Swimming is often touted as one of the best exercises for weight loss, offering a full-body workout that enhances muscle tone and taxes the cardiovascular system, leading to significant calorie burn. But are all swimming workouts created equal? This guide provides essential information and workouts for beginners looking to use swimming as a tool for weight loss.
The Basics of Weight Loss and Swimming
Weight loss boils down to a simple equation: fewer calories consumed than your daily caloric expenditure. Your daily caloric expenditure is determined by your metabolism and activity level, while calories consumed are simply what you eat each day. If restricting your diet isn't appealing, increasing or changing your workout plan, specifically swimming, can help tip the scales in your favor. You need to move more to lose more.
When you swim, your body burns energy from calories. Calories are units of energy that your body needs to function, obtained from the food you eat. This process of breaking down food into nutrients for energy is called digestion or metabolism. You expend energy constantly throughout the day, even when resting, which is known as your basal metabolic rate (BMR). Exercise increases energy expenditure, burning calories from fat and carbohydrate reserves. To lose one pound of fat, you need to expend 3,500 calories more than your daily calorie intake.
Types of Swimming Workouts for Weight Loss
The best balance is a mix of different types of workouts: shorter high- or moderate-intensity workouts to burn a lot of calories in less time, then longer, low-intensity recovery planned for days when time isn’t a factor.
Low-Intensity Workouts
Low-intensity workouts are ideal when you have ample time, want to focus on stroke technique, or need a recovery day. On a scale of 1 to 10, aim for an effort level of about 4 or 5. While this is a great workout for weight loss, because you’ll swim 6100 yards and expend a lot of energy.
Read also: Weight Loss: Walking vs. Swimming Comparison
Moderate-Intensity Workouts
Moderate intensity workouts are typically the mainstay of a weight-loss routine. Often referred to as aerobic workouts, moderate intensity workouts mean you’re working at 70 percent to 80 percent of your maximum effort. On a scale of 1-10, your effort level would be around 7 or 8. This workout has higher yards and doesn’t require quite as much time as the low intensity workout. Since you’re swimming a little less distance, your energy expenditure and calories burned will be less but so will the time it takes to swim the workout.
High-Intensity Workouts (HIIT)
High-intensity workouts alternate all-out swimming with rest periods or recovery swims. Although the yardage might not be as high, you’re able to fit in a decent number of yards in a really short time. High-intensity workouts are great for those people who have limited pool time or personal time.
Between 20 and 30 minutes of high intensity interval training (HIIT), where you’re working for short bursts at close to maximum effort, have been scientifically proven to be an efficient way to burn fat and increase fitness. Best of all, unlike low intensity steady state exercise (LISS) your body continues to burn fat long after you’ve finished exercising - for up to 24 hours afterwards.
The key is to ramp up your heart rate with intense intervals of effort. A simple way to achieve this is to swim as fast as you can for 30 seconds, then rest for between 15 and 30 seconds before sprinting again. Repeat as many times as you can manage - aim for double figures. If sprinting isn’t for you, treading water quickly is a great way to elevate your heart rate.
Varying Your Workouts
It’s easy to get lazy and back off on your intensity when you swim the same workouts or strokes all the time. Every couple of weeks, pick one workout that challenges you to swim different strokes, intensity, or distance.
Read also: Effective Swimming for Weight Loss
Aerobic and Anaerobic Zones
When you swim laps, depending on the workout's effort level, your entire body initiates the processes according to the heart rate zone. Most people know they need aerobic exercise to improve their fitness level and lose weight, but not many people don't understand what aerobic and anaerobic zones are or how to find them.
Aerobic Zone
Your aerobic zone is the low intensity at which your body can continue to supply oxygen to your muscles. When you're swimming laps at a slower pace, you're in the aerobic zone. Think about working out in your aerobic zone like that: you should be able to carry on a conversation without too much difficulty. If you can't, you probably work too hard and should back off a bit. Aerobic swimming is a good choice for recovery swims. In the sports world, we call it active recovery. Low-intensity swims are a great workout to speed up the recovery processes in your body and burn more calories than doing nothing. To stay in the aerobic zone, aim for a heart rate between 50% and 70% of your maximum heart rate. For most people, this means keeping your heart rate around 120-140 beats per minute.
Anaerobic Zone
On the other hand, your anaerobic zone is the high-intensity zone when your body can no longer supply oxygen to your muscles. Swims like that are usually referred to as high-intensity workouts. When working in an anaerobic zone, you most like be unable to carry on a conversation because your heart rate will be too high, and breathing becomes a challenge. Aim for 70% and 90% of your maximum heart rate to stay in that heart rate zone. For most people, this means keeping your heart rate around 140-160 beats per minute.
While aerobic exercise relies upon more energy sources and therefore burns up more fat to provide that extra energy. However, it's important to remember that high-intensity interval training burns more total calories and therefore burns more total fat. If you want to maximize your results, you should alternate swimming sets and aim for a moderate-intensity workout. That means making high-intensity, maximum-effort sprints and doing most of the swimming at a moderate pace.
Monitoring Heart Rate
There are a few different ways that you can find your heart rate zones while swimming. One way is to use a heart rate monitor. When working out, pay attention to your heart rate and see how high it gets. Once it gets too high for you to be able to carry on a conversation, that means you have entered your anaerobic zone. Another way to find these zones is by using the talk test, which we discussed briefly. If you can’t hold a conversation while working out, then you have likely entered your anaerobic zone.
