Transcript of interview with Kathe Briggs, MS, an American College of Sports Medicine-certified clinical exercise physiologist
Interview conducted by Natalie McGill, reporter for The Nation’s Health newspaper
Listen to this interview as a recording on our podcast page.
What are some of the physical and mental health benefits associated with swimming?
Swimming is a very popular sport activity in the United States. And it's also a really good way to get regular aerobic physical activity. It has a multitude of benefits. It's low-impact activity. It improves cardiovascular fitness. It improves your muscular strength and endurance. Can help with weight loss. There really is all positives with using water as a place to be physically active.
What are some examples of reasons why people take up swimming for health?
Swimming, because you are in the water and you're buoyant, so you're unweighted and you can be unweighted by as much as 90 percent. If you are in the water fully submerged, you are very, very buoyant. A lot of people use the water for water-based exercise like aerobics and water walking. And so, when you're in the water you unload your spine. It's really much gentler on your joints. You don't sweat when you're in the water — or you do sweat, you just don't feel it. You can really have a wide range of motion as far as your muscle function and your joint function. And it is low impact, and you can use your upper and lower body in any exercise that you do in the water. It's a really great place to be physically active.
Are there any specific physical conditions that swimming is good for?
Swimming has been shown to very, very good for people with arthritis and musculoskeletal issues. People with rheumatoid arthritis have great health improvements using water as their mode of physical therapy. And I know I personally have taught arthritis aquatic exercises, multiple sclerosis aquatic exercise, prenatal water exercise. When you are pregnant and you have that extra weight, getting in the water and letting the buoyancy of the water lift that fetus is really, really wonderful for when you're pregnant.
What are the some of the most common types or styles of swimming? And depending on the type, what type of muscles do they work out?
Well, there's a lot of different swimming techniques. There's four basic competitive strokes. There's freestyle or the crawl, which is what most of the time you see people doing. That's laying on your belly and moving your arms and legs and turning your head hopefully to the side to breathe. That's the most efficient and effective way.
And then there's backstroke. Just flip that over on your back and go backwards with your arms same type of fluttering kick. And then there's breaststroke, which is a little bit different, so you're coming up for a breath every single stroke. And then there's butterfly which is both arms moving at the same time coming over top of the water. That's the hardest of the four competitive strokes. And then you can do sidestroke -- there's all sorts of ways to move through the water. Really, that's the big health benefit of the water is just getting in there and moving yourself through the water.
It's aerobic. It's using your heart, your lungs, your muscles, your joints. Every part of your body is moving when you're in the water exercising whether you're swimming on top of the water horizontally or whether you're doing vertical water aerobics, water walking types of exercise.
For someone who wants to swim for fitness, how much swimming time is recommended?
Well, for anybody who's embarking on a physical activity program, the recommendations are to get at least 150 minutes per week. You can break that out anyway that works for you and your schedule. A lot of times you'll hear 30 minutes a day, five days a week. It boils down to two and a half hours a week.
So the key to physical activity is to choose an exercise that you enjoy, number one, and that you really can incorporate into your personal schedule. Everybody's different. Some people work. Some people don't work. Some people have small children. Some people have older adults that they're taking care of.
We're all at a different place in life. And the key with physical activity programs is do what you can do when you can do it. The research shows that as little as 10 minutes a day will get you some benefit.
Swimming and water-based exercises don't necessarily have to be done in a pool. For example, we're coming up to summertime where we've got warm weather. People are going to the lake. People are going to the ocean and the beaches and the gulf and the rivers. And you can go somewhere near a lake, near the ocean or at the river, and you can get in and you can do some physical activity in the water.
But the key is make it work for you because unless it works for you and you personally enjoy it, you're not going to do it. And if you don't do it, you don't get the benefit. You do not get the positive health benefits for your cardiovascular system and your musculoskeletal system and your whole body.
Another big benefit from physical activity is the mental health aspect. There's a lot of research that shows improved mood, improved functioning physically. There's even some research that's coming out showing the positive impact of physical activity on Alzheimer’s and some of the aging issues that are going on in our society right now.
In what ways can swimming benefit people who have disabilities?
Water is a very inclusive place to exercise. I know that people with different physical abilities can get in the water and either move themselves or be moved in the water safely.
Personally, I taught multiple sclerosis water exercise classes for many years. And the people in my classes really, really benefitted from being in the water. And it was incredible what they could do in the water that they couldn't do on land. The minute we took them down the ramp into the water and they got out of their wheelchairs, they were able to do a lot of things that they would never imagine that they could do on land — ambulating, walking in the water.
If you're buoyant and maybe you have some type of physical disability, you may be able to walk again in the water — moving joints that are frozen and not able to be moved. You get in the buoyant environment of the water and those joints become unloaded and they can sometimes be moved or you can move them yourself. You can really improve flexibility in the water.
Another aspect when you're in the water is balance. When you're in the water, you've got the force of the water around you and you don't realize it but you are actually engaging all of your core muscles in order to stay upright. If you're standing upright and if you go horizontal and start swimming, you're using every muscle in your body to hold yourself up into that horizontal position.
So lots of little tiny muscles in our body said you may not be able to engage when you're on land but you can get in the water and use the buoyancy of the water to help you to work them out and get a good benefit from it.
If someone's looking for the best location to swim for health, where do you suggest they start? And is there a checklist they should have with them when considering a place?
It really depends on what's convenient for you. I know a lot of the larger cities have YMCAs, rec centers, fitness centers that safeguard access to indoor and outdoor pools. And if you're swimming indoors, really it's just a matter of making sure that they've chlorinated the pool appropriately. And there's many, many organizations that assure that indoor pools are monitored and regulated appropriately. Outdoor pools, same thing, especially if you're going to rec centers and YMCAs. You've got to maintain sanitation levels for your pools for the pool water and surroundings also have to be maintained so that you're not slipping and sliding on the pool deck.
What are some recommended rules or tips to follow to have a safe swim?
Number one, never swim alone. And really and truly, that's the biggest thing about swimming is don't go to a pool or any facility and swim alone because you could get in there, get in trouble, and if there's no one around, that's when bad things happen.
So the big key with water is don't do it alone. And not doing it alone has some positive benefits because if you go with somebody else, you've got an accountability partner, you've got support, you've got camaraderie. People of any age, any physical ability, any weight can benefit from exercising in the water. And doing it with a partner or a friend with someone else can keep you safe as well as help you to derive the most health benefit from it.