Swimming is an excellent form of exercise you can do across your lifespan.
Ross Johnson from Swim4Life says swimming is a wonderful exercise because it:
- Uses almost all the major muscle groups and places a vigorous demand on your heart and lungs.
- Develops muscle strength and endurance while improving posture and flexibility.
- Is especially useful for people who are overweight, pregnant, or with leg or lower back problems.
- Is great sport for people of all ages and all proficiency levels.
- Provides most of the aerobic benefits that running does, with many of the benefits of resistance training thrown in.
- Does not put the strain on connective tissues that running, aerobics and some weight-training regimens do.
- Helps to control your weight, if you follow a healthy energy restricted diet, by decreasing body fat, increasing muscle mass and increasing metabolic rate without the effects of gravity on your joints
- Improves your mental health and mood as it relieves stress, tension, anger and depression as a result of ‘feel good’ hormones being released during physical activity.
- Helps smokers quit – research indicates that smokers who exercise are twice as successful in their attempts to quit.
- Increases your quality of life – when you are physically inactive, your body slowly loses strength, stamina and ability to function optimally.
Read more:
5 ways to get the most out of a treadmill workout
5 exercises you could be doing wrong
5 floor exercises for flat abs
Image: Photo of a man swimming from Shutterstock