Swimming Vs. Running

Low Impact Exercise that's

Great for Any Age.

The world around us is always changing. The generation gap is ever widening as new developments emerge, but health is one concern that affects any age group all the time. A decent diet and exercise regime is essential for everybody to maintain a healthy lifestyle. You can start neither too soon nor too late as young and old alike benefit equally. The question is what exercise is better and more effective in conditioning the entire body and not just one specific area. The answer is a common debate among athletes and doctors alike, is swimming or running a better work out. We will take a more in-depth look into exercise fun, fitness, and injury risks; you will then be able to form your own opinion on swimming vs. running, the better exercise for the generations.

Both swimming and running have a myriad of sports attached to them. Running sports center on track and cross-country, most of which involves individuals within a team (Fourny 4-19). Very few group activities revolve around running. Most recreational running is done singularly as it is hard to talk or interact with others while running. Swimming sports such as synchronized swimming, water polo, diving, water skiing, and surfing all have some basis of team participation, communication and interaction is necessary to do well (Fourny 74-90). Leisure swimming is easily adapted to include family and friends with aquatic games like Marco polo, sunken treasure, and aqua ball, activities that can be fun for all ages (Smith 57). Both swimming and running do have the advantage of being cost effective. Neither activity necessitates much equipment, a decent pair of shoes or bathing suit is all that is required. These reasons make swimming and running fun, inexpensive, and available for anyone.

The most debated element of swimming and running is its fitness aspects. Learning to swim is possible at a very early age; some children learn to swim before they even learn to walk. Babies in fact have a natural advantage; they are innately comfortable in water (Clevenger 15-16). The elderly usually find swimming easier as they have some loss of strength and speed, but endurance swimming works out the cardiovascular with minimal physical impact (Mangi et al. 40). Running, on the other hand requires an ability to not only walk but also have a decent sense of balance. The ability to coordinate arm and leg movements in synchronization is important to running effectively. Swimming is a more effectual fitness tool as a chart of athletic elements, (ranging from 1-4 in fitness value), shows swimming averages at 3.2 and running averages at 2.8 in categories such as strength, speed, and flexibility (Mangi et al. 64). Swimming has different strokes such as breaststroke, crawl, and butterfly that enable you to exercise various different muscles. Running on the other