Swimming – The best exercise during summers

Summers are here and now the best way to shed those extra calories is definitely swimming. So no need to struggle in the gym when you can just bid adieu to those fat cells by soaking yourself in the cool swimming pool. Read on to know why swimming is such an effective form of exercise during summers.

• Swimming is an excellent form of exercise that can improve the complete physical fitness of a person. Swimming engages mostly all major muscle groups. For example, the standard crawl stroke uses the neck, shoulder, chest, back, triceps, and biceps muscles, the abdominal, low back, and oblique muscles of the midsection, and the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calf muscles of the legs.
• This form of exercise conditions the cardiovascular system. Only 30 minutes of swimming will give the same benefits as walking, running or cycling of the same time.
• Swimming increases joint flexibility, mostly in the neck, shoulders, hips, and midsection area. Most of it is done because of the repetitive twisting movements while your body moves during swimming.
• Swimming is not as rigorous as other land-based activity and do not give added stress to the heart because the activities are done while the body is in a horizontal position. On the contrary, the pressure of the water against skin also enhances blood circulation.
• Since it is an aquatic exercise, a swimmer enjoys from the cooling effects of water. Even if you exercise a lot in a pool you are unlikely to get as exhausted as you do when you work out in a gym.
• Water is an iso-kinetic medium, and so the resistance offered varies in proportion to the muscle force of the person swimming. That is, when the swimmer gives low muscle force against the water, he/she encounters relatively low resistance from the water, and when high muscle force against the water is given, the swimmer receives relatively high resistance from the water.
• Another advantage of aquatic exercise is the cooling effect of the water. Unlike hot weather activity on land, a swimmer is unlikely to overheat when swimming. What could be better than a cool pool, lake or ocean in which to exercise on a hot summer day?
• Swimming is that unique form of exercise that is both rigorous as well as enjoyable. So one should enjoy it most by indulging in slow swimming initially so that it truly relaxes and refreshes in a sweltering summer day.
• Although swimming is excellent exercise, it should be performed in a relaxed manner. Your arms and legs should feel loose and your movements should be balanced and coordinated. If you feel tight or tense, simply slow down and let the water work with you rather than against you. Because the water buoys up your body, you can swim very slowly and still maintain your top-of-the-water body position.

So get all geared up to beat the heat this summer as well as shed those extra flabs in a relaxing, refreshing and a truly enjoyable way.

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Image Credit: Worakit Sirijinda/Freedigitalphotos.net

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