Swimming (cont.)
What are the benefits of swimming?
There are plenty of reasons to swim! Here's a list that should get you
motivated.
Low impact
There's no ground impact when you swim, and so you protect the joints from
stress and strain. In fact, the Arthritis Foundation strongly recommends
swimming and water activities for this reason, so much so that they sponsor
water classes all over the country (check http://www.arthritis.org for information).
Water aerobics classes are also desirable for this reason, because even if you
do jump and hit the bottom of the pool, you do so with less force because you're
buoyant in the water. Not only that, but if you wear or hold a flotation device
during a water aerobics class, the impact is even less.
Can be continued for a lifetime
Because there's no impact with swimming, it can be continued for a lifetime.
If you check the United States Masters Swimming (http://www.usms.org/) Web site
for age categories of their swim competitions, you will find a 100- to 104-year-old age group! And the master of fitness, Jack La Lanne, still swims one hour every
day at age 93!
Builds cardiorespiratory fitness
Swimming improves endurance. In one study of sedentary middle-aged men and
women who did swim training for 12 weeks, maximal oxygen consumption improved
10% and stroke volume (the amount of blood pumped with each beat which indicates
heart strength) improved as much as 18%.
Builds muscle mass
In a study of men who completed an eight-week swimming program, there was a
23.8% increase in the triceps muscle (the back of the arm). My take on muscle
mass and swimming is that if you have been doing no resistance exercise at all
and you start to swim, you will certainly get more toned and you may even gain
mass like the men in this study. But even without the gain in mass, it's well
worth the strength and tone that you will almost certainly gain.
An alternative when injured
When athletes are injured, particularly in the lower extremities, they are
frequently told to swim to maintain their fitness level. Swimming helps them
stay in shape, and it's even part of the rehabilitation. That's because the
resistance of the water makes the muscles work hard without the strain or impact
that is experienced on land.
It's a break from the summer heat
There's nothing like it during the hot days of summer, whether it's at the
beach or in the pool. It's relaxing, the movements are smooth and rhythmic, and
it's a great workout.
It's a family affair
Swimming and other water activities are something the entire family can
share. With rising levels of obesity in children as well as adults in the United
States, family physical activities and good role-modeling may be one way to stem
the epidemic of inactivity and obesity facing our nation.
Burns calories
Swimming burns lots of calories, anywhere from 500-650 per hour depending on
how efficiently you swim (you burn more flopping around than swimming cleanly!)
and how buoyant you are (the more body fat you have, the more you float and the
fewer calories it takes to swim). Very early and original research on swimming
and calorie expenditure showed that swimming, regardless of the stroke, burned
about 89% of the calories burned during running and 97% of the calories burned
during cycling for the same time period. Stated another way, swimming burns
about 11% fewer calories than running but only 3% fewer calories than biking.
One important caveat about this data is that calorie expenditure is dependent on
the intensity of exercise, and so it's entirely possible to burn more calories
swimming than running in the same period of time as long as you swim hard
enough, and particularly so if compared to running at light intensity.
Next: How do I get started with swimming? »
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