Swimming is one of the most famous sports in the world. Many people like to exercise continuously, especially in the summer, because it gives them a feeling of recovery and fun, especially when they are playing together with friends. Swimming also provides their practitioners with many different benefits for muscles and building.
Benefits of swimming for muscles
The water density is about 12 times greater than the air density, which helps to strengthen the muscles. Swimming is one of the best sports that can be done to strengthen compared to other aerobic sports because it offers muscle resistance similar to that given by light weights.
Swimming increases the flexibility of the muscles very much; because of the use of almost all muscles of the body at the same time, this is the opposite of what we do in the gyms; focusing on each muscle alone, which ultimately lead to the extent of movement of muscles and thus narrowing muscle injury, Swimming is also one of the exercises in which the elongation can be done. The swimming extends the body parts as far as possible in each movement.
Swimming helps to control breathing, which is often neglected by many, with all its importance in all sports, including muscle building or other sports. Breathing is the way people get on the air to produce energy during their day and during exercise. Swimming increase the amount of air that the lungs absorb, and improve the human breathing.
Swimming is a very safe sport; it does not cause a lot of stress and weight on the muscles and joints in the body, because the water raises the body and carries it off the ground, which reduces a large amount of weight on the body, so swimming is an excellent sport for those suffering from various injuries especially joint and knee injuries.
Swim strokes and their effect on muscles
There are several strokes used in swimming, each of which targets a specific set of muscles as follows:
Frontal abdominal crawl: This strike is the fastest and most famous strikes and used in free swimming, this strike targeting the muscles of the chest and back.
Back strike: It is one of the mildest and easiest strikes, because the face is above the water all the time allowing breathing continuously, and targeted the strike back muscles and thigh muscles.
Chest stroke: It is the most strikes that need to coordinate between the upper and lower body muscles, It is one of the slowest strikes relatively, and targets the muscles of the shoulder, chest and arms.
Butterfly Blow: The hardest hit and most severe for the other strikes, one of the most blows to burn calories, and specifically targeting the muscles of the chest, back and shoulder.
