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Is Swimming The Best Cardio Exercise? |
If you’re getting started in weight lifting and are looking for a good cardio exercise, or if you’ve been weight lifting for a while and are looking to change your cardio exercise and find something that fits your routine better, you may be considering swimming.
You probably have some questions about whether swimming is the best cardio for you at this time. The following questions and answers should help you make your decision.
Is swimming a good choice as cardio exercise for weight lifting?
Yes, in most cases, swimming is a great choice as cardio exercise if you’re weight lifting. The benefits of swimming as cardio exercise are very clear; swimming works your heart and lungs without stressing joints, and a heavy swimming workout can raise your heart rate, build your lung capacity and burn fat as effectively as running or spinning.
Isn’t swimming a little “lightweight” as cardio exercise for someone who’s also weight lifting?
There is nothing lightweight about swimming if you’re pushing yourself all out and really taxing your heart and lungs. Swimming may seem like a “mild” exercise, but if you’ve ever watched competitive swimming, you will see that swimmers are true athletes, and that they have very little excess body fat, because they work it off in the pool. If you feel swimming doesn’t match your image as a weight lifting powerhouse, you can always swim at a different club than the one where you work out. Chances are, though, that once your weight lifting buddies see the fat-burning and cardio results you get from swimming, they’ll become swimmers, as well.
When is the best time to swim for cardio exercise?
The best time to swim is first thing in the morning before breakfast, for the same reasons that other cardio exercises are best done first thing in the morning. At this time of day your body’s supplies of glycogen are at their lowest, and your body is forced to burn body fat rather than stored carbohydrates to power your cardio exercise. Swimming is no different from any other cardio exercise in this respect. However, swimming does have one advantage over other cardio exercises in the morning, in that a nice dip in a cool pool will help you wake up and get going quickly.
I want to burn fat fast. Will swimming work?
Swimming is one of the best ways to burn fat, because of the cardio exercise involved in swimming. Swimming is almost pure cardio, and forces your body to burn fat as it moves through the water. The harder you swim, the more your heart and lungs get involved, and the faster you burn fat. Take a look at the swimmers at your local pool. Anyone who’s been swimming more than a few months is bound to be very lean, because of the natural fat burning effect of swimming.
I know how to swim, but I’m not good or fast. Is this still a good cardio exercise for me?
Swimming is great cardio exercise. You will get better and faster with practice, and will become a very powerful swimmer much more quickly than you might expect. Swimming is easy to learn, and improvement comes quickly.
If you are considering swimming as your new cardio exercise, plunge in. You won’t be disappointed. |
