Ever since summer started, I've been eating less and exercising more. I've been trying to get my weight down to at least within the healthy range of my BMI (Body Mass Index). Right now my BMI is 26.2, which is bad, since 25.0 - 29.9 indicates an overweight condition. It's not that I'm self-conscious about myself, but considering that body weight only increases with age, I don't want to be overweight now and by the time I hit 50, being obesely overweight. So consider it as a future health investment and my target investment is a BMI of 18.5 - 24.9 which indicates a healthy weight.
So lately, to reduce weight, I've been doing cardio workouts. Nothing complex, I just run, like Forrest Gump, and you might not believe me when I say, that I can run...."like the winnndddd" (hehehehe....a phrase borrowed from the movie Forrest Gump). I ran on a threadmill at the recreational center. The recreation center here in Kent is superb and comes complete with all the facilities that students like me can use. The problem with running, and perhaps because I'm getting old, is that my knee starts to hurt if I ran everyday. So two weeks ago, when I heard my friend linuxlah worked out by swimming, I thought I would give swimming a try. So I got myself goggles and swimming trunk and went to the swimming lanes.
As I dipped into the water, the water felt nice and warm. And I submerged myself to get a good feel of the water and the water tasted a bit salty. What can you expect, people are swimming lapses here nonstop. Anyhow, I looked at the lane to my right where a fat old man was getting into the pool as well. And on my left, there was another old lady getting ready to swim. As they get themselves ready, I casually started my freestyle swim towards the other end of the pool. Being an aquarian, swimming should be natural for me. Or so I thought, never guess that I was so wrong.
Its been a while since I went swimming, and the other end of the pool seems very far away. At first I was freestyling with good considerable speed, then suddenly I felt my shoulders feel uncomfortable, and every time i raise my hand flapping, it felts heavier. Not to mention that my legs which should be paddling the water seems to be moving in an irregular motion sideways.
I then realised I was not swimming freestyle, I was just flinching in the pool. I had to stop and change styles to frog-style swimming, since I needed the time to think what the hell am I doing.
Then, as I regained my concentration, fixed my hands flapping rhythm with my paddling feet motion I continued my freestyle swimming again. I noticed then the old men on my right lane was woooshing away with considerable speed and full of vigor. Well, I thought at least its an old man, he probably have a lot of stamina for an old man. Then came woooshing on my left lane, an old lady passing me. Damn, I'm basically a lame duck who can't swim. By the time I reached the other end of the pool, I was gasping for air like there is no tomorrow. As for the old man and old lady, they have made their way finishing another lapse. Panting and breathing heavily, the life guard looked at me with extreme concern. I'm sure she is thinking that she has to keep an eye on me, since I can suddenly sink somewhere in the middle.
It's been 2 weeks now, and though I can't swim like a fish yet, I can say that I'm doing okay. At least finish a lapse or two nonstop. I try to swim as many lapse as I can for 30-50 minutes. I never remembered swimming to be this hard before, running is definitely easier than swimming.
So if the old FAT MAN's been swimming, how come he's still fat? ehmmm....
ReplyDeleteYea, i guess the fat gave him extra buoyancy. In the water, really cannot under estimate fat people. hhahaha.
ReplyDeleteJoey,
ReplyDeleteI did you mention about stretching? or you simply left it out? This is something that we usually want to cheat during our teens tapi dah tua kena buat. Seriously bro this is a must. I can swim better if I start off with a good ol stretching.. Ada one time aku skip backpart punya stretch pasal aku budget I'm not using back muscle for that exercie... sekali dia tangkap belakang...sendiri mau ingat...
Swimming is hella fun but interms of energy burning running burns more calorie. If time matters, want fast result run more ...run joey run... and make sure you run continuously more then 20 mins to tap the reserved energy aka fats ..
Marjan: Thanks for the advise, mmg I skipped the stretching. Cause I thought swimming bukan pakai muscle sgt, just stamina. But alas, should have stretched first.
ReplyDeleteI prefer running actually, since I have bad sinus and swimming kinda make my sinus go crazy. But I can't run everyday, my knee is giving way. Depends on how much time I have, I run about 30 min to 1 hour. Running is fun, cause i can watch tv while running and get to catch up on the Obama campaign.
Swimming is really a good workout. Cardio, muscle toning and even fat burning. It moves every inch of your body parts and muscles actually. I don't think I can swim as good I did during younger days. And I never enjoy running since I was kid.
ReplyDeleteAyoi: Yeah,swimming can be a lot of fun. I think all of us feel that we were better swimmers when we were younger. At that time, pantang tgk air jer, nak terjun. Skrg nie, mandi pun malas kekadang.
ReplyDeleteSkrg ni kalau masuk pool jadi dugung je la. Berendam instead of swim.
ReplyDeletewaa...best nye leh swim..kat sini ada laut..tapi sejuk giler..Summer pun sejuk gak..huhuh..heated pool jauh plak from uni..I wish my uni has its own pool..coz I cant run with the bilateral osteoarthritis of my knee..sigh...tu la kecik2 dulu panjat sana sini...hhehehe
ReplyDelete"the water tasted a bit salty".I'm trying NOT to think of IT.Was a swimmer back in my younger days, my sister was asthmatic, so mom sent us for swimming lessons to help strengthen the lungs etc.i'd love to take up swimming again, although might scare the public by looking like The Blob in a designer swimsuit.
ReplyDeleteAm sticking to dancing behind closed doors to ABBA.
Mrs. C: Ohh,dancing is cool tooo. I tried taking dancing classes, latin dancing actually, it was awesome. I would want to try Swing dancing though....and try ala2 Dirty Dancing, mcm Patrick Swayzy.
ReplyDelete