7 Amazing Benefits of Swimming

 7 Amazing Benefits of Swimming

If your workout is rut, dive into the pool to improve your physical and mental health!

For those who are tired of treadmills and spin classes and are looking for new challenges to push themselves further, swimming will be the ultimate workout choice.

Pools and open water swimming are becoming more and more popular, for example, a Swim England survey found that about 47% of British people are engaged in swimming and about 7 million people enjoy swimming once a week. But it's easy to understand why.

By adding swimming to your regular workout schedule, you'll be able to do excellent full-body exercise while balancing your physical and mental balance .

For those of you who haven't read this far and are still wondering if you should start swimming, here are seven benefits of swimming for your health and fitness .

1: Swimming is a low-intensity exercise

Even if you have no swimming experience, it's never too late to start swimming. Aerobic swimming can switch between intense and rehab workouts by simply changing the pace.

Jane McCormick , one of the members who set the world's fastest record (1 round trip, 1.5 round trips) for the English Channel crossing team relay swim, and who works for Nike Swim, the president of Open Swim UK , cuts out as follows.

"Swimming has been regarded as a great all-round sport that serves as both a dedicated sport and a complement to other sports."

"Multiple strokes improve cardio-respiratory fitness, while buoyancy reduces the load on your body while keeping your heart rate, and it 's less stressful on your joints than running or cycling .

2: Ideal for rehabilitation

Unlike high-intensity sports such as running and cycling, swimming is a low-intensity activity, making it an ideal activity for rehabilitation from injuries . The water absorbs the impact and supports the body, so there is no extra pressure on the joints.

It can also strengthen connective tissue because muscles must be moved hard to resist water resistance .

In the rehabilitation of joint injuries, it is often advised to gradually strengthen the muscles that cover the joints, but such rehabilitation is easier in water where the affected area is not overloaded. Jane adds:

"As a result of having a person who had knee surgery work on a 12-week swimming training as a rehabilitation, the knee extension force after one year increased by 32% compared to the person who rehabilitated at a facility other than the pool, and the knee flexion strength also increased. Increased by 50% 

3: Improvement of VO2 Max (maximum oxygen uptake)

If you want to improve your speed and stamina so that you can exercise more comfortably, improving your VO2 max ( maximum oxygen uptake ) is important, but swimming is the best sport to improve your VO2 max .

VO2 Max is a physiological measurement that indicates the maximum amount of oxygen that the body can take in during exercise. The higher the value, the higher the efficiency of swimming.

Jane explains:

"Limiting the amount of oxygen during swimming improves VO2 max. When the face is in water, the amount of oxygen is limited, so the vital capacity increases."

Jane also cites a variety of repetitive drills to boost VO2 max, using butterfly and crawl kicks as examples.

"Wear the swim fins and swim as long as you can while doing a dolphin kick in the water. Repeat this exercise 8 times and gradually increase the distance. If you continue this for about half a year, VO2 Max will It should improve significantly. It also improves overall performance. "

The better the VO2 Max, but it only anaerobic threshold ( AT: Anaerobic Threshold ) also increased. Jane adds:

"A higher anaerobic threshold increases your tolerance for increased lactic acid, which allows you to perform better and speed up for longer periods of time."

4: Improvement of mental health
The UK Mental Health Charity Mind states that one in four British people experience some form of mental health problem each year.

Physical exercise has already proven to be an effective solution to these mental health problems, and even those without exercise habits can reduce their risk of depression by at least three times a week by exercising at least three times a week .

The results of a survey conducted by YouGov at the request of Swim England in 2018 further strengthen this fact.

The findings show that swimming habits have a tremendous effect on improving mental health, and that 1.4 million adults find that swimming has a dramatic effect on reducing anxiety and depressive symptoms .

In addition, a survey of 3.3 million people with exercise habits in the UK found that 43% of those who habitually swim were more than before they started swimming. happier , and 26% had troublesome daily tasks. The result is that it has become possible to tackle with high motivation .

5: Higher calorie burning rate than normal exerciseIf

It is possible to burn up to 350 kcal just by swimming at a constant pace for 30 minutes, and if it is a hard stroke (freestyle, butterfly, etc.), the amount of combustion is doubled. will be .

In addition, swimming is the cost performance of the amount of exercise. also excellent in . The exercise intensity when moving in water for 30 minutes is equivalent to 1 hour on land. Swimming is a great workout for modern people who have limited time to exercise.

6: Acquire well-proportioned muscles

The density of water is about 800 times that of air, so it has a high muscle tightening effect . The natural resistance of water increases muscle strength and endurance, which helps to build confidence in the body.
High- speed swimming strengthens fast muscle fibers and enhances instantaneous power, while long-distance and long-distance swimming is effective for cardiopulmonary stamina and slow muscle fibers that improve endurance .
There is also a way to tighten a specific part of the body. If you want to tighten your upper body, put a buoy between your legs and use your core and arms to move forward. If you want to tighten your lower body, try a backstroke or a butterfly kick.

7: Increase the effectiveness of other sports and training

A OnePoll study found that 87% of people who enjoyed swimming experienced increased stamina in running and other fitness activities, and 89% of those who added swimming to their fitness activities experienced increased fitness and strength. The result is that.
Swimming in the pool is suitable for active recovery as it relaxes and stimulates the muscles . It also increases your heart rate , making it ideal for maintaining and improving cardiopulmonary health .