Swimming is often considered as a fun and recreational activity but did you know that it is also considered as one of the best workouts that you can do if you want to lose weight? Regardless of whether you are practicing your strokes at a competitive level or at a leisurely pace, you’re already giving your body a thorough workout. If you haven’t thought about using swimming as part of your workout regimen, here are a few reasons why you should.
1. It burns calories. You can actually burn more calories when you swim compared to running or walking. A person of average built can burn around 400 to 500 calories in an hour of swimming at moderate intensity.
2. Tones the muscles. Your body is thoroughly exercised when you swim specifically your glutes, shoulders, legs, arms, and back thus giving them more muscle tone.
3. Increases motivation. Since swimming requires you to wear as minimal clothing as possible, you will be motivated to work out harder in order to have a great looking body.
4. Increase metabolism. Whatever type of exercise that you do as long as it increases your heart rate and at the same time burn excess calories in your body, your metabolism will also increase. This is what makes swimming a good exercise to follow if you want to increase your body’s metabolism. The better your metabolism is the faster you can lose weight.
5. Gives your muscles a work out. The various strokes in swimming require more muscle power which means that every time you swim, you are giving your muscles a thorough workout. For those who want to increase their muscle mass, you should try high intensity swimming as this can help boost the growth of your muscles.
With these reasons alone, you can already get quite a lot of benefit from swimming. Regardless of whether you want to lose weight or bulk up, this exercise is worth including in your exercise regimen as it will give you the results you are looking for in no time.
