It's ideal if you want to be more active and stay healthy, whatever your age or fitness level. A few 30 to 45 minute sessions of moderate to vigorous intensity swimming per week is a great way of working towards your recommended level of physical activity.
Just 30 minutes of swimming three times a week alongside a balanced, healthy diet and lifestyle is one of the best ways to stay fit and healthy and maintain a positive mental outlook.
It doesn't take long to reap the fat-burning benefits of swimming. Research shows that middle-aged women who swam for 60 minutes three times a week lost a significant amount of body fat in just 12 weeks. They also boosted their endurance, improved their flexibility, and even lowered their cholesterol.
I usually recommend three swim sessions per week to maintain the balance of time and life demands. Athletes competing in long-distance marathon swims or with high-achieving goals in U.S. Masters meets should swim more often.
Swimming benefits all ages when it comes to strength and tone of our muscles. A half an hour swim a couple of times a week and you will see the health benefits of swimming in your toned muscles and you will feel stronger in yourself.
Swimming cardio is one of the most effective ways to lose weight including your belly fat. This requires you to keep swimming for 15-20 minutes at the time while maintaining your heart rate levels in the particular zone that we call – fat burning zone.
When swimming, all parts of the body have to work, so the amount of calories burned is quite large. Therefore swimming not only helps to reduce belly fat but also helps to lose weight on the whole body.
Not only do your muscles get a great workout, your cardiovascular system gets a workout too! As you move your body through the water, your heart and lungs work harder to send oxygen to your muscles. Over time your lung capacity and stamina increase.
Doing Laps to Get in a Good Workout
For beginners, 20 to 30 laps within 30 minutes is often an achievable and effective goal. If you're at a more intermediate level, strive for 40 to 50 laps during the same time period, and shoot for 60 laps or more if you're an advanced swimmer.
Swimming times for cardio workouts
You still need to start with at least 20 minutes but it has to be a consistent heart pumping uninterrupted 20 minutes to have any benefits of the cardio workout.
Butterfly – this stroke has been shown to burn the most calories with on average 400-500 burnt in a 30min session. It is excellent for toning muscles, especially in the arms, chest, and back. However, many would say it is the hardest stroke to learn to swim.
Swimming is a great way to tone muscles all over your body every time you go, but lifting weights at the gym is the best way to focus on building muscle if this is part of your weight loss goal.
Just 30 minutes of swimming 3 times a week can increase your energy levels by increasing your metabolic rate. This means that it trains your body so that it can digest food quicker and use the calories faster, meaning you will feel less sluggish.
Why Some People Gain Weight Swimming. If you're a swimmer, you're probably very familiar with post-swim hunger! While swimming does burn a lot of calories, you may be overestimating the amount of calories you burn during each workout. As a result, you may overeat and put your body in a calorie surplus!
As long as you maintain a healthy diet alongside your swimming regime, spending just 30 minutes 3 times a week in the pool will help you stay fit. For the best results, it's important to stay consistent with your swimming routine. With a consistent water workout, you should begin seeing weight loss within 30 days.
Swimming is great for shaping the body, even without any other type of exercise. Swimming is one of the best forms of exercising. Not only can swimming help you shed some pounds, but it can also tighten up your whole body, and improve your overall fitness level. Just be careful not to go swimming after a big meal.
Shower immediately after you get out of the pool/sea
Any residual chlorine or salt that might be sitting on your skin needs to be removed, and a shower with a mild body cleanser helps do just that. This also helps restore the skin's pH levels back to normal and cancel the effects of the pool/sea water.
Swimmer's hair is hair that has become dry, damaged, and even discolored due to extended exposure to the ocean or the chemicals in most pools. While this condition can come about from extended time spent in the ocean, it is far more common to happen to those who spend large amounts of time in classic pools.
How Much Weight Can We Lose by Swimming 5 Days a Week? Swimming burns more calories than many other cardiovascular exercises. Just by swimming 30 minutes a day, five days a week, and taking a healthy diet, one can lose roughly 250 to 600 grams.
Swimming also has an after-burn, so the calories are burnt even after the swim. “You increase muscle mass, which increases your metabolism and helps you burn fat even while not exercising,” explains Remedios.
Swimming helps you lose weight in just the same manner as any other form of exercise – it burns calories. A calorie is simply a unit that represents the amount of energy in food and when we're swimming laps our muscles require this energy (or calories) to power us through the water.