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Swimming and its Benifits

Swimming is such good exercise that it could easily be a lifetime sport with benefits for the whole body. So, what are these benefits of swimming that make swimming stand out from other physical activities?

  1. It is a very good recreational activity for the whole family to enjoy together.
  2. If you are a runner and train regularly, perhaps you could do well with an activity that keeps your heart rate high and takes some impact stress off your body. This will also help you lose weight.
  3. If you have suffered an injury doing land exercise and want a change that prevents you from stressing your knee or ankle, swimming is the best for you as when you kick in the water, do water aerobics or pool running.
  4. Swimming regularly also builds endurance and muscle strength, besides cardiovascular fitness. You can use it as a cross-training segment to your regular workouts.
  5. You could swim as a warm-up exercise and then do a land workout. As you swim regularly, you will find it increases your heart rate and stimulates your muscle activity. Once you finish your land workout, swim a few laps as a cool down exercise. This will let the blood course through your muscles.
  6. It also lowers blood pressure, thereby reducing the risk of a stroke.
  7. It reduces your resting heart rate and increases your cardiac input, causing more blood to be pumped by the heart to the rest of the body. By reducing your resting respiratory rate, it increases blood flow to the lungs and helps burn calories.
  8. Swimming also helps in weight loss as it burns calories at the rate of three calories a mile per pound of bodyweight.
  9. The arm pull action of swimming helps build your lung muscles, triceps, chest, shoulders and back and leg muscles.
  10. Being a non-load bearing sport with the joints not under severe pressure, swimming contributes vastly to speedy injury recovery.
  11. Swimming uses all muscle groups and keeps the joints flexible.
  12. Swimming exercises and tones the muscles of the entire body, giving you a good body shape.
  13. Swimming also does a lot of good for your overall strength, suppleness and stamina.
  14. It is a gentler exercise that helps those less fit to gain in stamina. If you cannot do weight bearing exercise or are arthritic or pregnant, or have back problems or weight problems, you should go in for swimming as exercise.
  15. It improves blood circulation.
  16. It enhances your physique or figure.
  17. Swimming teaches life skills such as time management, self-discipline, goal-setting and sportsmanship. In general, <>swimmers do better at academics than non-swimmers.

For all these reasons, you should become a swimmer and avail of the maximum benefits of health that is available to you by swimming.