Swimming in the Rain!

I love watching Southern California weather segments.  There are lots of weather warnings and STORM WATCHES.  It’s raining here in Ventura, in case you didn’t know.  We’re not sure how many people will survive, but keep checking the news.  So far there are thousands of worm deaths across the local soccer fields.  It’s just horrible.  Driving seems to be very difficult as well!  And, it is today’s weather (all two inches of it), and a few inquiries into my thoughts on swimming, that has prompted today’s blog (oooh, thunder!  Cool.)

What do I think of swimming?  Well, first off, I love it.  Being in the water is one of my favorite activities and submerged playing makes me VERY happy.  I was also a competitive swimmer in school.  I love everything about the water.  I like the buoyancy.  I like the way the oil on my skin mixes with the water and makes my body slimy.  I could do without the manos del prune.  (This is Spanish for prune hands…and if anyone knows the correct Spanish term for prune hands, would you let me know?)  So there you have what I think of swimming.  But maybe you wanted to know what I think of swimming as an exercise program?  That is a better question.

There are many reasons people exercise, so let us break those reasons down to evaluate swimming as a health program.

• Weight loss
• Bone Density
• Muscle Mass
• Joint Health
• Cardiovascular Health

Weight Loss. If you are a non-exerciser beginning a swimming program, you may notice a decrease in weight initially, but to see continuous changes in body composition, research shows that swimming is not the best choice.  The temperature changes the body goes through coming in and out of the water seems to signal a complex nerve pathway that lowers metabolism.  Why this is, physiologists are not sure.  It is most likely due to the heat regulating processes of the body.  Being submerged in water makes it more difficult to maintain body temperature, so the body responds by using less energy.  Even competitive level swimmers – swimming multiple hours per day at high intensities – carry the greatest percentage body fat relative to athletes of most sports.

Bone Density. If you are exercising to increase bone density, know that swimming is the least effective type of movement when it comes to strengthening your bones.  In order to stimulate bone generation (osteogenesis), bones must be weight bearing along the axis of gravity – which means you have to carry your body weight around while standing up!  The buoyant force of water makes bone loading almost zero in the water.  Better option?  A thirty minute walk to the pool is a good strong-bone choice as is maybe alternating a swim day with an hour of walking.

Muscle Mass. Swimming can definitely aid in increasing your muscle mass as water is great resistance.  But, keep in mind that swimming as most people do it, is a sport.  Swimming strokes have been developed to use the water as minimally as possible to reduce any drag that may slow the athlete down.  What does this mean?  It means the better swimmer you are, the less muscle benefit you will receive from your best stroke.  Water aerobics classes are great for creating exercises that use more muscle than your basic swim strokes.  Another option, ditch your favorite or best stroke and start learning a new one!

Joint Health. Healthy joints need regular use, but there’s a catch.  If you use your joints when your muscles are tight, movement can have a more detrimental effect than if you didn’t use your joints at all!  Swimming is a great way to get whole body movement, but are your shoulders tense?  If you are doing stroke after stroke and your neck and shoulder muscles are tight, the risk of developing shoulder impingement syndrome (shoulder bursitis, deltoid tendonitis, rotator cuff tendonitis or tear, bicep tendonitis or tear) significantly increases.  If you like to swim for joint health, then you need to make sure your shoulder alignment is correct.  You also need to work to decrease your neck, deltiod, trapezius, and rotator cuff range of motion.  This spinal alignment DVD has great corrective exercises for shoulder girdle alignment.

Cardiovascular Health. Again, swimming is a great way to increase your circulation – always a great benefit to the heart and lungs.  Something to know about your circulatory system is this.  Circulation does not increase throughout the entire body, but only in the muscles you are using.  To truly optimize cardiovascular function, you need to use as many muscles possible and make sure that your muscles are in their longest possible position the rest of the time.  When you are done swimming, you need to stretch.  And, when designing your swimming workout, make sure that you rotate through different strokes.  Maybe even create some of your own!

So, what do I think of swimming as an exercise?  The most simple way to state it is this.  Each type exercise is like a food.  How many different types of foods do you need for balanced nutrition?  The answer is many.  Is swimming a good exercise?  Sure.  But it shouldn’t be the only “food” that you eat, or you will most likely be missing the movement “nutrients” required for keeping other tissues healthy.  Our understanding of exercise is over-simplified.  Movement is chemistry.  Every tissue in the body (bone, blood, nerves, organs, muscles) requires a unique component of exercise to keep that tissue healthy.  The exercise that “nutrifies” most of your tissues is well-aligned walking.  Stretching to maximize your bone placement and joint space while walking is also extremely important.

Should you swim?  YES!  But swim because you love it and love how it makes you feel.  Know that when you get out of the pool there is still a lot of work to be done to keep your other tissues healthy.  Exercise prescription is very much like planning a healthy diet!  We’d all like to eat our favorite foods all the time, but in order to optimize our human machine, you have to make sure all the food groups are there.

Whoa.  Sun’s out.  Better comb the field for survivors.