Swimming is a sport that improves strength, tones muscles and works the entire body, stimulates joints and ligaments and helps with weight control and burning fat. Swimming is an aerobic sport suitable for all ages, elderly people, pregnant women or babies, as it is a type of physical activity with few risks and impacts on the bones. Find out more about swimming for babies in 7 good reasons to get your baby swimming.
There are different styles and types of swimming that can be practiced: front crawl, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly, however, in the first classes it is normal for the teacher to teach very basic things, such as learning to lose your fear of water and knowing how to float, for example. example. Little by little, the person will learn some exercises and techniques that will help them swim correctly. Therefore, it is recommended to take swimming lessons 2 to 3 times a week, for 30 to 50 minutes each time.
5 Benefits of Swimming
Swimming has numerous health benefits, including:
1. Works the whole body
Swimming is a very complete sport, which works most of the body’s muscles, unlike what happens in bodybuilding, for example, where the exercises are performed in a more localized way.
Furthermore, this sport increases muscular flexibility, which is why it is the physical activity recommended by doctors to help recover from injuries or during the recovery period after surgery.
2. Strengthens joints and ligaments
This sport helps keep joints and ligaments exercised and healthy, also improving the body’s flexibility and posture.
Furthermore, this is a sport suitable for all ages as it is a low-impact sport as the water cushions impacts, making it especially suitable for older ages where the risk of injury is greater.
3. Helps you lose weight and burn fat
As this is a sport carried out in water, the muscles are forced to exert greater effort, which ends up increasing calorie expenditure. But like all sports, the caloric expenditure of swimming depends on the intensity of the exercises and weight loss, and its association with a healthy, balanced and low-calorie diet.
4. Fights stress and improves memory
Swimming promotes pleasure and well-being, as exercise improves satisfaction and mood. Furthermore, it also improves blood circulation and blood oxygenation, ultimately improving memory and reasoning ability.
5. Improves breathing
Swimming is a sport with great respiratory demands, which greatly improves breathing and aerobic capacity. With swimming, there is greater strengthening of the muscles of the chest wall, which allows for better contraction and expansion of the lung, allowing the lungs to better oxygenate the blood.
