Swimming is great exercise for people of all ages. It burns calories, increases metabolism, strengthens heart and lungs and firms every muscle without any strain on joints. It requires little equipment — a swimsuit, goggles and maybe a cap. It does require access to a pool, preferably a 25-yard or 25-m competitive one with lanes marked by ropes. It also requires time, at least an hour per workout, longer for more strenuous workouts.
Know the Strokes
If you do not know the four competitive strokes, have somebody teach you. Most workouts will be done using the freestyle — or crawl — stroke, face down in the water, but some exercises use breaststroke — with its sweeping arm motions and frog kick — or butterfly, which involves arms pumping out of the water and legs kicking in a dolphin kick. Many swimmers like to perform some backstroke for relaxation and a break between other sessions. Most pool facilities will provide some stroke instruction.
Warm Up
Always warm up with strokes, kicks and pulls. A good start involves 100 yards of freestyle, 100 of kicks — with a kickboard if available — and 100 yards of pulling with arms only — with a pull buoy between your legs if available. If that's too much at first, do the warmups in 25-yard increments and gradually build up. Plan your workout in advance and schedule your swims around other activities. Daily swimming is best, but three times a week is beneficial.
Distance Drills
The easiest workouts are straight distance drills. After warming up, swim a specified long distance — 500 yards, 1,000 yards, etc. Don't try to swim your target distance the first workout. If your goal is to swim 1,000 yards per workout, start by swimming 100 yards and rest. The next session swim 100 yards, rest and swim 200. Alternate distances like that until you can swim the 1,000 without stopping. A mile — a good workout distance — equals 1,760 yards or about 1,610 m.
Alternate Strokes
Alternate strokes for a more complete workout. Do 100 freestyle, 100 breast, 100 butterfly, rest, then repeat. Vary the intensity of the laps; do one fast, one slow. Do fast workouts at 80 to 90 percent of capacity, fast but not at racing intensity. Understand what the workouts are doing — an easy swim burns 500 calories an hour, a fast one 700 or more. And because water is 800 times more dense than air, each pull and kick is like resistance training to build and tone muscles.
Special Drills
Build swimming strength with specialized drills, like fist swimming, sculling and body kicking. For fist swimming, do freestyle but keep your hands balled in a fist rather than open, to work shoulder and arm muscles. Scull by sweeping your hands through the water like propellers, with your elbows still to build forearm and wrist strength. Kick a length with arms outstretched, using only your legs for propulsion; do this either with a freestyle flutter kick or a butterfly dolphin kick.
Vary Workouts
Vary your workouts to reduce boredom. One trainer offers 50 different types of workouts, alternating strokes, distances, speeds and other factors so no two are the same. Some drills use all the same stroke, others mix strokes, some use individual medley in which breaststroke, backstroke, butterfly and freestyle are done in a routine. If the standard set of two 500-yard swims is dull, mix it up.
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