Swimming Tips and Techniques

Swimming is a very good exercise to not only keep the body fit, but also to relax the mind. It can be extremely fun too, making it a very popular sport among the young and the old alike. For someone who is planning to take swimming lessons, below are some very important tips, which will help him or her to derive maximum benefits out of the lessons as well as enjoy the sessions at the same time.

The most important tip for beginners is that before every swimming session, they should do warm up exercises. Stretches are the ideal choice for warm ups before swimming. Another thing that beginners can do is study some books on swimming or books on some famous swimmer and learn from his mistakes or seek his advice, through these books.

A swimmer should always keep himself hydrated. So drinking lots of fluids, before, during and after the swimming session is necessary. Sports drinks such as Gatorade, will benefit a lot if they are sipped by the swimmer regularly.

In the beginning, a swimmer should only swim for about twenty minutes in one session. Swimming lessons too should not be everyday rather only for three to four days in a week. He can increase the duration after a few days. This will help to build up his stamina slowly and slowly and he would not feel over strained.

A swimmer who wants to do a high intensity-swimming stroke, should go in for freestyle. Those looking for low intensity strokes, should go for breaststroke or sidestroke. One very important tip to keep energy levels high is not to kick very hard in water. Also, while doing the stroke, the arm should be fully extended in front.

After that water should be clasped and pulled back. Lastly, if the right arm is extended, the right side of the body should be lower than the left side. When the left arm is extended, the left side of the body should be lower than the right.

For a swimmer, it is very essential that he practices appropriate inhalation and exhalation techniques, so that he is able to breathe properly while swimming. A very important breathing tip that every new swimmer should follow is to learn and practice inhaling, when the face is above water and exhaling, when the face is in water.

Just as stretches for warming up are essential, similarly warming down, especially after an intense swimming session is necessary too. For warming down, a swimmer can swim a couple of hundred meter laps of low intensity strokes, at the end of the swimming session.

These tips are easy to follow and sure to make swimming fun and effective for any beginner. While learning swimming, especially in the beginning, certain safety tips have to be followed too, which are given ahead.