Swimming in the pool; what are the benefits? Find out why everyone needs to swim regularly and what health benefits you will get. Monitoring your health is helpful, but it’s also fun. If you decide to lose weight and improve your health, there is no need to torture yourself in the gym or take a morning run. It is enough to remember our childhood and how we liked to splash in the water.
Notice that all children love water, as it can give a lot of positive emotions. To get them and at the same time improve your health, you don’t have to wait for the start of summer. You can start visiting the swimming pool, which is not difficult to find in any city. Today we will talk about the benefits of swimming in the collection.
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Benefits of swimming in the pool
Swimming in the pool can solve many health problems and make your figure more attractive. Let’s talk in detail about the benefits of swimming in the pool. Doctors agree that swimming helps normalize the entire body’s functioning, which inevitably leads to better health. At the same time, they specifically emphasize the benefits of swimming in the pool in terms of body composition.
Nowadays, water aerobics are becoming more and more popular, proving to be much more effective than the classic ones. You use significantly more muscles when you exercise in water, leading to serious energy expenditure. As you know, a person can get rid of excess weight precisely because of the lack of energy, which is created thanks to a nutrition plan and exercise.
Swimming is also recommended for people with musculoskeletal problems. I should also say that different types of swimming can take the load off the spine and strengthen the muscular corset, thus improving your posture.
Swimming provides a complex body movement, which involves the participation in the work of muscles and many systems. Researchers have found that professional swimmers expend more energy training than strength athletes. However, this is not the only benefit of swimming in the pool, as this sport inhibits fat accumulation in the body. It is enough to remember how much you want to eat after swimming to understand how energy intensive it is.
All women are very concerned about their appearance, and many are unhappy with the presence of excess body fat. Speeding up fat breakdown is another benefit of swimming in a pool. It is impossible to gain muscle mass during swimming, but only to improve muscle tone. It is what girls need as the muscles become resilient and hardened. Therefore, the body looks lean.
It is also necessary to say that swimming can increase the mobility of the joints since the load is evenly distributed over the body. Unlike strength training, the ligamentous apparatus is reliably protected from injury during swimming. Not everyone can work out in the gym, as some contraindications exist.
But absolutely everyone can visit the pool. Swimming is not contraindicated, even for pregnant women. The situation is similar for people with joint or spinal problems. Water supports our body, so it is easier for a person to withstand stress. It should note that swimming, like water aerobics, is the safest sport for those who want to improve their health.
But that’s not all, as there are many benefits of swimming in the pool. Exercising in water positively affects the circulatory system’s functioning, and blood pressure is normal. In addition, blood flow increases, and indicators of vascular elasticity also increase. All this leads to improved nutrition of body tissues. Participation in the work of a large area of the lungs increases the body’s resistance to lack of oxygen.
Another positive aspect of visiting the swimming pool is the relaxation effect. When swimming, water massage affects the body, which helps release stress from the nervous system. Scientists have proven swimming is one of the most effective ways to fight insomnia. You will feel light and pleasant fatigue at the end of the lesson, and your emotional state will improve.
The benefits of swimming in the pool: how to lose weight
We have already said that you can fight against excess weight thanks to swimming, and now we should give this issue more attention. To achieve this goal, you need to be in the water and swim under certain conditions. First of all, this concerns energy expenditure, and you need to burn as many calories as possible during each visit to the pool.
At the same time, one nuance – the more muscle mass you have, the more actively your body burns energy during swimming. You can swim at whatever pace is most comfortable for you. In this state, you will also lose weight, but the speed of this process will be relatively low. If you stay in the water and don’t swim, you’ll lose about 300 calories in less than an hour. However, you should follow our recommendations and simple rules to get the fastest results.
- Rule #1. You have to stay all the time afloat, because only in this case can you achieve maximum energy consumption. At the same time, if you are exhausted, it is worth taking a break.
Rule # 2. You must be constantly active and moving all the time. Fat tissue reduction functions can only be activated when the heart rate (pulse) is 130-160 beats per minute. Therefore, you can burn 600-1300 calories in 60 minutes of such active swimming. For constant activity, you should choose a swimming style.
- Right away, the butterfly is the most energy-intensive and, therefore, the most effective. If this is difficult for you, use crawling. This style is somewhat inferior to the previous one in energy consumption but is also considered very effective.
- Rule # 3. Change your swimming style; say, use the crawl for about five minutes and then use the butterfly for the same time or a little more. If you feel tired, you can switch to breaststroke or backstroke and must repeat the circuit.
- Rule # 4. The duration of each lesson should be at least half an hour, and during the week you should visit the pool two or three times.
Water aerobics in the pool
Aqua aerobics is similar to classic fitness, the only difference being that classes are held in water. You have to perform dance moves in time with rhythmic music. There are examples of women who lost fifteen kilos with water aerobics.
It should also be said that there are no contraindications to practicing this type of exercise. For those who are obese, water aerobics may be the only sport that doesn’t harm the body. With significant body weight, the stress on the bones and ligaments is high, and even jogging can lead to injuries. Since water aerobics involves a water exercise, there is no stress on the joints and spine. For many women with significant body weight, exercising in the water is much more comfortable psychologically than in the gym. In addition, after exercise, you will not experience a burning sensation in your muscles, as water prevents the accumulation of lactic acid.
Slimming swimming style
Let’s take a closer look at the techniques of the most effective swimming styles for weight loss. We have spoken briefly about this and mentioned the need to change classes during the lesson.
- Creep. One hour of swimming in this style can burn 520 calories. You should alternate strikes with your right and left hand and alternately work with your feet. A critical point in freestyle swimming is that the face should always be in the water. When the stroke occurs, the head turns to breathe. The backstroke is the fastest swimming style. All the upper body muscles are involved in the work, as well as the powers of the thighs.
- Butterfly. It is the most technically tricky type of swimming but, at the same time, the most energy-intensive. An hour in this style will save you 570 calories. The arms should move in unison and make a powerful stroke, and at this moment, the body lifts itself above the water. In addition to the muscles in the upper body, the abdominal muscles, quadriceps, and calf muscles are also involved in the work.
- Breaststroke. The limb should move parallel to the water’s surface than crawling. It is the slowest swimming style and will burn 500 calories per hour. The legs take part in most of the work, which allows you to tighten the buttocks and make them more elastic. From a technical point of view, this is a rather complicated type of swim.
- On the back. The technique is similar to crawling, but you are on the water with your back, not your chest. The same muscles are involved in the work as when using the crawl, but the calf, in this case, makes it somewhat more active.
As you may have guessed, changing your swimming styles regularly during your session will burn maximum energy and tighten every muscle in your body.