Providing you mix up the strokes, you will burn calories for sure. Swimming is a great full body workout, stretching out all of the muscles and its low impact. Exercises such as running on a treadmill can hit your knee's quite hard, and if your not young anymore (no offence!) then running can be bad for your joints. Swimming is great as the water supports your weight and your joints are not at risk.In terms of calorie burning, it is similar to running, but the advantage of swimming is that it brings your upper body muscles into action too. Having to pull yourself through the water, strengthens your shoulder girdle and arms.
Make sure to include a range of strokes as each stroke will hit more muscles. A half an hour swim, 3-4 times per week is great.
