Swimming As An Exercise

April 20, 2011

Regular physical exercise is very important if you want to keep yourself fit. There are many different options for working out such as yoga, aerobics, Pilates, jogging, weight training, and many more.
Swimming is a very enjoyable sport as well as a complete exercise in itself. If you perform all the strokes of swimming such as the breast stroke, freestyle, butterfly, dolphin, and so on, each and every muscle of your body gets stimulated. Swimming also makes your lungs and heart stronger.

Swimming is a great health activity that you can continue for a life time. Regular swimming gives your muscles amazing strength, builds immunity, and enhances oxygen intake.

The best thing about swimming as compared to other exercises is that you do not over work out and there is no chance of an injury. For example, while performing exercises on land, you might twist your ankle, injure your knee joint, or hurt your back, but none of these can happen while swimming. This is because the water acts as a cushion that protects your delicate joints from excessive stress.

If you are overweight and want to shape up your body, swimming can bring you wonderful results within three to six months.

Not only does it help you burn fat, but it also makes your muscles stronger. Swimming is a great way to burn calories. If you swim for an hour a day, it means you are burning as much as 700 to 900 calories during your swimming sessions.

Gradually, you will see the extra fat deposits around your belly, hips, and thighs go away.

Since swimming involves the movement of all the joints in your body, your joints become more flexible. This is good, because the more flexible you are, the lesser the chances of you suffering from problems in the joints.

Swimming can keep you free from mental stress and make your mind relaxed. For this you need to do the following:

• Swim in a relaxed state without putting in too much effort.
• Focus on your strokes and nothing else.
• Simply concentrate on the rhythm of your movements.

By following these steps when you come out of the pool, you will feel relaxed and refreshed.

Despite all the great benefits of swimming as an exercise, you should not opt for it if you had suffered from some serious ailment such as a heart problem or some injury in the recent past or if you are suffering from high blood pressure. Do consult your physician before starting taking up swimming.