On the contrary, during my research on articles on swimming I had come across some articles that indicate adverse details on swimming.
During swimming most of the major muscles of your body are in use and one would expect swimming to be one of the popular exercises for losing weight and building muscles. Your lungs and heart also are exercised during swimming because of its aerobic qualities.
AJSM (American Journal of Sports Medicine) has published a research paper in which it has been stated that swimming hardly contributes for weight loss without any diet control.
The research was done by Professor Grant Gwinup and the results of the study conducted for a period of 3 months are summarized as follows.
1.Â Â Â People subjected to walking had a weight loss of 17 lbs.
2.Â Â Â Weight loss of 19 lbs was noticed on people who cycled.
3.Â Â Â People who were subjected to a swimming program gained 5 lbs.
Anybody reading this report would have been taken by surprise.Professor Gwinup concluded that if you swim in a pool with cold water your appetite increases thereby increasing your calorie intake.
Professor Louise Burke, in-charge of the Nutrition Department at AIS (an institution of sport in Australia) has indicated that the fat levels in competitive swimmers are higher as compared to runners and cyclists who spend the same amount of energy during training.
A large number of people get hungry immediately after swimming and they eat a large meal immediately thereby replenishing the lost calories.
Professor Burke is of the opinion that the above phenomenon is because swimmers train in cold temperatures; on the contrary, the body temperatures of the cyclists and runners increase during training and this suppresses your appetite.
He added further that the swimmers hardly are active once the training sessions are completed. Since they are exhausted after swimming they either sit or sleep without indulging in any physical activities.
During swimming majority of the work done by your body warrants muscle actions that are positive such as pushing in a bench press. No negative muscle actions required for building your muscles take place during swimming.
Some exercise is beneficial than no exercise. You can go ahead with swimming as an extra form of exercise in order to overcome the boredom that sets in due to doing the same exercises again and again.
Ensure that you do not consume more calories after swimming; also refrain from being sedentary after completing swimming.