was just wondeirng if anyone knew how many calories you burn going swimming? i've found places that give it per hour but surely it all depends on how far you swim not how long?

I've seen references to seven calories a minute.....however I wonder if say a brisk front crawl is going to burn more than a sleepy stretchy breast stroke (me!!!!)

I think like any calorie count it is going to vary alot from person to person, your only ever going to be able to find out an average and work from there.

Check out the activities on the Fitday.com daily journal. They give calorie counts for the following, based on the amount of time you spend at each:

Swimming laps, freestyle, fast, vigorous effort
Swimming laps, freestyle, slow, moderate or light effort
Swimming, backstroke, general
Swimming, breaststroke, general
Swimming, butterfly, general
Swimming, crawl, fast (75 yards per min), vigorous effort
Swimming, crawl, slow (50 yards per min), moderate or light effort
Swimming, lake, ocean, river
Swimming, leisurely, not lap swimming, general
Swimming, sidestroke, general
Swimming, synchronized
Swimming, treading water, fast, vigorous effort
Swimming, treading water, moderate effort, general
Water polo
Water volleyball

I swim (freestyle) 2 miles (3600 yds) in 1 hour and 45 minutes and my trainer told me that I burn between 800-1000 calories. Hope that helps

You are amazing!!! I struggle to swim a mile

Far from amazing but thanks. I could swim forever...it is the only thing I do where I completely get in a zone and could swim for hours. I wish it was like that with every exercise