Articles about Swimming not being good for weight loss
Former Member
Hello everyone,
I recently happened to have read a few (probably misleading) articles about swimming and weight loss. I have started swimming 3 months ago as a replacement for other cardio exercises due to knee injury. I enjoy swimming greatly but also I want to lose weight.
What I read is that because of the cold water the body tends to build a layer of fat underneath the skin to heat the body... that also the body doesn't burn as much fat because the cold water keeps it from heating... and that the cold water causes the apetite to rise.
Is any of this scientific? Does it make any sense?
I would guess that it also has something to do with your heart rate or level of intesity.
most people that run/jog or bike usually really work their bodies. they might not be going really fast, but they are really pushing themselves.
AS Allen mentioned, what is the level of swimming they are refereing.
I can swim 1000m in 40 minutes and it would do little to nothing for me. not even sure my heart rate would even top 90.
But if I swim 3000m in 40 minutes then I am pretty sure my body switches over to fat burning mode.
I can use myself as an example. I swim 3 times a week, usually 3500-5000m in 90 minutes depending on the type of sets we have. this type of swimming plus a better diet helped me to go from 238lbs down to 186lbs in 12 months. in the month of July after all my meets I only swim twice a week, but I did really really easy 2000-2500m lake swims taking roughly 45-50 minutes. and over the course of 3-4 weeks my weight went up to 192lbs. last week I jumped into the pool twice to get a feel of 25m again, and this week our workouts started. I have already gotten back down to 189lbs
so the slower lap swimming might be good for your overall conditioning, but you really need to work hard in the water to burn fat.
That's just my opinion
-Ryan
I would guess that it also has something to do with your heart rate or level of intesity.
most people that run/jog or bike usually really work their bodies. they might not be going really fast, but they are really pushing themselves.
AS Allen mentioned, what is the level of swimming they are refereing.
I can swim 1000m in 40 minutes and it would do little to nothing for me. not even sure my heart rate would even top 90.
But if I swim 3000m in 40 minutes then I am pretty sure my body switches over to fat burning mode.
I can use myself as an example. I swim 3 times a week, usually 3500-5000m in 90 minutes depending on the type of sets we have. this type of swimming plus a better diet helped me to go from 238lbs down to 186lbs in 12 months. in the month of July after all my meets I only swim twice a week, but I did really really easy 2000-2500m lake swims taking roughly 45-50 minutes. and over the course of 3-4 weeks my weight went up to 192lbs. last week I jumped into the pool twice to get a feel of 25m again, and this week our workouts started. I have already gotten back down to 189lbs
so the slower lap swimming might be good for your overall conditioning, but you really need to work hard in the water to burn fat.
That's just my opinion
-Ryan
