5 Great Tips I Learnt as a Masters Swimmer to Lose Weight Swimming and Experience Optimal Health Benefits

Whether you’re swimming to tone up, lose belly fat, increase stamina or introduce more variety in your cardio exercises, here is how you can lose weight swimming with better results.

Photo by Pete Wright on Unsplash

Did you know that you can lose the same amount of weight swimming as you could by running?

It’s easy on your joints too since the water will support 90 per cent of your body weight. Water is also 800 times denser than air, which allows you to build strength in your muscles and bones and reduce joint pain without excessive pounding on hard surfaces.

Swimming burns the most calories out of all sports, however, the amount of calories burned is unique to each individual. You can control this with the intensity of your workout, stroke type, duration and water temperature.

Swimming involves all major muscle groups, enhances elasticity, and promotes longevity while protecting your back and joints from the high impact of land movement. If you’ve been relying on traditional methods like cycling and running, you might want to change up your routine and give swimming a try!

Research on the effectiveness of swimming in treating and preventing obesity showed that different swimming methods and prolonged physical effort, of over 40 minutes three times a week, along with dietary measures, will lead to an improvement of body shape and weight.

The research also concluded that swimming determined visible changes in the body shape, mainly a decrease in the body mass index and abdominal circumference.

Now, you don’t have to be a Masters Swimmer to benefit from swimming. Far from it! However, don’t reach for your swimsuit and goggles yet, at least not until you’ve read through these five tips for the best weight loss results from swimming.

Swimming can also be a cheap sport when performed with the bare minimum of equipment. All that you absolutely need to get started are three things: Goggles, a cap and a suit (and earplugs as well if earaches are your nightmare).

1. Swim all four strokes

When you add variety to your workout with all four strokes, you will engage more muscle groups and burn more calories. Studies show that butterfly burns the most calories, closely followed by breaststroke, backstroke and freestyle. You’ll burn off 300 to 444 calories per half hour depending on how much you weigh.

Before you get intimidated at the thought of doing all four strokes, start slowly by switching 10–20% of your workout to a new stroke or drill that is not freestyle. You can swim just 25–50 metres in a new stroke — try backstroke, breaststroke or sidestroke.

Hold off on butterfly until you’re feeling really strong and once you get comfortable, you can try a FRIM set (25 metres for each stroke) in this order: Freestyle — Backstroke — Breaststroke — Freestyle. You can also aim to do your harder strokes for a minute or two at a time and incorporate freestyle as an active recovery.

By mixing your workout with breaststroke, backstroke and kicking drills, you will give your shoulders a rest and break up that repetitive motion to lower the risk of a shoulder injury.

2. Train with a swim coach

Getting started is probably the hardest part, especially if you’re not an experienced swimmer. A swim coach can help you move past any fear or hesitation. You will also benefit from learning proper stroke techniques to build up your time and speed for the best weight loss results.

Swimming with a coach fosters accountability to your training goals, makes efficient use of limited pool time, gets you to work harder and achieve optimal health benefits from swimming through information on cross-training and nutrition.

You are making good use of your time and the practices are always set. For example, if I’m just doing kick drills, then the distance is enough that I need to push, the pace is such that I’m always working hard.

If you’re unsure about finding a suitable swim coach in your area, you can try a swim training app such as MySwim Pro which I’ve found to be useful in tracking weekly progress and helping me to stay motivated.

3. Swim harder, faster and consistently

If you want to maximise results, you need to HIIT the pool in a whole new way. Instead of ploughing the lanes for hours, a short but intense pool workout beats spinning and running for the best weight loss results.

HIIT intervals can help you burn more calories when you swim harder and faster to keep your heart rate up. Start with swimming as many laps as fast as you can for 30 seconds, with a 30-second break in between. You’ll burn about 700 calories an hour, boost your metabolism and continue burning fat well after you’ve left the pool.

Splitting your workout into sets of specific intervals allows you to maintain a higher rate of speed and stroke form. This is guaranteed to help improve your performance and the amount of calories burned. Try this effective HIIT challenge once (or twice) a week in the pool for sustainable weight loss results:

• Warm-up for 10 mins, start slowly and pick up the pace every two laps.
• Interval 1— Repeat six times: Sprint one lap, active recovery one lap.
• Interval 2 — Repeat four times: Sprint two laps, active recovery one lap.
• Interval 3 — Repeat two times: Sprint four laps, active recovery two laps.
• Recovery: 3 mins with a slow pace.
• Repeat all intervals an additional one to two times.
• Cooldown for 5 mins, reduce your pace every two laps.

Track the intensity of your workout and how quickly you’re able to recover after each interval. When using a heart rate monitor or fitness wearable, keep in mind that your heart rate in the water may be lower than on land.

As long as you’re able to get in a comfortable number of strokes before you have to turn around, one lap can be of a length that works for you. Use this calories calculator to determine your calories burned.

4. Fuel for weight loss

Swimmers are hungry all the time and it’s no wonder as swimming boosts your body’s metabolism, hence the post-swim hunger!

Nutrition is often based around lean proteins for muscle repair and recovery, carbs appropriately timed for fuel. Since swimming takes a lot of energy and the cold water can cause you to feel ravenous after a session, your nutrition considerations for weight loss are two-fold:

• Find out what’s the daily calorie intake to maintain your current weight.
• Begin experimenting with calorie deficits of 300–500 calories until you find something that is sustainable.

