Cardio exercise

Swimming form, muscles worked, and workout tracking

Swimming is full-body aquatic cardio in which strokes such as freestyle work the latissimus dorsi, shoulders, core, and legs against water resistance with zero joint impact. It is used for aerobic conditioning, active recovery, and rehabilitation, since the water supports body weight while still challenging the heart, lungs, and nearly every major muscle group.

Swimming illustration

How to do Swimming

  1. 1Warm up with a few easy lengths of your chosen stroke, focusing on long, relaxed movements.
  2. 2In freestyle, keep your body horizontal and rotate slightly with each arm pull rather than swimming flat.
  3. 3Exhale steadily underwater and turn your head to inhale in rhythm with your stroke instead of lifting it forward.
  4. 4Drive each pull from the lats and finish past your hip, keeping your kick small and steady from the hips.
  5. 5Swim continuous laps at conversational effort for endurance, or alternate fast and easy lengths, then cool down with slow laps.

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Track Swimming in Plates

Save this movement to a workout template, log sets and rest periods, and keep your training history in one focused gym tracker.