No matter what you see on TV, there is no miracle drug that will get you into shape; it takes a combination of eating right and moving your body. Diet and exercise go hand-in-hand. I am NOT a fitness buff. I hate to exercise and I love to eat. However, there is one form of exercise that doesn’t feel like exercise at all to me – Swimming! The problem? I live in Ohio, and it’s February and it’s 20 degrees and not “swimming season”. Thankfully, with membership to our nearby Snap Fitness, I also get exclusive access to a lap pool, hot tub, steam room and sauna.
I signed up Saturday. Today was Day 2 of lap swimming and my body is feeling the burn, and the cramps and the aches…not surprising for muscles that haven’t been getting workouts. But slipping into that water is bliss to me, even with my muscles cramping because they don’t know what I’m doing to them. I reward them with a post-workout hot tub soak .
Why Swimming? Besides a love for the water and knowing this will motivate me to do the work, swimming is an amazing workout. It provides cardio, strength and resistance training all in one. Swimming actually takes MORE cardio effort than running. Water is 800 times denser than air, each stroke is like a mini resistance workoutfor the entire body—especially your core, hips, arms, shoulders, and glutes. Whew! No wonder I’m feeling the burn!
How Do I Start? As I stated, I am not a fitness buff. I have also never been a competitive swimmer. I swim because I love the water. I’m self-taught, for the most part, other than YCMA classes as a youth. I was blessed to grow up with a backyard pool, too. So, how did I know where to start with a swim workout? To get myself started and build up my breathing and technique, I have applied the principles of any workout to my swim workout: warm-up, workout, cool-down. Once I feel comfortable with basic laps, I’m sure “Google” will provide me with many water workout options.
What Stroke is the Best? The best stroke is whatever you are comfortable with, to start, in my opinion. If you aren’t a strong swimming – don’t jump in a pool and go straight for the Freestyle…please, don’t!! In high school, I did 50 laps (about 1 mile) freestyle for my swimming final. Today, I did 2. And next time, my goal will be to do 3 or 4. Anyhoo…the strokes:
Most of my laps are currently breaststroke, because it is my strongest. I add lengths of freestyle and backstroke, for a change-up and to try to get stronger on those strokes. Each time I swim, I hope to add one additional length of freestyle. I doubt I will ever be a Butterflyer – I’ve never been very good at it.
I hope something in this post has provided some information, insight, motivation or even entertainment.
