I am at the pool a lot this summer. I rest and read much of the time, but get into the pool for at least 20 minutes and stay in the deep end so that I am swimming or treading water.

I would love to work on upper body conditioning during this time. (I often "forget" to do my upper body weights.) What are the best strokes/moves for this? I am not much of a swimmer, but can get by. Don't make it too complicated!

I just swim laps so I'm glad other people had some ideas. I use weights once or twice a week to get that ripped look. It is hard to force myself to lift sometimes, but it helps me to avoid re-injuring my shoulder if I keep my muscles strong and flexible.

<<I've gone on line to find different swimming sites and asked about water exercises.....their are some excellent resources out there>>
Cathy,
Can you share some of your favorite sites? I want to do some studying before my next attempt at water aerobics. Being a visual learner makes it hard to understand what the instructor is trying to get me to do.

Thanks!

Peg

I've been doing the breast stroke and back stroke for two years, the strength in my upper arms is incredibly stronger than when I started. I am rather surprised. I also tread water for 10 minutes, great for knees that are bad, and for the arms....and I do the wall push ups as someone else said. I've gone on line to find different swimming sites and asked about water exercises.....their are some excellent resources out there...if all else fails, write Swimmer Bill on the homepage here, he can give you all sorts of great ideas.

Thanks for the ideas. I am going to the pool this afternoon. D, I hope I survive your ideas! LOL!

Those are all great ideas.

Also, it sounds like you aren't really wanting to swim laps, so D's ideas are great ones, but if you do want to swim laps. Doing freestyle, w/out using your legs is a great upper body work out, or using hand paddles while you do freestyle.

Freestyle is going to mostly work your triceps, if you have proper stroke technique.

Dawn

A great upper-body workout is to get where the water is chest-deep, grab a kickboard, and hold it parallel to your body (so that you're looking at the big, flat surface and the skinny edge is pointed at the ground & sky). With your arms, push & pull the kickboard to you and away from you (oh, and be prepared to get a lil' wet in the face ).

Another good one is to submerge the kickboard in front of you (so that the skinny edge is now pointing at your body) and push down, then pull up.

If you have the inclination, you can buy "dumbbells" that are made of styrofoam and push & pull them, run with them, anything you'd normally do with weights. (There's a picture of them in this article).

Also, if you get a pair of shoes that are good in the water (I love my Tevas), try running in chest-deep water, pushing & pulling your fists or open palms as you run.

If you're feeling REALLY ambitious, we had a drill in swimming that the coaches loooooved to give us when we were acting up Place your palms on the deck, fingers pointing away, about shoulder-width apart. Now push yourself up until your elbows are extended, then drop back down. Don't jump off the bottom, that's cheating! We'd have to do them in the deep end, where there was no chance of cheating. If you aren't strong enough, don't chance it, since it's easy to slip and smack your chin on the pool deck. Ouch.

Those "noodles" that lots of pools have now work well for resistance exercises, too.

Oh! If you're already treading water, move your hands in a figure-8 motion next to your body with your palms open and your fingers together. You'll feel it after a few minutes, I promise. Another "fun" thing to do while treading is lifting your arms (if you're treading without a float belt or any other help), first working on treading with your hands out of the water up to your wrists, then your elbows, then eventually seeing if you can (or how long you can) tread with your arms extended straight up. Wheeeee!

If there are pool buoys available (styrofoam that fits between your thighs to help your legs stay floating & still while you swim), you can use one of those, too. It prevents you from kicking, so getting across the pool depends on your arms. I'm hesitant to recommend a particular stroke, since what I think builds the best-looking arms might not be what others think does. I swam the butterfly and had some beautifully scuplted triceps and shoulders. . but ended up damaging my rotator cuff because it does put an extraordinary amount of stress on your upper body. Anything that skilled, and I'd recommend you join a master's swim program and let the coach help you out in person

Have fun!

D

I'm not an expert but I think that the breast stroke, crawl and back stroke would all work different arm muscles...

Just treading water in the deep end using great big, smooth movements and the water resistance can get my heart rate up some.

I'm not much of a swimmer either, but we have a pool and I do "play" in it a good bit with my family. I really like to do the breast stroke. I can really feel it in my chest and upper arms. I can't wait to hear what advice the REAL swimmers will give!

ske