Swimming: A Great Workout

Do you notice how swimmers have these lean bodies?  Have you observed their muscles and the figures of their bodies?

Wouldn’t you want to have the same physiques – with long, lean and toned muscles? 

Swimming, though low impact, can provide individuals with a great workout.  It exercises almost all of the body muscles as you swim.  You involve your arms, legs, back and other major muscle parts. As it is low-impact, the chances of injury are very minimal – making it a perfect form of exercise for almost anyone, including the elderly, pregnant women and those still recovering from injury.  Even those who are deemed to be in excellent general condition will find swimming to be a challenging workout.

If done in longer periods, swimming would be a wonderful aerobic exercise.  You will definitely find this easily tiring, especially if you are new to the sport.  The demands to the body are great – that is why beginners are not able to go several laps.  But continuing on, and improving your swimming techniques will eventually pay off.  In no time, the workout will feel naturally and you will be able to swim at greater lengths and periods. 

Swimming will be a nice way to improve overall muscle endurance as well.  With a variety of muscles involved, you will get the conditioning aspired for.  In fact, many athletes from other sports cross train in swimming for the benefits derived out of it. 

For those wanting to lose weight, it would be comforting to know that swimming burns a lot of calories.  For a man that weighs around 180 lbs and swims for 60 minutes of moderate intensity – around 650 calories are burned.  If you want to find out an estimate of how much calories you burn in swimming for your specific weight, and for a particular time period – there are fitness calculators available over the Internet you can use or simply refer to a pre-calculated chart. 

Swimming not only makes one look good, but it also makes one feel better.  It helps to reduce stress and relaxes the mind & body.  A regular swimming exercise regimen would thus be able to provide one with the many health benefits that go with it. It is definitely a much safer alternative to other forms of exercises that may cause serious injuries.  So the next time you think of getting a great workout, try swimming – and you’ll see the difference.