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Does swimming burn more calories than running? Well, Swimming and running are the most excellent forms of exercise for burning calories. Running helps in toning the lower body, burns calories, and also helps in preventing bone loss. Swimming helps in toning and strengthening your upper body and body’s lower muscles, boosts the heart rate, and burns calories.
Both offer a lot of benefits but there is a possibility that both won’t be suitable for everyone. If you also not sure that which exercise could be the best fit for you to burn calories, don’t worry. Here I will cover every important thing that you must know before picking up the one exercise for burning calories. Let’s begin with the benefits and disadvantages of swimming and running.
Benefits Of Swimming
1. It could be a safer choice if you are recovering from an injury – Swimming is an excellent form to exercise for people who are recovering from an injury. Water’s buoyancy gives your joints and muscles more support than doing any activity on the land. It enables you to push yourself harder and put less pressure on the body.
2. It doesn’t put pressure on your joints – One of the major benefits is that it is very easy on the joints. If you have any health issues that cause pain in the joint, you should definitely pick swimming for burning your calories.
3. Provides you a full-body workout – Swimming demands to use of a lot of muscles of your body which provides you an extraordinary full-body workout. If we take a look at running, it is great for the workout of the lower body but not for the chest, arms, back, and shoulder.
4. It is more refreshing – Swimming could be very refreshing when the weather is too hot. It doesn’t only helps in lowering the temperature of your body but also helps in eliminating exhaustion and heat strokes. But make sure you are not going in the hot water to cool off.
5. Swimming has more variety – In swimming, you can easily choose various strokes such as butterfly, backstroke. The great thing is that every different stroke requires the use of different muscles group.
Benefits Of Running
1. It is highly accessible – The accessibility of running is one of the best advantages for everyone. If you choose running for burning calories, you will have a lot of venues to choose from. You can go for running in a park, streets, mountain or even on a beach.
2. Extremely Easy To Get Started – As you see that swimming requires a pool and a few basic pieces of equipment. But running demands only a good pair of shoes and an open area to run or a treadmill.
3. Extremely helpful in providing vitamin D – If you go outside for running, it can literally increase the vitamin D in your body. You will just have to make sure that you are applying sunscreen and not going when the rays of the sun are strongest (Between 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.).
4. Helps to build strong bones – Running is extremely helpful for increasing bone density, as it’s a weight-bearing exercise. Jogging, hiking, and running are the best exercise for bones building because they demand you to work against gravity.
5. Running improves your mental well being – A research of the Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation discovered that consistent exercisers experienced a boost in the vigor and reduction in fatigue after spending at least 25 minutes while exercising and the non-exercisers experienced no change in these areas after performing the same exercise. So, running is not only good for your physical health but mental health also.
Does Swimming Burn More Calories Than Running
This is the question that bothers almost everyone who is looking for burning calories by doing one of these exercises.
According to Havard Health Publishing, swimming burns notable calories when it comes to the most strokes. You will have to swim for 30 minutes of the crawl or butterfly to burn 409 calories (if your weight is 155 pounds). Well, the actual number varies on the weight of a person.
If we talk about running, it burns 372 calories at a normal 6 mph for 30 minutes. You can burn 465 calories if you level up your pace and go on 7.5 mph. And again, Weight will be a major factor here.
Well, now you see that swimming burns a few extra calories than running. Studies have continuously shown that swimming burns 40-50 extra calories. It might not be a huge difference but remember, small differences can do wonders in long term. The more calories you burn, the more weight you lose.
Remember, Every different stroke of swimming demands a different level of energy. The backstroke demands less energy and burns quite less calories than running.
Swimming and running, both activities will demand you to go at an intense and strong pace for burning calories.
Swimming takes conditioned skills to go on a serious level. If you swim in the wrong form, you will feel that you are putting in a lot of effort but in reality, you are not burning that much calories as you think.
Which Is Better For You? Swimming Or Running
Now maybe you are feeling confused in choosing the right exercise for you but don’t worry, here I am considering the things that could help you in choosing one exercise for you.
- If you are suffering from arthritis or any other type of joint pain, you should go for swimming instead of running. Swimming is a gentle form of exercise, it puts very little pressure on the joints.
- If you have a desire to enhance your bone health, running can do wonders for you.
- If you are suffering from a shoulder injury then swimming might not be a good fit for you. There is a huge possibility of getting irritated because of the repetitive strokes of swimming. In this condition, running could be suitable for you.
- If you have any injury in your lower body parts such as hips, back, ankle, knee injury then swimming could be a good fit for you.
- If you want to improve the strength and tone of your upper body, swimming might be a perfect fit for you. It provides you a full-body workout and uses almost every group of muscles.
- Do you have the accessibility to a pool? Accessibility is one of the major factors for picking up swimming or running. Many people do not have access to a pool, goggles, swim cap, and a supportive suit. Even if you have a pool in your yard, there is a possibility that it may not a suitable for aerobic swimming. In running, you just have to get a good pair of sports shoes and an open area to run that is easily available.
Conclusion
Swimming and Running, both are the best exercise to tone your muscles and increase your cardiovascular fitness. Still not sure which one to choose? Why not bring both activities into your fitness routine? If you add cross-training along with the various forms of exercise, it could be a great way to add variation to your workout routine.
Now I hope, here you have got your answer to your question “Does swimming burns more calories than running?”
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