While swimming is a pleasurable exercise that is often learned and practiced just for the love of it, there are swimmers who swim with specific purpose and intention in mind. And in most cases, the purpose is to lose weight and get a slimmer and definitely fitter body. Even children suffering from obesity are recommended to join swimming classes to not just lose weight but stay healthy in the long run.
Now, swim experts are of the opinion that swimming is a less helpful exercise than running or biking when it comes to shedding those extra calories off your body. There are certain reasons behind this. First, swimming is a mild exercise that does not require too much of pace and for losing weight, the increased heart beat resulting from a high speed is very essential. Also, the water temperatures have a cooling effect on the body of the swimmer, leading to the creation of an insulating layer of fat under the skin that regulates the body temperature. Hence, the exhaustion remains restricted to a certain level only. Having said that, swimming does help in losing weight provided that a proper diet regime is being followed and the necessary workouts are being done regularly.
A Few Tips to Follow
While the experts imparting you with the swimming lessons in Fort Worth TX are the best people to guide you in the right direction, here is a list of tactics, worth taking note of in losing weight through swimming.
- It has been found through research that a combined approach to diet and swimming works best in losing weight. There is no point in exercising too hard without cutting down on the amount of calorie intake. Your body’s Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is the deciding factor here. If you follow a strict diet only, you will typically end up gaining all the weight as soon as you stop dieting.
- When you are practicing swimming primarily to lose weight, you must swim faster or else the result will start showing up too late. So, instead of swimming at your own pace, fix upon a pace that you find difficult to achieve and setting this as a goal, work towards it. Even if you are not able to reach the goal all at once, the practice will keep increasing your speed each day and this will further assist you in shedding calories.
- Let your swimming plan incorporate one workout followed by one session of swim and so on. So, after each workout, make sure that you swim for at least 30 minutes. This routine should be followed for a minimum of three to four days per week. A 10-15 minutes session of swim might not be enough to reach your goal within the stipulated time period.
While these tactics are definitely helpful for swimmers who want to lose weight faster and with no negative side effects, it is essential to remember that over exerting yourself in the process is a strict no-no. Human body differs widely and hence, consulting a doctor is also recommended.