Swimming is probably not the top of anyone’s list when it comes to losing some weight, however, swimming does help lose weight as it is an activity that involves the movement of almost your whole body.
According to a former swimming coach, Stacy Caprio, swimming is one of the best activities you can incorporate if you desire to tone or slim your entire body.
For effective swimming, you will have to use both your arms and legs to stay afloat, then you use your back muscles to push forward. If you’re tired of other forms of cardio like jogging or walking, swimming is a good chance for you.
How swimming helps you to lose some weight
Swimming is similar to cardiovascular exercises when it comes to burning calories to lose some weight. However, swimming challenges you to use your muscles more when compared to jogging or walking.
It aids in toning the different parts of your body at the same time, giving a complete body workout. Swimming also helps you build more muscles as you burn calories.
You can burn up to 367 calories in 30 minutes when you use the breaststroke swimming technique to swim.
When you use the same time while swimming freestyle, you burn up to 404 calories. If you compare this to the calories burned during a brisk walk or running, you’ll notice that swimming burns more calories.
Within a short time, you’d discover some physical changes in your body once you start swimming. In research, we discovered that the middle-aged women who engage in this sport at least three times a week for about 60 minutes lose a good amount of fat in a few weeks (about 12 weeks).
Also, it was found out that their cholesterol level was reduced, and they improved their endurance and flexibility level.
Can swimming help you lose belly fat?
Direct response is yes it can. Swimming is an activity you engage in to shed the fats in your body by burning some calories. Certain swimming exercises help to burn your lower abs and obliques.
In 2015, a study confirmed that women who engage in swimming at least three times a week we’re discovered to shed more fat around the region of their hips and waist.
In comparison to women who walked or jogged or used the same timing, it was greater.
Swimming helps to give you cardio as well as muscle building without any heavy wear and tear on your body that can be gotten from a ground-based activity like running, jogging, weight lift, and so on.
How much swimming is required to help you lose some weight?
The direct response is that it depends on how much effort you put into your daily workout plan. You can burn up to 800 calories of fat if you work out for up to an hour.
If your body can burn up these amounts of calories up to four times a week, you can lose about three to four pounds in a month.
Some people sometimes prefer a less intense approach over the vigorous approach. You can opt for the moderate approach that involves the burning of about 250 calories for a 30 minutes workout. If you can achieve these four times a week, you’ll lose more than a pound by the end of a month.
However, not everyone has the same body system. As a result, some people tend to lose weight faster than others even with the same timing and effort put into exercising. Nonetheless, as long as you make exercise like swimming a part of your routine, it will help you maintain a healthy weight.
For persons who desire to drop some pounds, we recommend that you consider aiming the moderate or vigorous exercise like swimming for up to an hour daily.
How much can you possibly get out of swimming?
Swimming as an exercise can be intimidation especially if you are new to it, however, starting is quite easy and straightforward. Below are some insightful tips to follow:
Always start with an easy Stroke: the easier technique to master is the freestyle and the breaststroke. We recommend that all beginners opt for this technique, then once you get more accustomed to swimming, you can experiment with more complex swimming techniques.
Get a Kickboard: for an individual with tight hips, kicking is uncomfortable. That can be prevented when you loosen up and expand your range of motion using the kickboard to do laps.
Check your breathing: when you use the wrong breathing technique while swimming, you will end up get tired easily, thereby affecting your overall performance. Many people often over lift their heads high, making it difficult for them to breathe thereby disrupting the flow of their stroke.
We advise that you practice turning your head rightly so you can easily breathe from your mouth without having to lift your head out of the water.
Conclusion
To start swimming to lose some weight, all that is required is to locate a nearby pool or gym to see if they have an available pool for you to use. During warm weather, find your way to the nearest beach, pool, or river a few days a week to swim. You can learn more about us here. We assure you that we will help meet your weight lose target if you work with us.