Swimming is an overall fitness. It isn’t any better than other forms of exercise. It’s just a lot more fun. I can’t walk but a 1 to 1.5 km for exercise. I can do laps in the pool breast stroke for an hour hit 1 Km pretty easily and not hurt myself.

I still think that an all out exercise for 5 minutes is better for me though. I can’t prove it but think that as many reps as I can get in on weights legs, thighs, chest, forearms, and upper arms leaving me like a wet noodle actually produces better fitness results. Can I prove it? No. But it takes 15 minutes versus an hour plus.

When I was young(er) and swam competitively pyramid blocks leading up to a competition was probably the best overall shape I’d ever been in my life. That was 40 years ago and …….

Well yeah it was way back when Dino’s roamed the earth and my club was what kept me fed. That type of thing…..

Hi Apricot, At the moment, I’m swimming for the majority of my exercise. (My upcoming holiday is a dive and snorkel trip to the Maldives). Normally I swim one mile 3 days a week, so sometimes on Fast Days and sometimes on NFD. Both work fine for me. As you say, it is easy on the joints, though I’m at the age where I have to think about osteoporosis, so I walk too. At my pool, it’s not uncommon to see people swimming with a snorkel and mask, so part of my swim can easily be aerobic to anaerobic, as it’s possible to be gasping for breath!

The one downside to swimming on 5:2 is that I tend to get cold on FDs, and an hour in the pool can sap off lots of heat making things worse. After a swim, I keep a knit hat, warm socks, a heating pad, and a hot cuppa nearby.

Give it a try, Apricot, and see what happens! Flexibility is a key component of 5:2 so if you enjoy swimming, you can figure out what works for you. ST55