Swimming provides a strong overall workout, combing cardiovascular activity with muscle-building, stretching and lengthening --- if you use proper technique. Swimming requires little equipment and burns as many as 500 calories per hour for a 160-lb. person, notes the Mayo Clinic. It's also very easy on the joints. To create a swim workout, focus on a variety of lap styles and speeds to keep focused and avoid burnout. In addition, keep a few tools at hand on the pool deck.
Step 1
Start with the proper equipment. A swim cap keeps the hair out of your eyes and can prevent your hair from being damaged by pool chemicals. Goggles help you see more clearly underwater as well as protecting your eyes from chlorine. If you swim outside, tinted goggles can help shade against the sun. A kickboard is useful for kicking laps, which can add dimension to your workout.
Intermediate and advanced swimmers should incorporate a pull buoy and paddles as well. These tools help a swimmer break down her stroke and perfect her technique.
Step 2
Don't swim alone. Join a master's swim group, schedule a time with friends or swim when there's a lifeguard on duty. When you're swimming for exercise, you may cramp up unexpectedly, which means you'll need help to be safe in the water.
Step 3
Start with a warm-up that loosens your muscles and joints, and helps you check that your equipment is functioning properly. Start with your favorite stroke and swim 12 laps (assuming each lap is 25 yards or meters), then kick for eight laps using your kickboard and favorite stroke.
Step 4
Swim sets. Typically, you swim laps in sets of yards or meters, such as eight sets of 100. This means that eight individual times, you swim four laps of the pool, repeating the focus of the set each time. The focus of each set varies. One focus might be stroke technique, such as stroke count and time (SCAT), where you work to maintain the number of strokes you swim, added to the time it takes to swim the laps as you repeat each set. The other focus is on speed and cardiovascular capacity, such as a descending set, where you swim each lap of a set faster, sprinting at the end.
Step 5
Swim all your strokes. Swimming lap after lap of freestyle can be tempting, and somewhat zen-like, but your body needs to mix it up. Not only do you prevent overuse injury by using different strokes, you also avoid burnout and "black line" burnout --- the fatigue that comes from staring at the black line at the bottom of the pool.
Step 6
Use your tools. Incorporate both pull drills and kicking drills into your workout, using your pull buoy, paddles and kickboard. Using your tools, you can refine your pull for freestyle, or try swimming catch-up freestyle, a technical drill where one arm "catches" up to the other before the other arm moves. You can also strengthen your leg muscles with freestyle kicking drills and breaststroke kicking.
Tips and Warnings
- Consult your doctor before beginning any new exercise regimen.
Things You'll Need
- Swimsuit
- Swim cap
- Goggles
- Pull buoy
- Kickboard
- Swim paddles
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