Swimming is a fun way to burn a lot of calories without causing harm to your muscles, joints and bones. In order to swim, you must use every major muscle group in your body, which provides an excellent full-body workout as well. Different types of swimming strokes expend more energy than others, and thus burn more calories.
Calories Burned While Swimming
The amount of calories you burn while swimming or kicking in the pool is determined by your body weight and your fitness level, physical abilities, speed, intensity, distance and duration of the swim. In general, those who weigh more than what is considered healthy for their height will burn more than those with a healthy, or close to healthy, weight. For example, a 150-lb person will burn 272 calories after swimming for 30 minutes while a 120-lb person will burn 218 calories.
Different Strokes
Whether you prefer to swim laps or just splash around, any activity in the pool will burn between 280 and 750 calories per hour. For example, swimming at a leisurely pace will burn about 408 calories an hour while swimming vigorously using the freestyle stroke will burn 748 calories an hour. Other strokes include backstroke, crawl, butterfly, breaststroke, and sidestroke. Freestyle and butterfly strokes burn the most calories while backstroke burns less calories. To optimize your swimming workout, and to burn more calories, vary your swimming strokes.
Kicking
You don't need to swim endless laps around a pool in order to see great results. Another way to exercise and burn more calories is by just kicking your legs. Hold onto the edge of the pool or grab a kickboard or noodle to help you float as you kick your legs. Strengthen your leg muscles by tying a noodle around your foot. Lean against the edge of the pool wall and straighten your leg out in front of you then bend your knee until your leg makes a 90-degree angle. Repeat until your leg tires out, and then switch legs.
Calories Burned While Kicking
To burn a lot of calories, incorporate the kickboard into your swimming workout routine. For example, start off with four laps using the freestyle stroke and then use the kickboard to kick across the pool for two laps. Repeat this routine for 60 minutes, making sure to catch your breath every once in a while, and you will burn up to 500 calories. Keep in mind that the total amount of calories burned will depend on your weight as well as your fitness level and physical ability.
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