If you’re trying to burn as much fat as possible and get rid of the most calories in the shortest amount of time, you want to pick the right kind of exercise. Different exercises will burn calories at different rates. You may be wondering what burns more calories- running or swimming?
These are both aerobic activities that help build up your oxygen volume and improve your heart health. They can also help with weight loss, burning calories and getting rid of fatty tissue. What’s great about these activities is that they work your entire body as well. So, no matter which part of the body you’re trying to tone and build up, both running and swimming are great for that.
Running mostly works the lower body, putting a lot of pressure on the legs. Swimming works most of the body but puts the focus on the arms, as you constantly have to be moving your arms to keep on swimming. The majority of the work in swimming is done by the arm, so it’s more of an upper body activity, particularly compared to running.
Is Running More Intense than Swimming
When comparing two different kinds of exercises and if you’re wondering what burns more calories swimming or running, you have to consider the intensity of the exercise.
Some people think of running as a very intense exercise because that’s how they run. They keep at a steady pace through the entire run and don’t slow down until they’re ready to finish. Other people take frequent breaks with their running or may run at a more leisurely pace, which may really be considered jogging.
How intensely you run or you swim will determine how many calories you’re burning every hour of exercise. If your swimming simply involves laying on your back and floating through the pool, you’re not really burning many calories. If you’re making laps back and forth through the pool as you swim, then you’re going to burn some serious calories.
What burns more fat and calories- swimming or running? It mostly comes down to how you doing them.
Is Running or Swimming More Efficient
You also want to consider the distance you are running or swimming and how much time you’re spending doing it. You want to compare equally the amount of time and distance. Looking simply at distance, swimming is going to burn more calories than running. That’s because it involves more of your body. Running doesn’t use your upper body very much. You may swing your arms back and forth some, but that’s not the level activity required of your upper body for swimming.
When you swim, you also engage your legs and your torso, so compared to running there’s more of your body involved and more of your body actively working and burning calories. When it comes to a matter of distance, swimming is going to burn more calories over the same distance compared to running.
If it’s a matter of duration, then we have to look at the intensity as well. How frequently do you take breaks? How long are those brakes? How intensely are you exercising? All of this has to be considered when comparing the amount of time spent running and swimming and trying to determine which one burns more calories.
What burns more calories- 30 minutes of running or swimming? If you’re keeping up an intense pace as you run or you swim, you can burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time. 30 minutes of running can burn over 250 calories, and 30 minutes of swimming can burn about 200 calories.
So, if we’re talking about duration, running burns calories more over the same amount of time. Swimming may work the body more, so it comes out on top for calorie burning when it comes to distance, as it takes longer to go the same distance swimming as it would running.
Does Swimming Burn More Calories than Running
Keep track of calories as you swim or run. Whichever one you choose to do, if you’re going for a certain goal to burn a specific of number calories, you should attempt to track how many calories you’re burning. You can estimate your calorie burning based on what you know about how long it will take to burn calories with each method.
You can also use a calorie tracker, which can help you tally up the calories you burn. You may also want to create a diary for your weight loss journey and track the calories burned there. That way, you can keep an accurate number and have a visual record of what you have accomplished. This can help you to feel like you’re actually making progress as you work to burn calories and lose weight.
How do you Increase the Number of Calories Burned
How do you make the most out of swimming or running for burning calories? Some people may think that keeping up the intensity for a full 30 minutes or hour is the best way to burn calories. What happens, though, is that you actually start to burn fewer calories the longer you go. Your body may slow down, as may your metabolism, and you won’t be able to keep up the same pace for very long.
So, what you can do to burn more calories is to do high intensity workouts of swimming or running and then take short breaks every so often. This gives your body a chance to recover and your muscles a chance to recover as well. Then, come get back into it and keep exercising at a high intensity. With short breaks in between each high intensity session, your metabolism will go into overdrive and you’ll burn fatty tissue and calories and very quickly.
Which Exercise Keeps Your Heart Rate Elevated
One of the key factors to ensuring that you’re burning a lot of calories is that your heart rate is staying elevated. How high your heart rate is and how long it stays elevated will determine how many calories you’re burning in a period of time.
If you can keep your heart rate elevated throughout your workout session, you will burn a lot more calories in a short amount of time. If your workout is too relaxed and your heart rate never really elevates much, then you’re not burning many calories.
Choose an activity where you can comfortably keep your heart rate high for long periods of time. This is why you transition between short breaks and intense workout sessions. Your heart rate can stay high even as you rest, as it won’t drop too low if your rest period is short.
So, Should you Go Running or Swimming
If you’re looking to burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time, then running seems like the obvious choice. You can burn more calories quicker with this method. However, it’s a good idea to do whatever is more enjoyable for you.
If you’re trying to get rid of a lot of fat and burn serious calories, you want to enjoy the methods you’re using to do that. Not everyone enjoys running, and they may not find it challenging, stimulating, or interesting. Also keep in mind how easy it is for you to do these activities. You may not always have access to a pool, so swimming may be out of the question sometimes. If the weather is poor, running may not be an option, and you might not be able to go outdoors.
Ultimately, you should do whichever one you enjoy more. It’ll seem less like exercise and more like a fun activity.
