{"id":67948,"date":"2017-09-23T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-23T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/uncategorized\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/"},"modified":"2017-09-23T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-09-23T00:00:00","slug":"using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/","title":{"rendered":"Using swimming to tone \u2018problem areas\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s human nature to be critical of our bodies, and while we want to focus on the positive, we all have problem areas we\u2019d like to address. Swimming can help.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You pull on your favourite pair of jeans and glance in the mirror. Is that softness you see around your waist the beginnings of a muffin top? Horrors!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to preach body positivity to other women when you\u2019re finding time to exercise and your metabolism is holding up, but when you suddenly see a few extra pounds in the mirror yourself, how do you react?<\/p>\n

Our attitudes toward beauty, and what we\u2019re willing to do to achieve it, are complex and often conflicted. On the continuum from minimal personal care to extreme surgical makeovers, we all draw the line in a different place. Some women don\u2019t want to wear makeup or colour their greying hair, while others are perfectly willing to go under the knife to achieve a body that makes them feel more attractive. One woman\u2019s \u2018letting herself go\u2019 is another woman\u2019s accepting her natural beauty. One woman\u2019s vanity is another woman\u2019s self-confidence.<\/p>\n

And exercise is part of the equation too. Some people exercise to feel better, while others exercise to look better. And often it\u2019s a combination of the two.<\/p>\n

Beauty magazines are full of self-help articles telling us how to learn to love our bodies the way they are (after telling us we don\u2019t measure up, of course): make a conscious effort to focus on the things you like about yourself, banish negative thoughts as soon as you start criticizing your body, don\u2019t obsess about things you can\u2019t change, and so on. All good advice. But what if we really do want to get rid of that muffin top, those saddlebags or those flabby arms…not in order to meet someone else\u2019s unrealistic beauty standard but because having a lean, toned body makes us feel genuinely healthier and happier? We all have our worry zones. Can swimming help?<\/p>\n

Targeted weight loss is impossible, alas, and hormones, genetics and stress all play a role in how fat accumulates in certain areas, but what you can do is add lean muscle mass in problem areas, ensuring that when you do lose those last stubborn pounds your body will be healthy and toned. And swimming is actually one of the best sports both for overall health (because it provides simultaneous cardio, strength and flexibility benefits) and for toning (because it\u2019s a full-body workout that addresses your arms, legs and core, regardless which stroke you use). Certain strokes do emphasize different muscle groups, so if you want to focus on specific problem areas you can add targeted workouts:<\/p>\n

Arms.<\/strong> All swim strokes engage your shoulders, biceps and triceps. If you want to do extra arm work, add some pull drills using a pull buoy and paddles.<\/p>\n

Legs.<\/strong> Swimming gives your glutes, quads, hamstrings, calves and ankles a workout. Breaststroke, in particular, tones the inner thigh. For additional leg (and ab) toning, try incorporating a kickboard into your workout.<\/p>\n

Core.<\/strong> All strokes tone your upper back and chest, and the core work will also help trim your waistline. The twisting motion of the freestyle and backstroke tones the abdominals and lower back, while the breaststroke and butterfly tone the chest and back.<\/p>\n

