Like all cardio, swimming is a way to expend extra energy (burn calories) and helps improve general health. Whilst I wouldn’t make swimming my primary form of exercise (if you care about your physique that should always be training with weights) it’s an excellent way to supplement an already intense training regime.
A few reasons you may prefer to swim instead of do other types of exercise:
-Swimming may help you to recover faster between training sessions (it’s a classic example of what some might call ‘active recovery’ by giving your muscles light work, blood flows to them and delivers nutrients)
-Swimming is easy on your joints: for a lot of people too much running will lead to knee pains, back pains and problems with the lower leg (such as shin splints). On top of this, swimming is unlikely to cause an imbalance between muscle groups (e.g. cycling may lead to overly strong/tight quads and weak hamstrings)
-Some people consider swimming to be more fun and less repetitive than other cardio. Being able to switch strokes is a nice way to give yourself a little change which isn’t available in many forms of cardio.
-Swimming distributes the work between a lot of the body, particularly if you change strokes often.
That being said, what’s the best way to use swimming as part of a routine?
2 approaches, each with their own benefits:
-Do about 15 minutes of swimming after weights sessions. This allows you to burn a few extra calories and really take advantage of benefits to recovery. In terms of convenience this might be a good choice if you have a long trip to the gym and want to make the most of it a few times a week rather than go every day.
-Do 30-40 minutes of swimming on days you don’t train with weights. This is an excellent approach if you’re looking to burn a lot of calories without draining yourself too much and impeding recovery.
How to go about using swimming as cardio:
-Pace yourself and try to avoid stopping too often, although the first few times you swim for an extended amount of time you may have to stop a few times because you have a burning sensation in certain muscles (often shoulders), this is just due to lactic acid build up and should improve quite quickly as you get the hang of picking the right pace.
-If you’re looking to progress, count lengths and try to do a couple extra when you can change up strokes whenever suits you – just be aware that different strokes are easier than others so when you’re counting lengths doing 10 of front crawl isn’t the same as doing 10 of breaststroke.