Swimming, a great way to get fit and stay healthy.

Why swimming is amazing for physical and mental health.

We look at why swimming is one of the best ways of getting into shape and staying healthy, both physically and mentally.

Most of us learn to swim at a young age, but for many adults, going for a swim has lost its appeal. That’s a shame, as it’s such good way of staying on top of our fitness.

Five years ago, I was an overweight heavy smoker. I looked unhealthy and I felt worse. In a bid to make a change I signed up for a membership at my local pool.

To begin with, it was tough and I would only swim a handful of lengths on each visit. Initially, I would only swim breaststroke, but gradually I would incorporate more front crawl into my sessions.

About a year later I began to swim in public events, the first of which was a 5km endurance swim at the local pool. Later I took up open water swims, taking part in events all across the country.

These days, I’m fit and healthy and now swim competitively in open water swimming and triathlon events, but I’ll never forget how swimming made me feel healthy again, even when I couldn’t swim more than a couple of lengths at a time.

Reasons to take up or get back into swimming.

• It’s accessible: There are public pools everywhere and more gyms now have pools too.
• It’s affordable: Affordable public pools make swimming a highly accessible sport.
• There are programmes: Most pools have resources and workout guides to help you get the most from your swimming fitness. There’s even more help and advice available online.
• There’s less chance of injury: Swimming is low impact, so if you take it steady you are unlikely to suffer any of the major injuries that are possible with other sports, such as running.

Bored of doing lengths?

If you swim occasionally but find it boring try picking up a workout plan which will give you a structured swim guide with varying lengths and strokes.

Consider open-water swimming. If the weather is fine, there’s no better feeling than being out on a picturesque lake in the countryside. (Note: stay safe and stick to supervised public open water events)