Swimming for fitness and fun

Swimming is a great form of exercise for providing an all round workout. All the major muscle groups are worked, strengthening and toning them. Your heart also gets a work out pumping blood around your whole body.

The presence of water has two important benefits. Firstly it provides resistance to your movements meaning you work a little harder and burn more calories than you would do on dry land. If you’ve ever tried walking in waist deep water you’ll know what that feels like. Secondly water supports your body during the exercise. This means that there are none of the bumps and jolts you might suffer otherwise.

As well as a swim suit you may need a swimming cap and many people prefer to wear goggles for comfort. There are public swimming baths in just about every town and city in the UK. The Amateur Swimming Association’s web site, see link below, can help you find your local facilities, lessons and clubs.

How many calories are burned during this activity?

The amount of energy burned over and above your normal activity levels will depend on which swimming stroke you us, how fast you swim and on your own body weight.

For example, a 12 stone adult actively working for 30 minutes will burn off around:

• 130 calories while just gently treading water, about the same as water aerobics
• 192 calories if swimming slowly using breast stroke
• and over 350 calories if swimming vigorously using the front crawl

The same person would have burned around 45 calories by sitting at their desk at work for half an hour.

Many people like the idea of swimming but don’t yet feel comfortable with the thought of wandering around in a swim suit. If that sounds like you then contact your local pool and find out if they have special sessions for adult beginners, or just times when the pool tends to be less busy.

For a broad range of information about swimming you can follow this link to the British Swimming and Amateur Swimming Association web site. You will find lots of encouragement and links to other useful sites to help you get started.