Are you wanting to lose weight through healthy exercise? Let’s look at which is your best option – swimming or working out at the gym – and how to use it to get the best results!
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Exercising for weight loss
Do you work out to lose weight? Is weight loss is one of the main reasons you exercise, you are definitely not alone. New research from IPSOS in January 2021 found that 45% globally are trying to lose weight, and over half of this number choose to use exercise as a weight loss tool.
How does exercise help you lose weight?
When you want to lose weight, it’s important that you create what’s called a calorie deficit. Think of this as a kind of “gap” in your calories, between the calories you take in from food and drink, and the calories you burn.
Your body burns calories in lots of ways, including invisible actions like digesting food and creating hormones. You can burn a lot of calories from everyday activity like walking. And then of course there is exercise.
All exercise burns calories, and this will naturally help you create that important calorie deficit that will help you lose weight.
3 keys to weight loss
1 Create a calorie deficit (eat less, burn more, or a bit of both)
2 Do exercise you really enjoy so you will be more consistent
3 Be patient and don’t worry if your weight loss isn’t linear
Which type of exercise is best for weight loss?
Everyone wants to know which form of exercise is best for losing weight, but it’s not an easy question to answer. Some types of workouts definitely burn more calories (like HIIT workouts or sprinting) but you can’t do them for very long. Other types of exercise burn fewer calories (like walking or hiking) but you can do them for hours.
The best type of exercise for your weight loss journey is the one you enjoy the most. When you find forms of exercise and activity that makes you happy, you will actually look forward to doing it and this inevitably means you will lose more weight – and keep it off!
Swimming for weight loss
Swimming is a great full-body exercise that combines heart-healthy cardio with resistance training to shape and tone your muscles. But is it good for weight loss?
How many calories does swimming burn?
It’s hard to say how many calories you can burn swimming, as it will depend on your weight, how fast you swim, and how efficient you are. Good swimmers will be able to keep going for longer without feeling tired or getting too sore. As an average, you can expect to burn about 250 calories in 30 minutes of swimming.
Does swimming make you more hungry?
Some people report feeling hungry after swimming, but this is probably to do with the water temperature rather than the workout itself. Just make sure you don’t give into the snack monster after your swim, or you’ll wipe out all the calories you just burned! Take a healthy snack with you if you feel especially hungry.
Does swimming boost your metabolism?
The best exercises for boosting metabolism are full-body workouts that work your muscles. Thanks to water resistance, swimming provides safe and gentle resistance training that will work almost every muscle in your body. The Hussle network includes hundreds of gym with pools and spa facilities. One network. Any location. Thousands of gyms. Zero contracts.
Gym training for weight loss
Gym training is great for weight loss because of the sheer variety of workouts you can do. You’ll be able to switch between weight training, cardio, and functional fitness to burn lots of calories (and boost your metabolism too).
Benefits of going to the gym
Good gyms have plenty of different equipment including cardio machines, functional fitness equipment, fixed weight machines and free weights. This means you can get a really well-rounded workout under one roof.
How many calories in a gym workout?
Depending on the type of workout you do, you could burn 400+ calories in a 30 minute gym workout. The best way to burn more calories is to use compound weight training movements and supersets, and to include some interval training for cardio.
Does the gym boost your metabolism?
If you lift weights or do any kind of resistance training (like kettlebells or bodyweight circuits), gym workouts can help boost your basal metabolic rate by building muscle. This will help your body burn more calories at rest.
Swimming vs gym for best weight loss
Heart rate
Swimming is likely to raise your heart rate higher than a standard gym workout, but doing HIIT or Crossfit-style WODs at the gym will raise your heart rate for a short amount of time.
Toning muscles
Swimming is a great way to tone muscles all over your body every time you go, but lifting weights at the gym is the best way to focus on building muscle if this is part of your weight loss goal.
Staying consistent
Which form of exercise will you look forward to doing? Swimming or the gym? Choose the one that will help you stay consistent with working out.
Combining swimming and gym to lose weight
The best way to use swimming and gym for weight loss is to combine both of these fab forms of exercise. If you could do a full body workout plus a bit of interval cardio at the gym 2-3 times per week, and swim 1-2 times per week you will definitely boost your weight loss efforts and see visible changes in your body.
Use the Hussle network to find gyms and pools near you, or – even better – find a great gym with a pool! We have thousands of gyms and pool on our network just waiting for your visit. And our Monthly+ pass lets you combine both! Check it out.
