I put on a little weight over the festive season…well, okay, about a stone actually. Anyway, I’m keen to shift it and have made it a new year’s resolution to swim for an hour a day, five days a week. Before I start, however, I’d be keen to know the answers to the following questions:
Does swimming burn calories efficiently?
Does swimming help tone muscle?
Does swimming help build cardio-vascular endurance and stamina?
FWIW, the only stroke I know is the breast stroke (no jokes!). Don’t know if that makes any difference.
Yes. The one thing you need to be careful of is that exercising in pool-temperature water can really get your appetite going. Be careful about what you eat afterwards.
What you’re calling “tone” is really just low bodyfat. Exercise helps, but you can’t outtrain a poor diet.
As long as you push yourself. Basically anything that gets your heart and lungs going has that effect.
Yes on (2) and (3) - there’s plenty of resistance, so you’re working the muscles hard. My short little mom has been swimming for years as her only exercise and she’s got shoulders that wouldn’t look out of place on a weightlifter. Swimming is unique in that extra body fat isn’t necessarily a detriment (since it floats better than lean muscle), so I’ve known plenty of very strong swimmers who weren’t “cut” or “toned” - they were in good shape but their muscles didn’t show so much. It’s also low-impact on your joints so if you have sore knees or whatever your doctor might recommend it as a good exercise.
IIRC, it’s generally reckoned that once you get your heartbeat into the right target zone and keep it there for 20+ minutes you’re into the aerobic portion of your workout, your body will be burning fat and you are getting a good cardio workout. So if you’re swimming an hour at the right pace you should be in that zone.
As far as (1) goes, here’s a link showing calories burned per hour for various types of exercise, based on your bodyweight:
As you can see, general breaststroke burns about the same number of calories as running at 6mph (10 minute mile pace). There are very activities on that list which do much better in terms of cal/hour.
It’s a little bit more complicated than that, but for those of you who don’t care about the science, it’s good to throw some high-intensity exercise on top of whatever low-intensity stuff you’re doing.
You should learn the crawl, because the breast stroke’s kick can be very hard on your knees if you don’t exercise them regularly. Also, I don’t know what other hobbies you have, but if you sing or shout, be warned: swimming also exercises the muscles around your ribcage (you will be inhaling against the water pressure on the outside of your ribs) and so for the first few weeks of swimming, breathing very deeply may hurt quite a bit.
How well are you conditioned right now? If you’re starting at the “couch potato” level, swimming for an hour straight will be nearly impossible. Moreso doing it 5 days a week.
I would recommend starting at 4 days a week unless you’re already in good shape and making at least one of the days either biking or running so you don’t get bored. After a few weeks you can add in the extra day as long as you’re still feeling good.
You can learn the crawl in about 5 minutes of reading + 5 to 10 minutes of practice (it takes a few minutes to adjust to actually rolling your body rather than turning your head to breathe.) I recommend it. Buy some goggles (about $12US) and some earplugs ($3US) and a pair of tight-fitting trunks that won’t bog you down.
Swimming is one of my favorite exercises but it’s harder than it looks. Have fun.
I would recommend an under-water heart monitor, too, so you can see that you are working hard enough, have your heart rate up and how long it’s been up. I have one by the Polar company, it was a model that had a chest band and a watch. Worked great.
I’m not a couch potato, but I am quite a heavy smoker. Quitting is another of my new year’s resolutions, btw. I don’t doubt I’ll be unable to swim for an hour straight immediately but I hope to be able to swim about 20-25 lengths per hour to start off with.
That’s a good idea. Thanks. I think I’ll throw in some weight training on one of the days.
How old are you? If you’re over 30 and a heavy smoker I would absolutely see a doctor before starting any kind of exercise and especially swimming. Even a very mild heart attack could be deadly in a pool - could you get to the edge and climb out while you were arresting? Same with passing out due to light headedness/lack of oxygen. I know it sounds corny and you probably don’t feel like anything is wrong but just go.
I also recommend Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking. I quit the day I finished the book (8/7/06) after about 12 years of smoking. It’s an amazing feeling to know the day you quit that you’ll never need or even want another cigarette. Bonus: Allen Carr is a Brit. Double bonus: You can write him a thank-you letter before he dies.
