Lauren's Corner

When was the last time you went for a swim?

Did you know that swimming is one of the best exercises you can do? Swimming gives you a total body workout. While you are swimming, you work all your major muscles groups. What other one exercise do you know of that conditions your whole body in one workout?

Some of the benefits of swimming are:

- Total body conditioning.
- Low risk of injury.
- Low impact exercise. [No stress on your muscles, joints & Bones].
- Awesome cardiovascular exercise [which strengthens your heart and lungs].
- Stress reduction.
- Increase endurance, flexibility and muscle strength.

Before you begin, you want to make sure you have all the right swim accessories. I would recommend purchasing these to start with:

- Go out and buy yourself a nice swimsuit. There are so many to choose from these days; and they're all different colors and styles. You can choose to purchase a one or two-piece swimsuit. Just make sure that the suit you buy fits properly so you will be comfortable in the water.

- Get a good pair of Goggles. If you can, try them on in the store and make sure they are a comfortable fit to your face.

- Kickboard. This is a great prop to have with you in the pool, it can really enhance your workout. You simply rest your forearms on the kickboard and choose any type of kick you like and keep kickin' till you can't kick any more!

- Pull-Buoys. There are two different types of Pull-Buoys. One kind has two separate floats which are connected by a rope. The other, is just one solid piece. Both types work well and work the same way. All you have to do is set the buoy between your legs, below the knees, and let your feet drag as you pull. This gives you an awesome upper body workout.

I am a swimmer myself. I grew up swimming competitively and it is still one of my favorite ways to get a workout in! There are 4 strokes you can choose from to swim laps:

- Freestyle [easiest stroke].
- Breast Stroke.
- Back Stroke.
- Butterfly [hardest stroke].

All four of these strokes - no matter which one you choose - will give you a great workout! Of course, all of these strokes will work and condition your upper & lower body at the same time. Butterfly though, will give your abdominal muscles an extra workout because most of the power for the butterfly kick comes from the core [abdominals]. Also, breast stroke will give your chest muscles more of a workout than any other stroke because of the type of 'pull' you use with your arms.

Depending on how hard you push yourself when you are swimming, you can burn between 300 - 400+ calories per hour! Find yourself a partner and get a little competition going - this will most likely push you to work harder than if you were swimming on your own. If you don't want to make swimming your entire workout just yet, you can use it as a warm up or as a cool down.

You don't necessarily have to swim tons of laps to get a great workout in the pool. There are many other exercises you can do that will give you great results. If you think about it, many of the exercises that you can do on land or in the gym, you can modify to make them work in the water - just get a little creative!

- You can walk or run in either shallow water or deep water [of course to where you can still touch bottom]. The deeper the water the better the work out you will get, because the resistance with be greater!

- Tread Water: You can tread water in a pool, lake or even the ocean. When treading water, you have two options. You can choose to use only your legs - this is the more challenging option and will give your legs an incredible workout. Or, you can tread water by using your arms & legs - with the help of your arms, this way is easier but you will still burn some great calories. If you like, start by treading water with both your arms & legs and work your way up to only kicking.

- Side Leg Lift: Decide how deep you would like
to be in the water - I would recommend at least waist deep to shoulder level, then position yourself at the side of the pool so you can hold on for balance. You can begin with the right leg - slowly lift your leg directly out to the side while keeping your toes pointed, lift your leg as high as you can, [but is still within your comfort level] then slowly lower back down. I would recommend doing 2-3 sets at 8-12 reps. repeat the same steps for the left leg. This side leg lift will work your inner and outer thighs.

- Front leg lift: Follow the same steps as if you were performing the 'Side leg lifts.' You can choose to start with your right leg, extend your leg [toes pointed] directly out in front of you, and then slowly lower back down. I recommend doing 2-3 sets at 8-12 reps for this exercise as well. This leg lift will work your quadriceps [the muscle in the front of the leg, above the knee.]

- Squats: Just like you would do squats in the gym, you would do them the same way in the water. Shallow water would work better for this exercise, so when you squat down, your head is still above water. Find yourself a good spot and stand with your feet about shoulder width apart - slowly lower yourself as if you were to sit down in a chair. Make sure to push your hips and butt as far back as possible, making sure that your knees do NOT extend over your toes. [Although by doing these squats in the water you relieve a lot of stress from your joints, it still is not healthy to let your knees go past your toes.] Stop at the point where you are parallel to the floor and then push back up through your heels. [Digging your heels in really targets the butt.]

- Tricep Dips: Pick a corner of the pool and position yourself so that your back is facing the corner. Place the palms of your hands on the edge of the pool, push yourself up, lifting your body as far out of the water as possible, lower back down. Do 3 sets of 10.

Those are just a few of the exercises you can do in the water. Like I said earlier, just get creative - so many of the exercises that you can do out of the water, you can modify to make them work in the water.

Have a Healthy Day!