Swimming good for toning? anyone?

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dvm60

New member
Hey everyone, quick question really I can swim but have never done so on my weight loss journey. Are any of ye swimming, if so do you see a huge improvement with it ? Swimming obviously must be some bit good, but is it really good for tightening up your body . . .
Any answers would be gr8, thanx :)
 
i think it's good for toning, but you really have to work yourself, until u're out of breath when u're finished and you can feel that your muscles are tight. if not, then it'd just be a leisure swim :)
 
Maja said:
i think it's good for toning, but you really have to work yourself, until u're out of breath when u're finished and you can feel that your muscles are tight. if not, then it'd just be a leisure swim :)
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Ya thats what I was thinking. I think I'm going to start because it will be new exercise and it will kick my weight loss into gear plus toning at same time. Going to try for an hour 2-3 days a week, I go gym everyday already.
Thanks Maja ! ! :D
 
Hell yes swimming will lean you out! Check out the bodies of professional swimmers like Dara Torres, and even better: read up on how much they have to eat to maintain their weight.

Swimming works large muscle groups at a time and is zero-impact. The best way to use it as a cardio work out and burn away body fat is to swim intervals/sprints, or swim a mile to make a benchmark, then try to beat it every time. You will notice if you swim daily and really push yourself, your metabolism will increase and you will lean out a lot - especially in the abdomen/obliques area and chest/shoulders. The last time I trained for a competition I lost 14 lbs in two weeks, and I almost never stopped eating! You have to swim hard though, like with anything else, if you're relaxed, you're not doing it right ;)
 
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Siam said:
Hell yes swimming will lean you out! Check out the bodies of professional swimmers like Dara Torres, and even better: read up on how much they have to eat to maintain their weight.

Swimming works large muscle groups at a time and is zero-impact. The best way to use it as a cardio work out and burn away body fat is to swim intervals/sprints, or swim a mile to make a benchmark, then try to beat it every time. You will notice if you swim daily and really push yourself, your metabolism will increase and you will lean out a lot - especially in the abdomen/obliques area and chest/shoulders. The last time I trained for a competition I lost 14 lbs in two weeks, and I almost never stopped eating! You have to swim hard though, like with anything else, if you're relaxed, you're not doing it right ;)
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Thats great, your words have definately made up my mind. SWIMMING ALL THE WAY NOW :):)
Going to start at weekend as away for 3 days now. Cant wait now. Yipee ! !
 
Toning isn't a verb. It's an adjective that describes what your body looks like when you maximize fat loss and muscle gain/maintenance.

Is swimming a great exercise? Sure.

Will it give you that toned look? That's a question you can't answer without context.

For instance. Are you in a calorie deficit? Are you lifting weights? Are you eating adequate amounts of protein to stave off muscle loss? I could rattle off more.

If the answers to these questions, and others, are no... the answer to your question about swimming making you toned is probably no.
 
I like Steve's post better than mine :blush5: I was pretty excited about the question, as you can see.

When people say "tone" I assume they mean "harden", and most of us are hard, but there is body fat that gets in the way of us being able to see it. Swimming definitely puts me in a calorie-deficit and my excess body fat melts away so I look tighter.... that's the more balanced version of my response.
 
Steve said:
Toning isn't a verb. It's an adjective that describes what your body looks like when you maximize fat loss and muscle gain/maintenance.

Is swimming a great exercise? Sure.

Will it give you that toned look? That's a question you can't answer without context.

For instance. Are you in a calorie deficit? Are you lifting weights? Are you eating adequate amounts of protein to stave off muscle loss? I could rattle off more.

If the answers to these questions, and others, are no... the answer to your question about swimming making you toned is probably no.
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Hey Steve :) Yes to all the above and kinda to the protein thing, dont really know much about protein . . ? (i do eat tuna, chicken and eggs though?)
Def going to start swimming anyway because it will be a new exercise for my body. I will update in like 6-8weeks to let ye know if i find a big difference :svengo:
 
Siam said:
I like Steve's post better than mine :blush5: I was pretty excited about the question, as you can see.

