Why do you swim?

for:health , freedom, fun , goal setting, feels like a kid again. jjpj

Because I can. I love the feeling of being suspended in the water. I could tread water for hours. Swimming is one sport I have mastered to a lvel of easy competency. I'm not that fast, but I can still swim competently, and will be able to even as I get old.

Every reply said very well, but this reason escaped me when I thought about the reasons why I swim. When I read this part by Lump, I just realized one big reason why I enjoy swimming so much. I can say it brings out more good things about me than any other physical activities I do. If I go back to swimmingless, an important part of who I am would be missing. :D Thanks, and because of what I said I'm seriously considering a career change at 37. I have a decent good in the business world but its just not cutting it anymore and its really not who I am. I guess I'm having a mid-life crisis of sorts, but I'm ready to do something I actually like or love. The search has started.

I've been swimming all of my life, competitively and not competitively. I'm not swimming competitively anymore. The swimming has become cross-training for other things. It's the best cross-training for three other things that I do. (1) mountaineering. Long-haul 1000-2000 yd sets are wonderful for putting the pedal to the floor and sustaining it, nonstop for a good 12+ minutes. The training that swimming does for the breathing turns into nice, efficient slogging at high altitudes with thin air. It also enables good climbing skirts past avalanche areas where stopping becomes a danger. (2) backcountry skiing. If you love swimming, you'll love this too. It feels about the same to me. It's a total body workout. (3) biathlons. The long swimming sets make you really familiar with your heart rates and breathing rates. Controlling and timing your breathing and heart beats are an edge for holding a target rifle and squeezing off shots. Call me a masochist, but I love to get my heart and lungs pounding to an extreme at the instant of trying to do something steady with dexterity. I really enjoy the challenge of combining two extremes. In high school, it used to be water polo and then youth symphony practice. Oh yah. If I don't jack up my heart rate, I feel sleepy all the time, so much that I have a hard time staying awake.

Reading that post was funny because I love to ski. I've been skiing since I was 5 or 6, and you're absolutely right about the feeling. I haven't been in a few years, and jumping in the pool made me feel just as good (if not better). Also, I think the heart rate thing has to do with being athletic. The average person's heart rate is between 60-100, while athletes have between 50-60 bpm. If I don't work out at least once a day, I get really tired and grouchy.

Sorry,redundant idea.

Cuz I like to eat and I was tired of becoming a fat depressed toad. :afraid:

I started as rehab for a bad back. When I made the switch to morning workouts I found that some days I would actually have pain free days on occasion. Even after 4 years I till deal with back pain, but it is alot better than it had been. I also used to be a competitive swimmer as a kid and getting back in just took me back to where I was. I love it. The weight loss was another great benefit going from 220 to 158 lbs. which I have tended to hover around 165 normally.

because I've got too much of energy to do nothing (not in weekends), even after having classes all day long.. I just need to feeeel my body. I need to be active, to be tired after swimming. It started as a way to built up endurance which is usefull when you ride a dirtbike. But now, after two months, I really enjoy swimming.. maybe i feel better in a pool than on my CRF...

I've been thinking about this because in the last couple of months I've lost almost all of my motivation to compete. I still swim because I love the way it feels, and because it's part of my identity that I don't want to lose.