Swimming is an exercise that's readily adaptable to many body types and fitness levels. Because swimming is low-impact and water provides buoyancy, it's a safe and effective weight loss method for pregnant women, people with foot or leg injuries, pregnant women, arthritis patients, the elderly—and the list goes on. You don't have to be a technically good swimmer to lose weight in the pool. You just have to be dedicated to moving your body.
Swim for Fun
Don't avoid swimming just because you're not a strong technical swimmer. If you can move around in the water, you can lose weight swimming. Leisurely swimming with no formal laps or stroke types, burns 300 to 600 calories per hour according to Nutri Strategy. Water provides resistance, so each arm movement and leg movement burns more calories and uses more muscle than the same movement on land. Experiment with a variety of movements, like treading water, waking or jogging in the shallow end, or swimming from one side of the pool to the other to the best of your ability. As long as you continue to move at a leisurely to moderate pace, you'll burn calories and work muscle.
Learn Some Competitive Strokes
Swimming laps burns anywhere from 400 to over 1000 calories per hour depending on your weight and the intensity of your strokes. Freestyle stroke is the fastest stroke in swimming and the butterfly is the most labor-intensive stroke. Lap swimming, though low impact, increases your heart rate and strengthens your lungs and muscles in the same way that higher-impact exercises do. To perfect your strokes and increase your speed, pair lap swimming with weight training. The more muscle you gain, the more calories you'll burn throughout your whole day, not just throughout your workout.
Tread Water
As you take a few minutes of recovery time between sets of laps, tread water rather than resting idly in the pool. Treading water is a low-impact swimming activity that allows you to recover normal breathing and let your heart rate come down slowly while still burning calories. Treading water at a moderate pace burns between 200 to 500 calories per hour depending on your weight and fitness level, according to Nutri Strategy. As you gain stamina, you'll be able to rest by treading water rather than hugging the wall.
Practive Intervals
Interval training means moving from high-intensity activity to low-intensity activity. It burns more calories according to Mayo Clinic, and its concepts are easy to apply to swimming. Try swimming a few easy laps and then one lap where you go all out and swim as hard as you can. This equals one interval. Take a rest, then repeat the same interval again. Complete as many intervals as you can in an hour.
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