Thread: swimming

Its purely cardio.
Doing laps in the pull will burn 476 calories per hour. Not a great number but if you do enjoy it, its a good cardio exercise to have.

Wasn't sure if the fact the water acts as resistance means you ar getting a workout. You see a lot of athletes rehabing in the pool

I disagree with that calorie number as it is assuming a very slow pace. I do HIIT cardio in the pool and it is much harder than running or the elliptical and helped me cut up a lot last year. Swimming is also much less stress on your joints if you have proper form.

Not sure how much muscle you can build but you definitely do build some. The shoulders and back of a swimmer get quite a workout.

when ever i swim i feel lke iv had a gym workout

interesting topic i havnt been swimming in years its about time i got my belly flop on!

it wont build compared to weights, but it definatly is a workout. I swim through college and its a great form of cardio. I have also trained for a marathon and swmming had me more muscular compered to running a shitload ha

Swimming is def a good workout, the problem is the typical person cannot swim well enough to sustain a decent workout. If you have the proper form, go for it, great cardio that will hit the back and shoulders really well, like stated above

I think if u do not have proper form it is almost more of a workout because u have to put out more effort.

Originally Posted by gtbmed

I think we have our answer. This guy looks like a marathon runner.

Swimming is definitely a workout, but it's cardio workout.Too much swimming and you can loose that hard earned muscle.The guy in the pic (Alain Bernard) is probably consuming twice the calories that a bodybuilder consumes and yet he is still skinny.