Swimming - An ageless sport

Swimming truly is an amazing sport. As well as being a great way to cool down and a favourite past time for most, it is also a sport that is suited to and can benefit anybody, no matter what your age is. Where ever you are in life swimming has so many different benefits. 

Follow our timeline below to see what benefits swimming can offer you. 

Infants & children: 

Swimming lessons are offered to children as young as six months old. Usually starting out with parent and baby classes, the focus is less on skill refining and more on building confidence within the water environment. 

• Development benefits: Starting lessons from an early age will help assist children's muscle development and coordination through consistent kicking and stroking motions within the water.
• Social skills: Right from their first swim lesson children will be placed into classes with other students. This consistent exposure to other kids will help develop their fundamental social skills as well as encouraging them to make new friends. 
• Water safety: Swimming lessons teach children the fundamentals of water safety. This includes teaching kids how to respond to an emergency situation as well as the identification of water hazards and the development of rescue and survival skills.

Teens: 

Once children progress to their teenage years, they can join a squad swimming group. These squad programs are designed to further refine technique and focus on increasing the swimmers endurance and fitness levels.

• Stress reliever: As teenagers get older and start to enter their later years of high school, the workload gets heavier and the expectations higher. With a weekly squad group, teens have an excuse to get away from their homework and social media and focus on their swimming. 
• Great for fitness: Lap swimming is a great cardiovascular workout. The resistance of the water and complementary movements of both the arms and legs gives you a full body workout and improves fitness without even noticing. 
• Expanded social circle: As well as having your regular group of school friends it is also a great idea to establish friends outside of school. These squad swimming lessons provide the perfect environment for teens to meet new friends or catch-up with friends they have swam with from a young age. 

Adults:

Lap swimming for adults has many benefits. As well as being one of the most inexpensive ways to workout, swimming for excercise has plenty of physical and mental benefits. 

• Improves flexibility: As we get older our muscles and joints start to get tighter. Regular swimming helps to gradually improve flexibility overtime and release tension by lengthening these areas through repeated kicking and stroking motions. 
• Keep your cool: Not only is swimming a great way to cool down on a hot summer day, it also provides a relaxing escape from everyday life. The pools quiet nature sets the perfect environment to focus solely on your breathing techniques and let your mind wander. 
• Diversified routine: As your life schedule becomes more intense it can be easy to fall into a repetitive routine. Wether it's attending the same group fitness class each week or running the same route before work, adding a swim to your weekly workout is a great way to switch up your routine.

Seniors: 

As we get older, the task of staying fit becomes a lot harder and the list of exercises we are able to do becomes shorter. However, there is no age limit to swimming for excercise! 

• Gentle excercise: Due to the buoyancy of the water, swimming is a great excercise for seniors as it has a low impact on our major joints. This is perfect for those who still want to excercise but suffer with weak or injured joints.
• Social outing: A weekly or daily swim session provides the perfect excuse to get out of the house and head down to the beach or your local pool. It can also be a great spot to catch up with friends or meet new people in lessons or aqua aerobic classes. 
• Preserve bone strength: As we get older our bones become more fragile. Regular swimming for seniors can help to improve bone strength and reduce the effects of Osteoporosis.