season, and trains for the season as well. Athlete X will start out in category #4. This means that we will take Athlete X's BMR which is 2,065, and then multiply it by 1.725 (2,065 x 1.725). Athlete X will need 3,562 calories in order to maintain his current weight of 200 pounds.

Calories needed above maintenance
Instead of Athlete X adding on 100,500,1000, etc. calories to begin with we will need to keep calories at maintenance to start off. This is because we want to gauge how well Athlete X expends these calories. If on maintenance Athlete X begins losing weight then we understand that the calories do in fact need to be bumped up. If Athlete X is gaining weight on maintenance we will continue with the total calories that are currently being provided to X. The exception with this last rule is if X's weight has significantly increased by 3-4 pounds in consecutive weeks. We want to keep a steady 1-2 (at very most) increase each week in weight. Now you also need to understand that like many measurements they have flaws. Along with weight you should also be checking your measurements such as the fatty areas of your neck, and waist as indicators if you are gaining a degree of onset BF.

If weight and measurements have been at a constant level then add 500 calories each week until weight is at a constant 1 pound increase each week. Do not adjust calories until your weight has stalled. Remember that in most diets that carbs are the primary fuel source for your body, eating an extreme surplus will not mean an increase in lean body mass. Your body can only grow so much naturally, and an extreme surplus of food will not change any of your body's limitations.

Breakdown of Macro nutrients (carbohydrates, fats, protein)

:Carbs:
Carbs can be the tricky macro to break down. Some people have different insulin responses. The man with a 40 inch waist, and a big belly will most likely have a bad insulin response, where the 100lb. skinny man will have a very good insulin repoonse. Because of these factors we start off with carbohydrates consuming 1.5lb./BW. For example, Athlete X (200 pounds) will start off with 300g of carbohydrates (200lbs. x 1.5=300). Now we will most likely need to adjust this number, but it's a good base to start. Once weight ceases to increase, then you should up the carbohydrate intake by 25-50g a day.



Now Athelte X needs 3,562 calories to maintain his weight. He needs 4,062 calories a day to begin adding weight. So if Athlete X consumes 300g of carbohydrates, this means he will consume 2,862 calories from protein and fat sources to continue adding weight.

:Protein:

Protein is the most important thing when adding weight, and cutting weight for that matter. In fact carbohydrates aren't even required for survival. If two people were stranded on an island, one with only protein, and the other with only carbohydrates the person with protein would be fine however, the person with carbohydrates would be lucky to make it past the first couple of months.

Many throw out various numbers for protein. Some say .8g/lb other say 2g/lb. Many have various refrences for proving their theroies, and all of them do have some very great points. So by this I think the best place to start with for protein is 1.75g/lb. By this we have a great surplus of protein, and are able to adaquatly store protein.

So back to Athlete X. Athlete X who weighs 200 lbs. will be consuming 1.75g/lb. of protein. So by this Athlete X will be consuming 350g of protein daily. Now this may seem like a lot to many, but with protein shakes, eggs, chicken, etc. which contain high amounts of protein it will begin to add up at a rapid pace.

Now Athlete X is consuming 1,200 calories from carbohydrates (200x1.5x4=1,200), and 1,400 calories from protein (200x1.75x4=1,400). This leaves Athlete X with a total of 1,462 calories left to spend on total fat intake.

:Fat:
In this day and age all we ever hear about is how bad fats are for the human body. They cause cancer, increase BF, cause cardiovasuclar disease, i'm sure they will even cause you to go on a killing spree for your next fat fix. None of this is true. Like most ancient studies from 50-60 years ago they have been horribly skewed to what has now become a complete myth. Until the FDA admits they have been wrong for half a decade we will still see this low fat freenze on the air waves. Although with many recent studies on not only the value of higher fat diets, but the health benefits the craze has subsided to a great degree.

Now there are fats that you should stay away from however. These fats are hydrogenated oils. Once upon a time these "very intelligent" nutritionist used to group saturated fats and hydrogenated oils together as one group. This is where the craze seems to spawn from. These fats include a lot of your fried oils in french fries, and other "un-natural" meats in fast food chains. This is why some of you may have seen KFC recieving a huge boost from many athletes because of their drop of trans fats.

The fat intake is a little bit higher than most see on a diet in the mainstream media. This is because fat is a very important source, and it is a requirement unlike carbohydrates. So from the remaning calories of Athelte X we will consume 1,462 calories in fat. Now there are 9 caloires per gram of fat. We divide 1,462 by 9, and we get 162.4_g of fat (round this to the tenth). So Athlete X will be consuming 162g of fat daily.

Putting it Together

Athlete X- 200lbs.
Total Calories- 4,062
Carbohydrate- 300g
Protein- 350g
Fat- 162g





References

[tydragonfly]

Thanks!
Do you know how much exercise he means by moderately active to very active? Swimming in the morning 3-4 days a week for 45 min and weight training 5 days a week. Somewhere between the two or closer to moderate?

[footballplaya23]

Anytime, and closer to moderate.