How many calories burned breaststroke

Your weight affects the number of calories burned, with heavier people expending more than lighter ones when doing the same exercise. Because most people are unable to do butterfly continuously, crawl or freestyle is the most effective swim stroke, burning between and calories per hour.

Interestingly too, women, regardless of their skill level and weight, typically use fewer calories per mile than men because of their higher body fat percentage. They naturally stay afloat without having to burn calories doing so. Whether you splash around burning calories an hour, or expend calories per hour perfecting your butterfly stroke for hard-core competition, any swimming burns calories. You can burn about calories swimming freestyle for 30 minutes.

It also has the biggest impact if you want to tone your back muscles. Capable of helping you burn about calories for 30 minutes swimming, backstroke is the best stroke if you want to improve your body posture. This is because it helps in lengthening your spine, thereby making you look taller. Needless to say, this is ideal for a office worker or if you sit for extended periods.

As noted earlier, this stroke can help you burn about calories for 30 minutes of swimming but is the best stroke for cardiovascular workouts.

Breaststroke can also help you strengthen the lungs and the heart while also toning the chest muscles, lower legs, hamstrings, upper back, triceps, and thighs. As you can see, breaststroke can be a slower calorie burner but its benefits perhaps outweigh the rest.

Breaststroke swimming requires you to power through the water and not cut through the water. Given that butterfly is the most technical and the hardest, it helps in burning the most calories as it requires total-body muscle engagement. This then increases your heart rate and of course, higher caloric use. On the same note, a woman is more likely to burn fewer calories than a man.

Then comes the stroke you pick. Certain strokes are more technical and expend more energy than others, explains Gagne. Since butterfly involves sweeping both arms up out of the water and straight out in front of you at once while performing a difficult dolphin kick , it's much more exhausting than breaststroke, in which you can leisurely frog kick and pull yourself through the water. Lucky for you, you don't have to do lap after lap of butterfly it's hard! Incorporate these three strategies the next time you dive in.

Steal a move from swimming pros and layer a slightly-loose swimsuit over your go-to Speedo this is called a drag suit or try out gear like hand paddles or fins. You know upping your swimming speed means more calories burned, but you don't have to sprint for 30 minutes straight to see big benefits. Whether you're crunched for time or building up your stamina, Gagne suggests using interval training.

For instance, swim as hard as you can for 30 seconds, then swim at a leisurely pace for 60 seconds, then repeat. Just like HIIT on the tread, breaking up your pool workout this way allows you to maximize your effort and time while improving your performance and burning alllllll the calories. In an IM a. Try this: Swim one lap of butterfly, then a lap of backstroke, then a lap of breaststroke, and finally a lap of freestyle. Use the strokes that feel easiest to you as recovery, or do a few laps of leisurely breaststroke or backstroke after your IM to recover before repeating.

The bottom line : How many calories you burn swimming depends on your weight, effort level, stroke, and workout time. However, you can generally expect to burn somewhere around calories in 30 minutes of high-effort swimming. Doing the breaststroke or crawl stroke regularly is an excellent way to meet your daily physical activity requirements -- which are based on workout duration and intensity, not the total number of calories you burn. The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans suggest adults perform 2.

Erin Coleman is a registered and licensed dietitian. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in dietetics and has extensive experience working as a health writer and health educator. Her articles are published on various health, nutrition and fitness websites.