Article by Christopher Mercer
When most people think of swimming for fitness they picture Olympic athletes like Ian Thorpe, Michael Phelps, or Canada’s own Mark Tewksbury. Those excessively lean and fit individuals who perform at the elite level of the sport. This is a bit distracting and daunting for regular swimmers or interested swimmers. If your first thought of a swimmer is of the best of the best, you too would have second thoughts before sporting that swim suit and getting in the pool. If you are one of those people let me introduce you to the world of Masters Swimming.
Masters Swimming is a coached, organized, adult program intended to promote fitness through swimming. Masters Swimmers are comprised of all types of athletic and non athletic swimmers ranging from former world champions, age groups (youth competitive swimming), tri-athletes, fitness, and casual swimmers. It is open to and designed for anyone who is able to complete a few simple lengths of a pool non-stop. You don’t have to be fast, good, or competitive to be a masters swimmer.
So why swimming? There are lots of activities out there a person can do to be fit. You can run, weight training, biking, hiking, hockey, volleyball, etc. All these are great and well worth pursuing but none offer the low impact that swimming can. Swimming – especially in a structured workout – offers a low impact activity that builds endurance, strength, and cardio-vascular fitness. This allows reduced strain on joints while still allowing a full body exercise.
There are also psychological benefits to swimming. At a slower pace where you are not working as hard you can relax and let your mind wander, focusing on nothing but the rhythm of your stroke. A less obvious side benefit you can also gain is time management and self discipline. Some people even find it meditative to swim, refreshing them for the day.
As part of a masters club, swimming offers a great social outlet and camaraderie through the shared workout experience. You can get coached guidance on your stroke techniques allowing you to improve and in some case swim strokes you never thought you would. You can set goals such as swimming a distance faster, entering a master’s competition (100% optional), mastering a stroke, or building endurance.
The costs of swimming are also great when compared to some other types of activities. The cost of a swim suit and goggles is often much less than a good pair of running shoes. The membership costs of a Masters club also are much better than your typical fitness center.
The things swimming can’t offer you are muscle growth and a high level of weight loss. This is the reality of being supported in by the water gaining less resistance that weights and the nature of the cooling effect of water.
So if you have not considered masters swimming as part of your fitness routine you should! Either as your primary workout or as a part of cross-training it has something to offer you.
BIO: Christopher Mercer is a former Lifesaving Society Lifeguard, YMCA Advanced Swim Instructor and current Masters Swimmer. Born and raised in Grand Falls-Windsor, Newfoundland he now makes home in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia working for RIM while swimming with the Dartmouth Whalers Masters Swim Club (www.dwmsc.com). You can learn more about Christopher and his interests at his website or follow him or the Whalers on twitter.
Filed under: Fitness, Healthy Living, Workouts 
