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wondered what everyone meant by 'fly' - had to google to realise you meant butterfly
I have never had problems with breast stroke.
Don't understand the not wanting to wash long hair issue! I have long hair and always wash it after swimming - it doesn't take long and I reckon it needs to conditioner on it. Bu then, I never bother to dry it - just leave it to dry naturally and blast it with a hairdryer if it is still wet when I go to bed to avoid silly bedhead hair in the morning
Interesting...I used to compete at swimming and later at masters level lifesaving (sport). I have had neck and shoulder niggles from swimming, mostly swim frontcrawl and backstroke, occasionally fly, rarely breaststroke.
I have had a number of running injuries, achillies, PF and when these have been bad, swim more.
I guess the answer is a sensible combination and do what you enjoy
i am shocking at breaststroke. i get half way down the pool and i'm submerged. and i have long ridiculously thick hair.
I found that swimming on days I wasn't running was really good for fitness the only problem is it gave me massive migraines because I have a really stiff neck and swimming really aggravates it. I was a bit disbelieving and told my physio and he said swimming is terrible for neck problems. I'll just stick to running now.
As comaring with running,swimming is an excellent exercise for improving the flexibility and function of your muscles and the water "protects participants from muscle and bones problems," .
Very late on this post, but found it interesting...
I was a competitive swimmer when younger training 14-16 hours a week. Because of this high level of training I messed up my hips and so had to give up breastroke completely, and consequently have a few hip problems when running. Pretty much everyone I trained with has seen a physio so it's not at all true that swimmers don't get injured! The amount of shoulder injuries, back problems, hip and knee problems are ridiculous. Yes, maybe swimmers get less frequently injured than runners, but at a high intensity it is just like any other sport really...just the injuries aren't due to the stress on your joints but mre from the flexibility / reptitive movement.
Oh yeah, a mixture is fantastic! Swimming is such a good cardio workout and works your entire body. Still do both and enjoy it