Swimming

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astilson33
astilson33 Posts: 52
in Fitness and Exercise
How good is swimming when it comes to burning calories. I went swimming last night and planned on going again today, and i'm wondering how great of an exercise that is. I put on my goal that i want to exercise once a day for at least 30 min. would swimming for an hour or two be a great way to get in my daily exercise.

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  • studswife
    studswife Posts: 32 Member
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    When I log in swimming for an hour it's a lot of calories. It also make me hungry too. But it feels so good!
  • Naomi_84
    Naomi_84 Posts: 197 Member
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    Yep!! Very good, works all the muscle groups in one go, great for the heart and lungs. Some generic information I saw yesterday was 10 minutes of breaststroke burns 60 calories and 10 mins of front crawl 100 calories (obviously would depend on your weight and amount of effort)
  • albali
    albali Posts: 225 Member
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    Hi
    I don't know about calories, but I do know that it is amazing for your waistline! I swam once a week for six months last year and did 30 lengths a time. After just three or four weeks (so three or four swims) I noticed my waist was smaller. There was tightening round the middle for sure. Go for it. It's a great work out.
  • _Sally_
    _Sally_ Posts: 514 Member
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    With anything, it depends on how fast/hard you do the activity. In general, swimming will burn less calories than weight bearing exercises. However, swimming is very kind to the body and your joints and tones all of your muscles, so it is a great exercise. If you swim 60 minutes a day, I think that would be great exercise. It's also important to pick the activities we enjoy the most and will do regularly.

    I say go for it!
  • elizamc
    elizamc Posts: 285 Member
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    I don't know about calories, but I do know that it is amazing for your waistline! I swam once a week for six months last year and did 30 lengths a time. After just three or four weeks (so three or four swims) I noticed my waist was smaller. There was tightening round the middle for sure. Go for it. It's a great work out.

    I agree totally, my stomach was at its strongest when I was swimming lengths regularly...
  • vikesfanmb
    vikesfanmb Posts: 291 Member
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    Swimming is an excellent workout and works almost every part of your body simultaneously. Plus, the resistance that the water offers is something that really cannot be duplicated on land, in my opinion.

    I take water aerobics and swim at least 3 times per week and not only is it great exercise, but I find it to be excellent for stress relief after a long day.

    Anyways, I'm probably a little biased because I grew up on a lake so we swam almost every day (it's in my blood!) but my son was also a competitive swimmer in high school and loved it too.
  • perceptualobfuscator
    perceptualobfuscator Posts: 159 Member
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    This really depends. If you've had some training and some knowledge of proper technique, you can burn massive amounts of calories from swimming. By using a variety of swimming strokes, you'll be able to use muscles you wouldn't touch in other circumstances, so you may get tired before you expect. Different strokes will burn different numbers of calories, and the better the technique, the faster you'll go and the more calories you'll burn.

    On the other hand, if you basically float from one end of the pool to the other, you'll burn much less.

    This gives you some averages for calories burned:

    http://www.dietandfitnesstoday.com/calories-burned-swimming.php
  • sarah829522
    sarah829522 Posts: 139
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    I've worn my HR monitor and when I swim for a constant hour I will burn as much as in Zumba or Turbo Kick class. It's a great low-impact but high calorie burn workout.

    It makes me hungry too. Pack a protein shake or some quick form of nutrition recovery for yourself afterwards!
  • astilson33
    astilson33 Posts: 52
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    Thanks everyone! :)

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