I'm not a fan of running, and I used to be a competitive swimmer, so I've been swimming to get my bodyfat down.
I was kind of shocked when i heard about swimming not being good for weight loss. While most of the material I read on the subject was anecdotal and did not suggest much for causation, there was one study that had a group doing running and a group doing swimming drills. Both groups lost bodyfat in the study. However, for some reason, it was noted that the swimming group didn't lose as much because they tended to consume more calories post-workout than the running group. The article didn't really suggest a reason for this, but the conclusion was that swimming is indeed effective for fat loss. You just might have to be a little more watchful of your food intake.
I've always been a sprinter of sorts, so my swimming workouts have been more anaerobic in nature. My workout consists of 200 meter sets at a moderate pace with just enough rest to let my heart rate begin to settle. Also, for the last 50 or 25 meters, I try to sprint to the end. This seems to be working thus far.
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