When it comes to losing weight, most people tend to renew their gym membership. However, there is no need to limit your options to just the gym. The truth is that you can expect better results doing something that you enjoy such as swimming. This guide aims to help you lose weight by giving swimming a try.
Since swimming requires a ton of energy, you end up burning a ton of calories. Besides, a lot of muscles are also used when swimming. Thus, you get to spend more energy. Depending on your fitness level and the results you are aiming for, there are different variations of exercises which you can try. This guide is perfect for beginners, intermediate, and advanced swimmers.
Beginners
If you are new to swimming or lack endurance, you need to first work on that. It is important that you continue to swim slowly until you feel comfortable swimming for around 20 to 30 minutes in each session. It will help you build the endurance required for trying out more advanced swimming techniques to lose even more weight at a much faster rate. The main reason why swimming is the best option to lose weight is because it allows one to lose weight without a lot of impact unlike running which causes more impact and allows one to lose the same amount of weight. This makes it perfect for people with painful joints or injuries.
Intermediate
Once you start to feel more comfortable inside the water, it is important that you start adding more intensity and resistance to the workout. After you have warmed up, it is suggested that you engage in moderate-intensity swimming for 2 minutes and follow it up with slow swimming for a minute. Repeat this for 20 to 30 minutes to achieve the desired results. Now, it can be quite difficult to measure your swimming by the time as you are in the water. Hence, it is better to measure it by the distance you cover or the length of the pool. The secret to measuring the distance is seeing how far you can cover in 2 minutes of moderate swimming and a minute of slow swimming. It will help you try out the exercise.
Advanced
If you are an advanced swimmer and the above do not tire you enough, you can increase the intermediate exercise to 3 minutes of all-out swimming followed by a minute of relaxed swimming. You can continue the exercise for 30 minutes by repeating it. As an advanced swimmer, it is important that you try out new swimming exercises and push yourself to swim for a longer period of time. The more time you spend swimming, the faster you will be able to lose weight and achieve that summer body that you have always wanted.
Top Tips for Swimming to Lose Weight
1. Swim Early Before Eating
Although a morning swim might not be feasible for everyone, it is important that you give it a try if you have access to a swimming pool before work or school. When you swim in the morning right after waking up, you get to utilize stored fat as energy. It offers a full-body workout.
2. Swim Faster and Harder
Even if you are just starting out, swimming will help burn a lot of those extra calories. However, once your swimming skills improve, your heart rate would not increase as much as required. Therefore, it makes sense to swim faster and harder to keep the heart rate up. Do wear a waterproof fitness tracker for monitoring your heart rate when swimming.
3. Shake up Your Swimming Routine
Since your body would start to plateau when you swim at the same speed or using the same technique, it is vital that you shake things up. Step outside of your comfort zone and modify the existing routine to work on different muscle groups.
4. Swim 4 to 5 Days Every Week
To lose weight and get that perfect body, you need to swim often. The same applies for walking or jogging. The frequency at which you should swim for weight loss is similar to that of any other cardiovascular exercise. You can expect to achieve the best results when you swim 4 to 5 days every week.
5. Use Water Weights
If you want to tone up, it is best that you do some bicep curls using water dumbbells in between laps. You will notice amazing results as you continue to build endurance and strength.
Conclusion
Once you have gone over this post, you will know just how to lose weight through swimming regardless of whether you are a beginner, intermediate, or advanced swimmer.
