If weight loss is your objective, then you must learn to work hard consistently for losing weight. You can lose weight quick, but not without effort. You will need to try various combinations of aerobic and anaerobic exercises in order to achieve the desired weight loss. Sometimes, you may even need to learn a new skill like swimming (which is widely acclaimed for its multiple benefits) in order to lose weight.
Swimming is an excellent cardiovascular exercise which is very good for improving your lung capacity and coordination skills. It is a non-weight bearing activity, which involves all the major muscle groups in your body. Swimming as an exercise, does not create any wear and tear of your muscles or ligaments because no undue stress is created on your ankles, knees, back or neck. In fact, swimming tones the muscles and improves the flexibility of joints and muscles by eliminating the stiffness of the neck, shoulders, torso and hips. The arms and the upper body is greatly benefited by free style while the butterfly stroke or the breast stroke also work out the legs effectively.
You should always warm up, stretch and cool down during your swimming workout. Warming up phase comprises of doing 400 m in free style at a slow pace for about 5 -10 minutes. Your actual swimming workout can comprise of 4 X 100 m free style swimming with about 30 seconds rest between each lapse. You can continue at this rate for about 20 minutes. Cooling down phase comprises of 5 – 10 minutes of slow swimming using back stroke where you can cover 200 m distance.
Any kind of under water movement is met with a lot of resistance due to the water. Therefore, swimming burns a lot of fat and aids in weight loss. In fact 20 minutes of swimming burns much more calories than is burnt by 60 minutes of brisk walking and 30 minutes of jogging.
Swimming is a very good exercise, especially for people who have faced recent injuries or accidents or for extremely overweight, or those who suffer from brittle bones and joint pains (arthritis), or for the older fitness freaks. Even pregnant ladies can safely perform swimming exercises as a cardio exercise. More and more people have realized the plus points of swimming and are therefore opting for swimming as an effective means of losing weight.