Swimming is a great whole body exercise as nearly all major muscle groups are recruited when using the proper technique. It is also a good fitness choice, as the pressure and resistance of the water makes your muscles work harder than on land, on average over 200 calories are burnt over 30 minutes of steady swimming, 50 per cent more than if you were to do similar exercise on land.

As water takes your body weight in (immersed to the neck you body bears just 10% of its weight), swimming is a great low impact exercise.  

There are a number of swimming styles that have been developed depending on the position the swimmer has in the water, these styles are known as strokes and there are four main variations:

Freestyle or Front crawl – is the fastest stoke but can be difficult to learn as fitting in the breathing can be difficult. The arm stroke is similar to the backstroke but rests on the breast giving the swimmer more flexibility in the arm.

Breaststroke – is the oldest swimming stroke. As the easiest modality of swimming, it makes it also the most popular with people who like to swim for fitness or leisure. It is also the slowest stroke used in competition.

Butterfly – this stroke was developed as a faster alternative to breaststroke. It requires both stamina and technique as both arms must come out of the water on every stroke.

Backstroke or back crawl – is the second slowest stroke in competitive swimming. Although backstroke has the advantage of being easier to breath than the other modality, as it is swum on the back the swimmer cannot see where they are going.