Swimming as a Lifelong Exercise
The Fit Life

by Ginger Castle
March 2009

Swimming is the sport I have loved since I can remember, but it wasn’t until I started Atlantis Swim School that I really understood what a gift and blessing being able to swim is, especially as we begin to age. Have you ever taken a bath or a quick dip in a lake or pool and experienced how relaxing it is? Just being in the water lowers your heart rate and drastically reduces your experience of weight due to buoyancy. Have you ever gone for an easy swim and felt like you had a great workout? The water builds your endurance by providing resistance in every direction. Regular swimming exercises all the major muscle groups at the same time, builds cardiovascular strength, increases flexibility, and improves endurance. It has all these benefits with little to no impact on the joints, which makes it the perfect exercise for older adults looking to get into shape or maintain their fitness.

I have worked with a number of adults who have come to the school because their joints aren’t what they use to be, and they want to learn to swim or to improve their technique so they can really use swimming for exercise. It is great to see their faces light up as they describe their new experience of exercise as being relaxing, fun and pain-free, and at the same time intense enough to keep or to get them in shape.

One of the most important aspects of a swimming workout is good technique. If you try to go fast with bad technique, you are just wasting energy and producing stress. Here are some tips for good swimming and effective workouts:

1. Relax and go with the flow. Our bodies are beautifully designed to work with the water. The key is to be able to go with the flow literally and harness the energy and power of the water.
2. Good body position. Being able to go with the flow starts with good body position. Even for our most accomplished swimmers we look at the way they float. The more relaxed and aligned you are when you are floating, the stronger the foundation on which you can build.
3. Breathe. There are two parts to breathing: inhaling and exhaling. One can actually breathe continuously while swimming by having the exhalation be the underwater portion of the swim. Without relaxed and continuous breathing, the body will begin to process energy in an anaerobic fashion, which leads to a drop in efficiency of energy and power.
4. Rotation. Going with the flow also means allowing the body to rotate as you swim the front or back crawl. Everything is connected and if you are relaxed throughout your body as you swim the rotation will be there as a counteraction to your movements or the movements will be there as a counteraction to your rotation.
5. Swim regularly. The more often you swim, the easier it becomes. With long absences from the pool swimmers tend lose their feel of the water. I recommend a minimum of 2-3 times per week.
6. Vary your workout. It is more fun when you vary your workout. Variation could include different strokes, swimming varying speeds, or swimming long distances as well as intervals sets. There are many resources on the Internet for fun, varied workouts.
7. Hydrate. As with all exercise, you should stay hydrated as you swim. Being in the water and surrounded by hydration means this is an aspect many people forget about, but it is super important for the proper functioning of our bodies.

Swimming truly is a lifelong skill and it is never too late to learn. For more information about Atlantis’ adult classes go to atlantis-swim-school.com or call 919.342.6756.

Ginger Castle is the owner/founder of Atlantis Swim School, 919.342.6756, atlantis-swim-school.com