Swimming is a good entire body exercise that is low impact for people with arthritis, musculoskeletal, or weight limitations. Water's buoyancy aids to both the fit and unfit person. Water cushions stiff joints or fragile bones that might be injured by the impact of land exercise(s). When in the water to the waist, your body bears just 50% of its weight, when immersed to the chest, it bears 25%-35%; and to the neck only 10%.
A few of the many benefits of swimming are cardiovascular conditioning, increased flexibility, endurance, weight loss, and more. Incorporating swimming into a regular cross-training routine and pushing yourself will result in overall improved fitness. A heated pool can offer relaxation to muscles, increase flexibility and enable important stretching. Also, after intense lactic-acid-building endurance workouts (running, cycling, weights), an easy swim helps flush out toxins preventing muscle tightness and soreness the following day. Many people find the length of time they can exercise to be too