Physical Points Of Swimming

Swimming is an aquatic physical activity that can help you accomplish multiple fitness goals. Physical points of swimming include the multiple components of physical fitness that you can improve with the activity. The buoyancy and resistance provided by the water makes swimming an attractive form of exercise for a wide range of individuals, including well-trained athletes and the physically disabled. The intensity and duration of activity help identify the physical points that your swimming sessions emphasize.

Cardiorespiratory Endurance

Swimming helps enhance your cardiorespiratory endurance, particularly swimming sessions that exceed 30 minutes. Cardiorespiratory endurance refers to how well your circulatory and respiratory systems supply energy to working muscles, and remove cellular waste that results from energy production. Your heart and blood vessels pump more blood throughout your body with less effort as cardiorespiratory endurance improves; and your lungs take in more oxygen with each breath. Greater cardiorespiratory endurance reduces your risk of cardiovascular diseases, and can help suppress the effects of diminished lung capacity that occurs with emphysema.

Aerobic Capacity

Athletes may use swimming to enhance aerobic capacity. Your aerobic capacity is the most oxygen that your body can take in for physical activity during maximum exertion. Aerobic capacity is measured by the number of milliliters of oxygen that your body consumes for each kilogram of your body weight per minute. Alternate between swimming as fast as you can for 1 1/2 to three minutes and resting for five, if increasing aerobic capacity is the primary physical point of swimming for you.

Muscle Strength

The physical point of swimming may include increasing muscle strength, particularly for untrained and older individuals, or people with muscle weaknesses. Swimming involves moving your muscles against at least 12 times more resistance than air. Working against the water's resistance tones and strengthens muscles. Swimming sprints, such as short bouts of maximal effort in one or two laps, also builds contractile strength in your muscles. Swimming strokes, such as the front crawl and butterfly, are particularly beneficial for strengthening muscles that control your shoulders and shoulder blades.

Muscular Endurance

Muscular endurance refers to the ability of your muscles to perform repetitive contractions, or sustain a contraction, for longer periods of time. Increasing muscular endurance is among the physical points of swimming, particularly distance swimming, because muscles throughout your body must contract repetitively to propel your body through the water. Upper body muscles in your arms and torso perform the stroke, while muscles around your hips and knees work together for kicking. Enhancing muscular endurance with swimming may involve increasing the number of sprints you perform during a training session, or the distance you swim within a specific time frame.