Swimming can be a great way to improve cardiovascular health and to burn belly fat, especially for beginning exercisers or for older adults who may have joint pain.
Swimming is a non-impact exercise that can be fun, relaxing and burn calories at the same time. Most larger gyms include a pool, so if yours does, take advantage of it!
Working Out In A Pool
The easiest way to work out in a pool is just to swim. If you are a beginner, concentrate on improving your strokes and hitting a certain distance, such as 10 laps. Don’t worry about time or speed initially.
As you continue to improve your stroke, start increasing your distance and speed. When you start to feel comfortable in the water, you may want to consider interval training to improve even faster.
Interval Training In A Pool
Interval training in a pool is very similar to interval training on land. Your goal is to change up your speed in varying amounts in order to “surprise” your body. By pushing yourself through interval training, you’ll burn more calories, and you should notice that your swimming stamina increases. This is because your heart and lungs are becoming more efficient and growing stronger as you train.
An example of an interval pool workout would be to swim two laps at an easy pace, one lap at a medium-fast pace and one lap as fast as you can. Repeat three times with rests in between if required.
Different Strokes For Different Folks
Another way to mix up your swimming training and to burn more belly fat in the water is to experiment with different swim strokes. Some of the more popular strokes are the breast stroke, butterfly stroke, back stroke and side stroke. Each of these different swim strokes utilizes your muscles in different ways and keeps your body guessing. The more your body guesses, the more calories you’ll burn.
Incorporate Swimming Into A Larger Exercise Routine
In order to really improve your overall fitness, it is important to incorporate many different forms of exercise into your routine. For instance, consider adding
running and
biking components to your swim workout, making it like a mini-triathlon. A workout may consist of ten laps in the pool followed by a five mile bike and then finally a mile run on the treadmill.
Don’t forget to also include strength training in your workout. Swimming is a great cardio-booster, but you’ll need to hit the weights if you want to build muscle and lose even more belly fat.
Water Aerobics
If swimming is a struggle, or you’re just getting a little bored swimming back and forth, consider joining a water aerobics class. Almost every gym that has a pool also offers water aerobics classes.
Like swimming, water aerobics is a non-impact workout, which can be great for overweight individuals and older adults with joint pain. Water aerobics burns tons of calories and is great for the heart and lungs while not being too stressful on the body. The “perceived effort” of water aerobics is low, meaning it won’t feel hard even while you’re getting a good workout. Best of all, it’s nice to exercise with a group. Seeing everyone else working hard can inspire you to go a little bit faster and a little bit longer.
