Picture yourself spending a nice relaxing day at the beach or by the pool working on your tan and taking a nice relaxing swim. What a nice way to spend the day. Swimming has always been regarded as an excellent form of recreation but can it really be a beneficial way to lose weight and get fit?
The answer is an astounding yes! First off swimming at a moderate pace for 30 minutes will burn between 250 to 300 calories, the same as walking briskly for a whole 60 minutes. You also get both an upper and lower body workout while swimming because muscles from both are involved to propel you through the water. Swimming has the benefit of working the cardiovascular system as well without the impact to the body's joints that activities like running have.
Swimming has another benefit that most people are unaware of. It is a great strength building exercise! Swimming using any of the various strokes will work the abdominals, quadriceps, hamstrings, gluteals, biceps, triceps, and most of your back muscles. In other words, swimming works all of the major muscle groups in your body. If you've ever seen an Olympic swimmer you will notice how developed their muscles are.
Along with all of the benefits mentioned thus far, swimming is ideal for people who have injuries such as bad knees, for pregnant women, and for the elderly. Swimming greatly decreases the likelihood of bone, joint, and muscle injury because there is no stressful impact but still provides all of the benefits of most conventional exercise programs and as if that wasn't enough, its fun too! Now keep in mind that swimming will probably not help to strengthen bones because it is not a weight bearing exercise.
The main concern is that a lot of people will be out of breath long before they make it to the 30 minute mark and standing around by the side of the pool or just walking around effortlessly will not provide any benefit to you. The way to overcome this is to take a minute or two to rest when you need to, and gradually increase your swim times until 30 minutes of non-stop swimming is within your reach.
Everyone has different activities that they enjoy and those are just fine too but swimming is not only fun but also a great way to lose weight and get fit. It is easy to do and you don't need anything more than a swim suit and access to a pool, lake, or ocean to do it. So what are you waiting for? Grab your swim suit and a towel, get to the pool, lake, or beach, and give those muscles a good workout!
Jim O'Neill is a certified personal fitness trainer and also holds a sports nutrition certification. He has been helping people successfully achieve their weight loss and fitness goals for over 15 years by staying on the cutting edge of weight loss and fitness technology. To learn more about how you can benefit from his easy to use weight loss and fitness programs go to: http://www.mrgymfitness.com/minicourse.php
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