Pros and cons of swimming as an exercise?

[KingstonU]

Went and did some laps at the public pool for the first time in years. We're always told that swimming is the best exercise as it's low impact and works a lot of your muscles at once. But I had forgotten how strong the chlorine is.

Just out of interest I googled the affects of chlorine and the ones that keep coming up are early onset of skin wrinkles and hair loss as well as chlorine being related to cancer. Plus it just leaves that smell on your skin even after showering properly.

So does anyone have any thoughts on if these factors negate the benefits of swimming as an exercise over something like running which is an "impact sport" on your joints?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Being immersed in pool water has significant effects on electrolyte balance, including potassium and sodium levels. If you're going to be in the pool for an hour or more, you practically have to supplement extra to make sure you don't get hyponatremic/hypokalemic. Swimming athletes also, for some really poorly explained reasons, tend to have a higher body fat percentage than their on-land counterparts.

However, it does help reduce any sort of edema because of venous insufficiency and helps strengthen muscles of respiration.

Especially if you're not in the pool everyday, the pro's of exercise and swimming outweigh the cons.

 

[smackababy]

Swimming is an excellent exercise. I have never heard of it being an electrolyte drain though.

Biggest con I can think of is you can drown. If you're running, you can just stop running. If you're in a pool, no so much.

 

[CPA]

The biggest con of swimming in a public pool is swimming through someone's pee.

 

[highland145]

The biggest con of swimming in a public pool is swimming through someone's pee.

But there could be the baby ruth bonus.

 

[ControlD]

Well, I do a lot of swimming for exercise (and grew up doing swim team) and I am bald, so maybe there is something to the hair loss part of it lol.