Swimming for Weight Loss

Swimming is one of the best places to get in shape and lose pounds.  Though frequently overlooked, swimming provides a safe and effective means of slimming down.

Swimming can be a great workout for your whole body.   Few other workouts can so quickly burn calories, boost metabolic rate function and work every muscle in your body.  All this without putting a bunch of stress on your ligaments and joints.

Swimmers are also some of the athletes with the best bodies.  Swimming tones every muscle and provides a great cardiovascular workout.  Swimming tests speed, endurance, cardiovascular health and muscle strength all while being a highly enjoyable activity.

According to one study conducted at Indiana University, swimmers were found to have more lean muscle mass than non-swimmers.  At every age, swimmers were fitter and had trimmer waists and hips than their non-swimming counterparts.

Even an easy swim can burn up to five hundred calories an hour while a faster swim will garner you a 700 calorie deficit.  

Because being in the water and swimming is equal to a great all-purpose resistance exercise, you are also inevitably building lean muscle mass with every stroke.  This increase in lean muscle mass means that your metabolic rate improves as well.

The more muscle you have the more your body burns calories.  Faster caloric burn means easier weight loss. 

Most importantly, swimming is really easy on the body.  You can literally swim everyday without the risk of injury inherent in many other sports or exercise programs.  Because swimming places no stress on joints, you are much less likely to injure yourself and then have to take a break from your exercise regime.

Swimming can help you stay young too.  In one research study it was found that swimmers were biologically sometimes as much as twenty years younger than their actual age.

Given all this there is simply no good reason not to add swimming to your workout routine.  Swimming can be a great way to stay in shape and feel good while you’re doing it.