It’s easy to overlook swimming when planning your weekly workouts, but did you know that just 30 minutes of swimming can burn over 200 calories?
A Department of Health report in 2004 found that a person weighing 60kg can expect to burn 240 calories in half an hour by doing a slow crawl, equivalent of cycling at 12-14 mph for the same length of time.
Swimming is also a great way to get moving if you’re new to exercise, as well as an excellent means of maintaining fitness levels if you are recovering from injury. Hitting the pool provides a whole body workout, but it’s also much kinder to joints than high impact exercise such as running. According to the ASA report, Swimming, taking the plunge for a fitter lifestyle, this is because water can support up to 90 per cent of a person’s bodyweight, regardless of their size.
And getting a good water-workout doesn’t just mean swimming lengths either. The report also states that exercising in water provides ‘full-body’ resistance that is 12-14 times greater than air, so group fitness fans can take advantage of this with classes such as aqua aerobics or aqua jogging.
The ever-popular Zumba workout now also has an aqua equivalent. Expect the same high energy, loud music and bottom wiggling of a normal Zumba class, but with the added splash factor of being in the pool! Why not grab a friend this weekend and give it a go?
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