Ok, let me preface this by saying I've never worked out for fitness' sake. My working out in the past was always with one purpose in mind - swimming as fast as possible. Anyway, being that it's been about four years since swam in my last race and I'm bigger than I should be and want to be, I've decided to finally do something about it. I'm 6'4" and about 260, and could stand to lose anywhere from 30 to 50 lbs. I eat pretty good for the most part, so I'm not gaining weight any more, but I'm not losing any either.
Now, it used to be that I swam for about four hours a day. No time for that any more, obviously. Also, muscle mass was never a goal in the past and not particularly useful. While I'm at it, I'd certainly like to build some strength and get some tone. I don't think my body's built to ever put on a ton of muscle, but I can deal with that. What I am very interested in, however, is that muscle seems to help with the old metabolism and everything else, so that would probably be good.
I picked up a membership to a Bally's that's close to my house, so I'm thinking I can make time to hit it for an hour or so four or five times a week. It has a pool, which I will use for cardio. Low-impact, works the whole body, plus it's something I know and enjoy, etc. Plus I can gear up the intensity a bit once I start getting my feel back.
But what else should I be doing? Should I be swimming three times a week and doing some weight stuff the other two days? Should I be swimming all five days but throw some weights into the mix on a couple of the days? Anything else in particular that I should be focusing on with regards to building some muscle?
I know there are some meatheads around here that can probably help me get on the right track. Thanks for any input.