The strategy here is to combine consistent workouts with a sensible diet for sustainable weight loss — calories in, calories out. Swimmers should also aim to consume 0.3g of high-biological-value protein per kilogram of body mass immediately after key sessions and at regular intervals throughout the day to promote tissue adaptation.

You could also swim while your body is fasted rather than on a heavy stomach to avoid feeling heavy and sluggish in the water. However, this isn’t always practical if you’re looking to maximise your performance. You should aim to eat breakfast or a light snack prior to training especially for HIIT and key sessions.

A liquid source of protein and carbs such as a fruit smoothie can be a great option as it’s easy on the stomach. For a one-hour swim workout, you don’t actually need a huge meal — a light snack that focuses on carbs is a great option such as a muesli or sports bar, fresh fruit, rice cakes with nut butter or dried fruit and nut mix.

A registered dietitian specialising in nutrition for swimming recommends ½ plate carbs (potatoes, rice or bread), ¼ plate protein and ¼ plate fat after a tough workout. For optimal weight loss, aim to maintain a consistent blood sugar level throughout your day to help control cravings and ensure a steady energy supply to your muscles and brain.

A cold swim increases your basal metabolic rate, meaning you burn off more calories afterwards. Swimming in cold water can also significantly increase your appetite — avoid this common pitfall by carefully planning the amount of calories consumed after.

5. Use water weights

Any equipment that makes it harder for you to kick and stroke through the water will increase your strength and the rate at which you lose weight. They can also help you to improve your technique. These include:

• Ankle or wrist weights for leg and arm movements in the water.
• Foam dumbbells for lateral arm lifts in the water to help you burn more calories.
• Buoyancy belt to help you perform arm exercises without treading water.
• The ball. Bonus beginner workout: Work out your core and burn belly fat by standing with your right leg bent and your left leg pushed back. Hold a ball with both hands positioned in front of your belly. Hold for 30 seconds, and then switch legs. Do this five times on each side.

If you’re looking for aqua drills to a pumping soundtrack or anything like Swim-sanity, inquire at your local swim club or centre for aqua classes with a focus on using resistance to strengthen muscles and burn calories.

When working out in the water, you may sweat more than you realise. Be sure to stay hydrated by drinking plenty of fluids before and after your workout.

Feel at home in the water

Feeling like a fish out of water? Fret not, the best part of swimming for weight loss is that you don’t really have to start off with too much, especially if you’re new to swimming.

Consistency is key to achieving your weight loss goals. Going at least three times a week for a minimum of 30 minutes will benefit you greatly and you will start to notice a gradual toning of your body. It’s equally important to make sure that you are sleeping well, managing stress and drinking enough water.

Heart pounding, muscles burning, lungs screaming for air, I love gliding through the water as it gives me a sense of freedom and power. Weight loss, increased endurance and building lean muscles are just amazing bonuses from my hours in the pool. So, don’t overthink it, just keep swimming and have fun in the water!

Author’s note: I’m not a competitive Masters Swimmer — I trained with a coach primarily for the health benefits and my love of swimming. These proven weight loss tips are from several swim coaches over my years of intermediate to advanced swim classes.

I started with clear goals to lose weight sustainably and gain lean muscles. It was partly a personal challenge to embrace swimming seriously as well as a distraction from the ups and downs of corporate life.

My optimal weight loss results — 1.5 kg lost in 14 days with increased core strength and a distinct toning of arms and thighs — were achieved when I incorporated all of these five tips as well as maintained consistent swim workouts of 15-min HIIT sessions twice a week, 30-min FRIM sessions 4 days per week and on my rest days, 20-min active recovery swims (slow pace freestyle/breaststroke).

I’m also relatively healthy with no recurring injuries. I weigh a healthy 44–45 kg at 152 cm instead of 50 kg when I started my swim weight loss challenge on December 5th, 2020. I’m tiny at only 152 cm with lean muscles — thanks to years of swimming. I don’t do any other sports besides swimming and recently started strength training to add variety to my routine.

I started swimming at the age of nine after my dad realised he couldn’t just throw me into the deep end of our neighbourhood pool and hoped I would do more than doggy paddle. So off I went for swim classes at a training pool next to a fast-food restaurant. He would secretly snack on beef burgers while I swam my little heart out. I’m told that those initial years helped with my asthma but that’s a topic for another day since the science behind that is murky at best.

TL;DR: Please consult a medical professional if you have any health concerns before starting a training programme.

References

1. Callary, B., Rathwell, S., & Young, B. (2015). Masters Swimmers’ Experiences With Coaches: What They Want, What They Need, What They Get. DOI: 10.1177/2158244015588960
2. Ganciu, O. M. (2015). The effectiveness of swimming in treating and preventing obesity. Palestrica of the Third Millennium Civilization & Sport, 16(3).
3. Montgomery, J.P. & Chambers, M.A. (2008). Mastering swimming. Human Kinetics.
4. Rubin, Robert & Rahe, Richard. (2010). Effects of aging in Masters swimmers: 40-year review and suggestions for optimal health benefits. Open access journal of sports medicine. 1. 39–44. 10.2147/OAJSM.S9315.
5. Shaw, G., Boyd, K. T., Burke, L. M., & Koivisto, A. (2014). Nutrition for swimming. International journal of sport nutrition and exercise metabolism, 24(4), 360–372.
6. Stellingwerff, T., Maughan, R.J., & Burke, L.M. (2011). Nutrition for power sports: Middle-distance running, track cycling, rowing, canoeing/kayaking, and swimming, Journal of Sports Sciences, 29:sup1, S79-S89, DOI: 10.1080/02640414.2011.589469
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