Almost anyone could tell you that swimming is good for you, but why, specifically, is it good for you? Read on for the many health benefits of swimming regularly:
Cardio
Swimming laps in particular allows your heart rate to climb and makes it easy for anyone to get the heart-healthy, doctor recommended 30 minutes of cardio in every day.
Builds Endurance
Swimming builds muscle strength and improves lung functions causing the body’s ability to endure a long workout to increase.
Toning
Have you ever noticed how toned Olympic swimmers are? That’s because swimming allows muscles to use the resistance of the water to build them as opposed to an activity like weight lifting which builds them.
Calorie Burn
Swimming burns about 3 calories a mile per pound of bodyweight. Therefore if you weigh 150 lbs and swim 1 mile within 30 minutes time, you will likely burn 900 calories in one hour. That being said, that is an extremely fast rate and an hour is a very long time to swim, but you get the idea.
Psychological Benefit
Because you’re gliding through the water, working out in the pool tricks your mind into thinking you’re doing less work than you really are.
One thing to note, however, is swimming is not ideal for losing lots of weight. While it is helpful, because the cool water does not allow the body to heat up the way running or other aerobic exercise would, the calories stop burning when you get out of the pool. For best results, try combining water based and land based exercises.