Swimming Is One Of The Best Workouts You Can Get

by: James Davis


Remember when you were young and you couldn’t wait until summer to go swimming and play in the water? Hopefully you learned how to swim when you were a child but if you didn’t, it is never too late to learn. Swimming is not only the best, proven exercise that you can do but also the psychological benefits of swimming can be very fulfilling. Many medical studies have proven this to be a fact for your health and it is also a lot of fun as well.

Swimming builds muscle strength and also builds your physical stamina. Everyone is aware that water has resistance and provides your body with support to make exercise easier. This is very beneficial to elderly people as well as people who suffer from muscular or joint ailments. Always check with your doctor before starting a new exercise regime if you have any physical problems or not. Swimming can also produce great results for your cardiovascular system.

Remember to always start out slow and build up as your body adjusts to the demands of swimming. You can begin with a hand over hand swim and then work up the breaststroke and more demanding forms of swimming. As mentioned before telling your doctor about your new regime is a wise step to take. You may want to consider getting into harder workouts over time such as water aerobics, which is great for your arm and thigh muscles. It’s also good for increasing your heart rate.

Make a flexible schedule that you can live with easily. 30 minutes, when first beginning, will insure that you get the maximum benefit of your workout. It is actually better to swim in shorter blocks of time, according to medical studies and will help you not to become bored with your routine.

An important thing to think is about your swimming technique, do you really know how to swim properly? Take the time to learn. Learn correctly how to do the different styles of swimming such as the breaststroke or backstroke. This will increase the benefits of your swimming workout overall. Get into some kind of routine, flowing from one style of swimming to another, make your workout as varied as you can to keep your interest. Find what works for you and remember to include easy routines as well as more difficult ones. Just keep swimming and don’t make any excuses and find the times that are right for you.

If you can use them, in the pool that you have available, think about wearing flippers. They provide extra resistance and naturally teach your body the correct way to swim with your head lower in the water and your feet and legs higher. If your not doing it correctly then you are wasting a lot of time and energy in the pool without getting all the benefits you want. Another thing you need to be aware of is the importance of wearing the correct swimwear, yes you actually have to get in a bathing suit. That’s enough to put most people off but don’t let it discourage you, you are there to exercise and one day soon you will look better and feel better about it as time goes on.

The point is to get out there and do it, even if you have never learned to swim, just remember that it is the best exercise in the world for you and splashing around in the water is always fun. Soon you will feel better and look better, take a friend along with you and share in the fun.


About The Author

James Davis is a staff writer at http://www.fitness-digest.com and is an occasional contributor to several other websites, including http://www.ultimate-relaxation.com.