If you’ve been thinking about adding swimming to your exercise routine you’re probably aware of the many great reasons to do so. If you haven’t considered jumping into the pool here’s why you should.
The Benefits of Swimming
- sustainable cardiovascular workout
- promotes lean, long muscles
- develops core strength
- increases flexibility
Unlike running or other cardio workouts, swimming can be sustained for much longer and is lower impact. This makes it a much faster way to develop your cardio without a lot of conditioning. Your ability to swim for longer periods of time also allows you to burn lots of calories without feeling as much like you’re burning lots of calories.
Weight training tends to develop dense compact muscles and swimming develops lean muscles. It is important to build both different muscle systems to optimize your physical fitness. Adding a day or two of swimming can give you a workout while also giving you a break from your normal high-impact routine. This makes you less prone to injury.
Swimming engages numerous muscle groups at once and is an excellent way to enhance your core workout. Swimming in a heated pool in particular can do great things for the muscles as well as your flexibility. The warm water relaxes you as well as your muscles. If you swim after a more intense workout it also burns lactic acid, which helps you avoid soreness the following day.
Adding swimming to your routine is easy. A gym with an indoor pool allows you to do your swimming year round. How much swimming and what type of swimming you should do depends largely upon your current workout regimen as well as your fitness goals. MediPlan can help determine the perfect exercise routine to get you started!