Is Swimming Enough To Stay Fit?

Is Swimming Enough To Stay Fit?

Is swimming enough to stay fit?  There is a yes and a no answer to this question, that i get asked regulary.  “I swim or I am thinking about swimming, is that going to be okay in helping me to stay fit”?

The answer is, initially yes.  Just getting in a pool if you’re not a swimmer and swimming up and down just getting yourself use to the water, is going to keep you fit and help you be strong,  you might drop some weight as well.

The issue being is that people often just carry on doing the same thing of just swimming up and down and there are two problems with this.

1. The first one is that, quite quickly they get a bit bored.  They hit their 40 laps or whatever they can do in the 40 minute time frame they have given themselves.  There often isn’t enough time to expand their training any further.  Alot of people get use to that and see no further weight loss or fitness change.
2. Secondly, is that the body gets use it and therefore stops changing.  Swimming is like anything else, you need to be challenging your body.  So doing high intensity interval training (HIIT).  Jump into the pool, swim really hard and then relax, swim really hard then do an easy length and continue going hard then easy, hard then easy.

Changing that up will mean that swimming will keep you strong, keep you fit and help you lose weight.  But continuing to do length after length, and the body will get use it quite quickly and therefore your swim session won’t be enough to stay fit.

Keith