We’re regularly told that we need to exercise regularly to be fit and healthy. Not only does exercise help with heart health and weight management, but it also helps build muscles and strength. So, does swimming build muscles and if so, which muscles?
It’s very likely that you already know that swimming is good for your health. Not only is it low impact, but it’s also great for building stamina and endurance in general. One of the few benefits of swimming that people aren’t aware of is increasing muscle mass. This helps boost your immune system, gives you more energy, and helps you to do more. It’s also true that swimming allows you to burn calories, so it’s ideal as part of a weight-loss plan or simply to keep your weight in check regularly.
But what muscles does swimming work, and is it the most effective way to do so?
Can You Build Muscle by Swimming?
Regular swimming can help you to build muscle mass. If you think about the actual process of swimming, you’re moving against resistance, and that is what you would do in the gym if you were lifting weights. We all know that weight lifting does build muscles. You may not be aware that the muscles used in swimming are some of the significant groups in general. So, by setting time aside for regular swim sessions, as well as making sure that you’re using the proper technique, you’ll notice that you’re building muscle mass quite easily.
In some ways, swimming is better to build muscle slowly than other forms of resistance training. It’s a lower impact option, so it’s a good choice for those who can’t lift weights in a gym, perhaps due to an injury or advice to avoid doing so. Swimming is also ideal for lowering stress levels and overall wellbeing because the water in general is calming. But, if you’re looking to build muscle fast and perhaps bulk up, swimming may not be sufficient for you.
So, in short, the muscles used in swimming are quite plentiful and can be built via regular swimming, but it’s not going to give you the same effects as weight lifting in a gym would. Does it benefit you? Certainly! It’s on par, if not slightly better, than attempting to build muscle via regular types of cardio, such as running, jogging or even cycling.
Proper Technique is Important
Of course, to build swimming muscles effectively, you need to have the correct technique. By not following the proper guidelines, you may have a higher chance of actually causing yourself an injury rather than building muscle and becoming healthier as a result.
Regular swimming sessions will help you do this, but you can also use the ZEN8 swim trainer when you don’t have the time to venture to the pool. This bench tool helps you practice correct positioning and technique and allows you to build core strength. Not only will it allow you to become a better swimmer, but it will help protect your health by ensuring that you have the correct posture in the water and you’re not overstretching or putting yourself at risk of strains and other painful injuries.
The Swimming Muscles Worked During a Swim Session
The good news is that swimming actually helps build and tone almost every muscle in the body to some extent. Swimming muscles are plentiful, so regular swimming can indeed boost your health in more ways than most people realise.
However, the muscles you actually isolate and work on really depend upon the strokes you focus upon. It’s also true that swimming muscles aren’t focused upon totally equally, so you may tone one muscle more than another.
Simply put, swimming tones almost all muscles within the body, and it also helps boost heart health, stamina, and energy levels. It’s a win-win on all levels, even if it doesn’t build muscle to the same level as weight lifting and other highly focused sports and activities.
The main muscles used in swimming are:
- Core Muscles - Your core muscles are isolated in every single stroke you perform during swimming. The stronger your core muscles (abdominal muscles), the better a swimmer you’ll be. The ZEN8 swim trainer helps build and strengthen your core muscles, which helps you stay in the best position during your swimming.
- Lower Back Muscles - While the lower back isn’t used as much as the core muscles by any means, it is still a vital muscle group focused upon by different strokes. When bringing your legs up when kicking, you’re engaging your lower back muscles. In fact, most of your upper body is engaged during swimming.
- Upper Back Muscles - The upper back muscles are used in almost every swim stroke, including the laterals and trapezius muscles. These muscles help you move your arms with strength and definitiveness during reaches and aid with propulsion.
- Shoulder Muscles - Again, the shoulders are one of the main muscles used in swimming and are worked during almost all strokes. When you move your arms during a stroke, you’re rotating the shoulders and flexing that particular muscle group. Strong shoulder muscles will help you move faster through the water, but you need to make sure that you’re not overworking your shoulder muscles, as this is one of the main trouble spots for injury.
- Triceps & Biceps - Both of these significant muscles are in your arms, and it makes sense that these are some of the most common muscles used in swimming. The triceps are probably used more than the biceps, but both contract and flex as you move your arms to move through the water.
- Chest Muscles - Again, with the pulling and reaching motion used in different strokes, especially the breaststroke and also the butterfly stroke, you’re using your chest muscle, aka your pectorals.
- Quadriceps - The quads are heavily impacted during swimming. The kicking motion helps to generate power and speed, propelling you through the water. The stronger your quads, the faster swimmer you’ll be. You also need to kick from your hips, which impacts your quads.
- Gluteals & Hamstrings - The glutes are engaged when you move your legs upwards and pull them towards the water’s surface. The stronger your glutes, the more powerful your leg kicks. Again, this helps you with propulsion. Your hamstring muscles work in alignment with the glutes to pull your kickback downwards, especially during the backstroke and breaststroke.
- Calf Muscles - Pointing your toes forward is common practice during kicking, and that helps to contract your calf muscles naturally. So, your calves are used very heavily during every single swimming stroke. When pushing away from the edge of the pool, you’ll also use your calves.
Not only does swimming help to build and tone muscles, but by keeping your muscles healthy and strong, you’ll become a stronger and better swimmer too.