Beginning Swimming

Once Memorial Day hits, the backyard and community pools open up, and this creates many opportunities for fitness. Swimming is non-impact and a great way to get fit without too much stress on the joints. The water is a natural coolant for the body, so you can work hard in the heat. Mix in a couple of different strokes, and you'll work just about every muscle in the body!
Many moons ago, I was a lifeguard at Monmouth College. In the lifeguard training, we finished each session with 20 laps, mixing in in freestyle, breaststroke, sidekicks, and elementary backstroke. Good workout! I also would do quite a bit of training in the ocean to prepare myself for some triathlons.
Believe it or not, once you get past the waves, the ocean water had better buoyancy than the pool, and I would do laps between the lifeguard lines for a prescribed time period. In ocean swimming, the hardest part is fighting against the current on your way back to shore, especially when your fatigued from your workout. I always gave a "heads up" to the lifeguards on what I was doing before I went out, which is a good idea for many reasons.
Swimming burns a ton of calories (500 to 700 an hour). Water is also 800 times denser than air, so each stroke is a little resistance workout for your body. While all the muscles are recruited, key elements are the shoulders, glutes, hamstrings, arms, and the entire core. It was a long winter! Take advantage of the of the warmth and jump in!