How to Combine the Gym and Swimming for Weight Loss

Embarking on a weight loss journey can be both exciting and daunting. With so many options, it can be tricky to determine which type of exercise is right for you. Yet, some of the most effective and enjoyable approaches are often found by combining different forms of exercise. If you’re looking for a dynamic, all-in-one strategy, blending gym workouts and swimming for weight loss could be your winning ticket. 

So, what does a gym and swimming workout look like? Does swimming help weight loss? 

In this article, we guide you on how to effectively merge your swim and gym routines to achieve optimal weight loss results and feel good. Whether you’re a newbie looking for a sustainable weight loss routine or a fitness enthusiast seeking to spice up your regime, read on to learn more about combining gym and swimming for weight loss.

The Benefits of Swimming for Weight Loss

When it comes to swimming vs gym for weight loss, they actually both have their place. You don’t have to choose! In fact, mixing cardio and strength training can be a wonderful way to develop a well-rounded fitness regime.

While you might already know working out in the gym promotes muscle growth and know all the mental health benefits of swimming; the physical benefits of swimming might not be as obvious. So, let’s briefly break them down.

1. High-Calorie Burn

Is swimming good for weight loss? Well, the caloric burn might say it all. 

For a 170-pound individual, 30 minutes of swimming can burn up to 300 calories. In contrast, 30 minutes of weight lifting will only burn around 134 calories. However, it’s important to note that weight lifting will increase muscle mass more and improve your resting metabolic rate, burning more calories at rest.

Yet, swimming can offer an easy-on-the-joints way to enhance your caloric burn and improve your cardiovascular and respiratory function. Thus, adding in a few core functional training moves can help amp up your swimming skills.

2. Low Impact

The buoyancy of the water supports your body and joints by alleviating some of the pressure and stress. This can allow individuals, such as those facing an injury or with chronic pain, an option to move their bodies without discomfort. 

It also offers a great active recovery option for after the gym. Thus, when you’re looking for the right gym membership for you, finding a gym with a pool may be best!

3. Builds Muscle

Swimming will also build muscle mass. While it won’t do this to the extent that weight lifting does, swimming engages the entire body, including the core, shoulders, legs, and more. This means it can strengthen and tone your whole body, supporting your goals.

4. Improves Your Cardiovascular Health

Swimming before or after weight lifting will offer you cardiovascular effects you can’t get by simply lifting weights. It often increases your heart rate further, working the most important muscle in the body: your heart.

In turn, this will contribute to overall good health and also potentially lower your risk of cardiovascular disease or a heart attack.

5. Relieves Stress

Swimming exercises for weight loss may also lower your stress levels. Swimming acts as a natural stress reliever as, through swimming, your body releases endorphins and other feel-good hormones that help you feel relaxed and good. 

This can further your weight loss efforts by helping you avoid stress eating or chronic health conditions that may arise from excessive stress.

Gym and Swimming Tips for Weight Loss

By now, you know that it’s not necessarily a choice between swimming or weight lifting for weight loss. You can, in fact, do both. So, with that in mind, here are a few tips:

1. Stay consistent. Consistency is key for any weight loss regime to work. With a gym and pool at your disposal, try to keep a regular routine. For instance, you could lift weights three times a week and swim daily, depending on your fitness level and abilities.

2. Use swimming as a form of active recovery. After a particularly heavy weight-lifting session, lactic acid and other byproducts can build up in our muscles, leaving us sore and achy. However, moving is one of the best things you can do – and swimming offers a low-impact way to get your blood moving, facilitating recovery.

3. If your goal is to build muscle, swimming post-workout is best. Muscle is important for healthy weight loss as it will help burn more calories at rest. It will also help you maintain any weight lost. Since building muscle mass is often the priority, swimming afterwards can help optimise for this, without leaving you fatigued and unable to lift your personal bests.

4. Don’t neglect your diet. While exercise is important, your diet makes up the other half of your foundation. You can’t out-swim or out-weight lift a bad diet. Make sure you’re eating balanced, healthy foods that are full of protein.

5. Try a swimming group class. If you’re unsure about swimming, trying out swimming lessons for adults can be a wonderful introduction. Alternatively, if you want to gain confidence in the gym, joining a group aqua aerobics class can help you get started. It can also foster community, which may provide you with the motivation to keep showing up.

Still have questions about combining swimming and the gym? Let’s talk them through.

Is Swimming Good for Gym Recovery?

Yes! Swimming is a wonderful gym recovery routine. Swimming and the gym on the same day can even help you recover faster, helping you get back to hitting your personal bests on the squat rack. 

Does Swimming Burn Fat After a Workout?

Swimming will burn calories. As mentioned above, a 170-pound individual may burn up to 300 calories in one 30-minute session. In turn, this may help you burn fat. When combining swimming and the gym, you get the best of both worlds; you increase your muscle mass while burning fat.

Can Swimming Replace Weight Training?

If you’re wondering about gym or swimming and which one is best, the truth is that you can do both. However, it depends on what your goals are. 

Swimming as a replacement for weight or strength training might not work as effectively to build muscle mass. Yet, if you want to use swimming to replace weight training for cardiovascular benefits, it might actually be a better option. For weight loss, it’s best to do both.

What Burns More Calories, Swimming or Gym?

This depends on how you measure it. In the moment, swimming burns more calories than the gym. Yet, the gym’s effects extend beyond the workout. In the gym, the goal is to build muscle, and muscle burns more calories at rest. Thus, overall, the gym might actually burn more calories in the long term than swimming.

Is It Better to Swim Before or After the Gym?

If your goal is to lose weight and build muscle, it’s better to swim after the gym. This will allow you to put all your energy into stimulating your muscle tissue, which will have more weight loss benefits in the long term.

Can You Swim and Workout on the Same Day?

Yes! Swimming can offer a great recovery routine after lifting weights. Combining a swim and the gym covers almost all your fitness basics, helping you develop a well-rounded routine.

Can I Work Out and Swim Every Day?

This depends. Rest is always important. However, swimming can be a form of active recovery. If you’re working out different muscle groups each day, you can do both. For example, you might do a shoulder workout and swim one day, then a leg workout and swim the next.

Can I Do Gym and Swimming Together?

Yes, the key is finding a gym with a swimming pool so that you get both all-in-one membership, such as with Aura Leisure.

Sample Gym Workout for Swimmers

Now that we know we don’t need to choose between swimming or the gym for weight loss, let’s dig in a bit further. How can you enhance your swim workout with your gym workout? Here’s a quick sample workout you can try:

• Squat Jumps: These will help you with power in your swim routine.
• Tricep Push-Ups: This exercise will help develop the often-neglected triceps, which are used in almost every type of swimming stroke.
• Deadlift: This works the entire posterior chain, which helps you kick and maintain a good position in the water.
• Hanging Crunch: The core is one of the major parts of the body used during swimming. Thus, adding in a few core moves can help amp up your swimming skills.

Aim to perform about eight to 15 repetitions and two to three sets of each of the moves above. Afterwards, you can recover and refresh with a dive into the pool.

Combine Your Gym and Swim with Aura Leisure

So, which is better for weight loss: gym or swimming? The answer is both!

While swimming is good for cardio, it also burns major calories. Yet, weight lifting in the gym is important for building ample muscle, which burns more calories at rest. 

Not sure how to get started? At Aura Leisure, we are one of the few facilities that offers both a gym and a pool. Get the best of both worlds by signing up for our membership today!