The Benefits of Swimming

Lose weight, trim down, tone up, while exercising your heart!

Swimming is the ultimate sport.  It strengthens and tones your muscles, stimulates your circulation, exercises your heart, increases your energy levels, and is a natural remedy for weight loss.  Other activities, such as walking and biking, focus on specific muscle groups.  Swimming, on the other hand, is a complete full-body exercise which benefits the upper body, torso, legs, heart, circulation, your general strength, and your stamina. 

Unlike high-impact activities like walking, running, and racket sports, swimming occurs in a zero-gravity environment which puts zero stress on your joints.  The weightlessness of water greatly reduces the stress on joints, which virtually eliminates the potential of back, knees, and other muscular injuries that are common in other sports.  Because of this, it is highly recommended by physiotherapists to help patients recover from injuries.

According to the American Heart Association, 30-60 minutes of physical activity 3-4 times per week can help reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes.  In regards to weight loss, swimming can burn an average of 790 calories per hour.  How does this stack up compared to other physical activities?

Source: caloriesperhour.com

Swim your way to stronger bones

A recent study from Israel's Wingate Institute in Netanya found that women who frequently swim laps have greater leg bone mass than women who don't swim at all.  While weight-bearing exercises is a great way to strengthen your bones, swimming is definitely another option, especially for exercises who experience pain and difficulty moving.  Try adding a few laps to your regular routine and swim your way to a ripe old age!

Get your children on the right track

In North America alone, childhood obesity is a growing problem that is linked to childhood diabetes and early onsets of chronic heart disease.  It is essential that your children pick up on the habits of regular exercise early in life; it has been shown that children who exercise regularly will live longer and more productive lives.

Swimming is a fun family activity that will get your children on the right track.  It is also a skill that your children will utilize later in life; it's well known that skills, such as swimming, are picked up more rapidly by young children than by adults.

So get yourself, your family, and your children on a fast track in life!  Go swimming!