WHY SWIMMING IS ONE OF THE BEST FULL BODY WORK-OUTS

In this post 6 reasons why swimming is one of the best work-outs for your body!

If you’re looking for a total-body routine that burns a ton of calories go ahead and read more about why my all time favorite excercise is one of the best workouts you can do!

The ones that know me quite well, will probably know that I’ve been an extremely driven swimmer since I was a young girl. I started swimming when I was about 6 years old. I decided to give up a lot of things to excercise everyday (most over the weekdays even twice a day).  Everything else in my life had to give way because of my practices, diet and sleeping hours. I really really wanted to become the next Dutch Swim Champion. Years of hard work, commitment and thousands of practicing hours brought me a lot and eventually the National title in the open water swimming . And guess what? Swimming still makes me happy. And although I found out that there are a lot of other things in life that can make me feel good and that can make you feel even more happy, you can still find me at least once a week at my eternal love: the swimmingpool.

Ofcourse because I really love to swim but also because it’s one of the best workouts you can do! In today’s post I’m gonna tell you why! 

First of all I wanted to say that I agree, running is big fun and so are those dumbbells at home and ofcourse the gym. But hey, don’t you get bored ? It can be easy to get stuck in a workout rut so it’s time to try something else! Give swimming a try people! I know most of you will see it as a leisure rather than a workout. STOP HERE! I’m not talking about swimming in combination with the beach, the sun, lazing, tanning and sleeping with your toes in the sand! I’m talking about classic swimming as one of the top-ranked sports! It’s one of the hardest and best workouts for the whole body! It will speed up your metabolism and toning your core for example. But there are many more reasons why you should definitely give it a try!

1. It’s a full-body workout. Swimming tackles everything from sculpting your abs to toning your arms—and the best thing is you don’t have to pick up weights for this or brave the frigid cold. While swimming you’re using all the muscles in your body, otherwise you’ll get tired very easily. It also strengthen your body motor coordination making you more flexible and agile.

2. It’s a perfect way to burn A LOT of calories. So yes it can help you losing weight if you want to. You’ll burn around 500 calories with only an hour of swimming!

3. It’s joint-friendly or you can call it a low-impact sport. While being in the water, there’s almost no gravity and since the water supports your weight, this exercising is very kind on your joints and bones. That’s why swimming is also a really good sport for fragile people ( pregnant women, elderly) or people that are recovering from an injury and are eager to build strength. Especially for people that love to run a lot, swimming would be a perfect workout on your recovering days. So to all the running addicts: Go and have a swim on your recovering day:)

4. It’s perfect for cross-training. Nobody wants a gym or running burnout right? So trade your normal workout for the pool sometimes. A swimming session will improve your overall performance at the gym too! (and ofcourse vice versa). Also, when you’re a runner and training for a (half) marathon or any other distance, JUMP in the pool cause it can offer you an extra advantage ( it stimulates your heart and improves your endurance while it helps your muscles to recover) over your competitors. In short: Swimming improves your fitness and cardiovascular activity!

5. It maximizes your endurance/cardio. Swimming is the optimal aerobic activity. To compare it with a run: there is more breath control thus an increased demand for oxygen, causing your muscles to work harder.

6. It’s refreshing and it reduces stress. Swimming will give you a great endorphin kick which will give you some new energy. It just makes you feel better. And besides that jumping into a swimmingpool is way more fun than a lot of other sports! C’mon something that is fun that will improve your posture too… Win win situation right?! 

Yes this was kind of a ‘trying to convince you to swim post’, I admit. But I really hope you’re taking on the challenge to try a swim sometime and that this post motivates you to get your swimsuit on, strap on your goggles and dive into that damn swimmingpool!

Follow me on Instagram – FACEBOOK – Bloglovin