THA LIFESTYLE
| HEALTH & WELL BEING
Learn to love the water:
R HELP US
LTHY LIFE?
How to love the water? It is unfortunate that we all have a natural fear of water especially in the deep end or when we cannot
ground our feet and keep our head above the water to breathe
freely. But for once if we can control this fear we will have overcome the biggest hurdle to swimming. In a sport centre swimming
pool they will never let you drown, so why worry?
Develop the technique:
Try and find a group lesson or a personal trainer and learn the correct technique using “floats” to start with.
Maintain rhythm:
Efficient swim technique is all about developing and maintaining good rhythm of the arms, legs and most importantly a steady
breathing routine. To achieve steady breathing it is essential to
overcome the fear of water.
the better you float so there may be
an advantage of carrying the extra
pounds in the initial days & months.
The keener you are the sooner you
shed the unwanted fat. Swimming
gives a fantastic cardio-vascular
and a full body workout – I am not a
specialist in this field of science so I will
not profess to know all about it but
based on what I know and experience
daily it has been worth the while.
In the modern age with the assistance
of advanced medical science do we
still believe in “Survival of the fittest?”
Regardless of the sport, (according
to studies published in the BMJ),
athletes in the world are indeed
among the healthiest as well, thanks
to their rigorous training regimes.
Swimming is a sport you can enjoy
throughout your life – good for both
mind and body and is sure to offer
improved probabilities of longevity.
So what are the alternatives if you
cannot bring yourself to take up
swimming? From time to time the
fitness fanatics come up with new and
entirely novel fitness fads like spinning,
aqua-spinning (very slowly catching
up in the UK), zumba, aqua-zumba
and the like which are all great forms
of exercise because not everyone can
fit into popular sport.
If you think swimming is hard work, try
“Extreme-zumba”, GST or “Insanity”.
On my way to the local sport centre
for my early morning swim, I see an
Keep kicking:
An important aspect of maintaining shape in the water is to keep
kicking from the waist-down and maintain the body horizontal so
efficiency and good propulsion are achieved. Imagine if you raise
your head the legs will sink and whilst they tire the kicking will
also not give a lot of propulsion.
Keep breathing:
Control the urge to panic and instead breathe out into the water
steadily take-in a breath when your lungs are almost empty. Try
and use the lungs efficiently so you are only taking a fresh breath
every 2-4-6 or even 8 strokes.
enthusiastic female group going hard at advanced zumba sessions
pumped up by high-wattage bass music: the amount of energy on
display though is frankly frightening but very motivating nonetheless. I
was told that admittance to this advanced group is only upon passing
a compulsory rigorous physical test and