Swimming is one of the best full-body, low-impact exercises out there. It is easy on your joints, builds strength, and improves cardiovascular health. Best of all, it can be done by people of any fitness level. However, to optimize effectiveness, there are a few swimming skills you need to learn.
Learn How to Breathe
You can significantly improve your swimming technique by learning how to breathe effectively. This starts with the correct head placement while your face is underwater. Always keep it in a neutral position, with your head positioned directly over your neck. Next, practice a consistent breathing pattern. How often you breathe will depend on the stroke and your fitness level. Just be sure to always breathe after the same number of strokes. Exhale completely through your nose while your face is in the water, then time your inhale to be in sync with your stroke.
Maintain Proper Form
Maintaining proper form during your entire workout is important when you swim. Improper form can cause early fatigue and even injury. Perfect each stroke before you use it regularly for exercise. The butterfly is easily the most challenging stroke to perfect. However, it provides a fantastic, whole-body workout. The butterfly stroke makes use of multiple muscle groups.
On the other hand, the breaststroke is the easiest stroke to master but it is still highly effective. Even if you never go beyond the breaststroke, swimming provides an excellent workout. Enlist the help of a coach or trained swimmer to watch your stroke and give you feedback to ensure you are maintaining the proper form.
Don’t Forget Your Legs
While swimming does work your legs, you can push them further with a few leg drills. Use a kickboard to do a series of butterfly kicks, frog kicks, and dolphin kicks. You will get an even better workout with the help of DragSox, which are winged mesh socks that increase water resistance on your legs. You can also break up your laps with a few rounds of aqua jogging. Aqua jogging is a great way to tone your legs and improve your cardio.
If you want to tone your entire body, boost your heart health, and burn serious calories, take up swimming. Best of all, you get all of this without the joint pounding that other workouts cause. Anyone at any level will benefit from swimming, but you will get the most out of your workouts if you take a little time to improve your technique.
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