Swimming is joint-friendly exercise

Swimming treats the joints gently and it is easy to move in water. Swimming strengthens both the upper and lower body muscles, improves oxygen intake, and even helps to loose weight, but then you need to move in water so much that you get short of breath, not just swim around or float. Kicks and strokes can improve muscle tone while endurance increases during long-term swimming. You will also get good co-ordination exercise and your mobility will increase if you try different swimming styles. The muscles stretch and stay flexible because while swimming you are doing a lot lof different movements. In water it is easy to make moves that would be physically impossible on dry land.

Swimming and water running are excellent during rehabilitation because they do not strain the joints. Runners can use swimming as restorative exercise, allowing knee joints to rest. In practice, water overrides the effects of gravity, so the joints do not have to be strained when moving in water. Naturally, the risk of injury also decreases. You don’t have to stop swimming as you age, you can swim in principle throughout life. Asthmatics also benefit from swimming because it is easy to breathe in the moist and dustless air of swimming halls.

You can swim the whole year round

Nor do you have to stop swimming in the autumn when the waters cool down. Ice swimming enhances blood circulation, alleviates pain in the back, neck and shoulders, and may reduce the risk of depression, asthma symptoms and sleeping problems. Ice swimming also facilitates the ailments of those suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia. Ice swimmers tell that their hobby helps them to cope with stress, refreshes body and mind, and improves blood circulation and cold tolerance.

According to a Finnish study on the effects of cold curing the refreshing and energizing feeling is due to a hormone injection caused by the cold: the excretion of stress hormones increases when temperature changes are big. Because ice swimming improves blood circulation and tissue metabolism it slows down cellular aging and retains, for example, the elasticity of the skin. The blood pressure of those who go ice swimming regularly drops significantly. However, the positive effects will disappear if they stop ice swimming.

…and at Salli you can swim every day!

The employees at Salli can enjoy a rare occupational benefit: they can go swimming every day during the working hours, throughout the year. They are even encouraged to do that because the founder of Salli, Vessi Jalkanen, is a keen swimmer himself. At Salli headquarters in Sahala it is easy to go swimming during the work day, because both a lake and a river are not far form the office.

Vessi tells on the video how it is easy to do intervals and hiit exercise in water, or to swim for a longer time at a slower pace. Even easy swimming burns about 500 calories per hour, so swimming is good exercise. And of course jumping into fresh water in the middle of the work day rehreshes also mentally! It's also worth remembering that water sports are not just swimming: you can go water running, diving or sup boardig.

Follow Vessi's Vlog, upcoming subjects include ice swimming and going to sauna!

Did you know this about the history of swimming?

Swimming has been part of the summer Olympics from the very beginning of the games in 1896. However, in the early years of the games the competitors didn’t swim in swimming pools but, for example in the sea, rivers or artificial lakes. A swimming pool was used for the first time in London in 1908. Open-air swimming was introduced at the Olympic Games in 2008 in Beijing.