Swimming is an amazing workout as it requires your body to use all of your muscles. Whether you are swimming butterfly, freestyle, backstroke, or breaststroke you will get a full body workout in. As you may know from experience, when you are in the water it is a lot harder to move your body due to the resistance the water provides. Because of this your body is working a lot harder. Thirty minutes of in water exercise equates to 45 minutes of on land exercise according to a Benefits of Swimming article. Being that I was a swimmer most of my life I am really passionate about this topic. Therefore, in this blog I am going to discuss the benefits of swimming as an exercise. 

Benefits of Swimming for Workout Purposes: 

● Lower Impact 

○ As for most exercises, swimming increases the body’s heart rate while in motion. However, different from other sports, swimming takes some of the impact of stress off your body. Not only is swimming non-contact, but you avoid things such as running on hard concrete which can hurt your leg muscles or knocking into other competitors causing injury. This low impact has a lot of benefits for your body as you grow older. 

● Health and Endurance 

○ Swimming as a workout is a fantastic way to build endurance, muscle strength, and cardiovascular fitness. This is a great opportunity to maintain a healthy weight and improve your heart and lung muscles. 

● The Exercise With No Sweating

○ Being a swimmer for 12+ years, I soon realized that one of the great perks of the sport is not ever sweating. Of course the body is producing sweat at the same rate as usual when swimming. However, because you are underwater you never have to worry about the feeling of sweat and grime! 

● Calorie Burner 

○ Not only is swimming a great form of cardio, you are also toning your body as you move your arms, legs, abdominal, etc. This results in a large number of calories being burned. Being that all parts of your body are being put into work, swimming is an amazing way to tone muscles, build strength, and burn off those calories. 

With all this being said, I highly encourage you to try out swimming as your next form of exercise. Not only does it have various benefits for your body and health, it is also an easy way to switch up your workout routine. Obviously there are many more reasons to try out the sport, but if this blog wasn’t convincing enough click here for more information! 

Do not get discouraged, 

Cora Shircel