Is Swimming Once a Week Enough Exercise?
Swimming is one of the best full-body workouts you can do. It builds strength, boosts cardiovascular fitness, improves flexibility, and is easy on your joints. But here’s the big question: if you swim once a week, is it enough to get the full health benefits?
The short answer: no—not if your goal is to protect your heart, reduce disease risk, and maintain high fitness levels over time.
Why Frequency Matters for Cardio
Cardio exercise works by making your heart pump faster and your lungs work harder, strengthening them over time. But those gains fade quickly when you take long breaks. Just like muscles lose strength without use, your cardiovascular fitness declines when you don’t train it regularly.
If your goal is better heart health, more energy, and long-term disease prevention, you need cardio often enough for your body to adapt—and keep adapting.
How Much Is Enough?
For long-term heart health, research shows you should aim for:
- 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio (like steady lap swimming) per week, or
- 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity cardio (like fast intervals in the pool) per week
Breaking that into 3–5 sessions a week gives your heart and lungs the consistent challenge they need—whether you’re in the water or doing another form of cardio, like HupSix. Ideally, aim for every other day, with the goal of never going more than two days without cardio.
As Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper says: “Fitness is a journey, not a destination.” It’s the single best thing you can do for yourself.
The Science: How Cardio Works
When you do moderate to vigorous cardio:
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Your heart rate rises—forcing your heart to pump more blood with each beat. Over time, the heart muscle gets stronger and more efficient.
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Your breathing rate increases—pulling in more oxygen, which is delivered to your muscles via the bloodstream.
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Your cells adapt—mitochondria (your cells’ energy factories) multiply and work more efficiently, so your body can produce more energy with less fatigue.
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Blood vessels expand and strengthen—improving circulation and lowering blood pressure.
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Inflammation decreases—helping protect against chronic diseases, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and certain cancers like colon, breast, and lung.
- Immune function improves—helping your body better detect and fight off illness.
But here’s the key: these adaptations need repeated exposure to the right intensity. Once a week isn’t enough to sustain them.
The Heart Health Gap
You can have great form in the water and even crush a hard swim set—but if you’re only doing it once a week, your cardiovascular system isn’t getting the consistent training it needs. That matters because:
- Cardio is your #1 defense against heart disease—the leading cause of death worldwide. In the U.S., 1 person dies every 34 minutes from it. It's preventable.
- It improves oxygen delivery, circulation, and stamina in daily life.
- Without it, you’re leaving the biggest health and longevity benefit on the table.
And it’s not just an “older adult” problem—heart attacks among adults ages 18–44 have increased by 66% since 2019. Cardio fitness matters at every age.
The Smart Move: Keep Swimming, Add More Cardio
If swimming is your main cardio, keep it in your routine—it’s an excellent choice. But if you can’t get to the pool as often as you’d like, add another form of cardio on the days you can’t swim.
This doesn’t mean grinding away on a treadmill. It just means finding something that gets your heart rate up and keeps you engaged—so you actually stick with it.
Why HupSix Fits Perfectly
If you need more cardio but can’t always get to the pool, HupSix makes it easy to fill the gap:
- Fast-paced for 30 minutes of cardio you can do anytime
- Music-driven to keep you engaged
- Full-body movements that build strength, improve coordination, agility, and reaction time while delivering cardio benefits—all at once
Swimmers love HupSix because it offers a similar sense of flow in movement and creates a form of active meditation—without requiring a pool.
Not sure if it's right for you?
You might be thinking… “How can something this simple be as effective as all the high-tech gear out there?”
Well, how can something as simple as water provide so many benefits? Swimming proves you don’t need complicated equipment to get a powerful workout.
HupSix works the same way. Using patented gear, bodyweight exercises, and music-driven cues, it gets you moving in ways that build strength, improve your coordination, agility, and reaction time—while giving you a full 30 minutes of heart-pumping cardio. It’s been tested, refined, and built to keep you engaged from the first move to the last.
The best way to find out is to try it for yourself. Get the gear and take an on-demand class. If it isn’t one of the most fun, engaging, and beneficial workouts you’ve ever done, send it back for a full refund.
Learn More:
Can I Skip Cardio?
Find out why skipping cardio can cost you years of health—and what to do instead.
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Best Cardio Alternative to a Treadmill
Discover why HupSix is a more engaging, joint-friendly option than logging endless miles.
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How to Make Cardio More Fun (Even If You Hate It)
Learn how to turn cardio into something you actually look forward to.
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