Have you toyed with the idea of taking up swimming, but just can’t seem to make it happen? Hopefully these five reasons will get you into a suit and into the water.

Swimming is a gentle, yet strenuous form of exercise, easy on joints but tough on muscles. If you’ve recently injured yourself (pulled a muscle during a long run or twisted an ankle while zipping around the basketball court), you’ll find swimming to be the miracle exercise form. Your muscles and joints will benefit from the anti-inflammatory properties of the cool water, and the exercise itself is gentle on the joints.

Swimming is also a great way to burn a lot of calories in a short workout. Put in some time doing the crawl, butterfly, or breast stroke and you’ll burn a lot of calories. Assuming you weigh about 150 pounds and want to exercise for a half hour, you can burn up to 360 calories doing the crawl or butterfly, 330 calories doing the breast stroke, and 200 calories doing general swimming.

Swimming is a full-body workout. Try swimming sets of different strokes so you’ll work each of the major muscles groups. If you divide forty minutes of swimming into ten minutes of each of the following swim strokes (crawl, butterfly, breast stroke, and backstroke) you’ll work all of your major upper and lower body muscles.

You can swim all year long. If it’s too hot to run outside, dive into the pool! Swiming is a good option in the winter too, when it may be too cold to run or bike outside. Just make sure to shower after and dry your hair thoroughly before you go out into the cold of winter and you’ll enjoy swimming year round, no matter the weather.

Swimming is a relatively cheap sport. You may even be able to swim for free in the summer, if you live near a lake or free pool. All you need is a swimsuit, a pair of goggles, a swim cap, and a membership to a local pool. Bingo! Fitness at a bargain basement price.

There is a problem that many of us deal with, whether we want to admit it or not. We might try to hide it, or we might deny it, but we know that it is there. It makes us feel self-conscious and even uncomfortable at times. It is belly fat, and we cannot figure out how to make it go away! If you find yourself in this position, take solace in the fact that you are not alone. In fact, because of the fact that belly fat is so difficult to get rid of, many people deal with it. You might be in what seems to be a losing battle with belly fat, but you can turn things around by following these tips.

First off, losing that belly fat takes more than healthy eating; it also takes exercise. Not just stomach exercises, either; you have to add in aerobic exercises that will get your cardiovascular system working. By taking just three or four days a week to walk, jog, bike, or swim, you can kick your metabolism up a notch. If you want to shed that pesky flab, this is absolutely vital.

Next, you need to work out all parts of your body – not just your stomach. It might seem silly to think that pushups or squats would help you lose stomach fat, but it is true! You are optimizing your body’s ability to burn fat when you work out all parts of your body. You do not have to do intense, life-changing workouts in order to work out all parts of your body. Find something you enjoy, and then stick with it!

And finally, of course, you can certainly help your battle against stomach fat by doing stomach exercises. Mix up these exercises, doing crunches, sit-ups, and other ab exercises, instead of just picking one thing and sticking to it. As you build muscle in your abdominal area, you will also be burning fat.

Having a healthy diet and doing stomach workouts are important if you want to lose belly fat, but you cannot win the battle by doing these two things alone. Set up a schedule, figuring out how you will go about fitting in your aerobic exercise as well as your full-body workouts. In time, that belly fat will start to melt away, and you will be happier and happier with the way you look!

There are a lot of ways to stay healthy, and quite frankly, there are a lot of odd ways to stay healthy these days. But there is one particular way to stay healthy that has stood the test of time, and that is not odd or strange at all, and this is swimming. Swimming is great for your body in a number of ways, and it is also a very enjoyable way to exercise.

Of course, the ultimate way to swim is if you own your own pool, but this is not the only way for you to make swimming a part of your regular routine. Plenty of gyms have swimming pools, as do such places as the YMCA. You can even swim year-round in these pools, because they are indoors. You can also consider visiting a community pool if there are no indoor pools near you. You can find some of these pools that are free, and others of these pools that require a membership; in either case, assuming you do not mind the crowds of a community pool, they are definitely a viable and worthwhile option. Finally, one way you can avoid the crowds and still enjoy the benefits of swimming is by finding a nearby lake or ocean. Not only will it feel nice to be out in the fresh air like this, but it will also be nice to swim in water that is not laden with chlorine.

As you begin to incorporate swimming into your routine, you will reap a variety of health benefits. One of the best things about swimming is that it is a true full-body workout. Swimming also keeps you from putting a bunch of strain on your joints and muscles, as it is a low-impact workout. At the same time, you will also be stretching your muscles and increasing your mobility.

Finally, as far as aerobic workouts go, swimming is one of the best. Swimming can help you combat aging, and it can help you avoid disease, as the workout of swimming will keep your heart happy and your blood circulation free from problems.

Of course, there is no such thing as a “miracle workout” that cures all your illnesses while also keeping you thin and completely healt But if there is any workout that comes close to being this, swimming is definitely it! It is always a good time to start thinking about adding swimming to your life, and maybe the time is right for you to act on this idea at last.