Swimming is a great exercise that will help you lose weight while maintaining low impact on joints.

There are many swimming strokes with the most common and most efficient being freestyle. Freestyle swimming uses all large muscles in the body and elevates the heart rate to produce a great cardiovascular workout.

Swimming is a challenging exercise to get started with. You will need to learn proper form and how to move smoothly and efficiently through the water. You will become more efficient as you work on body and head positioning in the water, as well as how to time your breathing with your stroke. Swimming is one of the harder cardiovascular exercises to master, but it comes with great benefits.

As with all exercises the amount of calories burned will vary depending on intensity, body weight and the style you are performing (i.e., freestyle, breaststroke, etc.). A 155-pound person will burn 490 to 700 calories an hour (low intensity to high intensity) while freestyle swimming. This will give your weight-loss goals the boost you are looking for.

The first step when working with someone looking to start swimming for cardiovascular training is to work on head position, hand entry and exit from the water, and breath timing. These seem to be the most critical factors in moving efficiently through the water.

If you’ve been swimming recently, you know there is a major challenge to keep moving through the water. Swimming nonstop for beginners for even 10 to 15 minutes can be a major challenge, but it will get easier and more enjoyable as you gain fitness.

For people just starting out we recommend swimming one or two times per week for 20 to 30 minutes with a nice warm-up and cool-down. The warm-up and cool-down are a good time to work on technique and form so you don’t take away from the main part of the workout. All this in the privacy of your own backyard with a swim spa from the Above Ground Pool & Spa Company.