There has been a lot of interest in previous articles (Jogging:The Losing Battle To Weight Loss and Why Jogging is a losing Battle for Weight Loss). In the first part of this series of articles, I want to tackle swimming and its role in weight loss.
Swimming is another form of cardio/aerobic exercise. many people consider swimming a very complete exercise as one is required to use all limbs for movement. It is thought to be a good exercise for weight loss. But is it? Read this and the coming articles to find out.
Dr Grant Gwinup did some of the earliest documented research on this subject back in 1987. He presented his paper entitled “Weight Loss Without Dietary Restriction: Efficacy of different forms of aerobic exercise”
Dr Gwinup enlisted minimally to moderately obese women who wanted to lose weight. They were made to do the following 3 exercises;
- Brisk walking
- Stationary bicycle
- Swimming laps
All women slowly but progressively increased the time spent in daily exercise to 60 minutes. After 6 months or slightly longer, the women assigned to walking lost 10% of initial weight, the women who cycled lost 12%, but the women who swam lost no weight at all.
Dr Louise Burke, head of Nutrition at the Australian Institute of Sports has quoted in his article as follows;
“Swimmers, especially female swimmers, face an energy balance conundrum. Elite swimmers typically undertake 4000-20,000 m per day in training, burning thousands of calories. However, the typical body fat levels of these athletes are significantly higher than runners or cyclists who expend similar or even smaller amounts of energy in their training. Many female swimmers have fought well-publicized battles with their body fat levels and with their coaches! They are generally prescribed “land training” (running or cycling) in addition to their many laps of the pool in the belief that it is a necessary treatment to produce lower skinfold levels.
Do energy discrepancies really exist in swimming? Why do swimmers seem to have drawn the short straw of body fat management? The following theories have been suggested:
- Swimmers have higher energy intakes than other athletes and eat more energy than they expend. It has been suggested that swimming doesn’t cause the appetite drop that accompanies heavy running and cycling training. Many people observe that they feel like “eating a horse” after they have finished a swim training session, and may overcompensate for the energy they have just burned. Some research suggests that this is due to the cool temperatures in which swimmers train. By contrast, runners and cyclists usually experience an increase in body temperature during training, which may serve to suppress appetite – at least in the short term.
Swimmers are less active outside their training sessions. They are so tired from the hours spent training that they sleep, sit or otherwise avoid any real energy expenditure outside their sessions.”
Read Dr Burke’s full article “SWIMMERS: Body fat mystery!”
The early research seems to indicate that swimming is worse off than jogging/walking/ etc. Where does this leave all the swimmers out there?
As I had stated in the earlier postings, you need to have very clear objectives for starting cardio/aerobic exercises. Anything is better than doing nothing. So if you are coming from a sedentary lifestyle, any form of cardio/aerobic exercise is going to benefit you. Cardio/aerobic exercises are highly recommended if you want to improve your health as there is solid scientific research backing this claim. It helps reduce high blood pressure, cholesterol, keeps you alert as well as innumerable positive effects on your brain. In a future articles, I will elaborate on all the positive health enhancing effects of cardio/aerobic exercises and I can assure you that you will be astonished.
I want to make my stand very clear that I have never condemned cardio/aerobic exercises. It has its place. But its not very high on the list for weight loss. It may only act as a supplemental solution in addition to weight resistance training. It can never be the main and only solution.
But there is more to the mystery of swimming and weight loss than is contained in this single article.
Tags: swimming, weight loss, swimmers body fat mystery, Grant Gwinup, Dr Louise Burke, Australian Institute off Sports
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It’s true. I’m going for swimming lessons and can now swim reasonably well. However, i haven’t lost weight and I always wondered why. One of my friends told me that you don’t lose weight but you tend to look more toned. I agree with that too. Personally, the moment I am out of the water after a good swim, I tend to feel a lot lighter and happier. It has a very positive effect on me.
Thanks for your thoughts Rekha. Any form of exercise is better than no exercise. When you do exercise, your brain releases endorphins and BDNF. All this contributes to the feel good that you get. It is similar to the “runner’s high” that runners get. But you are not going to get much tone or weight loss from swimming or running. So being clear about your objective of doing that particular exercise is important.
Well, i have to agree with rekha that it makes us feel a lot more lighter and well toned but i did lose some weight after my swimming lessons…. Probably due to the fact that my life evolves alot on running around with my kids and not to mention all those house work and stairclimbing at home. I dont have a maid for more than a year and for the last 2 months no part timer also so i m the allrounder. Trust me it has paid a good price… i lost 6kgs in the last 2 months.
Hi Sharmini,
One thing for sure is that we are never against any form of exercise. Any exercise is better than no exercise.
So if swimming works for you then that’s good. Keep it up. A weight loss of 6kgs is commendable. People have to choose an exercise that meets their time and lifestyle requirements. Watch out for another article that will explain why some people do not lose weight from swimming while others do. I hope to put this up sometime this week.
Most people starting on any exercise regime would see tremendous results in the first 1 – 3 months. The body then adapts and the exercisers start getting frustrated. The frustration is that the exerciser expects the same rate of results to continue. The body unfortunately will try to adapt to bring in some balance.
Have a look at the articles on Jogging. The study explains why one has to continuously increase distance to keep getting results. So the intent of this blog is to empower people with the knowledge to understand what is happening and why it happens. Thanks for your contribution and hope to hear more from you in the future.
this post is so true. I learnt swimming and eventually went through all the training to become a pool lifeguard but that does not bring a thinner me. I just look toner and fitter. But the size is still big. And I can feel the difference in my weight when I jog only compare to swim only.