Swimming provides a well-rounded workout that improves cardiorespiratory fitness, tones muscles, builds endurance and burns body fat. It has the added benefit of being low impact, so your joints and muscles are not strained. When using swim exercises to lose body fat, you should incorporate a mix of various strokes, intervals, weight-bearing activities and even walking or jogging to keep the workout fresh and avoid monotony.
Lap Swim Intervals
Lap swimming uses most of your major muscles to propel you through the water, which burns plenty of calories. By mixing up different swim strokes and using intervals, you can keep the workout fun and kick-start your body fat-burning mechanism. Try warming up with a 100-yard flutter kick, follow with a 200-yard fast stroke, 100-yard slow stroke, then a 50-yard sprint stroke. Continue this cycle for 20 to 30 minutes for a complete interval training session.
Toy Workouts
Use flotation devices and toys to help you focus on each swim stroke. Start this workout with a 400-meter freestyle warm-up, then use a four-stroke set, also known as the individual medley, to swim a 100-meter butterfly, a 100-meter backstroke, a 100-meter breaststroke and a 100-meter freestyle, suggests SwimmingPracticePlans.com. Swim 300 meters using any stroke you prefer with a buoy between your legs. Then swim 200 meters holding a flotation device while your kick propels you through the water. Finish with the individual medley by swimming as hard as you can. This workout should take 40 to 60 minutes to complete.
Weighted Lap Swim
If you want to increase the intensity of your workout, beyond using only your body weight, try doing weighted laps. Grab some water-safe hand weights, foam cylinders or pool barbells to increase the resistance and strengthen your upper body. You can add variation to your workout and burn more calories by carrying weights as you swim. One way to get a good interval training workout is by swimming for five minutes with weights, then five minutes without and repeating the cycle for at least half an hour.
Water Aerobics
Do water aerobics alone or include them in your regular swim workouts. Water aerobics are ideal for those who cannot swim or who want more guidance during their workout. Most gyms that have pools offer water aerobics classes. Most sessions involve your feet on the pool floor a great deal of the time, so consider investing in some swim shoes. Water aerobics sessions last between 45 and 60 minutes and incorporate the use of foam cylinders and water dumbbells to add variety and intensity.
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