WHY SWIMMING?

It’s not just the experts who recognize the value of swimming. It’s everyone! I don’t know how many times I’ve been at parties and, in the course of a conversation, revealed that I am a lifelong swimmer. The next thing I know, my interlocutor will be telling me, “You know, swimming is really the best all-around exercise there is … especially as you grow older.” And so it is.

This observation is borne out by the fact that virtually every poll on physical activities conducted in the last thirty years has shown that swimming is America’s most popular recreational/athletic activity.

Swimmers are less visible than joggers because they are not on public roads or in parks. They do their activity away from the public eye, in pools (and lakes and oceans). But make no mistake about it: they are out there, churning up the laps, in numbers estimated by the polls at between 30 and 120 million people! And their numbers are growing.

In large measure, the fitness boom has been faddish. First tennis was the “in” activity; then it was jogging; then racquetball and aerobics. All of these are worthy and healthful activities, but all have their downsides as well. Swimming has all their virtues and more. And it has no downside.

Virtually all experts now recognize that swimming is the best and most complete form of exercise there is. It provides the same aerobic benefits that running and other activities do. But, unlike running and other forms of exercise, it works all the muscles of the body; since it does not put the strain on connective tissues that running and jogging do, it rarely leads to injury; and it provides numerous psychological benefits as well—from increased self-esteem to an enriched love life. According to recent stories in such bellwethers as The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, swimming is destined to be the sport of the late 1990s and the twenty-first century.