If you want to learn to swim jump into the water. On dry land, no frame of mind is ever going to help you. — Bruce Lee
Also, water’s buoyancy make swimming the ideal exercise for physical therapy for anyone looking for less-strenuous exercise. Swimming provides exercise and recreational fun for people of any age, size or fitness level. Basic swimming strokes are easy to learn in a few lessons, and can be offered to children and adults alike. Swimming is one of the safest and most effective forms of exercise. It is almost impossible to get injured while swimming and it is also a great workout for your body. Whether you are trying to lose weight or stay in shape, swimming has something to offer just about anyone. Here are 5 facts about recreational swimming that you may or may not know.
1. You can swim for exercise no matter what your age.
Some people teach their infants and toddlers how to swim so that they will not fear the water. Mostly people who begin swimming later, have the tendency to fear water. People well into their eighties swim regularly to stay in shape.
2. A chunk of US population does not not know how to swim.
Many of them learned as young children but never go to a pool, lake, river, or ocean any more and have forgotten how to swim over the years.
3. Swimming in extremely cold water can be very dangerous and is not advised.
People with heart conditions or other ailments, should avoid swimming in water that is too cold. Cold water cools down the human body 25 times faster that cold air does, so swimming in water that is below about 15 degrees Celsius should never be undertaken. This can lead to thermal shock, hypothermia, and eventual death.
4. It isn’t really true that you shouldn’t swim for about an hour after eating.
This old wives tale has been told to kids around the world and has become more or less a popular rule of swimming safety. Let’s see what a popular myth-buster website, Misconception Junction has to say about it:
Similar to when exercising where your body requires greater blood flow to your limbs, food digestion requires greater blood flow to the stomach to help in the process of breaking down the foods. This is why it is believed that digestion would divert the circulation of blood toward the gut and, to some extent, away from the muscles, which could cause cramping. The truth is though that we have enough blood to keep all of our parts supplied and most experts doubt that a full stomach could be the cause of cramps, should they occur while swimming, which of course is not that uncommon, whether you eat or not before swimming.
5. Swimming is a good way to to keep fit.
After all, swimming uses almost all of your major muscle groups. It places a vigorous demand on your heart and lungs. Swimming is also popular with people who are extremely overweight, pregnant, or suffering from some kind of injury. When you swim breaststroke or backstroke, you’re burning about the same number of calories as a fast walk or a slow jog. However, swimming does have a reputation for being less effective than other forms of exercise when it comes to weight loss.
Swimming in cold water stimulates your appetite so that you want to eat more. Many people feel extremely hungry after they’ve been swimming, especially if the water is cold. As a result they simply replace all the calories they’ve burned with a large post-exercise meal, completely wiping out any potential weight loss benefits of the swimming.
Exercises can be put into 3 categories — good, better or best. Any form of exercise, be it swimming, walking or lifting weights, is good if the alternative is doing nothing. If you enjoy swimming, then stick with it. It’s more important to be consistent with an exercise program you enjoy than to be inconsistent with one you hate. When you boil it down, losing weight is all about burning more calories than you eat. Any form of exercise, swimming included, will get the job done. Just make sure to guard against the urge to eat more after you get out of the pool.
