Calories burnt swimming in sea vs pool

Options
emmab0902
emmab0902 Posts: 2,337 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Does anyone know if there is much difference in how many calories are burned swimming in the sea vs the pool? Did my first ever open water swim today (2km) and am curious how it might compare to 2km in the pool.

Replies

  • Yogi_Carl
    Yogi_Carl Posts: 1,906 Member
    Options
    Firstly, respect to you for getting into the sea this time of year- had to be cold!

    Anything less than 15C is likely to burn more calories than a heated swim pool as your body is trying to maintain body heat which in turn burns extra calories.

    Also, depending on swell and current, you may be burning extra calories even if you appear to be stationery or treading water just trying to make progress against the waves. River swimming is interesting as well if you are swimming upstream.

    For these reasons I would say you are likely to burn more calories in open water than a pool.
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    Options
    Depends on whether the shark is in front of you or behind you.
  • Yogi_Carl
    Yogi_Carl Posts: 1,906 Member
    Options
    err - yes. I was bumped by a shark once while out aways in the sea - it was a Spiny Dogfish off the Cornish coast - steered straight into me and shot off out to sea.

    You can bet that was one of my fastest swims back to the beach!

    One of the most beautiful swims was in clear blue sea on a hot summer day, swimming with silver coloured sand eels - like swimming among diamonds. Another day swimming in a freshwater quarry with Rainbow Trout swimming just a few feet under me.

    Now tell me that is not more preferable to working out in a gym!
  • emmab0902
    emmab0902 Posts: 2,337 Member
    Options
    It's summer where I am and I was in a wetsuit so didn't feel the cold at all. Didn't see any sharks but you can bet I was thinking about them lol. It was pretty choppy today - the person who organised the swim nearly canned it and was worried it was too rough for a first timer (there were two of us newbies today). Definitely different to what I expected - thought I would miss the walls ie knowing how far I had swum. But despite not being able to see the buoys most of the time due to the choppiness I quite enjoyed it. Will probably just log moderate freestyle and cross my fingers that it's more.
  • Yogi_Carl
    Yogi_Carl Posts: 1,906 Member
    Options
    It'll be more :wink: well done you!
  • HanaThorne
    HanaThorne Posts: 14 Member
    Options
    Hello guys!

    I would like to revive this question if possible. I live in a city on the coast of the Adriatic sea - no big ocean, no sharks, no dangerous currents - just endless calm sea water :) It's summer and it's hot, so I am taking bike drives to the beach 2-3 times a week - a half hour leasurely bike drive followed by a 30 minute swimming session :D I've never gone swimming in a pool (once or twice when I was visiting people in another town that is more inland) but since I will be moving from the coast to very soon, I'll probably start looking for places to swim there, too.

    Is there a large calorie burn difference when swimming in the sea vs. the pool? Sea water is salty and helps you stay above water and tread water more easily. Pool water is just regular water and it takes a lot more effort to swim, the way I see it. On the other hand, there are sea currents (although not very strong) and winds that can make swimming in the sea difficult sometimes, too.

    MFP exercise list has only "swimming", and I don't know if they are counting this for pool swimming or sea swimming. Is there a huge difference?

    Thanks in advance!
  • Jodsmission
    Jodsmission Posts: 130 Member
    Options
    I think MFP means pool swimming. There is a difference between the two but its sounds like your water is so calm(and lovely BTW) that the difference would be negligible. Usually the ocean would burn more than the pool. But when you get into salt versus chlorine then you would have to also weigh in temperature. Use the swimming measure . It tends to estimate based on moderate pace anyway so its not 100% accurate for every person any way you cut it.

Categories