How long do you need to swim to get a good workout?

Most of us are busy with our work and families and want to preserve some of it for friends and to relax. This makes it hard to find time for our sports activities like swimming.

This must be a reason why people so often ask us and ask the internet: „How long do you need to swim to get a good workout?”. We understand you want to be as efficient as possible with your time and so we are coming with some answers for swimmers that are just starting out and those who want to get particular results as fast as possible. We even talk about swimmers who simply want to relax and chill in the pool to help their mental health and improve the mood.

Workout times from beginners to advanced swimmers

When you start your swimming adventure the most important thing is to keep your motivation up and not to overtrain while learning the basics of healthy swimming. That’s why it’s a great idea to start with 20-minute workouts in the pool 2-3 times a week. This builds discipline and will not let you be bored in the pool.

When you slowly transition into intermediate workouts you will need to switch to 45-minute training sessions as it simply requires time to complete required sets that will be a mix of drills and laps.

Finally, when you start to participate in the competitions regularly you will jump into one-hour sessions and 5-6 days a week training regime at this stage of training is all about building muscle memory and endurance required to achieve your competitive goals.

Swimming times for cardio workouts

The core of cardio workouts lies in the time of uninterrupted exercise while reaching a selected heart rate zone. That’s why the workout time has a caveat. You still need to start with at least 20 minutes but it has to be a consistent heart pumping uninterrupted 20 minutes to have any benefits of the cardio workout.

If you want to take breaks after a set – you need to add this time to the workout so you can actually bring your pulse up to the proper levels! You can monitor the heart zone in the pool with Swimmo Training Watch and it will even let you know when you swim too slow and your pulse goes too low or too high!

Swimming to relax and improve mental health

As you might know, swimming has a great influence on our mental health and overall mood and it is an amazing way to relax and process the events of the day. The best news for those who swim to chill is that it is such a safe sport and one of the very few activities that are safe to do every day without the risk of injuries.

That’s why, if you know the basics of safe swimming, you can swim 2-3 times a week for an hour with long breaks and get all the benefits you are looking for while staying completely safe and without straining your body in any way.

We hope that our little guide will help you plan your swims for maximum efficiency or to give you a mood boost that will turn into progress and results sooner. Remember that swimming – especially at the very beginning has to be fun and diverse to keep you in the pool and not drain your motivation! Have a great swim everybody!

Kamil Market Development Expert at Swimmo

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