what kind of workout is swimming? will it help me build muscle? or is it more of a cardio workout? and is simply staying afloat burning a decent amount of calories?
Swimming is a great all over body workout. It is mostly a cardio workout but will help you work your muscles as well. I can simply stay afloat with no effort at all so I'd say you aren't burning extra calories doing that Those that have low body fat though have to work to keep themselves afloat. Mostly, you are burning calories by propelling yourself through the water which resists your movement.
Swimming laps can be either or both cardio and resistance training, because you're pulling your weight through the water, and if you're not swimming fast enough to get your heart rate up, it wouldn't be very cardio.
There are also water workouts besides just swimming. Treading water can be nearly no exercise at all, if you're bouyant (and the more fat you've got, the more bouyant you are), but you can make it more work by paddling with your arms and legs like mad (very cardio). Also, there are water weights and other exercise gear you can buy for the water (if you're going to a public or private pool, ask what equipment they have, and what they allow brought in).
My husband and I go to a warm water therapy pool, and they supply all sorts of work out equipment for the pool, and also have parallel bars underwater, and a pull up station at the pool's edge for upper body workouts. It's so amazing, I think they need to be everywhere, so no one is more than an hour's drive from one.
ok cool, that's what i was wondering. I get very out of breath, but I can't swim that fast. So in between laps, i tread water and kick, and do somersaults , stuff like that. They have kickboards there, which I tried. The only stroke I can do with any sort of speed is the back stroke. I tried kicking with the kickboard, but pretty much didn't go anywhere. Now that I have goggles and a nose plug, I think my freestyle will be much better.
Swimming freestyle is a fabulous cardio workout because it requires you to regulate your breathing. I've plateaued now, but when I first started swimming I saw a noticeable improvement literally from one workout to the next. It is the only exercise I've ever done where I've progressed so quickly. And not just at swimming--it helped with my other cardio exercise as well. The weeks that I swam, I could increase my speed on the treadmill.
If you swim regularly, I think you will find yourself getting less and less out of breath during your workouts.
Another way to make treading water significantly harder is to hold your hands out of the water while you do it. This is a great workout for your legs. I used to work as a swim lesson instructor and one of my jobs was to catch the kids as they jumped off the diving board for the first time. This involves treading water with your legs only, while a small child propels him/herself at your head and you scream frantically "don't jump on my head, jump on my hands, not my head!" My legs were in fabulous shape that summer.
Swimming and water exercise is fabulous, especially if gravity is not your friend. In addition to being very overweight, I have joint and pain issues that make it virtually impossible on land to exercise without pain, or to exercise at a pace that has any cardio benefits. In the water, especially warm water (did I mention how much I LOVE the warm water pool), I can really keep up a much more intense and prolonged (and actually cardio) pace. In fact, it's really hard for me not to overdo, because it feels so good to have abilities I can only dream of on land, that I lose track of time and when I get out of the water, returning to regular gravity makes my bones feel like they're being crushed. And the next day, I'm so sore I can hardly move (what I wouldn't give to be able to live in the water).
swimming?
Those that have low body fat though have to work to keep themselves afloat. Mostly, you are burning calories by propelling yourself through the water which resists your movement.
, stuff like that. They have kickboards there, which I tried. The only stroke I can do with any sort of speed is the back stroke. I tried kicking with the kickboard, but pretty much didn't go anywhere. Now that I have goggles and a nose plug, I think my freestyle will be much better.
