The Multiple Benefits of Swimming

Shivering you dip your toes into the water and move slowly in with ticklish pain. Not wanting to suffer anymore you jump into the water and submerge yourself. Waking up in the morning and going swimming is very difficult. No one wants to jump into the water at 6:00 A.M. in the morning. Despite the pain you feeling getting into the water there is lots of good reasons to suffer the discomfort.

Next to jogging, swimming burns the most calories out of all conventional exercises. 11.6 calories are burnt every minute. Therefore a 40 minute swim burns around 460 calories. Swimming has additional calorie burning benefits even after you get out of the pool. The increased cardiovascular exercise will speed up your metabolism so you can continue to burn calories even while working at your desk.

Swimming also helps to build muscles. If you have ever watched professional swimmers you will notice that they have pronounced upper body strength and perfectly shaped muscles. Their figures are slick and graceful. Almost a perfect specimen of a fine tuned human being. These professionals got this way because swimming also offers resistance training with each stroke and kick. The water acts like a resistance band or light weights that pull against your body.

Unlike weight lifting swimming doesn't concentrate on each muscle in your body. Instead it works every muscle at the same time. As you reach out to fulfill your stroke you will work out your back, stomach, arms, shoulders and every little muscle they contain. Similar muscle toning happens when you kick except with your legs, buttocks and lower stomach. Swimming is seen as one of the best overall workouts when compared to other exercises which concentrate only on a few areas.

After each swim you might feel relaxed and limber. One of the reasons for this is because with each lap you are fully stretching your body. Yoga might stretch the big muscles but swimming stretches all the little ones. To maximize the benefits of swimming and stretching you can complement your work out with a progressive yoga program. Engaging in yoga just prior to a swimming session helps to prevent injury.

If you have some reservations about getting in the pool and engaging in such vigorous exercise you can always join a swimming aerobics program or swim a shorter period of time. As your strength increases and you are able to handle the breathing you can increase both the amount of time and the intensity of the workout. Eventually you will get up to a full body workout.