1. Heart Helper Swimming provides unparalleled cardiovascular conditioning, provided you practice consistently and with good technique. While other forms of exercise may be more effective at elite levels (such as running or cycling), incorporating swimming into a cross-training routine and pushing yourself in practice will result in overall improved fitness.
2. Balance Your Build Swimming builds longer, leaner muscles that complement the shorter denser muscles that develop from weight training. These "swimmer's muscles" also help boost metabolism to keep calories burning longer.
3. Cross-training Swimming not only boosts cardiovascular capacity while increasing muscle strength, but it also gives your body a break from higher-impact activities like basketball, running, and weightlifting. By creating a balanced workout routine, athletes avoid injury by allowing their body time to heal, while not forgoing daily training sessions.
4. Increased Flexibility A heated pool relaxes muscles, increasing flexibility and enabling important stretching. Also, after intense lactic-acid-building endurance workouts (running, cycling, weights), an easy swim helps flush out toxins preventing muscle tightness and soreness the following day.
5. Strengthen Your Core Swimming develops core body strength because it utilizes all the body's muscles simultaneously. Although 70 percent of a swimmer's effort comes from the upper body, kickboard and fin workouts can provide an excellent leg workout.
And these are the first 5 benefits! In the next blog post, read the last 4 :)
Ceci