Ultimate workout

Scott Schwab
I have been doing some personal observing and have found that there are many workouts that are out there. There are some that are effective and those that are not. Basically it comes down to how many calories are you burning and is it working your muscles. As I have done one particular workout each week, I have seen results and really felt more burn in my muscles then days that I do other workouts. Swimming is the workout, and really it is no secret. We have posted before on the benefits of swimming and I thought that I would revisit some of the benefits.
Rehabilitation
Swimming helps the repairing process faster and more completely than other rehab forms. One of the most famous examples of an athlete who used swimming to speed a recovery is the runner, Mary Slaney. After suffering an injury to her Achilles tendon, Slaney trained only in the water for three weeks. Less than a week after returning to land-based exercise, she set a world record in the 1000 meters. You may not set a world record, but it is a great way to bounce back quickly and build muscles that aren't used with regular land based exercise. Tendons and ligaments are heavily used during swimming. However, the low-impact nature allows people of all ages to participate.
Cardiovascular
There are very few workouts that can give you the benefits of a good swim. We have already established that the resistance is like no other. 768 times the amount of resistance that you will get through the air. The heart and respiratory rates are elevated higher than other exercises and thus improves the overall health faster and more effectively than other land based exercises.
Strength Training
Swimming will work every muscle in your body. It can be used very effectively when introduced as a full body workout. If you are doing the crawl most often in swimming try and switch it up to other strokes to work all areas of your body. Swimming has the ability to build very toned and strong, sexy looking muscles. It is a great form of weight loss because of the amount of muscles that you are using. Remember that when you are weight training you are burning fat in high amounts.
Note: If you are not a swimmer do not worry. I had to take a swimming class in college and my nickname as set by my teacher was shamu. She said that I was one of the worst swimmers that she had met. We could not understand that I would sink as I would do my strokes. Well not everyone is meant to be like Michael Phelps, but it is a great workout and very few swimmers that I have seen are not healthy.