Back to Inside Track Blog

Why you should try a swimming workout

April 06 2022 6 min read

Through our different fitness journeys, we come across exercises that work for us and help us smash our fitness goals. For some, it may be through resistance training; for others it may be long runs on the treadmill.

For many, though, one of the most effective and enjoyable types of exercise is a swimming workout.

Is swimming a good workout?

When done right, swimming is actually one of the best cardiovascular workouts you can do. While it gets the heart pumping, it’s also a lot lower impact on the joints compared with running and other non-aquatic activities. The water creates a natural added resistance so you’re always toning and strengthening your muscles as you swim laps.

Swimming is also known to be great for burning those calories. In fact, even a leisurely 30-minute swim can burn up to 214 calories, and if you decide on a higher intensity run, you can burn through 700 calories in an hour.

Top swimming workouts

These swimming workouts will help you tone up and get a little healthier, whether you’re a swimming beginner or a seasoned athlete.

Distance Swimming   

Distance swimming workouts will help you increase your endurance, enhance recovery times and help with your stroke efficiency. The best way to do this is with 500-meter intervals. If you’re a runner or cyclist, 500 meters may not seem like an endurance distance, but it will feel much longer when fighting the water resistance.

We would recommend in one session:

- Swimming 500 meters front crawl at 30% energy output with a 60-second rest

- Swimming 500 meters front crawl at 50% energy output with a 60-second rest

- Swimming 500 meters front crawl at 70% energy output with a 60-second rest

- Swimming 500 meters front crawl at 80% energy output with a 60-second rest

Developing your kicking technique

Performing sets of kick exercises will not only give you a great workout, but will help you develop your swimming technique so you can swim faster while expending less energy.

- Front crawl with a kickboard - hold a kickboard in front of you with half the board under the water and swim 4 sets of 50 meters with a 10-second break in between each set (if needed)

- Breaststroke with a kickboard - hold a kickboard in front of you with half the board under the water and swim 4 sets of 50 meters with a 10-second break in between each set (if needed)

- Finish with a 100-meter steady breaststroke  

Swimming classes

Swimming classes are a great way for beginners to get more comfortable in the pool, as well as helping more advanced swimmers develop their technique.

We have a variety of classes available at Fitness First gyms, including:

Aqua Zumba - a low impact, high resistance take on the traditional Zumba class

Aqua Aerobics - This pool-based workout is great for toning up

Aqua HIIT - A non-stop, high-intensity class, guaranteed to get your heart pumping