Read also: Weight Loss Through Swimming
Several devices can help monitor your heart rate:
- Tickr Fit Heart Rate Monitor from Wahoo: Known for its durability and good battery life.
- Fitbit Versa 2: Tracks steps, pace, distance, stress, and more.
- Garmin Swim 2 Smartwatch: Tracks swimming distance, time per distance, and is suitable for pool and open-water swims.
Sample Swimming Workout for Beginners
This workout can be adjusted based on your ability and progression. Start slowly and gradually increase reps and decrease rest times as you get stronger.
- 4 x length of the swimming pool easy swims with 20” rest in-between
- 4 x length of the swimming pool easy to moderate flutter kick with a kickboard with 20” rest
- 2 x easy swims of one swimming stroke of choice with 20-30” rest
- 1 x fast effort of the stroke of your choice with 1’ rest after
- 1 x easy swim of your choice
- 2 x easy swims of the different strokes of choice with 20-30” rest
- 1 x fast effort of the swimming stroke of your choice with 1’ rest after
- 4 x easy swims of your choice or flutter kick with a kickboard with the rest of your choice
Essential Swimming Equipment
Basic swimming equipment is needed to structure an optimal workout routine.
- Kickboard: Isolates leg muscles and builds strength in the legs.
- Speedo Swim Goggles: Protects eyes from chlorine and helps you see underwater.
- Basic Silicone Swim Cap: Keeps hair out of your face and makes swimming easier.
The Role of Diet
Swimming or any exercise is an addition to your weight loss journey. As we discussed earlier, calories and energy expenditure are the key factors in losing weight. If you eat more calories than you expend, you'll keep on adding those extra pounds. A good saying goes: abs are made in the kitchen. Your diet ultimately determines the decrease in weight.
Additional Tips for Weight Loss Through Swimming
- Set Realistic Goals: Determine your goal weight and map out a plan to achieve it.
- Establish a Routine: Consistency is key. Pencil in your swim sessions and make them part of your routine.
- Track Your Progress: Log your weight regularly to monitor your progress.
- Warm-up Properly: Prepare your body with a 5-10 minute warm-up before each swim.
- Cool Down: Slowly lower your heart rate after your workout with a few easy laps or a walk.
- Stay Hydrated: Drink plenty of water to replace fluids lost during swimming.
- Mix Up Your Training: Incorporate different swimming strokes, training aids, interval training and water weights to keep your workout fresh and exciting.
- Turbo-charge your workout using weights: Incorporating resistance training into your swim will turbo-charge calorie burn and help you build lean muscle, increasing your resting metabolic rate so that your body burns more calories before you even break a sweat (hello, efficient fat burn.)
- Consider Professional Guidance: A coach or swimming classes can provide personalized guidance and increase your chances of success.
Other Pool Exercises for Weight Loss
Pool-based exercises can offer the health-boosting benefits of other workouts: burned calories, strengthened muscles, improved cardiovascular health, and more balanced mental health. But they also carry some unique benefits, most of which are down to two facts:
Water Reduces Body WeightMovements you do in the water are less taxing on your joints and bones because water reduces the load of your body weight, research shows. This makes pool workouts ideal for strengthening muscles without the stress that running and other weight-bearing exercises can inflict on knees, ankles, and other joints, says New York City-based Todd Sinett, a doctor of chiropractic who is also author of Sit-Ups Are Stupid & Crunches Are Crap.
This reduced stress on joints and bones makes pool exercises a great option for people with aches or pains due to injury or chronic conditions that affect the joints, like osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis, Dr. Sinett says. “Aquatic exercise is also quite beneficial for the elderly because as we age we tend to lose our flexibility and tend to be achier and stiffer,” he notes.
Fat-Burning Pool Exercises
Daly recommends trying these pool exercises that require zero swimming and can torch major calories to help you meet your fitness goals. These multijoint, multimuscle resistance exercises help you build muscle mass, which in turn helps you burn fat, Daly explains.
These exercises prioritize large, compound movement patterns to get your heart rate up and work a wide range of muscles at the same time. To begin, Daly advises completing all seven exercises in order as a circuit, completing 30 seconds on and 30 seconds off. Give yourself a two-minute rest between rounds. Start with two rounds, and work your way up to eight rounds gradually.
Increase your workout frequency, duration, and intensity as your fitness progresses.
- Running: Run from one edge of the shallow end of the pool to the other, leaning forward from the ankles and pumping your arms.
- Pool-Edge Push-Ups: Place your hands on the edge of the pool and raise your torso out of the pool until your arms are fully extended.
- Squat Jumps: Squat down in the shallow end of the pool and jump up as high as possible into the air.
- Side Shuffling: Side shuffle from one edge of the pool to the other, keeping your core engaged.
- Prone Scissor Kick: Holding onto the edge of the pool, lift your legs so your body is in a horizontal position and kick from your hip.
- Press to Row: Holding a kickboard against your torso, lower into a squat position and extend your arms and the kickboard forward against the water, then pull back.
- Jumping Jacks: Perform jumping jacks in the pool with your head above water.