16213 SATURDAY LESSON 845
Questions Answers on
swimming fitness
swimming
IN BRIEF: Moving through water by the motion of hands and feet.
I often think that we are like the carp swimming contentedly in that pond. β Michio Kaku, Source: Hyperspace : A Scientific
Odyssey Through Parallel Universes, Time Warps, and the 10th Dimension,
Bodies of water are natural symbols of both the unconscious and the emotions. Dreaming about swimming can thus be related to the emotions or to an exploration of oneβs unconscious (a natural dream image for someone undergoing therapy). Also, because we spend the first nine months of our lives in a liquid environment, swimming is also a symbol of birth or rebirth.
Swimming
Swimming and Diving - swimming: racing contest in which swimmers propel themselves across surface of water over designated distance, usualy. in one of four strokes
Swimming may refer to:
Movement and sport in water
- Aquatic locomotion,
animal movement through water
- Human swimming,
human movement through water - Swimming (sport),
the competitive sport of swimming
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When it comes to breathing, new swimmers often struggle to master their technique, while veteran swimmers continually strive to perfect it. Use this guide to get the air you need in the water.
Proper Breathing Technique for Swimming
Learn how to get comfortable in the water and find a rhythm to your breathing, even through a stressful triathlon swim start.
Many swimmers use only one side to breathe on, especially those who log a lot of freestyle yards. One of the most common questions in the
swimming world is should you breathe on one side only or use bilateral breathing?
4 Steps to Easy Breathing in Freestyle
For beginning swimmers, learning to breathe is as important as discovering your stroke. Here are four ways to gradually build your confidence in the water.Breathing Mechanics That Will Help
Your Freestyle
If breathing breaks your strokeβs rhythm, the solution isnβt to hold your breath. Use these tips to put air in your lungs without compromising your technique.
Extra Air and Fast Turns in Distance
Swimming
Long pool sets mean lots of flip turns. For some swimmers, not breathing in and out of the turn can leave them gasping for air. Next time
youβre short of breath, try this method.
Mastering the Top 5 Freestyle
Breathing Challenges
The most common questions I hear about the mysteries of swimming efficiently usually involve breathing. Here are the top five challenges in learning how to breathe in freestyle.
Breathing Basics: Getting Comfortable
Until your swimming breath becomes routine, effectively focusing on other aspects of your stroke is impossible. Try this unique out-of-the-pool exercise to help you get comfortable.
Inside-Out Breathing: Get the Air You
Need
Thereβs probably a greater range of breathing skill in swimming than in any other activity. Elite swimmers can breathe effortlessly while
maintaining perfect form at maximum exertion and world-record pace.
Perfect Your Breathing With a Better
Body Position
Do you get fatigued easily in the water because of lack of air? Improve your breathing by balancing your body position.
Q & A With Natalie Coughlin:
Breathing and Hand Position Tips
Olympic gold medalist Natalie Coughlin answers your questions on maximizing your freestyle breathing and fine-tuning your hand position.
Q & A With Natalie Coughlin: Flip
Turns and Better Breathing
Olympian Natalie Coughlin answers questions about improving your flip turns and having greater control over your breathing.
What is the definition for
swimming ?
In recreation and sports, the propulsion of the body through water by combined arm and leg motions. Swimming is popular as an all-around fitness routine and as a competitive sport. It has been included in the modern Olympic Games since their inception in 1896. Events include freestyle (crawl-stroke) races at distances of 50, 100, 200, 400, 800, and 1,500 m;
backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly races at 100 and 200 m; individual
medley races at 200 and 400 m; freestyle relays, 4 Β΄ 100 m and 4 Β΄
200 m; and the medley relay, 4 Β΄
100 m. Long-distance swimming competitions, usually of 15 β 37 mi (24 β 59 km),
are generally held on lakes and inland waters.
Swimming is one of the most popular recreational sports that can be enjoyed by all ages. The ability to swim enables people to participate in a wide variety of water sports such as snorkelling, water skiing, jet skiing, wind surfing, sailing, boating, fishing, rowing, and canoeing, without the fear of getting into trouble, and reduces the risk of drowning. Fear of water, particularly if a person suddenly gets out of
their depth, prevents a lot of people going into a swimming pool or enjoying beach holidays. Many of the newer water sports require expertise in handling a craft as well as swimming proficiency.
Water is a very dangerous place for non swimmers, particularly if it is cold and an excessive amount of alcohol has been drunk. Unfamiliar
surroundings, and no knowledge of local tides, can be lethal to careless individuals. Water-related fatalities are the second leading cause of
accidental death in the UK and Australia, and the third in the US. The risk of drowning is 2.5 deaths per 100000
in USA and 1 per 100β000
in the UK.
Babies are taught to swim at a very young age in some countries; this enables them to learn to swim without fear of the water. They should have had their first two combined immunizations, unless they are being breast-fed. The water temperature should be higher than normal, a minimum of 86Β°F or 27Β°C. The time spent in the water should be carefully monitored; this can vary from 10 minutes to 30 minutes but babies should not stay too long in the water as they lose heat rapidly.
Swimmers are usually taught the four swimming strokes used for competitions; the front crawl, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly, which are swum either as a single stroke or in combination over various distances.
There are four phases of each stroke; the reach, catch, pull, and recovery. The arm action during the pull phase provides 75% of the
propulsion in all strokes except the breast-stroke, where the contributions from the upper and lower limbs are equal. During reach or entry the arm reaches forwards to enter the water. In backstroke the arm entry occurs with the shoulder in the fully elevated position. Catch is similar in all competitive strokes except backstroke; the elbow flexes, the arm extends forwards at the shoulder and moves outwards in the horizontal plane whilst rotating towards the body. The pull is the propulsion phase and can vary; the swimmer either sculls or pushes the water. The arm action starts at maximum elevation and ends in extension except in breast-stroke. Recovery is the out of water phase (except breast-stroke), and the arm then returns to start position.
