Swimming is one of the excellent ways to exercise for any age and ability. The importance of swimming lessons for water safety can’t be overstated.
Everyone and especially children should be able to swim as any type of exercise is better than none, but swimming is proven to be one of the best. Swimming is best and great for both mind and body, here’s why spending more time in the water is a seriously smart choice.
Here Are Benefits That Demonstrate How Swimming Can Aid Your Health And Fitness.
Low Impact
Swimming generally offers something new which no other aerobic exercise does: the ability to work your body without high impact to your bones and muscles.
When the human body is submerged in water, it automatically becomes lighter. If you are immersed just to the waist your body bears only 50% of your weight.
Sink to your neck and let the water bear up to 90% of your body weight. This also means that the pool provides an ideal place to work stiff muscles and sore joints.
Increased Muscle Tone And Strength
Ever seen an overweight dolphin? We don’t think so. That is because swimming is an amazing regular way to increase muscular strength and muscle tone, especially compared to several other aerobic exercises.
Take running, for example. When a jogger takes few laps around the track, that jogger is only moving his or her body through air.
A swimmer, on the other hand, is pushing forward through water, a substance which is about twelve times as dense as air.
That means that every kick and every arm stroke becomes a resistance exercise and it’s well known that resistance exercises build muscle tone and strength.
Improved Flexibility
Unlike exercise machines in a gym which tend to identify one body part at a time swimming puts the body through a broad range of motion that helps joints and ligaments stay loose and flexible.
The arms generally move in wide arcs, the hips are engaged as the legs scissor through the water, and the head and spine twist from side to side. Plus, with every stroke, as you reach forward, you’re lengthening the body, which not only makes it more efficient in the water; it also helps give you a good stretch from head to toe.
A Healthier Heart
Swimming also helps improve the most important muscle in our body, that is, the heart.
Because swimming is an aerobic exercise, it serves to strengthen the heart, not only helping it to become larger, but making it more efficient in pumping, which leads to better blood flow throughout your body.
Weight Control
Swimming is recognized as one of the biggest calorie burners around, and it’s great for keeping weight under control.
The exact number of calories you burn, of course, depends on your own physiology and the intensity with which you exercise, but as a general rule, for every 10 minutes of swimming, you witness the following:
- Breast stroke will burn 60 calories
- Backstroke torches 80
- Freestyle lights up 100
- Butterfly stroke incinerates an impressive 150
Exercising Without The Sweat
If sweating puts you off other forms of exercise, fear not! As a swimmer, you will never feel sweaty no matter how hard you work because the water around you is constantly cooling you down.
Lowers The Risk Of Diseases
As well as being a great form of cardiovascular exercise, swimming just 30-40 minutes a week will help to guard against heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.
Increases Your Energy Levels
Inactivity and early ageing is often responsible for people’s lack of energy. Just 30 minutes of swimming three times per week can boost your energy levels through increased metabolic rate.
Swimming Slows Down Aging
There is no secret pill to living longer, but the pool is like the fountain of youth. Regular swimming can delay the effects of aging by reducing blood pressure, increasing muscle mass, improving oxygen and blood flow to the brain, and increasing cardiovascular health.
Swimming can also improve physical strength and balance in seniors. Seniors who suffer from joint pains can hit the pool to increase flexibility and to reduce joint inflammation. Lastly, this low-impact sport is easier on the body.
Feeling motivated to grab those goggles now? The water’s great! Jump on in!
To boost the calorie-burning component of swimming, consider using intervals in which you work your hardest for short bursts and then recover.
