Did you know that swimming stands out among other types of aerobic exercise as particularly beneficial? We can make many choices about how to spend our money, so we do well to intentionally choose things that resonate with our value system. When you’re considering investing in your own in-ground swimming pool, it might be clarifying to ask yourself what your family’s priorities and goals are. If they include healthy habits, then a swimming pool may well be an excellent choice in keeping with your family’s core values! Let’s explore what makes swimming such a fabulous addition to your health-conscious activities.
Factor 1: The Painlessness of Water
Water-based exercises can be especially helpful for those with a variety of preexisting medical conditions. By submerging your body in water, your bones and muscles are temporarily relieved from gravity’s pull. For those with osteoarthritis and other conditions that make weight-bearing movements painful, swimming offers similar benefits — but without the pain. For those at risk for heart problems, swimming can actually decrease arterial stiffness. Swimming can also be linked to lower blood pressure for those suffering with hypertension. For overweight individuals who find other aerobic exercises too uncomfortable, the cool and buoyant properties of water make swimming an ideal solution.
Factor 2: The Power of Water
Whoever said “no pain, no gain” isn’t always correct in that assertion. Water workouts lack the pain involved in many traditional aerobic exercises, but that doesn’t mean they’re any less effective. Since water’s density is higher than that of air, movement in the water actually puts more pressure on your arms and legs than does moving outside the pool. Unlike weights or even gravity, water pressure is distributed evenly throughout your body, instead of making joints bear the majority of the burden.
Factor 3: Your Breathing in Water
When you run or ride a bike, you tend to take shallow breaths and exhale forcefully. When you swim, you do the opposite, breathing more deeply but quickly and then allowing the air to seep out slowly. The kind of breathing that swimming necessitates actually works to strengthen your respiratory muscles, keeping your lung’s alveoli, or balloon-like structures, from collapsing or sticking together.
Factor 4: Water-Formed Body Shape
Have you ever noticed swimmers’ bodies? Unlike running or bicycling, which primarily works your lower body, swimming more thoroughly engages your core and upper body. A particular impact is the use of your lateral muscles (those in your middle back) and your triceps (behind your upper arms).
Factor 5: Water and Back Health
Most positions we assume — for work or exercise — require our bodies to assume an upright position. Swimming, by contrast, assumes a horizontal position, serving to help counteract all the time most of us spend in sedentary positions, sitting either at a computer, in a car, or on the sofa — typically assuming a posture that is not kind to our backs. Other cardio workouts may combine with a typical American lifestyle to contribute to back problems, rather than preventing back injuries, as swimming does.
Lyon Financial
Since 1979 Lyon Financial has made the backyard resort dream come true for over 400,000 families across the U.S. Through our solid relationships with more than 3,000 pool contractors and our continued commitment to putting our clients first, we have built a reputation as the first choice in providing pool financing solutions. For more information, visit lyonfinancial.net or call (877) 754-5966 today.
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