Swimming, like exercise in general, is good for the psyche<\/strong>. Surveys show that women who exercise feel better about their bodies, even when their bodies themselves don\u2019t change. Whether it\u2019s due to the general post-exercise feel-good factor or the confidence gained from having accomplished something physically challenging, women who work out report having fewer negative thoughts about their bodies.<\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s because exercise helps you appreciate what your body actually does<\/em> and how remarkable it is, rather than focusing on its appearance. You\u2019re a land animal and you can glide through the water with ease. That\u2019s actually pretty amazing.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your take on exercising for the sake of appearance? Is it shallow? Does that matter?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s human nature to be critical of our bodies, and while we want to focus on the positive, we all have problem areas we\u2019d like to address. Swimming can help. …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1310,"featured_media":4428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10080],"tags":[1858,2066,1896,2068],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUsing swimming to tone \u2018problem areas\u2019 - The arena swimming blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s human nature to be critical of our bodies, and while we want to focus on the positive, we all have problem areas we\u2019d like to address.Swimming can help\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Using swimming to tone \u2018problem areas\u2019 - The arena swimming blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s human nature to be critical of our bodies, and while we want to focus on the positive, we all have problem areas we\u2019d like to address.Swimming can help\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The arena swimming blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/arenawaterinstinct\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-09-23T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/swim_tone-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"418\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arena\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@arenapeople\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@arenapeople\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arena\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arena\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6ca25b3a59723796d774641b00c169f6\"},\"headline\":\"Using swimming to tone \u2018problem areas\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-23T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-23T00:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/\"},\"wordCount\":694,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"fitness\",\"shape\",\"swimming\",\"tone\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Just for Women\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/\",\"name\":\"Using swimming to tone \u2018problem areas\u2019 - The arena swimming blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-09-23T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-09-23T00:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"It\u2019s human nature to be critical of our bodies, and while we want to focus on the positive, we all have problem areas we\u2019d like to address.Swimming can help\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Just for Women\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Using swimming to tone \u2018problem areas\u2019\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/\",\"name\":\"The arena swimming blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#organization\",\"name\":\"arena\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/LOGO-ARENA-VERTICAL-POSITIVE.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/LOGO-ARENA-VERTICAL-POSITIVE.png\",\"width\":380,\"height\":268,\"caption\":\"arena\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/instagram.com\/arenawaterinstinct\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.it\/arenawaterinstinct\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/arenapeople\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/arenawaterinstinct\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/arenapeople\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6ca25b3a59723796d774641b00c169f6\",\"name\":\"Arena\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/01f3bfaa4066977c68fe01c528d2b090?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/01f3bfaa4066977c68fe01c528d2b090?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Arena\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/author\/arena\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Using swimming to tone \u2018problem areas\u2019 - The arena swimming blog","description":"It\u2019s human nature to be critical of our bodies, and while we want to focus on the positive, we all have problem areas we\u2019d like to address.Swimming can help","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Using swimming to tone \u2018problem areas\u2019 - The arena swimming blog","og_description":"It\u2019s human nature to be critical of our bodies, and while we want to focus on the positive, we all have problem areas we\u2019d like to address.Swimming can help","og_url":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/","og_site_name":"The arena swimming blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/arenawaterinstinct\/","article_published_time":"2017-09-23T00:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":800,"height":418,"url":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/swim_tone-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Arena","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@arenapeople","twitter_site":"@arenapeople","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Arena","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/"},"author":{"name":"Arena","@id":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6ca25b3a59723796d774641b00c169f6"},"headline":"Using swimming to tone \u2018problem areas\u2019","datePublished":"2017-09-23T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-09-23T00:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/"},"wordCount":694,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#organization"},"keywords":["fitness","shape","swimming","tone"],"articleSection":["Just for Women"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/","name":"Using swimming to tone \u2018problem areas\u2019 - The arena swimming blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-09-23T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2017-09-23T00:00:00+00:00","description":"It\u2019s human nature to be critical of our bodies, and while we want to focus on the positive, we all have problem areas we\u2019d like to address.Swimming can help","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/using-swimming-to-tone-problem-areas\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Just for Women","item":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/just-for-women\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Using swimming to tone \u2018problem areas\u2019"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/","name":"The arena swimming blog","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#organization","name":"arena","url":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/LOGO-ARENA-VERTICAL-POSITIVE.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/LOGO-ARENA-VERTICAL-POSITIVE.png","width":380,"height":268,"caption":"arena"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/instagram.com\/arenawaterinstinct","https:\/\/www.pinterest.it\/arenawaterinstinct\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/arenapeople","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/arenawaterinstinct\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/arenapeople"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/6ca25b3a59723796d774641b00c169f6","name":"Arena","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/01f3bfaa4066977c68fe01c528d2b090?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/01f3bfaa4066977c68fe01c528d2b090?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Arena"},"url":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/author\/arena\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67948"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1310"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67948"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67948\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67948"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67948"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.arenaswim.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67948"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}