Swimming for fitness. . .

I am always sick lately. I constantly have sinus infections and at the moment I just cant stop getting tonsillitis. The Doctor recommended looking at my diet (which isnt bad but could use some helping) and exercising more.

I hate exercising absolutely detest everything about it lol. I hate the idea of someone watching me walk/run etc on the side of the road. I hate the idea of a gym. I tried Wii at home but soon lost interest as well. But I do like swimming, not sure if I would like it as a form of exercise every couple of days though. Anyway I was wondering how good is swimming for both general fitness and weightloss?

I know that it was recommended that I start swimming when I was younger to help with respiratory issues eg asthma. Does this sound like a good idea? My other issue is that I can only do breaststroke with any kind of technique, my freestyle has and will always suck to the point I might just drown :p.

For me it's not very good for fitness as I get cold easily and I can't just pop into an indoor pool on the spur of the moment, or before work a couple of times a week. However for you, it might just be a a great option. If you are more likely to swim regularly than anything else then why not give it a shot? The worst thing that will happen is you'll decide to try something else after a while. Any sort of exercise is going to be better than none :)

It is very good excercise if you do enough of it - it works just about every muscle in the body. I swim (in summer) with flippers and use a kick board to do laps as well as using my arms.

It's great exercise and the more you do it the more you improve. I used to live a block away from a pool so I swam lots and just by swimming 4 times a week my Freestyle improved no end.

My friend and I used to swim a few times a week, doing about 1km each time I would alternate between using a kick board and freestyle and always wearing flippers, my friend is like you and can only do breaststroke so she did that, along with eating relatively healthy we each lost about 10kg

I swim for fitness (about the only thing I can still do with my big belly) and I find it great. No stress on my joints, and its a good thinking exercise as it blocks the world out.
Id suggest practising freestyle and backstroke as well, as Id get bored only doing one stroke (and my breaststroke is my worst stroke, so very slow)

Swimming is good for your heart, your lungs and overall body conditioning 'look at the bodies of swimmer athletes great muscle tone without too much bulk'. It is low impact as opposed to, say jogging, which could hurt your lower back if you wear the wrong shoes, etc. or your knees.


Regards
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