Swim to keep fit – but how do you make the swim fit?

Many of us have tried the old January gym membership, only to find that come February, you’ve given up, but are still paying the hefty fees until you can drop out of the contract you signed up to. You’re losing pounds no doubt, but not exactly the kind you had imagined.

Finding something you can stick at that doesn’t cost the earth can be tricky, but swimming could be the answer you are looking for…

I started swimming approximately 10 years ago and at the time I could swim no more than a couple of lengths without stopping, and no more than about twelve lengths in total. I soon increased my distance to 30 lengths (approx 900 metres in my local pool), and even managed to persuade my husband to come along too. We opted for an early morning swim, in a local council run pool that was en-route to work – in the pool for 7.30am, out just after 8am, showered and in work by 8.30am. It took hardly any extra time than it would have done for me to shower and get ready at home, and of course I missed most of the rush hour traffic as the biggest part of my commute was done prior to this time.

That’s fine if you don’t have kids I hear you saying, well now I do, and I still manage to fit in a couple of swims a week. I swam until quite late on in pregnancy (it’s one of the best exercises you can do whilst pregnant), and took a break whilst off on maternity leave. It was hard at first, getting back into it, but now I’m back in the routine and its part of my schedule again. I now swim twice a week, on the days when my husband can take the kids to school, and I’m still improving my time, averaging now at about 18 mins for 900m, which I think is quite a pace for someone just about to hit 40! Hubby still goes too on the days that I don’t, and is trying to catch me up on time. He hasn’t managed yet, but will no doubt succeed at some point and until then I’ll just enjoy the fact that I’m a few minutes ahead of him. The competition makes us both work harder, but even without that, you can set your own goals, either in your mind or against other people in the pool.

I get home from work knowing I’ve done my bit of exercise on those days, and a few walks with the dog tops this up to a respectable exercise quota for the week - probably a lot more than most people out there manage to fit in.