Is swimming the best cardio for lowering body fat percentage? If so, how many meters per day should I swim?

Friday, July 20th, 2012 at 1:41 AM

Question by Chris K: Is swimming the best cardio for lowering body fat percentage? If so, how many meters per day should I swim?
I’m 6’2-6’3 215ish pounds and I’ve gained 30 pounds in muscle mass over the last 7-8 months, but I’m around 16% body fat and I want to be near 9% so my abs will be ripped. Is swimming the best way to lose this body fat over running?

If so, how many meters should I be swimming each day? I mainly only do front crawl and breast stroke. Any other suggestions help. Thank you.

Best answer:

Answer by nzrasta
To lose body fat % if your body building, you should do quick short sharp cardio work like intervals to lose the body fat.

Swimming I “think” (not 100% sure) burns more as compared to cycling and running if your going at a constant aerobic pace so if your going to do long and slower workouts, swimming would be the best.

If you are fairly good at swimming already, join a masters swim squad (you have to wake up early in the mornings like 5am to join in these) because you will swim much more distance as compared to yourself.

If you don’t haver that much experience in swimming and you can only swim 200m or less without stopping and gasping for breath, I’d say skip the swimming and do running intervals instead or rowing machine at the gym. Simply because swimming is all about technique and if you have poor technique, you will find it very hard to get a decent workout in at the beginning.

If you practice lots and get a coach then definitely swimming but if your just going to swim by yourself with no help, I’d recommend staying away from swimming and doing another form of cardio insted.

What do you think? Answer below!