can swimming help you lose weight

Can swimming help you lose weight fast?

The great thing about swimming is that as a zero-impact exercise, it allows you to build up your mileage and intensity with minimal risk of injury. The result? A smart and proven approach to weight loss that you can fit around your daily routine. Here’s everything you need to know to get started…

 

Why does swimming help you lose weight?

Swimming is something of an all-body exercise in that it works every major muscle group and improves your cardio.

Your arms pull you through the water, your lungs power you, your legs push you and your core keeps everything in sync. This means that while you’ll lose weight over your entire body, you’ll give your abs and core stability muscles an extra workout along the way.

Ideal when you want to tone up while loosing weight so you can see the results even quicker. 

 

Which type of swimming stroke should you use?

There are four main strokes to choose from: freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke.

The first two are the most common, with freestyle being faster yet more tiring. If you want to keep your head above water the whole way then opt for breaststroke.

If you want to build up your speed and give yourself a more intense workout, freestyle is the name of the game. Really it’s just a matter of personal choice and you’ll see great results with any of the strokes. 

 

How should you prepare for your swim?

Eating at least 1 hour before you hit the water is the key here.

You don’t want to swim hungry because you’ll run out of energy very quickly, but you also don’t want to swim on a full stomach. Swimming works the whole body in ways that can quickly catch up with you without the right prep.

If your body is busy trying to digest a heavy meal then the extra exertion in the pool can easily unsettle your stomach and force you to stop. If in doubt, eat healthy and eat early. 

 

How far should a beginner aim to swim?

This very much depends on your level of fitness and how familiar you are with distance swimming. The main thing is to maintain a pace that you can do for length after length, so don’t feel you have to set off like a rocket to try and get your first length in the bag.

Do single lengths with 1-minute rests in between to start with and then gradually build up from there. Once you can do 10 lengths you can start to drop the rest time down in 15 second chunks until it’s gone altogether. 

 

How often do you need to swim for weight loss?

Swimming is one of those activities that you really can do every day when you’re fit because it puts minimal strain on your joints and connective tissues. Starting with a routine that gets you in the pool 3 times a week for up to 30 minutes is a good way to begin and gives you plenty of time to recharge your batteries as well as embrace other exercises (a little more on that shortly). 

 

How can you avoid burnout with the right swimming plan?

Swimming will make your muscles ache the next morning, especially while you get used to it. While this is nothing to worry about, it’s really important that you learn to spot the signs of overtraining. For this reason it’s really useful to keep a training journal where you note down your times and distances, as well as how much sleep you got, what you ate, and how you felt during the swim.

If you notice things start to drop off, scale back your training by 30% for the next 2 sessions and reassess. This will give your body the chance to grow and repair. 

 

What’s the best cross training exercise to avoid injuries?

Power walking, or a light jog on a soft surface like a running track or grass, would be ideal here.

You want to gently work out your joints and increase your bone density, but not so much that you overdo things. With a light run followed by leg and shoulder stretching for 10 minutes at the end, you can keep yourself supple and ready to glide through the water the next time you head to the pool. 

 

Final thoughts

Now that you know how to get started with swimming, it’s over to you to head to the pool and let the results speak for themselves.

As a proven weight loss exercise that’s kind to your body and easy to fit around your existing daily routine, swimming will allow you to tone up, get fit and lose weight all at the same time.

Ideal when you want to get yourself in better shape the smart way. Here you can learn more about our Bootcamp in Spain and how we integrate swimming in our plans.