Whether you choose to run or swim, they both help you lose weight and improve your cardiovascular fitness. It’s just that the advantages of swimming outweigh those of running for many reasons.
What’s good about swimming?
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Endurance effect in water – strengthens the body
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Burn calories
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Keeps blood pressure low: good cardiovascular exercise without straining the heart.
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Weightlessness of water: no stress on the joints, lengthens the spine
resistance effect
A great natural advantage of swimming is the resistance effect. Water is 1,000 times denser than air, so when you swim, it’s like weight training without dumbbells. The water itself is your weight training.
You get a full body workout when you swim that puts little stress on your joints. You engage the muscles of the upper and lower body. This includes the legs, core, upper and lower back, arms, shoulders, and chest.
Like weight training, swimming activates and tones muscles due to resistance. Although running is a great cardiovascular exercise, it does little to enhance a dynamic muscular body.
burn the calories
A moderate-intensity workout classifies keeping your heart rate between 50-70% of your maximum heart rate.
A rigorous workout is executed at 70-85% of maximum heart rate. After an intensive 30-minute breaststroke swim, you can burn up to 300 calories. This may vary according to your weight. The heavier you are, the more calories you burn. By burning 500 more calories than you eat every day, you can lose a pound of fat per week. Well, this doesn’t sound like much. But think long term. After a month, you can lose about 4 to 5 pounds, almost half a stone. Multiply that by 6 months and you will have lost 2 stones of body fat.
Why does swimming help the heart to work more efficiently?
When the body is upright (for example, when running or jumping), the heart has to work hard to pump blood and oxygen to and from the lower extremities. This increased demand on the heart can cause spikes in blood pressure, which is not good for the heart.
The American College of Sports Medicine states: ‘Swimming works the cardiovascular system without causing significant increases in blood pressure.’ Because the body is in a horizontal position while swimming, the heart has to work just as hard. There is almost no gravity involved, so blood pressure stays low.
The weightlessness of water
Another benefit swimming has over running is the effect of weightlessness in the water. At the end of each stroke – arm stroke, freestyle, etc., your body stretches. Because water supports your body, it allows you to stretch while you’re on the move. The spine can then lengthen, lengthening the spaces between the vertebrae.
Physical therapists encourage patients with disc problems to swim because of this lengthening effect on the spine. Takes the pressure off the discs.
Benefits and risks of running
Running generally has great benefits.
Reduces the chances of getting:-
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Type 2 diabetes
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Depression
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heart disease
Gets better:-
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Bone density
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weight control
However, the risks of running long distances without a supervised coach need to be considered. They can advise you on nutrition, rest, and good running technique. For safety reasons: a medical check-up is essential to detect cardiac problems, biomechanical problems or other risk factors.
Running a marathon stretches the immune system. It causes the body to produce excessive amounts of cortisol to reduce swelling. The advice for runners is to increase vitamin C, get enough sleep and avoid outside stress. This aids recovery and boosts immunity.
To sum up
I don’t want to discourage runners from doing what they obviously love to do. Its health benefits are undeniable. However, long-distance running puts enormous stress on the ankle, hip, and knee joints.
Swimming has advantages for strength, weight loss, low joint stress, and cardiovascular endurance.
Swimming has no negative points apart from the need to learn to swim. It can be a problem for many who were not introduced to the water at a young age. I say, it’s never too late to learn. Swimming lessons are not expensive and there are plenty of instructors by the pool at any location you choose.
