FOR SOFA TO SWIM-FIT
Treading water while your mate flailingly attempts to successfully haul themselves atop a 10-foot multi-person inflatable unicorn doesn’t quite utilise the incredible fitness gains swimming has to offer. Take your workout to the water with our five-week plan
Between circumventing the verruca risk of your local gym pool and the nipple-stiffening climates of UK lidos, it’s no revelation that swimming isn’t the nation’s cardio of choice. We’ve long been colluding to uphold the ‘rather keep my clothes on and go for a run, mate’ argument – but no more. Because swimming is the power workout you’ve been chasing: with a calorie burn to match Barry’s and the mental relaxation of yoga, your nearest expanse of water is nothing short of a lean, mean fat-burning machine. Why aren’t you taking the plunge? Probably because you don’t really know how. While the internet is awash with sofa-to5k run plans and treadmillbased workouts, counsel on how to smash swimming is sparse. ‘Childhood lessons focus primarily on how to stay afloat and survive in water,’ says Karen Pickering MBE, a former world champion and Olympian. ‘Most people know breaststroke or front crawl, but they don’t have the skills to swim for any length or duration of time – and so fail to recognise swimming ’s fitness potential.’ But a legit option it definitely is.
Touted as one of the most effective forms of exercise, period, swimming builds muscle, boosts endurance, tones your body and tears through calories due to the fact that it puts all your major muscle groups to work against the resistance of the water. (The energy burn of swimming is around four times that of running the same distance.) ‘You’re constantly using your core for balance and rotation,’ says Pickering. ‘Whatever your stroke, holding your body in position works that group of muscles.’ The amazing flipside is that very same water supports your body, which makes swimming low-impact, gentle on the joints and ideal if you’re on the comeback from injury or illness, or pregnant. Plus, swimming’s horizontal pose may also help improve posture and alleviate back pain in a way that running and cycling can’t. Boom.
It’s not just the fitness gains that are worth diving in for. Research has found swimming can be beneficial for everything from increasing lung capacity to improving balance, and a study published in the American Journal Of Physiology found
that it even improved brain health. ‘Brain blood flow was higher when subjects were immersed in water up to their heart, compared with on land,’ says Dr Howard Carter of the University of Western Australia, who led the study. And a recent Swim England report states that swimming for just half an hour three times a week can lower stress levels, raise mood and improve sleep. ‘When you’re swimming, you don’t really have a visual or audible sense of anyone else around – it can be very therapeutic,’ says Pickering.
Yet limited knowledge of technique, or how to build it, is likely stopping you making the most of your time in the water. Yes, you, the doggy paddler. ‘People say, “I get out of breath, I don’t get a good workout because I’m just too tired,” but with just a little work to improve your efficiency, you can completely change both your swimming outlook and ability,’ adds Pickering.
And it’s never too late to learn. ‘Adult clients are often slightly embarrassed,’ says Alexandre Ferre, an instructor with Swimming Nature, which provides swimming tuition across the UK. ‘We focus not on the elements that are wrong or weak, but on opportunities to develop body position, coordination and rhythm.’
‘For a full-body workout, mixing up your strokes is best,’ says Pickering, who’s equally passionate about pool props – Larry the giant lobster aside. ‘You’d be surprised at the work even good swimmers have to do to move when holding a float and only using their legs.’
Convinced? Then pull on your cossie and follow Pickering ’s guide to getting your swim on.