Thread: Swimming or Running?

Both of those things are achieved through diet management.

To put on muscle you need to be in a caloric surplus (more coming in than going out), and to lose fat you need to be in a caloric deficit (more going out than coming in).

As for cardio, i think both are good if done right. Personally i can't run because i always get water on the knee from doing it, so i usually pick swimming for my cardio. But theres no reason why you cant do both.

Remember to always get a mix of high intensity and low intensity cardio in your training.

And you don't get lean from cardio. That part comes from below-maintenance calories and heavy resistance training.

Cardio is good for your ♥

thanks that really helped

yeah i no its good for your heart but for instance you cant get a cut mid section just but lifting. Cardio burns body fat. I trust what your saying but im pretty sure cardio helps.

And the endless cardio debate continues......

you cant get a cut mid section just but lifting

why not?

I trust what your saying but im pretty sure cardio helps.

Sorta contradictory, no?

I prefer swimming for my cardio.

i understand that i coulda worded that i little better but what i was saying is that i know that person is very knowledgeable about the subject of cutting but at the same time ive heard nothing but the contrary to what he was saying.

I do very little cardio. I cut with diet and heavy lifting.

Originally Posted by jmstoge

what i was saying is that i know that person is very knowledgeable about the subject of cutting but at the same time ive heard nothing but the contrary to what he was saying.

Yeah, He's pretty knowledgeable.

Did you see his abs? Freakin' ripped!

Originally Posted by Built

And you don't get lean from cardio. That part comes from below-maintenance calories and heavy resistance training.

Cardio is good for your ♥

Listen to Built.
That's what I tell my daughter. She is a competitive swimmer and runs daily. She is in great shape but can't understand why she doesn't lose wieght...not that she really needs to lose any but you know how teenage girls are

Originally Posted by jmstoge

yeah i no its good for your heart but for instance you cant get a cut mid section just but lifting. Cardio burns body fat. I trust what your saying but im pretty sure cardio helps.

a) diet + exercise = weight loss

b) calories out > calories in = weight loss

c) weight training helps maintian muscle mass when you are dieting and helps to burn calories, placing us in a caloric deficit.

d) cardio helps to burn calories while we are dieting, placing us in a caloric deficit.


What is so hard to understand?

Originally Posted by Jodi

I prefer swimming for my cardio.

I do think that doing high intensity swimming is one of the toughest things i've ever done cardio-wise. After a few intervals its like swimming in treacle.

I will tell you what worked for me!
9 months ago or so I weighed 260 pounds with about 30% Body fat.
I changed my diet and began doing cardio 6 days a week. After 5 months I had lost 40 pounds and was down to about 17% body fat but was basically stuck at that point.
Then I started introducing a pretty intense lifting schedule in (still doing my cardio 5-6 days a week) and today I weigh 178 pounds with 11.2% Body fat.

My personal opinion is that you MUST have a healthy mix of both cardio and lifting to achieve your goal (unless you want to be one of those 250+ pound pure muscle men).

I mix my cardio from swimming, running, and biking. I typically run 4 days a week and swim on 2 of those days after I run. I also do spin class 2-3 times a week. I recommend just mixing it up and keeping it fun. Don't let your cardio become a job, do whatever you can to enjoy yourself while doing it.

Swimming is most difficult for me because I am really motivated by music when I do cardio and I cannot listen to music while swimming.

My 2 cents on the abs idea:
You CANNOT get really cut abs without doing an intense amount of cardio. If you want a heavily defined set of abs you cannot just build muscle. Abs are like 65% diet, 20% workout, and 15% genes (no science to back that up just what I feel like I have noticed). To have extremely defined abs you need to have virtually ZERO fat on your belly. So you need to be eating the right food and keeping your workout up. I recently added side planks to my workout and I will say it has made a HUGE difference in ab definition.

Hope that helps some!

Originally Posted by GOtriSports

My 2 cents on the abs idea:
You CANNOT get really cut abs without doing an intense amount of cardio. If you want a heavily defined set of abs you cannot just build muscle. Abs are like 65% diet, 20% workout, and 15% genes (no science to back that up just what I feel like I have noticed). To have extremely defined abs you need to have virtually ZERO fat on your belly. So you need to be eating the right food and keeping your workout up. I recently added side planks to my workout and I will say it has made a HUGE difference in ab definition.

most, if not all of what you have said is complete bullshit.

of course you can get really cut abs without cardio. there is a lot of personal opinion (incorrect personal opinion) in your post about what is required to get a good set of abs.

you cant have zero fat on your belly. through my personal experience and monitoring my progress, you begin to see you abs at 10.5%bf, and most people will have a solid six pack at around 8%.

planks may have helped you strengthen you core and oblique muscles, but they have not made you abs more defined. cardio is not some magical thing that "burns" the fat away. in order to lose fat you must be in a calorie deficit. cardio can be a useful tool to help ensure that we are in a calorie deficit, however if we are strict with our diet then there is absolutely no need to cardio (in terms of helping us lean out, you should however perform some cardio in order to maintain a healthy heart). Read P-Funks' post, it explain everything in very simple terms.

i think i remember reading in a different post that you are studying some sort of fitness degree at university? think you need to pay a bit more attention in class bud!

First off, I said that I will be starting a degree in Athletic training and exercise science but have not yet.

You can call it bullshit all you want but I actually did it, and it worked. Argue all you want but it is a fact that what I said in my post worked for me and I was sharing that with the OP.

Yes you have to burn more calories than you consume to get kill fat, and that is what cardio is great for. Burning calories.

You can do 100000 million crunches, hanging leg raises, decline sit up, whatever you want but that does not mean you will have ripped abs. Your abs may be extremely strong but they won't look amazing. I got the sense that the OP was interested in looks more than preformance and if you want the ripped abs look then you need a healthy mix of cardio, ab workouts, and proper eating habits.

Cardio burns a few calories. It's not great at it.

<- minimal cardio made these abs.