Exercise Of the week: Swimming

photo credit: Livestrong

It hot season here in Nigeria and swimming season is in session. Jumping in the pool is great was to stay cool, have fun and get in some exercise

Swimming is a great physical activity with numerous health benefits. Swimming for fitness is a great form of all-round exercise, awesome cardio, completely no-impact on your joints, and a calorie-torching total-body workout. It also stretches and lengthens your body.

Swimming is kinder to the body than land-based exercise because your natural buoyancy in water helps you avoid the jarring knocks that can cause injuries. Our body is about one-tenth of its weight in the water as on land and in the water, you will have a larger range of motion. So it might be time to get into the pool if you're looking to exercise and might have difficulties with weight-bearing, land-based workouts. It's a great option for people who have arthritis, back problems, extreme weight problems or are pregnant. To mix moves up to target different muscles, vary your strokes between breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke and freestyle.

If you don't  know how to swim, get into the pool at the shallow end and tread water. This is what I did and practically taught myself swimming (well I was taught once or twice by my friends)  was watching what good swimmers did. This might work for someone who scared o! better still, there are classes at community pools and gyms to register with. It's good to know how to swim, for safety's sake, even if you aren't planning to make or add swimming to your workout.

Bonus Tip: The more you weigh, the more calories you can expect to burn during your leisurely swim. According to Harvard Medical School, a 125-pound person will burn 180 calories in 30 minutes of leisure swimming. People who weigh 155 or 185 pounds will burn 223 or 266 calories, respectively, during a half-hour swim.

Although leisure swimming isn't without its charms, you'll dramatically increase the calories you burn if you increase the intensity of the activity. The two most vigorous strokes you can perform are the butterfly and front crawl; each will burn 409 calories in 30 minutes for a 155-pound person. The same person will burn 372 calories in 30 minutes of swimming the breaststroke and 298 calories in 30 minutes of the backstroke.

If you've finished your leisure swim but aren't quite ready to climb out of the pool, a number of other water-based activities can burn calories. Treading water will help you burn 372 calories in 30 minutes if you weigh 155 pounds, while a 30-minute water aerobics session will burn 149 calories. If you're the sporty type, consider water volleyball or water polo. In 30 minutes of either activity, a 155-pound person will burn 112 or 372 calories, respectively.

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