In breast-stroke the arms move together in pull and recovery phase and the arms do not pull below the waistline.
Swimming is a sport that attracts participants of all ages although it is largely a young sport. Competitions are organized by clubs,
schools, and national associations. Short course competitions take place in a 25-metre pool, long course in a 50-metre pool. Olympic swimming competitions are over a variety of distances and strokes, and they take place in 50-metre pools. Synchronized swimming, water polo, and diving are also included in the Olympic program
. Swimming
in the sea may be part of a triathlon race, and open sea races, including
Channel swims, are also held. βMastersβ swimming competitions are held for
those over 24 years of age whereas βveteranβ sports competitions in athletics
are for the over 40s. Competitions for different age groups are held in most
countries, and world championships also take place.
Competitive swimming is a high-intensity training and
performance sport. During the school year swimming training is divided into two
sessions: the first session is in the early morning before school and the
second session after school. The competitive swimmer usually does an average of
12
β000-18β000 metres per day. The competition programme
for the season should be planned well in advance so that the swimmer can peak
for a specific competition, i.e. the swimmer reduces the amount of training to
get the best result.
Swimming is a relatively injury-free sport and was found to be
the safest of eleven sports surveyed by Weightman and Brown in 1975. It is
non-load-bearing and does not involve antigravity work, resulting in fewer
injuries. The injuries that do occur are usually due to overuse, doing too much
too quickly, or breaking the rules.
To ignore warning signs of strong currents, king waves or rip
tides may have lethal consequences. Diving into the shallow end of a pool or
into a wave or sea where rocks are submerged may result in severe injuries.
Pools should have the depth clearly marked so that swimmers do not dive into
shallow water. Pools used for competition should be marked 2 metres from the
wall at each end to judge when to turn. Flags are placed above the pool 5
metres from the end of the pool for the backstroke turn. There are rules
against running around the pool. Pool discipline should be maintained,
particularly out of the pool to prevent people slipping or jumping into the
pool on top of other swimmers. There should also be strict discipline in the
pool when swimming lengths.
Hyperventilation before
trying to swim a long distance under water should be forbidden, as it increases
the risk of hypoxia
(lack of oxygen), and may result in loss of consciousness and
death by drowning. The hyperventilation removes carbon dioxide and hence delays
the stimulus to breathe when breathholding.
Swimming programmes are helpful for both the mentally and the
physically handicapped as they weigh less in water, and this makes it easier
for them to move their muscles, enabling them to improve muscle tone and
co-ordination of movement. Pregnant women can swim during their pregnancy while
many other sports are not suitable. Swimming is also useful in rehabilitation
of injured athletes. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis can improve their
aerobic capacity by swimming in warm water. Asthmatics should be encouraged to
swim, as swimming is the sport that is least likely to precipitate an asthmatic
attack, and the fitter they are the fewer attacks they have; swimming improves
their breathing. Asthma is not a handicap in achieving excellence in sport as
shown by the number of Olympic gold medal swimmers who were asthmatics.
Water aerobics is becoming a popular method of keeping fit, with
less potential for injury than high impact aerobics. Running in the water is a
useful method for athletes to keep fit, if they are injured and unable to cope
with full weight-bearing on hard surfaces. Hydrotherapy is also an effective
rehabilitation after injury. Swimming is thus a sport that can be enjoyed by
many different groups.
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Q: What is Avantouinti?
Avantouinti
is the Finnish word for βwinter swimmingβ. It may sound to many like
masochism taken to ridiculous lengths, but it is becoming increasingly popular
in Finland where 10% of the population have tried it and there are more than
80,000 regular winter swimmers who tout the therapeutic benefits of winter
swimming. The
typical swimmer is not some grizzled macho-type, but a middle-aged woman with a
clerical job.
Q: What Happens When You
Jump Into Cold Water?
Sudden
immersion in ice cold water can result in an involuntary
gasp followed by 1 - 3 minutes of involuntary hyperventilation. Specific data are: 2.0 liter gasp in 82o
water and 3.0 liter gasp in 50o water (i.e. nearly your entire lung
volume), and in 50o water a 600 - 1,000 percent increase in
ventilation (air in and out) in the first minute. This hyperventilation results
in a profound lowering of blood carbon dioxide levels and a raising of blood pH
levels.
Q: Is Winter
Swimming Dangerous?
The strain placed on the heart are not likely to be a problem
for a healthy, fit person but may be dangerous for those with underlying heart
disease or hypertension.
Professor William R. Keating from the University of London
indicates that there is little health risk in cold-water swimming unless a
person starts suddenly at an old age.
Q: What is Cold Water
Shock
Rapid
cooling of the skin triggers various heart and breathing responses. The heart
rate can increase by 50% and blood pressure increase can increase to 175/93.
Although a substantial strain on the heart, these changes are not likely to be
a problem for a healthy, fit person but may be dangerous for those with
underlying heart disease or hypertension.
Q: Why is Cold Water
Swimming Becoming a Fitness Fad?
The number of people who swear by the therapeutic qualities of outdoor winter swimming have increased dramatically of late. Clubs have sprung up across the country for the reason that it the ideal form of gentle health care. The benefits can be very great, it can stimulate mental processes, produce hormones which make the body able to cope with physical stresses and can increase the level of mental awareness and a feeling of well-being. It can also release stress, remove aches and pains, increase vitality and keep skin
looking younger. Apparently the frost is a great preserver! Many even
treat their asthma or arthritis with cold water swimming.