Comments on: Swimming Not Best Exercise for Weight Loss and Muscle Toning

By: MotleyHealth

MotleyHealth — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 08:18:46 +0000

The study did not say that swimming did not help people to lose weight, just that compared with other forms of exercise, it is not the best way to lose weight. Many professional swimmers do “dry training” to help reduce and burn body fat. But swimming has many advantages over other forms of exercise, mainly concerning the fact that there is less pressure places on joints and it causes less injury.

By: isabeau

isabeau — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 01:17:31 +0000

I had a really hard time losing the baby weight after my second child. I was holding on to and extra 10-15lbs for almost a year. I took up swimming and steadily, without changing anything else, I lost that weight. While I do eat healthily, I also did throughout the year that I didn’t lost the baby weight. I try to swim 4-6 times a week and try to do at least 1km each workout. I don’t know about the results of this study, but from my experience swimming is a great weight loss AND toning activity.

By: Pam in Cali

Pam in Cali — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 21:19:20 +0000

Last summer we went on a vacation to Hawaii for two weeks. We swam in the large hotel pool for about an hour a day, and also swam in the ocean most days. On our two week vacation I lost 12 pounds, from swimming! My pants and shorts that I had packed wouldn’t even stay up on me by the time I left. That’s my personal experience from swimming on a regular basis. I wasn’t even trying to lose weight.I’m a 50 year old woman, by the way.

By: MotleyHealth

MotleyHealth — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 10:34:42 +0000

It seems that this article is a little misleading to say the least. We shall tidy it up and highlight more the benefits for swimming and less the fact that swimming is not the best form of exercise for weight loss.

By: val bobincheck

val bobincheck — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 03:45:30 +0000

I have to agree w/ Daveyboy: If I were going to start some kind of exercise program and read this article, I would never swim. I haven’t had a problem w/increase in appetite as I drink water thru my sets and use a nice hot shower afterward-sometimes I can use a sauna depending on where I am swimming. I have lost 23 lbs in 3 months using a healthy diet-lots of fruit and veggies and little white flour or sugar.

By: Davey Boy

Davey Boy — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:51:41 +0000

The title should have been, ” Swimming does not work well to help you lose weight or tone and we have a misleading article with a misleading study with a bunch of theories that haven’t been proven to back it up.”

By: MotleyHealth

MotleyHealth — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 10:15:04 +0000

Davey Boy, this article does not say that swimming will not get you fit, neither does it intend to imply that swimming will not help you lose weight. The article refers to a discussion by Dr. Louise Burke from the Australian Institute of Sport which to explain the empirical evidence that swimmers had higher bodyfat than land based exercisers (reference added above).

Swimming is an excellent form of exercise, there is no doubt about that. But if you are looking to get very toned, then most people will need to do some land based exercise also – running, cycling etc. Genetics plays a huge role in determining how much fat you hold. You may well have lucky genetics to get down to 10% bodyfat through swimming, but this does not mean that everyone else will respond in the same way.

By: Davey Boy

Davey Boy — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 03:25:21 +0000

Let me be more specific. I am not a professional swimmer and I only swim 2-3 times a week for about 30 minutes each session. I have lost 15 pounds in 4 months and have lowered my body fat to 10.8%. I am by no means a professional nor do I have a strict diet. I swim as an average person trying to lose a bit of weight. I do not work out at extreme intensity, and anyone (with a little practice) could swim at the same level in the time it took me to do it. And ANY kind of exercise (“in the absence of a controlled diet”) will do squat if you eat whatever you want, so why would you even put that in the article? It is very misleading and only confuses readers who don’t know anything about swimming. Swimming is also great because it builds muscle all over your body AND burns fat. The more muscle you have the higher your metabolism and the more fat you burn. Doesn’t that sound like it is better than say running or cycling? Also, one of the reasons the swimmers weighed more at the end of this study is because the muscle they built weighs more than fat. And the whole part about swimming in cold water has been proven false, it WAS just a theory though. Readers would rather hear the facts. And if you are swimming to the point of getting a good workout, you will raise your body temperature even in cold water. Because of the lower resistance you can’t just float through the water you have to SWIM. People make the mistake of thinking they can barely kick and move their arms and get a good workout. WRONG. But this article is about SWIMMING, there is no magic to losing weight. And YES, Competitive Swimmers are less active outside of their training session because they usually last for 3 hours. Didn’t you say this article was for average people trying to lose a bit of weight? How does that even compare? And finally, swimming builds muscle, but more specifically it tones. You won’t get huge from swimming but you will build muscle. Don’t bother believing anything in this article, if you want to swim make sure you work at it and you will lose weight. Swimming is one of if not the best form of exercise.

By: Davey Boy

Davey Boy — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 03:21:41 +0000

Hopefully no more people who read this article will be fooled and can actually benefit from swimming, losing weight, and being overall healthy. That is the goal of this website right? Truth and Facts.

I’d like to think a website dedicated to health and well being would never allow such an article to circulate and if they did, and were given some concrete facts to make them second guess their publication, write up a correction or new article, maybe one that they actually researched and didn’t throw together in a hurry, because that is what this looks like, no, that is what this IS.

By: MotleyHealth

MotleyHealth — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 00:50:55 +0000

Also, note that it says “in the absence of a controlled diet, swimming has little or no effect on weight loss.” This is the same for many sports and exercise. Research has shown that diet combined with exercise makes you lose weight. The increase in metabolism as a result of exercise is often negligible.