Swimming is a versatile and low-impact exercise that burns calories, making it an excellent choice for anyone seeking a sustainable and enjoyable physical activity. Unlike high-impact exercises that can strain your body, swimming offers a gentle but effective workout suitable for all body shapes, sizes, and fitness levels.
As a full-body exercise, swimming also supports cardiovascular health and improves muscular endurance and strength. While swimming, the resistance of the water causes every stroke and kick to strengthen muscles without the wear and tear on your joints often associated with other forms of exercise.
Adding swimming to your fitness routine can burn calories, help with weight management, and provide a stress-reducing workout. Plus, it’s accessible and has a low risk of injury, making it an ideal choice for people with arthritis, osteoporosis, or those recovering from injury. Ahead, learn more about how many calories swimming burns and its benefits for physical and mental well-being.
Factors Affecting Calories Burned During Swimming
As with any physical activity, the number of calories burned can vary widely from person to person. How your body expends energy during exercise, your body type and the type of swimming you do can also influence how many calories you burn.
You can even optimize your workouts for maximum calorie burn by tweaking your effort level or duration. Here’s a closer look at what affects your calorie expenditure in the pool:
- Swim stroke: Not all swim strokes are equal in terms of calorie burn. Different strokes demand different levels of exertion. For instance, vigorous strokes like the butterfly burn a significant amount of calories due to the intense full-body movements involved. While more leisurely strokes like the breaststroke still offer a good calorie burn, they might not be as intense as the butterfly or freestyle.
- Body weight: People with a higher body weight tend to burn more calories during physical activities, including swimming, because more energy is required to move a larger mass through the water. Moving more mass makes the body work harder and burns more calories.
- Intensity: The effort you put into your swim directly impacts the number of calories you burn, too. Swimming at a faster pace or with greater effort increases your heart rate and the overall energy expenditure of your workout. High-intensity swimming sessions can significantly boost calorie burn and make your time in the pool even more effective for weight management and cardiovascular fitness.
- Duration: Lastly, the amount of time you spend swimming is crucial in determining your total calorie burn. Longer swims naturally lead to a higher calorie expenditure because the body is active for a longer period. Incorporating longer sessions or increasing the duration of your swims can help you burn more calories and achieve fitness goals such as weight loss or improved endurance.
Estimates of Calories Burned During Swimming
Swimming is not only a refreshing way to stay fit but it’s also an efficient calorie-burning exercise. The number of calories burned per hour during swimming varies significantly based on the stroke used, the intensity of your workout, and your body weight.
But remember that these figures are estimates, and actual calorie expenditures can vary based on individual factors. Below are estimates using METs (or Metabolic Equivalent Tasks) of particular swimming activities for a 150-pound person over one hour. For personalized estimates, consider using a MET calorie calculator that accounts for your specific weight and the duration of your swim session.
MET Formula for Measuring Energy Cost
To calculate calories burned per minute, it is common to use the MET formula (MET x body weight in kilograms x 3.5) ÷ 200. A MET of 1 equals the energy you spend sitting still while higher METs indicate more energy was used. However, MET values don’t account for individual differences like body mass or movement efficiency, so actual energy expenditure may vary.
| Swim Stroke | Intensity Level | Calories Burned Per Hour (150lbs) |
|---|---|---|
| Treading water | Moderate | 272 calories |
| Non-lap swimming | Light | 408 calories |
| Backstroke | Light to moderate | 476 calories |
| Backstroke | Moderate to vigorous | 680 calories |
| Crawl/Freestyle | Light to moderate | 594 calories |
| Crawl/Freestyle | Moderate to vigorous | 716 calories |
| Breaststroke | Light to moderate | 379 calories |
| Breaststroke | Moderate to vigorous | 737 calories |
| Butterfly | Light to moderate | 748 calories |
| Butterfly | Moderate to vigorous | 988 calories |
Additional Considerations
These estimates provide a general idea of how swimming can be useful for burning calories. For instance, a moderate butterfly stroke can burn up to 748 calories per hour for a person weighing around 150 pounds, making it one of the highest-calorie-burning strokes.
How intense a certain speed or distance feels to you depends on your fitness level and will have a significant impact on the total number of calories you burn. Other aspects that affect calorie burn during swimming include body weight, the condition of the water, and any tools used.
Body Weight
Harvard Medical School estimates that during 30 minutes of recreational swimming, a person assigned female at birth weighing 125 pounds burns approximately 180 calories. Meanwhile, those weighing 155 pounds burn about 216 calories and those weighing 185 pounds burn around 252 calories.
Intensifying the activity to vigorous lap swimming for the same duration significantly increases calorie burn. In this case, a 125-pound person assigned female at birth will expend roughly 300 calories. A 155-pound female will use about 372 calories and a 185-pound female will burn close to 444 calories.
Swimming Conditions
It’s also worth noting that swimming in natural bodies of water like oceans, rivers, and lakes can increase calorie expenditure due to factors like current resistance and temperature, which may require your body to work harder.
Swimming in colder water also can increase calorie expenditure because your body has to work harder to maintain its core temperature. This thermogenic effect means that chilly pools or open-water swims might lead to a higher calorie burn compared to swimming in warmer water.
Swimming Tools
Certain types of equipment can also impact calorie burn. Using swimming tools like fins, paddles, or kickboards affects calorie burn by increasing resistance in the water, requiring more effort to move at the same speed or cover the same distance. Being able to add intensity can lead to a higher calorie expenditure during the swimming session.
Don’t Skip Weight Bearing Activity
Swimming engages multiple muscle groups across different strokes, contributing to muscular health. But it’s less effective at building muscle mass than land-based exercises due to the water’s buoyancy. For optimal health, include muscle growth and strengthening exercises.
How to Use Calorie Burn Information
Understanding how many calories swimming burns is a powerful tool for creating and reaching your fitness goals, such as managing weight or boosting endurance. By knowing the estimated calorie burn of different swim strokes and intensities, you can adjust your swimming routines to match your goals.
For instance, if you’re aiming for weight loss, you might focus on longer sessions of vigorous strokes like butterfly or freestyle to maximize calorie expenditure. If your goal is to build up endurance, you might incorporate a variety of strokes at moderate intensity, focusing on increasing the duration of your swims over time.
Online calculators and fitness trackers are useful for estimating calorie burn more accurately. These tools often allow you to input individual factors such as weight, age, swim duration, and stroke type, so you get a more personalized estimate of your calorie expenditure and how it fits into the rest of your routine. Using this data can help you adjust your workouts to stay on track with your fitness goals.
Bottom Line
Swimming is an excellent exercise for burning calories and improving overall fitness. It offers an effective combination of cardiovascular work, muscle strengthening, and endurance building, all within a low-impact, full-body workout.
However, it’s important to remember that individual calorie burn results vary. Consulting with a healthcare professional or a certified personal trainer can provide guidance to ensure your swimming routine is effective and aligned with your health and fitness goals. Many fitness trackers and apps have detailed calorie burn calculators for swimming so you can fine-tune your workouts.
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