Not sure if this has been asked here... For me, the first reason is that I don't want to be drowned in case of accident :cool: . The last reason is that I'm proud to tell people I swim :D . In between there are a lot of other reasons.
What about you? :confused:
Jim, you sure are warped, and hilarious!!
Do you only write articles for magazines (Men's Health), or have you published other work?
I swim because it saves on soap and water and deodorant costs.
I swim because the solitary mental life of the writer at home by himself needs balanced with a hard physical reduced thought life of few distractions and sharp focus on endurance, speed, and slip stream.
I swim to eat, eat to sleep. sleep to work, work to swim.
i swim because i can understand this state of matter. i have been in water consistently before birth, from birth, and after birth. i used to do it to survive, then to play games, then to be strong, now to be fast. i am liquid. when i see a body of water i think how long it would take me to get across it - where i would end up on the other side, study the waves, the currents, the wind, and the goemetry - because i swim. because i swim i am fluid. i can glide through water, understand how dynamic it really is, feel it in my fingers and churn it with the flex of my feet, listen to it and let it clear my thoughts. that is why i swim.
I read an article years ago that summed up my reason for swimming and I will quote the guy now (I skipped ahead so if someone has already said this, ignore me):
Chlorine is my Prozac.
Besides swimming being a calming thing for me (after my HR has returned to normal), I also swim because my knee is crap. Just as I started to love running, my right knee started acting up. MRI results showed that my miniscus (sp?) is gone or otherwise worthless. I also have some round growths in there. Now when I run, my patella and another bone (forget the name) bang together. I can make it about a mile, mile and a half before it starts acting up (which is perfect as my military run every years is 1.5 miles).
So I swim.
Sharing several hours a week with my 13 year old daughter discussing technique, nutrition, swim team gossip, and a love for a challenge and push, this is why I swim.
Friends to kick my butt, friends to have a Saturday morning breakfast with, relationships that strengthen you, this is why I swim.
These are definitely my favorite two reasons on this forum post!
I swim because I want to be able to do everything that I am coaching my swimmers to do, and to be able to pace my swimmers throughout practice on any given day.
I swim because it relaxes me (as crazy as that sounds), when I am in that pool I am relaxed no matter how hard the workout it...I am relaxed!
There are tons of reasons... and I could add to this every day as new ones come up but here you go:
- to stay fit
- to have fun
- to be with others that know magical things happen in water
- to find clarity in a world full of chaos
- to keep me out of trouble
- to get me into trouble
- to get to travel the country with friends
- to keep the family together
- to keep my sanity
In September of 2006, I returned from a wedding in New Orleans (where I think I ate every creole/cajun dish left in the city). Feeling miserable, as I was 165 in college, I stepped on the scale:
- Weight: 216 lbs - and i was still only 5'10"!
- BMI of 31.0 - officially obese
In a subsequent physical blood testing revealed
- Blood pressure: 129/89 - borderline hypertension
- Cholesterol: 260 - very bad high risk
I started swimming again after a very extended layoff to try to get healthy so I might see my kids graduate - they're now 7 and 8!
The last few weeks, I've since had testing done again:
- Weight: 166.6 - last Saturday, 50 lbs lost
- BMI: 24.7 - today, normal
- Body Fat%: 14.1 - 3 weeks ago, 4 skin-fold test
- Blood pressure: 114/65 - today, normal
- Cholesterol: 222 - today, still borderline high-risk, but making progress
Along the way, I decided to swim in a meet just for kicks, and I was hooked. The meets keep me motivated to stay in the pool.
The last few weeks, I've since had testing done again:
- Weight: 166.6 - last Saturday, 50 lbs lost
- BMI: 24.7 - today, normal
- Body Fat%: 14.1 - 3 weeks ago, 4 skin-fold test
- Blood pressure: 114/65 - today, normal
- Cholesterol: 222 - today, still borderline high-risk, but making progress
Congratulations! :applaud: Keep up the good work!
P.S. LOVE Alpharetta. Beautiful area.
I swim because it is the only thing I have found in life that can compete with the intoxicating solitary intensity and repetition and technicality of ballet, which I can no longer do thanks to musculoskeletal disease.
I love the feeling of weightlessness coupled with the motivating knowledge that I must at least finish this length or sink!
I love the feeling of being submerged in water. I love the color blue. I love the marvelous contraction and extension that is breaststroke.
