Swimming to Lose Weight

Swimming to lose weight is by far the most efficient and best way, anybody can lose weight.

In fact, swimming is so exhausting, yet it puts little stress on the body.

As such, individuals are advised to engage in swimming to lose weight.

How to swim to lose weight?

Below are some steps you need to take with swimming to lose weight.

1. Preparation

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

As such, careful preparation and planning is required when swimming to lose weight.

I outline some preparation tips for you below:

1. Get some swimming trunks
2. First, learn how to swim. Don’t just go jumping into a deep pool, because with 100% certainty, you will drown
3. Swimming is quite easy to learn, and after about a week of learning, you should be ready for the deep pools, where all the fun happens.
4. Swim, till you are tired.

2. Swimming Strokes

Ideally, we have 8 different swimming strokes:

1. Freestyle (front crawl):
   Fastest swimming stroke. Legs and arm movements alternate from left to right.
2. Backstroke:
   Similar to the freestyle in alternating movements. But instead of facing the water, the individual faces the sky.
3. Breastroke:
   Easiest to learn, but slowest. For some reason, babies instinctively swim this way.
   Fun Fact: Did you know that all human newborns know how to swim?
   When we learn how to swim, we are actually relearning what our bodies have forgotten how to do.
4. Butterfly:
   This is the hardest swimming stroke in the world and burns the most calories even among other swimming strokes.
   As the name implies, the swimming movement mimics the movement of the butterfly.
   Unlike the freestyle that alternates between the left-hand right leg, then right hand left leg, the butterfly moves both hands at the same time.
   Micheal Phelps holds the Olympic gold medal, for the fastest time in this stroke.
5. Sidestroke:
   Not a common stroke, but learned by lifeguards, and helps in rescuing a drowning person.
6. Trudgen:
   Another swimming stroke that is not common, and named after John Trudgen. This stroke is known for moving the legs like a pair of scissors in the water.
7. Elementary backstroke:
   Just as the backstroke is the reverse of the freestyle, the elementary backstroke is the reverse of the butterfly.
8. Combat sidestroke:
   Learned by soldiers as the name suggests. This swimming stroke is efficient and energy saving, and needed assets for soldiers, who might find themselves in hostile terrain, and the only thing they can do to escape is to swim miles of water.

Best swimming stroke

Among everything in life, there must always be the odd one out. Such is the same case with all swimming strokes.

Among these 8 swimming strokes, the butterfly burns the most amount of calories.

3. Ideal Routine (Workout Regimen)

Assuming you have an Olympic sized swimming pool before you start any routine, you should know the steps:

1. Warmup
2. Main Routine
3. Cooldown

For warmups do the following.

2 laps of break strokes
2 laps of backstroke

For your main routine do the following.

6 laps of freestyle, resting in between
4 laps of butterfly resting in between

For your cooldown do the following.

2 laps of break strokes
2 laps of backstroke

If you are not satisfied with the workout, do it all over again.

4. What to eat after swimming?

Immediately after every swimming activity, your body will feel totally spent and tired.

On a cellular level, your muscle fibers would have experienced microtears, which is caused by the swimming routine you just had.

As such, you are advised to eat lots of proteins, which are bodybuilding foods and facilitate the repair of those broken tissue fibers.

Also, you should eat vegetables and fruits, which contain lots of essential vitamins and minerals, which will help improve the functioning of your body.

On the other hand, replenishing your electrolytes and blood sugar level is necessary, so don’t be afraid to dabble with carbohydrates and essential minerals.

Although, care should be taken when taking carbohydrates. Carbohydrates should be gotten in its natural state in plants, and not from manufacturing processes, such as processed sugar.

How many times a week should I swim?

Since swimming although, brutal to the muscles, is quite kind on the joints and ligaments, a person can swim every day, and not injure himself or herself.

The most important thing is to start three or four times a week, to build up stamina, and strengthen the body, before going on all out.

FAQ’s

Below are some frequently asked questions and answers.

Is swimming so tiring?

Like I said earlier, swimming is the

Which swimming stroke is best for weight loss?

The butterfly, which happens to be the hardest swimming stroke and burns the highest amount of calories, is the best swimming stroke for weight loss.

How many calories do you burn swimming?

On average, swimming burns about 540 calories of body fat, per hour of exercise.

This is by far, the highest calories burnt by any exercise

How long does it take to lose weight by swimming?

You begin to lose weight immediately after you start swimming.

You need to understand that the resistance of water is high, and swimming is moving against that resistance.

See also: How to lose 30 pounds in 30 days