Swimming is a fantastic exercise. It helps build stamina, keeps your joints and muscles supple, develops strength and releases stress. Swimming is also quite therapeutic and many people feel very relaxed from being in water. It’s a great way to unwind and even come up with creative ideas for life and work.

Here are a few more reasons why swimming is a great all-around exercise.

#1 – Keeps you healthy. Swimming is a great way of building up cardiovascular health. It also helps reduce weight and tone your body. If you find going to the gym or running isn’t great for you, why not give swimming a try? You can start slowly and build up to a higher level at your own pace.

#2 – Easy on your joints. If you have joint problems, swimming is a great exercise option. It’s particularly good if you’re very overweight or elderly because you can exercise without putting your joints under stress. Being in the water also gives you a feeling of lightness and it’s a good way to give your body a bit of relief while getting healthy at the same time.

#3 – Fantastic for children. Most children love the water. Swimming not only helps them develop a potentially life-saving skill but also gives them a chance to relax and have fun in the water. It’s a great activity to do as a family and will keep everyone fit. For children who are particularly overweight or obese swimming is highly recommended. It takes the emphasis off their weight and allows them to simply have fun and “be a kid” while keeping fit at the same time.

#4 – Tones the whole body. While many exercises only tone certain parts of the body (for example, running tones the legs more than the upper body), swimming is a good overall body toner. As you swim your whole body needs to work as one to stay afloat. This means your entire body gets toned and strengthened in the process.

#5 – Great for weight loss. Swimming may seem easy and like a lot of fun (and it is) but it’s also a great calorie burner. Did you know that you could burn approximately 350 calories for every 30 minutes of moderate swimming? In fact, may experts believe that swimming burns more calories than running, without the stress on the joints. If you’re looking for a great all-round fat burner, you may want to give swimming a try. It’s particularly effective because it doesn’t strain the joints, ideal if you’re carrying around extra weight.

Swimming is a fun and healthy way to stay fit. It’s great for anyone from the very young to the very elderly. For all-round great health, give swimming a try.