You can execute almost all land-based
stretching
exercises in your swimming pool. Take care to
stretch the large muscle
groups of the legs, arms, back and chest, and don’t forget to simply walk
around in the water to slowly elevate your heart rate.
Strength and Endurance: (10-20 minutes)
Begin by walking in a straight line from one side of the pool to the
other, submerging yourself as deeply as possible into the water. Push your
arms forward, fan them out and pull them behind you as you work your way
across the pool.
Gradually increase your pace and slowly lengthen both your stride and
your reach, using your arms to help pull yourself through the water. As
you move faster, resistance will increase and your balance will be
challenged. Work up to your fastest, in-control pace and execute two fast
walks back and forth across the pool.
Now choose a swimming stroke (breaststroke, backstroke, crawl, etc.)
and swim one complete lap (across and back) at a pace that allows you to
complete one trip.
Repeat one lap of fast walking, followed by a controlled swimming lap
using a different stroke. Work your way through all of the swimming
strokes you know, only one lap each, followed by a fast walk lap. In no
time, you will have worked every major muscle group in your body while
elevating your heart rate over a fixed period of time.
Cool down. (5 minutes, minimum)
At the end of your multiple passes across the pool, repeat the
stretching
exercises you executed during warm up to allow the muscles time to relax,
and to minimize soreness.
There’s flexibility here, of course. You may, as your fitness level
allows, choose to execute one stroke per day for a number of laps (using
different strokes on different days), or increase the number of laps you
swim using all the strokes you know. In truth, you need not swim at
all—bobbing, jumping, dipping, lunging, all work against the natural
resistance of the water to exercise your muscles.
Since even 30 minutes of moderate pool exercise can burn up to 300
calories, it’s easy to see how a quick half hour, just three times a week,
can have long-lasting health benefits. The point is, have fun with your
routine, be creative in your effort, and make it easy to repeat again and
again.