Tag Archives: pool

The Health Benefits of a Consistent Swimming Routine

Today, I’m happy to bring you a FANTASTIC guest-post, written by the author and creator of An Apple Per Day, Kaitlin Gardner. Enjoy!

Like any exercise regimen or practice, consistency is essential to long-term benefits to your health. Swimming is no exception, but the health benefits of a swimming routine are special, if for no other reason that the environment in which it takes place. Additionally, with the growing popularity of indoor swim centers, along with traditional gyms and YMCA facilities, swimming can now be enjoyed year-round in nearly every region of the country.

Why Swimming?

The benefits are plentiful, and if you ask ten people, you might get ten different answers. There are reasons why I think swimming is one of the very best overall healthy exercises a person can participate in. Here are a few links with even more great ideas and reasons working swimming into your routine:

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Favorite way to cool off – {August NaBloPoMo}

I hate being hot, so knowing how to cool off is of prime importance in my world.

Being hot is one of my least favorite feelings in the world, feeling the sweat form and drip down my forehead and back just skeeves me out and makes me super uncomfortable. I accept it when I’m working out, it’s expected then, but when you’re just sitting outside, in the sun, trying to relax, I hate it!

I think my number 1 favorite way to cool off in the summer time is to jump in a great big pool or lake. When we were kids, my parents lived exactly 2 blocks from Lake Erie, so a huge portion of our summers were spent down at the beach and splashing in the lake. Our city also had a public pool that was pretty well kept (at the time) and offered swim lessons, most of our summer mornings were spent at the pool learning each new swim stroke. As a side note, it’s because of those lessons that I’m such a good swimmer today. Anyhow, while growing up we never had A/C so we would head to the swimming pool every chance we got. But when it was closed and STILL hot, we’d set up a sprinkler or a baby pool outside, that wasn’t the greatest but at least it allowed us to stay cool.

My sister also had a friend down the street that had an above ground pool, she was invited over often but on occasion I’d also be invited to join. I LOVED those days! It gave us more opportunity to be in a pool and keep cool and not need to deal with only having a sprinkler or baby pool.

Another favorite of mine, are ice cold beverages. Specifically, iced coffee and even more specifically, Starbucks iced venti coffee with vanilla and cream. Just sitting here thinking about that cool, delicious beverage trickling down my throat can illicit a chilly response. Pure love!

There are the obvious ways to stay cool, sitting in a beautifully icy air conditioned room, or in front of a fan blowing wildly but my absolute favorite is sitting in a cool (unheated) pool. Sure you might jump in and be shocked by the coldness but once you’re in, you adjust and soon it just feels like heaven on earth.

Your turn!

What are your favorite ways to cool off?

If you’ve missed any of my previous August BlogHer’s NaBloPoMo posts, you can see them here.

Or if you want to join into the NaBloPoMo yourself, check out the August prompts here.

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