Swimming is an excellent low-impact form of exercise. Unlike many other sports as swimming is non weight bearing it does not strain any of your joints through supporting your body weight and movements throughout exercise.
Swimming can be done in swimming pools, lakes, rivers - or anywhere with enough water to allow you to complete the stroke! It can greatly improve fitness, strength and stamina and is a good total body work out.
In swimming you can choose from several different strokes including, front crawl, breaststroke, backstroke and butterfly. Each different stroke will exercise different muscle groups.
Lane Swimming is a particularly popular form of keeping fit, with many people swimming regular sessions to improve their health and fitness. Swimming sessions could involve swimming a certain number of lengths (rotating which swimming stroke is used) or more sophisticated sessions which include interval training and periods of intense activity followed by a recovery.
Swimming helps with breathing and will strengthen your cardiovascular system. It is good to include as cross training when training for other sports. For example, with running swimming can help build stamina and aid breathing, but will have the added bonus of acting as almost a water massage for tired limbs.
