Today's comforts have made it possible for us to move far less than we ever have before. To get to work, we can simply drive or take a bus, Uber, or even catch a taxi to get there. More of us are working remote jobs, where we don't even need to leave home, unless we want to. So, se don't blame you if you are looking for a way to get in the needed exercise.

If you want to lose some weight, why not splash around and learn a new skill, by taking swimming lessons.

Swimming is a way of moving away from our sedentary lifestyles, and a fun way to lose some of the excess weight that may have been gained from becoming too comfortable in our routines.

Some weight gain is normal when leading a fairly sedentary life, however, weight gain in the long run could be seriously problematic.

Swimming is possibly one of the best fitness exercises for people of all ages.

Now that you know that swimming is a great way of losing weight and you know that you can start swimming at any age, let's look at more reasons why swimming would be great for you.

Before you throw in the towel and shut down the idea of taking swimming lessons at your age completely, we suggest you take a look at the many benefits of swimming.

Surely, weight loss is one benefit of swimming, but we can give you many other reasons swimming is important.

The best Swimming tutors available
Gugu
5
5 (4 review/s)
Gugu
R400
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Dory
5
5 (2 review/s)
Dory
R300
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Tshepo steven
5
5 (1 review/s)
Tshepo steven
R400
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Khalil
Khalil
R400
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Bryan
5
5 (2 review/s)
Bryan
R400
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Greg
Greg
R400
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Gino
Gino
R235
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Courtney
Courtney
R200
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Gugu
5
5 (4 review/s)
Gugu
R400
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Dory
5
5 (2 review/s)
Dory
R300
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Tshepo steven
5
5 (1 review/s)
Tshepo steven
R400
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Khalil
Khalil
R400
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Bryan
5
5 (2 review/s)
Bryan
R400
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Greg
Greg
R400
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Gino
Gino
R235
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Courtney
Courtney
R200
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Let's go!

Learn About Swimming for Weight Loss

You may have thought that one way to lose weight is through cardio training. Cardio training entails a mix of high intensity and low intensity workouts and lots of repetition. Working out your muscles during cardio is what helps you to lose any excess weight that you may have gained. That is the exact reason why swimming lessons are excellent for losing weight. During your swimming lessons, you are working out your muscles.

Swimming lessons allow you to work out all your muscles during that half an hour- or hour-long lesson.  You can work on many strokes or a particular stroke for during a lesson.

Backstroke is a stroke that is excellent for improving your posture and for resulting in flexibility in your hips. You can burn about 200 or 300 calories if you are working on backstroke for 30 minutes.

The breaststroke is known as one of the best cardiovascular workouts and if you are in search of a way to get in the daily cardio while burning about 200 calories in 30 minutes, this swimming stroke is the option for you.

By focusing on perfecting one type of stroke in the pool for 30 minutes, you are losing weight. When you take swimming lessons in order to lose some weight, you need to work at getting faster at performing the various strokes that you are trying out. The faster you get at swimming laps, the more weight you will start to lose.

Learn how to find top-notch swimming lessons in Johannesburg right here.

swimming classes
Lose weight and keep fit by taking up swimming lessons near you. Source: Unsplash

How Many Calories Does Swimming Burn?

You may not yet be tempted to jump in the pool to lose weight when you feel you can lose a considerably larger amount of weight if you can simply go for a run. Well, according to a study conducted by Harvard, swimmers tend to lose about 56 kilograms when swimming for leisure.They lose about 130 kilograms when swimming at a speedy pace.  Runners tend to lose 120 kilograms while running at a 8 km/h pace.

While it does seem that more calories are still burnt while swimming, the number of calories that you will burn depends entirely on how vigorously you swim as well what your initial weight is when you start taking up swimming lessons in order to lose weight.

If you are motivated to lose weight, you should consider the intensity at which you exercise, for how long you keep your heart rate elevated as well as how long you choose to work out for.

While you can burn much weight if you are swimming vigorously for 30 minutes, if you keep your heart rate elevated and swim intensely for about an hour or so the results will be even better.

Swimming classes
Find one swimming stroke and practice the same swimming stroke during your swimming lessons increasing your speed. Source: Unsplash

Swimming allows you to lose weight not only when you swim laps or do different strokes in the water, but also when you try to attempt a full body workout in the water. There is a reason why aqua aerobics has become so popular, especially among those who struggle to lose weight.

One last consideration for relying on swimming classes to help you lose weight is the fact that you can take swimming classes if you are healing from many types of injury because it is a low impact activity.

The Best Way to Lose Weight is to Find a Gym with a Pool

You may find that it becomes easier to learn to swim if you have the option of taking swimming lessons at a gym with a pool. There are many gym instructors who double up as aqua aerobics instructors.

It is much easier to lose weight when you are swimming in an environment where everyone else is working to start fir or lose weight. A gym with a pool is one of the best places to go if you are keen on losing weight.

However, if you cannot find the right swimming instructor for you at your local gym, you can always reach out to one of our Superprof swimming coaches. Most of our swimming instructors are flexible enough to travel to your local gym in order to teach you how to swim.

Gym with a pool
You can choose to lose weight easily if you are taking swimming lessons at a gym near a pool. Source: Unsplash

You could also use the Superprof site to find a swimming instructor who lives close to you and won't charge too much to travel out to you should you have your own swimming pool at home. The thing to remember is to always discuss your goals for taking swimming lessons with your instructor upfront.

Should you be determined to lose weight through swimming, you need to make sure that your swimming teacher is aware of this.

The faster you learn how to swim properly, the easier it becomes to start swimming in order to lose some weight.

Using an Aqua Belt to Lose Weight

If you have a good few kilograms that you need to lose, you may want to look at practising full on weight losing techniques in the pool. The use of an aqua belt is perfect if you would like to go aqua jogging. Aqua jogging is when you run in the water almost like when you are jogging on the spot.

A running belt is excellent to use to keep your body in place while you are running in the water. The best thing to pay attention to when you are running in the water is to imagine how it will feel if you were running on the ground. By performing similar movements to jogging on the spot, you will ensure that you get an intense workout during your session in the pool. To get in great shape, we suggest you work out on a treadmill at the gym for about an hour and then move on to doing aqua aerobics for 30 minutes to an hour.

Remember:

The scale can only tell what you weigh; not who you are. Steve Maraboli

While the scale cannot tell you who you are, the dedication you display during your swimming lessons will show your swimming instructor exactly who you are, as well as who you want to be. It is your perseverance to keep on going and to keep on trying to lose more weight during swimming lessons that will make you who you are and where you would like to be in terms of your weight.

Drop the weight burden off your shoulders and keep on swimming ...

Enjoyed this article? Leave a rating!

5.00 (1 rating/s)
Loading...

Laila Abramjee

Laila is an enthusiastic English educator and a fun-filled freelance writer. She has accomplished her dream of getting her first book published and has managed to write over 1 000 000 words since beginning her freelance career. In her free time, she is a travel blogger who explores all South Africa has to offer.