Is swimming a good exercise to get lean?

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Is swimming a good exercise to get lean?

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Michael Collins: This question gets asked a lot, and my answer is I would not use swimming as your sole exercise to get lean. It can be a decent add- on to a solid strength training and high intensity cardio program.

Here's why.

Your goal is to get lean. Assuming your diet (the biggest factor in getting lean) is dialed in, that leaves exercise.

The exercises that will give you the biggest bang for your buck; the ones that will increase your metabolic rate a great deal are the strength training exercises. The reason is that not only do you burn a great number of calories during the workout itself, but the metabolic changes that occur because of the workout (increased cell turnover, muscular recovery, hormonal spikes, etc) have your body burning calories for long after the workout.

To top that off, the added muscle fiber after the recovery phase of strength training boosts your metabolism for long into the future.

Swimming, by itself is not able to provide anywhere near the same metabolic benefits. You will burn a decent number of calories during the activity itself, but it does little in terms of EPOC, or building muscle fiber to keep the metabolism raised.

Swimming is a fun, relaxing activity for many people. If you enjoy it, go for it- in addition to the big dogs, not instead of them.

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