Five Reasons to Take Up Swimming

Mind is All

Have you toyed with the idea of taking up swimming, but just can't seem to make it happen? Check out these five reasons to make swimming part of your fitness routine.

Swimming is a gentle, yet strenuous form of exercise, easy on joints but tough on muscles. If you’ve recently injured yourself (pulled a muscle during a long run or twisted an ankle while zipping around the basketball court), you’ll find swimming to be the miracle exercise form. The cool water soothes swollen joints and muscles, and the low impact nature of the sport protects your joints from further injury.

Swimming is also a great way to burn a lot of calories in a short workout. If you push yourself and choose a challenging swim stroke, you can zap away plenty of calories. If you are a 150 pounds and will swim for a half hour, you can expect to burn about 360 calories if you do the butterfly or crawl, 330 calories if you breast stroke it, and 200 calories if you just play around in the water, swimming on and off.

Swimming is a full-body workout. If you vary your strokes, you can work just about every major muscle group. If you divide forty minutes of swimming into ten minutes of each of the following swim strokes (crawl, butterfly, breast stroke, and backstroke) you'll work all of your major upper and lower body muscles.

Swimming is a refreshing option year round. Swimming is the obvious choice in the summer, especially over running or other super-hot sports. Too cold to run outside, go to the heated pool at the gym! On cold winter days, make sure you bring a set of dry clothes and blow dry your hair completely before you leave the gym so you can appreciate the beauty of swimming without getting chilled.

Swimming is inexpensive. If you live in a community with a swimming pool or near a lake, it may even be free for you part of the year. For all-season swimming, you'll need access to a pool (most charge a monthly membership fee), a suit, and goggles--that's it! Bingo! A year-round fitness program at an affordable price.