Are you a water baby? Do you enjoy water sports or look forward to going to a holiday resort and take a good dip in a pool? Does other forms of workout make you lose interest easily? Then Swimming regularly is something you may want to consider. Along with being an important life skill, swimming is an efficient way to burn calories as well.
Fitness experts and doctors recommend adults to get 150 minutes of moderate activity or 75 minutes of vigorous activity each week. Children need a minimum of 60 minutes of aerobic exercise each day. Swimming can be one of the fun ways to incorporate movement in your regimen and stay in shape. Both adults and kids alike can enjoy it. It is an excellent way to work your entire body and cardiovascular system. An hour of swimming burns almost as many calories as running, without all the impact on your bones and joints.
According to Morgan Mabe, Swim Coach at Asphalt Green in New York City, “Swimming is a full body workout that introduces new challenges. It engages every fiber of muscle from your core to your extremities. There are no other sports equally tough on your upper body and your lower body while being gentle on joints”.
Swimming has tonnes of benefits for your mind, body, and soul. One of the biggest benefits of swimming is that it can be a full-body workout swimming increases your heart rate without stressing your body, tones your muscles, builds strength and endurance.
With swimming, not just your muscles that get a good workout but your cardiovascular system too. It makes your heart and lungs strong.
Even for people suffering from conditions like arthritis, bone issues, injuries or other conditions swimming is usually considered safe. It is however advisable to seek medical opinion before you start swimming if you have any such health concerns.
In some instances, Swimming has also helped reduce some of your pain or improve your recovery from an injury. One of the studies inferred that people with Osteoarthritis reported significant reductions in joint pain and stiffness, and experienced less physical limitation after engaging in activities like swimming and cycling.
One of the benefits of swimming also includes improvement in your sleep, especially for people with insomnia, swimming helps to sleep better at night. It also boosts your mood.
Researchers evaluated a small group of people with Dementia, and saw an improvement in mood after participating in a 12-week aquatic programme. Swimming and aquatic workouts are not just psychologically beneficial for people with Dementia. It has been shown to boost mood in other people, as well. It also helps manage stress. While more research needs to be done in this area, the researchers conclude that swimming is a potentially powerful way to relieve stress quickly. A lot of working professionals who engage in regular swimming claim that they find it very therapeutic and also helps them to maintain ideal body weight.
If you are new to swimming, you may want to start with taking swimming lessons which are offered in private or group settings. In these classes, you will learn different strokes, breathing techniques, and other handy tips for getting the most from your workout. To get started with swimming, you will first need to find a pool near you. Many gyms and community centers have swimming pools and have batches for men and women separately where you can think of enrolling. There will be separate kids swimming centres too. Many apartments have swimming pools these days that you can make use of. You may want to make a list of the facilities in your area that have a pool, and visit to see which one works well for your lifestyle and budget.
When you learn swimming, you will be familiar with different forms like breaststroke, backstroke, sidestroke, butterfly and freestyle. Each focuses on different muscle groups, and the water provides a gentle resistance. No matter what stroke you swim, you are using most of your muscle groups to move your body through the water.
In summary, swimming is a great activity to get yourself a good workout and reap all its wonderful benefits. So go make swimming part of your lifestyle, enjoy some water splash every now and then and stay fit.