The Joy of Exercise

It’s simple, inexpensive, can be done anytime, anywhere, and it can be done alone or with somebody. No waiting for a tee time, no trying to get a tennis court, no looking for a hoop to use for your round ball practice, and no trouble with not getting the team together to practice. Walking is not a team sport. Hooray!

How’s your heart? Over the past 30 years, heart attacks have tapered off a little. This is due to many factors, including fewer smokers and more exercise. (more…)

Trouble Spot

Many people suffer from knee problems, be it inflammation, pain when they walk downstairs, or as a result of some sort of injury. The knee is a complicated joint which needs looking after! Indeed, many people are encouraged to exercise in water if they have some kind of knee trouble because the pressure you place on them is drastically reduced when submerged. However, before doing a bit of DIY physiotherapy, check out any complaint you may have with a physio or at a sports clinic. Fitness is a specialized area, and your local doctor may not have experience in prescribing suitable exercises. And even if you don’t suffer from any knee trouble, keep it that way with these three simple rules. (more…)

It’s time for action, a gentle 10-minute warm-up to prepare both body and mind for the aerobic and muscular exercises in the main circuit.

Time invested in this part of your workout will pay good dividends.

• You want to work your way around your body, mobilizing each joint so that they move smoothly and safely. Try to act normally in the water. Move in a controlled and graceful manner, without cutting corners or becoming instantly uncoordinated.

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Because the lymph system has no pump, it relies on you to help keep lymph flowing. Exercise has many whole body benefits, and it is the primary way of moving lymph throughout the body. If you are sedentary, your lymph is also sluggish, which contributes to a general feeling of lethargy. When you exercise, the contraction of your muscles and the increase in your rate and depth of breathing stimulates the smooth flow of lymph. Any activity that gets you moving is beneficial, so choose an exercise that you enjoy—you’ll be more likely to stick with it. Walking, dancing, and swimming are all excellent for stimulating lymph flow. (more…)

A Little Drop of Aquaphysics

Part of water’s magical allure is the change you feel the moment you immerse yourself. You enter a world where gravity seems to disappear, where your
movements are slowed and bearing more graceful, where buoyancy keeps you up while resistance holds you back, and where knowing why things react so differently helps you make your actions that much more effective. So whether exercising on it, in it, under or through it, Taking the Plunge gets your feet wetwith a little drop of aquaphysics. (more…)

Whether or not the removal of body hair does something for your nerve endings, the issue at stake here is water resistance — swimmers at Murray Rose’s level of performance trying to reduce any unnecessary drag which body hair might create. But resistance is also what allows you to move through the water in the first place, as well as placing a demand on your body during your aquafit workout.

Increase the amount of surface area you present to the water and you increase the resistance you encounter. Compare, for instance, how exhausting it feels when walking or jogging through chest-deep water, with the energy-efficient streamlining achieved by good swimming technique. (more…)

No matter how well adapted to water we are, no matter how strong at swimming or how expert at life-saving, which of us hasn’t stepped back at some point in our life and imagined the unimaginable: slowly sinking down to the bottom and never coming up. But then again, if iron and steel can remain at the surface when hammered thin and beaten into shape, it’s a fair bet that even the down-and-out `sinkers’ in our midsts will be able to float — with a little extra lift where it matters most.

Sinker — one adult male in 20 who finds buoyancy a let-down. (more…)

To cap it all

While healthy, intact skin will not be affected by lengthy exposure to chlorine, everyone knows that it doesn’t do your hair a whole lot of good. One way of counteracting this is to use the ASA-endorsed Ultraswim products designed to release the chlorine bonds which attach to the strands. Alternatively, there are always swimming caps — providing, that is, you can find one that fits properly — and should you ever reach competition standard, they are a much less drastic way of streamlining your body than shaving your head, not to mention providing triathletes who swim in open water with a valuable source of insulation. (more…)

Playing the Water Fitness Game

All games have rules, and the fitness game is no exception. We all want to work out safely and in a way which gets results, and most people already know that there are guidelines set down to make exercise programmes as rewarding as possible. So here’s a quick refresher course … in case you’ve forgotten. (more…)

The manual on underwater swimming which used this as a heading must have conjured up a bizarre vision indeed for its contemporary readership. Today, however, goggles are probably the only other essential item for your swimming shopping list — to protect your eyes and help you see more clearly in the pool. (more…)