There are several opinions about swimming as a way to lose weight and get toned. Swimming seemingly gets a bad rap when weight loss is concerned. Maybe it’s because you can’t feel yourself sweating, but for some reason many people believe it’s not an effective way to lose weight. But here’s the real scoop on swimming as a way to lose weight: It’s one of the best ways to lose weight and get toned. Want proof? Here it is.
Think about it – have you ever seen a swimmer that is overweight? Didn’t think so. The term “swimmer’s body” didn’t come from nowhere. Swimmers such as Michael Phelps and Dara Torres are known for great physiques. Torres, a 40+ year old swimmer has one of the hardest bodies in swimming despite her advanced age. Michael Phelps, the greatest individual swimmer in Olympic history is known for eating up to 10,000 calories of high fat and junk food, but manages to stay super lean because of the calories he burns in the pool.
Swimming is such an effective as a weight loss method because it is quite possibly the perfect combination of cardiovascular exercise and resistance training. If you’ve ever swam before you know how winded and sore you get. Being winded means you’re getting a killer cardio workout, while the soreness speaks to extreme muscle recruitment that causes lactic acid buildup in the muscles because of extreme use.
A gentle swim can burn around 500 calories in one hour while a more intense swim can burn more than 750 calories. The secret to the workout is in the water. Water is nearly 1000 times denser than air. That means with each movement your muscles are firing on all cylinders to push your body through the water. Swimming incorporates a whole body work out by utilizing the legs, core, chest, arms, and back. Each stroke is like a mini workout for your entire body!
So while you’re getting an intense cardio workout, you are also getting a great whole body strength training workout that builds lean muscle. Unlike other workouts that are hard on your body, swimming is actually easy on the body. The water neutralizes the effects of gravity as you are virtually weightless. That means there is virtually zero risk of injury. Your joints do not undergo weight bearing stress that occurs when you run, lift weights, etc.
Because swimming provides your body with an effective yet risk-free workout, it is an activity that can be done almost every day. A study conducted at the University of Indiana Bloomington found that people who were habitual swimmers had biological ages up to two decades younger than their peers that did not swim. The study found that all of the major systems in the body including cognitive functioning were comparable to people much younger.
The key to a great swimming workout is to cut it into segments utilizing a variety of strokes. Many newbies make the mistake of trying to go all out once they hit the pool and end up being exhausted at the end of two minutes. It’s best to swim four or five lengths of the pool at an easy pace then rest for about a minute and repeat up to 10 times. If you can, incorporate the backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. Try that 2-3 times a week for 3-4 weeks before ramping up the intensity.
