Why is swimming such a great way to keep fit?
Swimming is often hailed as one of the best ways to exercise, allowing you to tone up and keep fit at the same time.
It’s a fantastic source of cardiovascular exercise and can be especially beneficial for your joints, working the whole body, and thus making it a great holistic activity.
After a mastectomy, you can help to regain your fitness and body confidence by gradually building up your strength and heading to your local pool a couple of times a week.
Many mastectomy swimsuits come with handy pockets, meaning you can slide in an Anita Active Ocean Swimform, which is a prostheses designed specifically for water based activities.
Made from a transparent silicone, it’s lightweight, fast-drying and resistant to salt water and chlorine.
Plus, it won’t drag down the front of your costume – even when wet – and gives a natural outline, even in larger sizes.
With your clothing sorted, you can then dive into the pool and begin having some fun!
But what are the top benefits of swimming?
Muscle strengthening
As well as being a great way to keep fit, swimming can help to strengthen your muscles, as working out in water provides a natural resistance.
Gaining more muscle can help make you feel notably stronger, on top of improving your overall sense of balance.
Low impact
Swimming is a brilliant low impact activity, meaning that even if you haven’t exercised in a while, perhaps due to illness, it is unlikely to cause you pain.
Being in water will lessen the effects of gravity too, so you can continue to move without putting pressure on your joints.
This is important if you want to gradually improve your fitness, as you can slowly build up your strength and the distance you’re swimming at your own pace.
Adaptable
Perhaps one of the best things about water-based activities is that they are adaptable.
You can put in as much energy as you want and should always feel the benefits afterwards.
Of course, you’ll need to make sure you stretch fully before just to ensure that your muscles are ready for a swimming session, as well as afterwards to reduce the chances of injury.
If you’re less confident in water then having a few lessons from an instructor could be a great way to find your perfect stroke and get into a good rhythm before attempting to swim alone.
Generally, backstroke and breast stroke are considered to be the least intense exercises, with butterfly stroke best left to only very competent swimmers!
Sociable
The physical health benefits of swimming are pretty clear, but it can also be a top way to stay social.
Joining a swimming club or even an exercise class like aqua aerobics can be loads of fun, giving you the chance to meet other people and keep fit together.
This is a great option for those of you who find swimming laps a little bit dull and love the idea of doing a variety of water-based activities in time to music.
There are always plenty of beginners at these sessions and you can always have a word with the instructor beforehand if you’re worried about keeping up.
