Swimming is the recreational or sports practice of movement and displacement on the water. Using only the arms and legs of the human body. It is also a technique that is learned as a method of survival (in fact, it is taught in numerous educational curricula). And that is practiced as an exercise given its many benefits to the body.
Your practice can be competitive or merely recreational. As a formal sport, it is one of the most practiced in the world, included in the Olympic disciplines and carried out in pools of different lengths (50, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1500 meters).
Swimming is possible because the human body is slightly less dense than water, so it always tends to float with lifeguard training. Our relationship with water is very particular, despite being terrestrial beings, since at birth we are extracted from a totally submerged environment such as the maternal womb.
In fact, infants show an innate tendency to swim and certain diving reflexes, such as automatic breath-holding, slowing of the heart rate, and reduced circulation to the extremities (it is the mammalian diving reflex ).
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History of swimming
Swimming has been practiced since time immemorial, and there is evidence of its knowledge in cave paintings over 7,000 years old. It is also mentioned in texts from later times, such as 2,000 BC. C.: the Odyssey, the Iliad, the Bible, etc.
Importance of swimming
Swimming is much more than a sports practice, it is also a skill and a technique that on many occasions can represent the difference between life and death. A good swimmer is more likely to survive certain maritime accidents, or fall overboard from boats (if he is conscious and fully aware).
On the other hand, swimming is one of the most popular sports practices in the world. It provides a large number of benefits to the respiratory and circulatory systems of human beings, as we will see later.
Swimming styles
There are numerous styles of swimming, some personalized or rarely used. But generally, there are four main styles with lifeguard training. Which are distinguished in competitions and are endorsed by the International Swimming Federation.
Chest or breaststroke style. Also known as “frog style”, since the human body is similar in movements to that of certain amphibians. It consists of floating face down with the arms pointing forward and the legs slightly bent. Drawing them in and stretching them in the same rhythm.
Swimming and freestyle
Front crawl or freestyle. This style requires the swimmer to be straight, lying on one arm that plunges straight into the water, while the other emerges with the elbow flexed and the palm extended downward, ready to enter the water. Meanwhile, the legs move, relaxed, with the toes pointed and the feet turned inwards, giving oscillating kicks.
Back or dorsal style. A style essentially similar to the front crawl, but face up, with the back submerged in the water, moving one arm in the air with the palm of the hand coming out from under the leg, while the other propels the body into the water.
Butterfly style. A variation of the breaststroke or breaststroke, in which both arms move forwards and backward together under the water. Driving the torso forward, continuously and accompanied by an undulating movement of the hips. Which submerges the head when entering into the water and culminates with a kick called “dolphin”. Because of its resemblance to the swimming of these animals, using the feet together.
Health benefits
Swimming has both physical and psychological benefits for health with lifeguard training. Since it is one of the most complete sports practices known. Strengthening almost the entire musculature of the body and stimulating mental coordination and memory.
The decrease in blood pressure and the burning of fat. Since the body must lose twice as many calories to stay warm.
It improves and strengthens the cardiac and vascular systems. As it subjects the heart to continuous and coordinated work with breathing, also increases the athlete’s lung capacity.
It relaxes the muscles by mobilizing almost all the muscles of the body in a coordinated way. Without holding positions for too long.
Lacking impact like land sports, it allows you to strengthen the muscles without subjecting them to the stress of gravity.
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