Hi.

I was told at the gym the other day that going swimming after lifting weights will waste all the work I have just done. ie. I won't get any bigger becuse the blood has been pumped to different parts of my body when swimming.


Is this true? The guy who told me was just another gym go'er like myself so I don't want to take JUST his word for it.


Any advice appreciated.

I don't think this is true. If you already did the weight lifting work, you can't reverse that. They only way you won't build any muscle is by not lifting weights!

building muscle is simple... you lift enough weight to cause micro-tears between the muscle and the bone... the scar tissue that grows back is muscle...

Swimming after a weight workout won't cause you to heal those micro-tears without creating scar tissue. It does however lean up your body, causing you to have less fat. You need the fat to maintain the muscle. That's why you don't see any super huge long distance runners or swimmers.

If your body type is a small frame without a lot of fat and you are trying to bulk up, long distance swimming and running might not be the best idea because you will lean up... but if your just doing a few laps at the pool, or better yet, sprints... that shouldn't hurt... it might even aide in the recovery process.

I think I know what the guy was talking about though... when you work out with weights, you can see that you visibly look bigger... that is because you have ripped your muscle and it is swollen with blood and other fluids... giving a bigger appearance, the laps may cool your body and reducing the swelling by aiding in the blood flow through the muscles... if you are looking for that immediate shirt off in front of a girl pose then do it before jumping in the pool otherwise it won't cause you to lose the muscle you built!

When I saw this topic my first thought was that someone was going to be worried about fatigue or something from lifting weights and a danger of drowning. I learned something new about building muscle today though.

I do not think so. The idea is to maintain a balanced workout. Setting specific goals and strict routines. I decide what cardio to do everyday morning. Sometimes, I swim or jog or ride bikes. But I never take it too far. 30-45 mins of intense cardio, nothing more or nothing less. Too much cardio and limited supply of protein and nutrition burns up muscle.

Hello

Yes I disagree that no effect appear if after weight lifting we do the swimming,it depends upon the body stamina so many guys do this at very same time.

Thanks dear for sharing this information. i will keep this information in my mind. I will avoid to do swimming after weight lifting. this is new kind of information for me.

Washington Fitness Coach

I do agree with you.Its a fully wastage of your work out.Swimming should be done before starting the work out because its a complete and best warm up exercise for work out.
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