One of the questions that we stumble upon in our conversations and research is your uncertainty about the impact pool exercise has on our bodies. Among those ones, the more common is the question is swimming a cardio exercise or a strength exercise?

To understand that we should start by understanding what are the characteristics of those two types of activity, and how we define and recognize them with lifeguard training.



What is a cardiovascular activity?

What aerobic exercises are great at is conditioning inside of your body – your heart and lungs for example. Another characteristic is that aerobic exercise is continuous and to be most effective they require your pulse to reach a certain level above your resting heart rate and stay there for at least a few minutes.

Thanks to the fact swimming is mainly a cardio activity, it can be performed every day as your heart muscle can be exercised even multiple times every day (it is the only muscle in your body that has the endurance to allow for continuous work!).

Swimming builds your muscles less than other similar activities since the water limits how much your muscle can move, but it is great for people who want a healthy toned body instead of very muscular for aesthetic reasons. It also allows your whole body to exercise including your back, arms, and legs… all at the same time with americanlifeguardcourse.



What is strength activity?

Strength training requires working out against moderate resistance. this resistance can be provided by weights or your body” Pushups and sit-ups are examples of when resistance is provided by your own body.

What strength-training exercises are perfect at is conditioning the „outsides” of your body like arms and legs. In contrast to swimming – this type of exercise is the stop-and-start type of activity that requires short bursts of effort with rest/stop periods performed in series.

How to make the most of the aerobic pool exercise?

Now that we know swimming is mostly a cardio exercise let’s find out how to maximize the benefits you get from every workout session!

As we’ve seen what is required for effective swimming training is for your pulse to stay in a certain corridor called the heart rate zone. Every zone has its benefits and you can learn much more about it here.

The easiest and most exciting way to stay in the chosen zone is to use something like a Swimmo training watch that will let you know via vibrations when you swim too slow or too fast and will keep the intensity of the swimming workout as planned!

Read more about:7 physical benefits of swimming