Swimming is a wonderful activity and one of the most famous sports in the world. It is an excellent activity for fitness, recreation and also safety. It is known to be low impact sport which means that while doing swimming, the body joints do not experience any stress due to the impact of water. Swimming serves as a full body workout because almost every major muscle group is utilized in swimming.
Let’s take a closer look at the different aspects behind learning swimming:
Recreation
Swimming serves as an excellent recreational activity. It attracts and engages people of all ages.Due to its low impact nature, swimming serves as a great way to relax your body and stay active. Some of the most common swimming styles are freestyle, backstroke and sidestroke.
Sport
Some of those who love swimming tend to take it to a competitive level. The primary objective of a competitive swimmer is to improve upon his/her timing or to beat the other competitors in an event. Swimming has been one of the major events in the Olympic Games.
Safety
Safety is perhaps the strongest aspect of swimming. A person learns about water conditions like depth, visibility and several other aspects which could help him/her to gain confidence and stay safe from any water related mishappening.
Here are some of the major benefits of swimming:
- Relaxing: Swimming helps in relaxing your body, alleviates stress and gives you peace of mind.
- Fitness: Swimming burns lots of calories, thereby providing weight control. Being a low impact activity, it serves to be a great workout for people suffering from impact related joint pain. It also enhances coordination and balance between body parts while improving your body’s flexibility and posture.
- Health: It strengthens the heart, being an aerobic activity.It lowers the chances of diabetes and high levels of cholesterol and also increases blood circulation.
- Cost and Safety: Swimming equipment is inexpensive. Swimming also ensures your safety in water.
Things To Consider Before Joining Swimming Classes
- Class duration, size and format – You should take into account the duration of the classes. A swimming class might range from 30 minutes to 1.5 Hours, depending upon the size of the class and the level of the swimming lessons. Some people may feel difficult to learn in groups. Thus the class size is an important think to consider.
- Age limit to join a class – There’s no The American Association of Pediatrics recommends that you don’t enroll your child for swimming classes until the age of 2. A child younger than 4 years may find difficulty in staying afloat or performing the strokes correctly. The ability of an elderly person to swim may vary from person to person.
- No eating before the class – Be careful to avoid eating immediately before a swimming class. It may result in development of cramps and might also increase the risk of drowning. It is recommended that a person should swim at least an hour after eating.
- Swimsuit and goggles – You can get a swim suit and special goggles for extra safety. Pick a swimsuit that fits your body shape and make sure to check your goggles for any leakage.
- Teacher credentials – Join a class which has a well qualified teacher. Safety comes first.
- Down time v/s Swim Time – Notice how much a member has to wait for his turn to swim. Prolong waiting periods are a wastage of time and money. A member should be swimming rather than “waiting”.
- Fees of the class – Check for the fees they’re charging for the entire course and if or not it fits your budget.
- Pool and Water Hygiene – Make sure that the swimming pool and water is hygienic. Avoid swallowing the pool water.
While starting with learning swimming, you might incur some challenges like getting familiar with the water, learning how to breathe inside and perhaps overcoming the fear of water. However, you don’t have to worry about all this. Everything takes time. Swimming is a skill. It can be learnt or mastered like any other skill.
Taking into account, the importance and benefits of swimming, a lot of countries have specified the levels of swimming which a child must be taught by the end of his/her primary education. Getting started with swimming is easy. One can join a swimming class anytime.
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