Swimming can help a person’s personal fitness level in a number of ways, while being available to those of all shapes, sizes, ages and abilities. This total body, cardiovascular workout helps improve heart rate and blood flow while keeping body fat off, but this is not the only benefit one’s body will enjoy from the activity. Peripheral motions, along with the low impact nature of the workout offers many benefits, see the list below for a deeper insight.
Adding Muscle Tone
Swimming through water provides 12 times more resistance than the earth’s atmosphere, offering a more challenging cardiovascular activity. The fluid and constant resistance of the water can be mimicked in such exercises as using resistance bands of or machines, without the equalizing motion of raising and lowering repetitions.
Controlled Respiratory Action
It is impossible to breath while underwater, which forces swimmers to regulate their air intake on a less frequent basis than they usually would outside of water. With that high volume of moisture surrounding swimmers, the air they are breathing is much easier to inhale compared to the dry alternative at the gym. Swimming has been known to help improve asthma symptoms in patients up to a year after they stop swimming.
Low Impact
The human body is naturally buoyant in water, which makes for a very low impact exercise. The constant resistance is the main point of contact, which is spread across a swimmers entire body. Should the pool be heated, this will further loosen joints and benefit swimmers in the water.
Flexibility
The motions of different swimming strokes offer a wider range of motion for body parts that cannot be mimicked in a gym. Refining these strokes offer better flexibility across one’s entire body. As Swimmer’s skills improve, their reach for each stroke will elongate, furthering their flexibility which improves posture and overall health.
Endorphin Boosts
Tranquility in exercise is something athletes look for during long range cardio. Running on a track in circles can sometimes stress athletes out and become boring. Studies have shown that swimming can produce endorphins similar to the relaxation poses in yoga.
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