Never too Cold for a Swim

        As I've mentioned in past blogs, I was a competitive swimmer my whole life--I mean, very competitive.  From the age of 6 till I was 18 I swam six days a week, two hours a night, 11 months a year and about 4 miles a night... after numerous calculations my fellow swimmers and I have come to the conclusion that we've swam about 30,000 miles in our lives.  Now, at 20 (and 5/6's) I sadly swim only a few times a year but whenever I do motivate myself to dive in a pool and swim a few laps I'm always surprised by how much I enjoy myself.
         My usual workout routine involves 45 minutes of cardio on the treadmill, the elliptical or the spin bike, and then 15-20 minutes of arm work and ab work.  The beauty of swimming is that my workout is only 30 minutes long and I get all my strength and cardio training in at the same time!  My pool routine is 66 laps (which is one mile in a 25-yard pool) and I break it into different sets:

1. 500 yd. Warm-up (20 laps of freestyle and backstroke)
2. 400 yd. I.M. (4 laps of butterfly, 4 laps of backstroke, 4 laps of breaststroke and 4 laps of freestyle)
3. 300 yd. Freestyle/Kick (12 laps of alternating freestyle and flutter kick on back)
4. 200 yd. I.M. (2 laps of butterfly, 2 laps of backstroke, 2 laps of breaststroke and 2 laps of freestyle)
5. 100 yd. Freestyle sprint (4 laps of freestyle as fast as you can!)
6. 150 yd. Warm-down (6 laps of loose freestyle or flutter kicking)

Yes, it seems like a lot but I feel great when I finish!  Here's a calorie counter for you to use after your swim work out!

Calories Burned Calculator
Estimate the calories you burned swimming:
Pace:	swimming, treading water, moderate effort, generalswimming, lake, ocean, riverswimming, leisurely, not lap swimming, generalswimming laps, freestyle, slow, moderate or light effortswimming, backstroke, generalswimming, crawl, slow (50 yards/minute), moderate or light effortswimming, sidestroke, generalswimming, synchronizedswimming, treading water, fast vigorous effortswimming, breaststroke, generalswimming laps, freestyle, fast, vigorous effortswimming, butterfly, generalswimming, crawl, fast (75 yards/minute), vigorous effort
Weight:		PoundsKilograms
Time:		HoursMinutes

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