When people say "tone" I assume they mean "harden", and most of us are hard, but there is body fat that gets in the way of us being able to see it. Swimming definitely puts me in a calorie-deficit and my excess body fat melts away so I look tighter.... that's the more balanced version of my response.
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Thanx 4 the reply, will update in a few weeks about the whole swimming thing :)
 
I was an All-State swimmer and three time conference champion in the 50 yard freestyle when I was in high school. I was the exact same height as I am today (5' 11") and only 150 pounds my senior year during swim season. I was even less my junior, sophmore and freshmen years but never below the low 140s. I was thin, lean and "toned." However, I was swimming 30,000 to 45,000 yards per week, nearly all year round. In other words, I was burning a LOT of calories. Possibly 10,000 calories per week just from swimming. I often would eat two dinners and still could not gain any weight. The moment I went off to college and stopped swimming, I piled on the pounds. I kept eating the same, if not more so naturally I went from a caloric deficit to a surplus. Within 18 months I was up to 218 pounds! That was 13 years ago and I've been fighting my weight ever since. Matter of fact, I have never been below 192 since. So sure, like Steve said, if you're burning more than you are taking in, you'll lose fat and eventually get lean. Good luck. Swimming is awesome and I often dream of competing again.
 
Derrick said:
I was an All-State swimmer and three time conference champion in the 50 yard freestyle when I was in high school. I was the exact same height as I am today (5' 11") and only 150 pounds my senior year during swim season. I was even less my junior, sophmore and freshmen years but never below the low 140s. I was thin, lean and "toned." However, I was swimming 30,000 to 45,000 yards per week, nearly all year round. In other words, I was burning a LOT of calories. Possibly 10,000 calories per week just from swimming. I often would eat two dinners and still could not gain any weight. The moment I went off to college and stopped swimming, I piled on the pounds. I kept eating the same, if not more so naturally I went from a caloric deficit to a surplus. Within 18 months I was up to 218 pounds! That was 13 years ago and I've been fighting my weight ever since. Matter of fact, I have never been below 192 since. So sure, like Steve said, if you're burning more than you are taking in, you'll lose fat and eventually get lean. Good luck. Swimming is awesome and I often dream of competing again.
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Ah thanks for that, just started this morning went for an hour, god it was exhausting :ack2: but felt really good after it. I will update in about 6-8 weeks to let ye know how i'm getting on. Thanx :D
 
It is wonderful exercise! I am lucky enough to have a pool at my house, so I like to run laps in the pool. My legs hurt like MAD the next day.
 
Romance said:
It is wonderful exercise! I am lucky enough to have a pool at my house, so I like to run laps in the pool. My legs hurt like MAD the next day.
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Ohhh that would be so nice having your own pool. Hmmm . . . if only I lived in America. Thanks for the post :)
 
I love swimming but I find it difficult to get my heart rate anything as high as I can when running or cycling.

I feel worn out after swimming but it's more my muscles that feel sore rather than feeling tired from the effort.

I think you really do have to push yourself when swimming, it's very easy (for me anyway!) to just swim along leisurely and think you're doing great cardio when your heart rate probably isn't much higher than when walking.

It seems to me that if you can get the breathing/rhythm of the more strenuous strokes (butterfly, crawl) correct then you'll probably burn a significantly higher number of calories compared with swimming breaststroke, which is what I do.

I don't know any of this for sure, it's just my personal experience.
 
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Hey Holly88, ya I think to really burn the calories you need to give it your all kind of a thing. I started this week and feel alot better already, because its a new exercise for me and a great exercise too. Good luck on your weight loss journey :D
 
i swim 1500 yards 3-4X a week. its one of the main aspects of my weight loss program.

my heart rate averages 140-160 bpm for the 40 minutes it takes.

i feel exhausted after swimming and it seems to work both my upper and lower body. i do 10 laps of breast stroke (five at beginning and 5 at the end) and the other 50 laps i do crawl stroke.

it sure is working. i am on a 2000 cal diet per day... on may 5 when i started i was 270, now i'm 227.

i also lift weights, ride my bike to work every day and run about once a week.
 
This week I started taking advantage of the pool in the backyard. Since it's a little rough for me, due to my weight. I've been getting up every morning and doing 30 minutes of Freestyle/Crawl laps. Within the first 3 laps my hearts going insane. I have to take a mid exercise breather just to calm down a bit as I feel like my hearts beating out of my head but then I get going again. I do feel great when I come ou of the pool and feel like I've worked my butt off.

When I younger and MUCH MUCH smaller...I swam competitively for 7 years on a county swim all the way up until I was 16. It was great.
 
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