Swimming exercises are highly recommended from an early age because swimming has many advantages. Aside from being a physical activity, the benefits of swimming are classified as a skill that can save lives in an emergency, both in a pool and on the high seas.
equipment for swimming exercise
For those of you who are new to swimming, it’s good to know some of the equipment that is often associated with swimming exercises. These tools are generally a tool for learning to swim. Here are some standard swimming gears:
Swimming exercises equipment #1: pool board
This object is usually made of hollow plastic and shaped like a board. There is a gap on the side for easy holding. Swimming boards are typically easy to float, although several types can be adjusted for buoyancy. The swimming board serves as an aid for gliding exercises. How to use it is held with both hands stretched forward or placed under the chest while the feet row. With the help of this swimming board, the body will find it easier to float.
Swimming exercises equipment #2: life jacket
The shape of this buoyancy aid resembles a life jacket in an emergency. Worn like a vest, enveloping the upper body. This vest has a hollow cross-section, allowing the user to float. Babies usually wear life jackets. Children’s age groups also use vests as beginner swimming gear.
Swimming exercises equipment #3: life belt
This swimming aid is worn around the waist like a belt. Typically, buoyancy belts come with two to four cubes of foam. The foam provides enough buoyancy to help the body float. Swimming belts are usually used for beginners who do not yet have good coordination between hand and leg movements. As strength and buoyancy increase, this tool can be removed. This tool is also often used as an aid for water aerobics.
Swimming exercises equipment #4: Noodles
What Noodles means there is no food, okay? But the noodles discussed here are swimming aids with an elongated shape like noodles. About 1 meter long, usually wrapped around the chest and tucked under the armpit. The goal is to help the upper body float more easily. This swimming aid is used to practice rowing with the legs.
Benefits of Swimming exercise
As a physical activity, swimming has many benefits. Here are some of the benefits of swimming when done regularly:
persistence
Swimming exercises can help endurance. In a study of middle-aged men and women, regular swimming for 12 weeks can increase oxygen circulation in the body by up to 12%. At the same time, the amount of blood pumped increased by up to 18%, indicating that the heart’s strength was preserved. Overall, the body becomes permanently healthier.
build muscles
Swimming the right way helps build the triceps muscles, especially when combined with strength training. Even when not balanced with strength training, swimming can increase arm muscle strength.
burn calories
The next benefit of swimming is that it helps burn many calories. In comparison, swimming can burn almost as many calories as cycling for the same duration. So an hour of swimming can burn 500 to 650 calories, depending on the effectiveness of the swim.
swimming exercises techniques
Swimming is a fun activity. If you do it right, you can feel the benefits. Conversely, improper swimming can result in injury, including death by drowning. There are at least five swimming techniques that need to be considered and executed correctly:
drop technique
Diving into the water is a very crucial moment. When doing this technique, the body cannot penetrate the water properly. The trick is to extend your hands forward by clasping your palms together. The position of head faces down and is under the position of the arms. Dive so that your hands first touch the water, then your elbows, your head, and then your lower body.
Breathing
Breathing is the most basic technique, but it is the most important. You can’t swim properly if you can’t regulate your breathing rhythm. The main idea is to take a deep breath before dipping your head under the water. Then exhale slowly through your nose and mouth. Do it rhythmically with hand movements.
Floating
Before you can learn to master the different swimming styles, you need to master this one swimming technique. Floating helps your body stay on top of the water. Floating also keeps the body in a horizontal position. This technique is essential to avoid drowning if you accidentally fall into deep water.
coordination
When swimming, all limbs must move in a coordinated manner. You must engage your lower body muscles backwards, abs, and hips to swim forward, aided by kicking your legs. Forward movement is facilitated with the help of hand movements.
style
Swimming has different styles, such as Freestyle, frog, butterfly, and backstroke. Everything can be learned if the three basic techniques are well mastered beforehand. All swimming styles revolve around coordinating all body parts to float and move in the desired direction. Unless you are a competitive swimmer, mastering the freestyle technique is enough. However, it never hurts to learn other swimming styles.
How to practice swimming exercises
Swimming exercises can be grouped by experience and expertise. For beginners, the practice menu is:
- 2 x 50m freestyle with 30 seconds rest between sessions.
- 2 x 50m leg crawl with 30-second rest between sessions. In this section, the swimming technique used is leg paddles only.
- 2 x 50m front crawl style with 30-second rest between sessions. Use a pullback tool between the legs in this section so that swimming strokes only use hand paddles.
- 1 x 50m freestyle at a normal pace, 30-second rest.
- 1 x 25m freestyle at full speed, rest 45 seconds.
- 1 x 75m Freestyle – 20-second rest.
- Freestyle with Kicks 1 x 25m – 20-second rest.
- 1 x 75m backstroke – 20-second rest.
- Backstroke with legs 1 x 25 m – 20-second rest.
- 1 x 75m breaststroke – 20 second rest.
- Breaststroke with Leg Paddles 1 x 25m – 20-second rest
- Cool down movement by swimming 1 x 100m at low speed.
All these options are performed in sequence, starting with the warm-up and core movement and ending with the cool-down. For intermediate and expert, the training menu is the same. It only differs in the number of sets and styles adapted to each person’s strengths and abilities.
In conclusion, swim training is a lifesaver in certain situations. Swimming exercise also promises to make some people happy because it can be used as a leisure sport with others.