3 Swim Workouts for Losing Weight
There are three types of swimming workouts that can help you lose weight. Depending on your current fitness level and goals, you can choose from a swimming workout routine.
Type 1: Water Aerobics
If you would like to lose weight but aren’t feeling very confident about your swimming skills, the best place to start is with water aerobics.
Water aerobics can help you to lose weight by burning calories and toning your body just as long as you still swim at a vigorous pace. While the exercise is simple, you can also incorporate strength training into the routine. Shimmy your arms, hips, and legs while holding your hoop.
Type 2: Water Running
A perfect workout for all types of swimmers as well as water fitness beginners, water running is an energizing workout that can help you to shed pounds.
The water running workout combines jogging in place in the shallow end of the pool, a bounce-step, and an undulating crawl or frog kick to help you to lose weight and gain endurance.
Type 3: Freestyle
Freestyle swimming is the most aggressive swimming workout when it comes to losing weight. You can also use it to build muscle and burn calories. When doing freestyle, the arms are a primary force that help you to increase speed while the legs provide propulsion and power.
Workout #1: High-intensity 25s
This 25-minute workout essentially consists of 15 sprints followed by a 12-minute break. While on the break, give yourself a 30-second rest, and then do an ultra-short but intense swim. You have to sprint for as long as you can at top speed. If you need to stop and catch your breath, you can, but try to do as many as you can in that 30 seconds.
Aim to achieve 10 25-second sprints during each rest break, but don’t be surprised if you only do five or six.
If you’ve never swum before, this can be a very difficult workout. But if you push yourself to the absolute limit during your sprints, you will give yourself a brutal cardio workout.
In terms of duration, this workout is ideal if you are pressed for time. It only requires a very small amount of time to be successful, but in the same sense it is an ultimate workout.
This workout is equivalent to doing a two- to three-mile run. Here’s how you can adjust it to your level:
If you’re in great shape:
- Run/swim for 30 seconds
- Rest for 20 seconds
- Repeat four more times
After this, rest for two minutes.
Go all out in another 30 second sprints.
Workout #2: The Swim-Kick Aerobic Combo
The swim-kick aerobic workout is the fastest way to burn calories. Just 10 minutes of this holistic, low-impact workout can burn the same number of calories you would burn from an hour-long walk or run.
The caloric expenditure results from the combination of strength, cardio, and endurance elements, with an accelerated metabolism to boot.
The swim-kick aerobic workout balances your time, focusing on muscular, cardiovascular, and endurance benefits.
The best part is that you’ll get all these benefits without straining your joints because swimming is a low-impact sport. Use this workout to burn a significant number of calories quick.
Leave no energy unused, and take advantage of the two times that you can benefit from your exercise sessions ‖ when you’re working out, and when you’re resting.
This workout does just that.
Give yourself sufficient rest between your laps.
Workout #3: Vertical kicker’s delight
If you’re trying to slim down in just a few weeks, it’s imperative to work your lower half.
This simple kickboard workout will have the muscles in your lower half burning in no time helping you to shed those stubborn pounds. All you need is a small piece of equipment…a kickboard. Place the board under your butt, and stand in the pool with the water coming up to your chest. Move your arms as you would when you are swimming freestyle.
Kick using your legs alone. Raise one leg up as straight as you can holding it in the air for one second, then back down to the bottom of the pool. Next, lift the other leg as high as it can go.
Now, lift both legs up and hold them out straight for 3 seconds before lowering them back to the bottom of the pool. Do this for 30 to 60 seconds, then you should be tired and ready to call it a day.
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Weight loss is a challenge that can be accomplished simply by following the tips in this post. Every tip in this article concerns itself with a simple yet effective way to help you shed pounds and keep them off. Just make sure you get in touch with your doctor before taking any action.
Now comes the fun part … the workout!
While each workout below can stand on its own, you can also use these 3 workouts interchangeably.