What’s Better Than Swimming?

Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival.

Swimming can be undertaken using a wide range of styles, known as ‘strokes,’ and these strokes are used for different purposes, or to distinguish between classes in competitive swimming. It is not necessary to use a defined stroke for propulsion through the water, and untrained swimmers may use a ‘doggy paddle’ of arm and leg movements, similar to the way four-legged animals’ swim.

Why Swim?

1. Recreation
2. Health
3. Sport
4. Safety
5. Occupation

Check out these 6 reasons why swimming is better than a lot of other sports.

1.  You Don’t Have to Shower After
   The fact that you’re already wet makes it 10x easier to either dry off and change almost immediately after finishing a workout or take a quick rinse. The convenience of already being wet makes swimming the perfect option if you’re on a tight schedule. (You should still take a shower)
2. It’s A Total Body Workout
    Each competitive stroke engages different muscle groups and torches calories! Fun Fact: swimming butterfly is the most taxing movement among all sports. 
3.  Improves Body Awareness
   Swimming improves flexibility, range of motion, and functional strength in the water. This leads to improved core strength and stability in all your joints, as well as stronger muscles and enhanced motor skills.
4. Swimming Makes You Smarter
   Your brain loves swimming. The extra blood and oxygen help you become more alert, awake, and focused. It releases endorphins, the “feel good” hormones in our body.
   Swimming requires your mind to make neuromuscular adjustments to imbalances created from continuous movement through the water. 
5. Group Swim Workouts Are More Social
   While staring at the black line can get monotonous, so can running at the same pace. If you swim with a group, the camaraderie is unbeatable. Between sets, swimmers do nothing but talk with each other. 
6. It’s Low Impact
   Running is a high-impact activity that can cause muscle strain, inflammation and other injuries. While there remains some debate about whether running leads to joint problems, its impact does leave runners susceptible to a myriad of problems. Swimming is low impact, which means you can do it into your 100s
   

Risks Involved

1. Panic occurs when an inexperienced swimmer or a Non swimmer becomes mentally overwhelmed by the circumstances of their immersion, leading to sinking and drowning.
2. Hypothermia, in which a person loses critical core temperature, can lead to unconsciousness or heart failure.
3. Exostosis, an abnormal bony overgrowth narrowing the ear canal due to frequent, long-term splashing or filling of cold water into the ear canal, also known as surfer’s ear
4. Chlorine inhalation (in swimming pools)
5. Heart attacks while swimming (the primary cause of sudden death among triathlon participants, occurring at the rate of 1 to 2 per 100,000 participations

READ ALSO: STRETCHING: THE ONLY 5 STRETCHES YOU NEED TO LOOSEN YOUR FULL BODY

NOTE: Basic swimming skills such as breathing, body movements, floating, kicking and stroke must be done accurately to avoid hiccups during competition.

Apart from winning a medal, you’ve got to master these skills, especially breathing, to avoid life-threatening incidents while swimming.