Can swimming help maintain muscle tone after stopping strength training?

[Smoll]

Hello, I'm after some advice about swimming.

I am 51 and having gone though the menopause at 42 I have been strength training at the gym for the past 5 years. I started for bone density but it has 'toned' my body in a way that the swimming and running I used to do never did. (I am aware that 'toning' means building muscle.) I feel and look so much better and I love it.

However, I keep pulling my lower back and it puts me out of action for weeks at a time. I have had PT sessions to check form and adapt exercises and I have had lots of physio and seen an osteopath. I do pilates and physio regularly but it keeps happening and I am wondering whether I would be better off swimming.

My question is this - has anyone managed to stay toned just through swimming? I know about the other benefits of swimming, I'm interested in whether it can also help me look better. It didn't before but that was only once or twice a week, I could fit 4 times a week for half an hour into my schedule. Will it help me maintain what I have achieved in the gym?

Thanks

Hi i was swimming a few days a week but mainly breast stroke and kicking my legs with a float. it does keep you toned but not as sculpted as strength training. Just more toned and slim but it did aggravate my back . I suffered a disc extrusion a year ago and still plays up after certain activities, swimming being one of them as my back was arching especially breast stroke.