Why swim?

On an island where no-one is more than 80 miles from the nearest coast, the ability to swim is an essential life skill and one which could save a life one day.

According to the Royal Lifesaving Society, there is a drowning in the UK every 17 hours on average; 450 – 500 a year. 80% of those are on inland water.

You are never too young or too old to start swimming. The safest place to swim is a supervised swimming pool, or a lifeguarded beach. The ability to swim is essential before considering a beach holiday with children.

Swimming is one of the easiest and most inexpensive sports to get started in, and is one of the few sports which every generation can participate in together. All you need is a swimsuit, a towel and access to your local swimming pool. Babies, parents, grandparents can all enjoy the activity together, and indoor swimming can be enjoyed all the year round. For the brave, so can outdoor swimming !

What could be nicer after a hard day’s work than a family splash in the pool.

The Amateur Swimming Association lists the following reasons to make swimming your exercise of choice.

• 30 minutes of steady paced lane swimming burns over 200 calories – well over 400 in an hour
• Any swimming that makes you breathe more heavily counts as ‘moderate’ activity. Even treading water takes effort, so you are working most of the time you’re in the pool. But remember – chatting in the shallow end only works your facial muscles!
• The pressure and resistance of the water makes your body work that little bit harder. 30 minutes of activity in the water is worth 45 minutes of the same activity on land.
• The water takes your weight, so swimming can be great for those who want low impact exercise – women during pregnancy for example, or for people who have mobility problems or want to protect their joints.
• Swimming works your whole body for all over toning!
• Swimming is great for your heart. Because you are using your whole body your heart has to pump blood hard to your arms and legs, helping circulation too
• It is also great for your lungs – length swimming in particular forces you to breathe in a deep and rhythmic way which gives your lungs a boost
• Being in water can have great psychological benefits too – the pool can ‘take you away from it all’ and the feeling of being in water can be refreshing, relaxing, and liberating as the water takes your weight
• People of all different ages and abilities can enjoy swimming together – if you choose an activity you can do with friends and family you are more likely to stick at it.  You’ll be having so much fun you won’t notice you’re working out too!

Which pool?

How can you tell which pool has ‘good’ water, and which pool has ‘bad’ water? There are no guarantees, but there are a few simple pointers which might help.

The water should look crystal clear, and have no discernable smell of chlorine in the atmosphere. The whole environment should be scrupulously clean – from changing rooms to the showers to the toilets and to the pool itself. No greasy waterline, no debris on the pool floor.

Dirty changing rooms, showers or toilets suggest a lack of care which may well transfer into the management of the pool water.

Modern pools often use ozone or ultra violet treatment systems which reduce the need for chlorine in the water itself, although the water will still be chlorinated.

The above advice served the author well on a recent holiday overseas when he took one look at the condition of the hotel pool and decided that he was not going in! By the end of the week, people were coming down with eye and ear infections, with the swimming pool the number one suspect.

Free swimming

In 2001, City of Glasgow Council pioneered a scheme which allowed free access to all of its swimming pools for children under the age of 18, in order to improve the health of its citizens. In some of the more deprived areas of the city, it was the first opportunity that some of the children had had to use those pools.

The Glasgow scheme has now been expanded to include free access to all of the Council’s sports facilities for that age group. Such was its success, that many other Local Authorities now offer free access to their pools for children and senior citizens.

At the time of writing, the Government is finalising details of allowing all over 60s to swim free in public pools

Swimming for babies

You are never too young or too old to start swimming. The author’s own children had their first swim at the age of just five weeks, before any vaccinations, although current guidance from the Institute of Sport and Recreation Management (ISRM) suggests that six months is a good age to start.The diseases for which babies are vaccinated are not carried in water. A facility with a separate baby pool will operate it at a higher temperature, so that is an ideal place to start. Look out also for family friendly changing facilities.

Swimming is great exercise for obese people and people with significant disabilities, as well as being great for the rehabilitation of injuries.

Due to babies’ inability to control their body temperatures, it is essential that the early swims are kept brief, and that there are fluffy warm towels at the ready.

Special swim nappies, or plastic pants over a swimsuit will protect against any little accidents which may arise.

Incidentally, there is no product available which turns the water purple in the presence of urine – a definite urban myth!

Getting Started

Once you have selected your new swimsuit and your pool – you’re ready!

Unlike other animals which have an instinctive ability to swim, humans must be taught to swim. If you are a non swimmer, it is definitely worth asking about swimming lessons.

Most public pools will offer lessons by qualified instructors. The lessons are run over a number of weeks, or sometimes a ‘crash course’ of intensive lessons is on offer.

If you are a poor swimmer, then the old adage of practice makes perfect is the key. Swimming furiously with lots of splashing will simply tire you out faster. Try to work on improving your swimming stroke for a while – again, lessons might help.

Try to do a little more each time you swim. If you can do ten lengths, then try for twelve next time, then fourteen and so on. If you are a strong swimmer, then time yourself over a number of lengths and try to beat that time. As with any form of exercise, it is important to challenge the body to get the best results.

 
Swim for fitness, swim for sport.

As well as being a great form of exercise, swimming can introduce someone to a whole range of other sporting activities.

Swimming
Open water / distance swimming
Lifesaving
Water polo
Aqua aerobics
Diving
Scuba Diving
Triathlon
Surfing

In recent years, swimming for fitness has greatly increased, to the point at which adult and child swimming numbers are almost equal. Many of the privately provided clubs are ‘adult only’ clubs which tend to be used almost exclusively for fitness swimming.

Swimming is great exercise for obese people and people with significant disabilities, as well as being great for the rehabilitation of injuries.

People with profound and multiple disabilities can often find relief and enjoyment by swimming. The warm, humid atmosphere of a swimming pool may also provide some relief to asthmatics.

Water therapy is good for people with muscle or joint pain, arthritis, MS and orthopaedic problems. The muscles are exercised in the pool, without significant weight loading on joints.

With this reduction on the loading, it is no surprise that few swimmers suffer injury to joints and muscles as do other sports people. Swimming burns as many calories as other aerobic sports, but without the wear and tear on joints, ligaments and muscles.

While many of the world’s top swimmers are over six feet tall, with large hands and feet, it is no surprise that they also have broad powerful shoulders to pull them through the water, and slim waists to reduce drag. Regular swimming and a healthy diet can help to shape the body in this manner.

Swimming exercises all of the major muscle groups in the body as well as working the heart and lungs, although it is fairly obvious that a slow breast stroke followed by a chat will consume nowhere near the number of calories as a 45 minute powerful front crawl.

For sports people, the resistance created by water can be used to build power – runners can run, football players can kick, tennis players can practise their stroke, all against the resistance of the water. The fact that swimming is actually a resistance exercise is often overlooked.

Swimming is a non-load bearing exercise, and therefore will not be effective at maintaining bone density – so the older swimmer should combine swimming with some other form of load bearing exercise such as walking or weight training.

So what are you waiting for? Check the opening hours and get cool in the pool.

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