One sport - three advantages.
Swimming promotes fitness, health and well-being
Letting yourself drift, experiencing a light, floating feeling – those with a stressful everyday life often dream of such things.
Impossible? No way: Because swimming lets you experience exactly that. Swimming is sport and wellness at the same time, and that benefits your own health.
You don’t have to be a genius in physics to notice just how light one feels in water.
The buoyancy ensures that joints are relieved and movement becomes easier. At the same time, you need to actively work against the water pressure – which means the muscles are trained gently yet effectively. That is why swimming is generally well suited for people who have joint diseases or are overweight.
Swimming not only strengthens numerous muscles. Even the cardiovascular system benefits from it. US researchers have found out that regular, moderate swimming can alleviate mild hypertension.
In studies, it led to a reduction in arterial blood pressure of about 10 mm Hg after just three months. Depending on the swimming style and individual pace, swimming consumes between 300 and 500 kcal per hour.
Left: selective loads in conventional countercurrent systems
Right: wide and even upstream and downstream currents thanks to our turbine technology.
However, practise is needed, because swimming is only healthy if one’s posture in the water is correct.
If not, there is a risk of overworking the muscles or joints on one side – which is counterproductive. Most of us learned to swim in our childhood, possibly even in school if we were lucky. But if you have not swum for a longer period of time, you may no longer know exactly what you need to be aware of.
Front crawl
Front crawl is particularly effective, because arms and legs work in equal amounts. Since the head is under water most of the time with front crawl, and only turned to the side briefly for inhalation, it is possible to assume a straight position in the water. Breathing regularly in combination with exertion strengthens your heart over the long term.
And of all the swimming styles, front crawl consumes the most calories. It is also the fastest way to move in water, but also the most strenuous. Because of this, front crawl is ideal cardiovascular training and is also the perfect sport for helping to alleviate back, hip or knee problems.
Breaststroke
Breaststroke is popular, as several people can swim together with this style and even chat while swimming. However, there is a risk of putting strain on the neck, because the head is held above water the whole time while the rest of the body is stretched out under water. It is therefore better to keep your head under water with breaststroke and to only emerge for inhalation.
With breaststroke, most of the power comes from the legs. It is important not to make a wide frog leg movement, but instead short straddle movements that move you forward quickly.
Backstroke
Backstroke has the advantage that the face stays above water at all times, which means you can breathe as you like. One mistake many people make is to “sag.” This often happens unconsciously, because you seem to have better orientation if you do not look at the ceiling (or the blue sky).
However, even on your back a straight position in the water and conscious, regular breathing are important if you want to train efficiently.
A good position in the water is generally advantageous when swimming.
With a turbine driven counter-flow from BINDER, all swimming styles can be trained perfectly, even in small pools: thanks to the strong current produced by the system, which allows the swimmer to swim “on the spot”, there is no need to turn constantly.
When doing backstroke, it makes orientation easier and the danger of suddenly hitting the edge of the pool is no longer given, as the current automatically keeps the swimmer in the lane.
The patented counter-current system can be adjusted in line with individual performance levels, thereby ensuring a unique water sports experience.
Not only professionals like the triathlete Carolin Meyer appreciate the training possibilities provided by this system. The counter-current system from BINDER also helps amateurs maintain optimum balance in their home pools.
