Lose Weight with Summer Exercise: Get Your Swim In

What could be more fun and provide better cardio exercise than swimming in the summertime? Swimming is one of the best activities to burn calories and tone up your cardiovascular system. Get heart healthy: make taking a dip a regular part of your weekly activities during the warm weather months.

Want some different ideas for swimming to keep things interesting? You have lots of options that you can switch up with each time you swim. If you live near the ocean, wear yourself out in the tumbling waves. Or you might even try out boogie boarding and surfing. Both are amazing forms of exercise that will strengthen and tone your entire body, improve your balance and coordination, and exercise your heart muscle to the max.

Swim in the ocean.

Less experienced swimmers may want to take caution if deciding to swim in the ocean. Pay attention to whether the tide is in or out, and how high and rough the waves are. If lots of big waves are coming in fast and furious, this can be exhausting, especially to someone who is only just now getting back in shape.

For safety, swimming in the ocean is best done with a partner or a group of people. If you don’t have a group, then make friends with some nearby beach goers who are swimming in the same area as you. You can keep an eye on each other and take action if someone ends up in danger.

Also important is the need to have a lifeguard on duty and in close proximity. Paid beaches designate a

lifeguard to keep watch over a specific area designated for swimming. So pay attention to what’s around you and avoid going into parts of the water where swimming is prohibited and there is no lifeguard monitoring the area.

Swim in a lake.

Lake swimming is an even better form of outdoor water recreation then beach swimming. This is because you don’t need to be an expert swimmer to relax and get your laps in in the lake. In fact, you’re probably better off if you’re looking to practice your swimming strokes or go back and forth across the body of water, if you are in a lake rather than the ocean.

A lake has clear-cut boundaries. There will likely be a deep end that is roped off for the safety of lake patrons if this is a lake beach that you pay to get on. There may even be a lifeguard; again, most likely if it’s a paid lake each. You can also find a mountain lake if you would like to take a dip and immerse yourself in nature. But a remote body of water such as this poses greater danger because there are fewer people around and, in all probability, there won’t be a lifeguard keeping watch over the area.

As with ocean swimming, your best bet if you plan to do some laps in the lake is to swim with a buddy. Or stay close by to a group of other swimmers so you can keep an eye on each other and react quickly if someone needs help.

In the mostly still water of a lake, you can perfect your swimming techniques. Practice breath holding. Take a dive off the dock into deep water. Do some water aerobics, tread water for as long as you can. Practice different strokes such as the breaststroke, the backstroke, the side stroke, the frog, and the butterfly.

Get a swim club membership.

Of course, the town pool is always an option if you’d love to get some exercise in this summer and enjoy the great outdoors while keeping cool in the pool. If you have a friend with a pool, that’s great too. But one big difference is that you can head to the local swim club and get your laps in undisturbed. If you’re at a friend’s house, you might feel obligated to be social, or do whatever your host is doing such as put out snacks, watch the kids, or some other obligatory activity that won’t help your weight loss or fitness plan.

You pay for a pool membership. So you get to go at a time of day that is convenient for you. Plus, you can actually tell others that you are there to get some swimming laps in for exercise and fitness purposes.

Take note, you are never too old for a swim lesson, and you might greatly improve your skills, not to mention continue to get wonderful cardiovascular benefits, by working with a swim instructor who can give you some swimming routines to try.