Swim Your Way to Stronger Bones

I have always known that water activities, even water walking are great exercise. I just choose to i9gnore that knowledge. Shame on me! Report

It's a bit more complicated. Here's a summary of many studies that finds swimming to have positive effects, from the National Institute of Health website.

"Conclusion
Swimming does not seem to negatively affect bone mass, although it may not be one of the best sports to be practised in order to increase this parameter, due to the hypogravity and lack of impact characteristic of this sport. Most of the studies included in this review showed similar bone mineral density values in swimmers and sedentary controls. However, swimmers present a higher bone turnover than sedentary controls that may result in a stronger structure and consequently in a stronger bone. "
https://www.ncb
i.nlm.nih.gov
/pmc/articles
/PMC3737199/ Report

A few friends and I are getting ready to sign up for water aerobics. So excited Report

I aqua jog and find it very useful. Report

Wish that I could swim! Report

Love swimming/water jogging at the gym ( YMCA), I love that I have access to multiple locations, pools, fitness centers, classes, and courts. I ALOS ENJOY HIKING/BIKING/ROL
LERBLADING/RU
NNING OUTSIDE, USING WORKOUT DVDS, AND JUMPING ROPE AT HOME. bUT CIRCUIT TRAINING OR WEIGHT TRAINING 2-3 TIMES A WEEK IS GOOD FOR THE BONES, AND YOU CAN PRETTY MUCH DO CARDIO DAILY OR ALMOST DAILY. Report

After a long time away from the pool, I started back again. I can tell you, I'm working muscles I haven't worked in a long time. I've been trying to go every day, but when I started out, I was actually sore the next day, so I've been swimming laps every other day. It's a great workout for arms, back & legs. I bought swim fins, and that really made a difference. The first time I used them, my quads were sore the next day. I go faster with the swim fins, so I can swim more laps in the same amount of time.

I alternate the swimming with other exercises. Fortunately, my community has a fitness center 1/2 mile from my house. So I can walk there and back, and I can use the exercise equipment and the pool. Report

I'm VERY lucky that the gym in my neighborhood has a lap pool, so I take advantage of that twice a week, along with my weekly Zumba and spin classes, my running program, as well as work on the elliptical and stationary bike. Plus, it's such a great upper body workout! Report

I love the water and anyting to do with it but where I live and all the cut backs in services it is very hard to find a pool open within 10 miles of my home Report

I've always loved swimming and water aerobics and now includes in my weekly exercise routine in SP.I've been telling about the benefits of swimming all along. Report

This is an interesting article. I would not have thought of swimming as helpful to my bones! Report

Regarding the comments about swimming being boring or unable to find swim workouts, I highly recommend swimplan.com. It's totally free and will give you personalized swim workouts. I've gotten some great workouts from that site. Each workout also contains drills to help you improve your strokes, and I think drills also add a little fun and variety to your workouts, too. Report

I used to think swimming was boring too, until I actually tried to improve my swimming.
I take swim lessons, both private and group, every other week. That makes it more of a challenge, because someone is actually looking at my progress. An hour of swimming flies by when the coach is teaching you new techniques and drills.
Swim workouts can be hard to find, especially if you can't swim 1600m yet! I like the ones I found on beginnertriathlet
e.com. The routines are 400m, so they take me (a slow swimmer) about 20min to complete. There are programs for beginners as well as more advanced swimmers.
You can also create your own workout using common swimming drills, like the catch, pull or kick drills.
Then there are the different strokes, besides freestyle, that can take a long time to master, and the drills for each of them. Right now I only focus on freestyle and backstroke, but if I ever get bored I could try breastroke or butterfly, as well as any of the non-competitive strokes.
Water aerobics is also an option, a lot of women at my gym take water fitness classes regularly and when there isn't a class they do the same type of routines in the water themselves. Report

Another thing I'd add is that correlation does not equal causation.

The fact that swimmers have stronger bones than non-swimmers does not mean that swimming strengthens bones.

It could be that there is some other factor. For example swimmers may be fitter and are more active doing other things that do help with bone strength. Report

Where could I find that article? I have just not heard of any research that way, just on the other end of the spectrum. Report