The Importance of Swimming

  • Some general tips for swimming

    Before you get in the water:
    • Make sure you know how to swim.
    • Never dive into shallow water
    • Choose a safe environment.
    • Warm up and stretch your muscles and joints before entering the water.
    • Have plenty of fluids on hand and drink regularly.
    • Don’t overdo it if you’re just starting out.
    • See your doctor if you haven’t exercised for a long time.

    Health benefits of swimming

    Swimming is a great workout because you need to move your whole body against the resistance of the water.

    Swimming is a good all-round activity because it:
    • keeps your heart rate up but takes some of the impact stress off your body
    • builds endurance, muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness
    • helps maintain a healthy weight, healthy heart and lungs
    • tones muscles and builds strength
    • provides an all-over body workout, as nearly all of your muscles are used during swimming.

    Other benefits of swimming

    Swimming has many other benefits including:
    • being a relaxing and peaceful form of exercise
    • alleviating stress
    • improving coordination, balance and posture
    • improving flexibility
    • providing good low-impact therapy for some injuries and conditions
    • providing a pleasant way to cool down on a hot day
    • being available in many places – you can swim in swimming pools, beaches, lakes, dams and rivers. Make sure that the environment you choose to swim in is safe and NEVER SWIM ALONE!

    Swimming for recreation

    Swimming is a great recreational activity for people of all ages. Recreational swimming can provide you with a low-impact workout and it’s also a good way to relax and feel good. Common swimming styles in recreational swimming are breaststroke, backstroke, and freestyle.

    Competitive swimming

    Some people who enjoy swimming want to take it to a competitive level. This can provide the health benefits of a vigorous workout as well as the fun and thrill of competition. The main strokes used in competitive swimming are breaststroke, freestyle, backstroke and butterfly. The distances swum in competition swimming can vary from 20 meters in a pool to much further distances in open water.