Whether because of physical damage or natural aging, you may be unable to handle the physical stress of exercise at the gym or in sports situations. Rather than simply slide into a pattern of no physical activity, there are ways to get the physical exercise you need without punishing your body or doing damage.
Aqua therapy has been a great exercise substitute for those who physically can’t take the punishment to their body any more.
And the best part is, aqua therapy is actually fairly physically demanding on your body. Don’t think you’re ‘taking it easy’ by changing up what you do.
You’ve probably noticed that fish seem to be all muscle. Swimming is an incredibly beneficial sport. Just look at the body composition of competitive swimmers. It builds muscle, tones muscle, and has cardiac benefits as well. In many ways, swimming is the perfect sport.
Muscle Strength
Thanks to the density of water, swimming is an incredibly effective resistance sport. It puts the weight and pressure of water against the entire muscle network of your body for an entire muscle workout with almost no impact. If you’re someone unable to do traditional resistance training due to pain or stress on your joints, this is the answer. In fact, the resistance work in swimming is even more than that of a runner who is only fighting the density of the air with their upper body. This is a total body workout.
Cardio
Perhaps one of the best benefits of swimming is its role as cardio sport without the impact on on the body that traditional cardio workouts have, such as running, jumping jacks, or even speed walking. Laps in a pool can be incredibly beneficial. Just 30 minutes of swimming a day can reduce the risk of heart disease in women over 30 and men over 40.
More Bang For Your Buck
Because swimming is less punishing on the body, you can do more of it at a time. That doesn’t mean swimming is easy. But it is easier on various parts of your body which will allow you to last longer in the swimming pool than you might on a running track or treadmill. This means you can get more benefit for less work and, in a way, “cheat” a bit to get benefits for less harsh work.
Related Questions
How Many Calories Do You Burn Swimming?
The quantitative way to measure your workouts is by calories burned. Swimming is a high calorie burning activity. Like all exercises, it depends on your weight but the average 130 adult can burn almost 600 calories by swimming for just one hour a day. A person just 25 pounds heavier at 155 will burn over 700 calories by swimming for an hour. With the low impact on the body, swimming for an hour is a lot less punishing and easier to accomplish than you think.
Do Different Swim Strokes Have Different Benefits?
While any act of swimming will be a full body workout, but different strokes will focus in on different muscle groups more than others. For example, a breaststroke will, as the name suggests will focus on the chest and pectoral muscles. A freestyle stroke will work the back and shoulders. So, you can still focus on in different muscle groups as you would at the gym, at least to a certain extent.
Swimming can be the answer for people who can no longer handle the stress of a traditional gym workout or sports exercise. The impact is low but the exercise benefits are not only comparable to what you get from a gym workout but more impactful compared to the amount of work you have to put in.
Thinking of having the opportunity to exercise in the privacy and beauty of your own backyard as well as on your own schedule can do wonders to your exercise regime. LeisureTime Warehouse can help make that vision come to life! As a luxury brand hot tub and swim spa distributor, we carry only the highest quality products that are guaranteed to exceed your expectations. Reaping the benefits of aqua therapy in your own backyard is just one of the many reasons to own a hot tub or swim spa. Visit our Cleveland area retail store and let us help you pick the perfect swim spa or hot tub that meets your unique needs and desires. Contact us to learn more!