Shape up With Swimming
Swimming is a great activity to lose weight, add tone, build muscle and achieve a strong, lean physique whilst also improving the fitness of your heart and lungs. Anyone who watched the professional swimmers in action at the 2008 Beijing Olympics would not have missed their physiques. Their long, lean and toned muscular bodies seem to glide through the water effortlessly. Swimmers are in fantastic shape and those who swim regularly know that they not only look great on the outside but also feel just as great on the inside. The health benefits of swimming are almost unmatched by any other sport as it gives one of the very best forms of exercise that you can undertake. It provides a complete workout with minimal risk of injury. The weightlessness that the water provides greatly reduces the stress on joints, virtually eliminating the potential risk of back, knee and other muscular injuries which are common in high impact activities.
The water pressure also adds to the muscle pressure exerted on the veins to aid in returning blood to the heart and lungs, giving the circulatory system a great workout.
Unlike running or weight training, which concentrates on specific muscle groups, swimming benefits all of the key muscle groups working the upper body, torso and legs together and is one of the fastest ways to improve general strength, stamina and cardiovascular fitness.
