Resistance Training

Fun Fact! Did you know that water is 782 times denser than air? That is why every kick or hand movement in the water serves as a resistance workout for your body. But instead of using the usual dumbbells, you are making use of the natural density of water!

Therefore, swimming will be able to strengthen and tone up your muscles. As you build up more lean muscles, the higher your metabolic rate will be and the faster your body takes to burn calories.

Results that you can attain from swimming is similar to working out with artificial weights in the gym. The only difference? You save money on the gym membership!

Total Body Workout

There are only so few exercises that can be considered to be full body workouts and swimming is among the few that can wear this title with pride, engaging almost every major muscle group from head to toe.

Although every swimming stroke engages specific groups of muscles to a greater extent to execute the movement, there are some muscle groups that are utilised by all strokes in general.

Your arm muscles are mainly used to thrust you forward against the water resistance. Your back and core muscles, on the other hand, work to stabilise your body and keep them in streamlined positions to reduce drag forces that may hinder your swimming speed. Legs? I believe this needs no explanation. Your legs and glutes will definitely have their fair share of exercise as they work to accelerate you forward through the water.

Definitely one efficient exercise to burn calories!

Efficient Cardiovascular Activity

When you hear the word cardio, what are the exercises that come to mind? Running or cycling? You are absolutely right! Those are indeed cardio exercises but what most people do not know is that there is another activity that falls within this category. That is swimming.

Similar to running and cycling, swimming is able to keep your heart rate up, which helps to burn off more calories and fats. However, the amount of calories burnt also depends on the swimming intensity and strokes used.

Butterfly stroke burns a shocking 878 calories per hour, burning the most calories as compared to other swimming strokes. But maintaining your intensity is very important! Not sure how to achieve that ? Engage Private Swimming Lessons for Adults and start burning that extra calories! 

Although swimming the butterfly stroke might be able to burn more calories within a shorter period of time, if you can only sustain it for a few minutes, it would probably be more efficient to use another swimming stroke that you can maintain for a longer period of time.

Light on joints

Experiencing joint pains? Fret not! Swimming can help you lose weight while having literally no impact on your joints. The buoyancy of the water is able to support your body weight by up to 90%! This is so much better than other exercises, such as running, which might cause strain on your joints over time due to its high-impact nature.

With immense pressure taken off your joints in swimming, it should definitely be ranked on the top in your list of exercises to do.

Being a low impact and low weight-bearing exercise, it can encourage you to swim more often throughout the week without worrying about joint pains, bringing you closer towards your weight loss goals. But that also implies that you have no more excuses for not exercising!

Variety and fun

Feeling bored of the same old exercises? There are several strokes in swimming that you swap around to keep your workout routine fresh and interesting.

Who says swimming is only about swimming laps? There is much more to swimming than that! Water aerobics or other water-related sports could also be added to your exercise routine for more variety and fun.

Before you make any assumptions, no, water aerobics is not only for old ladies in colourful swimming suits. With a suitable exercise program, you can get a challenging workout from water-aerobics too!

Conclusion

Feeling too tired to exercise? Feel free to swim at your own pace. Burning some calories is better than none, isn’t it? However, do note that weight loss is only possible when you are in a caloric deficit, which means you need to burn more calories than you eat. Therefore, swimming and a healthy diet needs to go hand in hand to bring you closer to your weight loss goals.

Start swimming today! You can thank me later.

Hi all! I am an avid traveller, baker and avid childhood education writer. Being able to share my experience through words has always been a passion of mine. Through my writing, I hope you will gain more knowledge of the swimming world and share my passion for swimming too!