3 Cheers for Swimming

I can see everyone's eyes rolling already and some of you have decided to skip this post entirely. I know I know, you can't swim and how can swimming be a real workout? Well, if you have ever tried swimming even a lap in the pool for the first time it is quite a bit more of a workout than when you are doggy paddling in your hotel pool.
I decided to take up swimming a couple of years ago in preparation for a mini triathlon. The first thing I realized was that I had no idea how to get from one point to the next, without becoming a "lane rope hanger". These are the steps that got me going.

• Find a goal, or motivation. Mine was the triathlon.

• If you can't swim, sign up for an adult swimming class. Yes they have them for all levels and abilities from non-floaters to olympic bound. Having someone know how to ease you into it, teach you the right strokes from the start, and the peer pressure really makes you progress faster than when you go to try to sort it out on your own. Plus, I hate to lose money and signing up for a class made me swim at least once a week because missing lessons was flushing my money away. My competitive nature also inspired me to go one other day during the week just to secure my position as "the machine" of the class.

• Get yourself some goggles that fit and a silicon swim hat. I spent maybe 20 dollars on my goggles and I think I have had them for three years. The silicon hats don't keep your hair as dry as the latex but they also don't rip out half of your hair when you take them off.

• Please please don't wear band-aids into the pool-it really grosses me out when I see them gliding along the pool floor amongst the specialty hairs...

• When you get good, get a workout from your teacher or you can subscribe to a website like train smarter that will tailor a workout just for you. You can tell them your swimming ability, age blah blah and once a week they will email you a swim program for the week. I find it helps to have a program to follow rather than just swimming along until I get tired. The other thing you can do is look into joining a swimming club.

I hope that motivates you to give swimming a go because it is not only life-saving it is life-changing. It is really cool to learn something new and it is very low-impact. Feel free to practice your swimming techniques on a swiss ball or supplement your workouts with pilates.