11 Reasons To Get Into Open Water Swimming

That Have Nothing To Do With Getting Fit

I’m sure we all have our own reasons for swimming, but the enjoyment we get from the open water gives so much more than just a fit body and health outlook on life.

This article was originally written and published through Open Water Magazine, Issue 6.

The following is a list of reason why open water swimming is so much more than just a way to keep fit.

1. It Will Give You Street Cred
   You heard right. In a recent article by Outside Magazine, the tried to compare some of the toughest outdoor sports to come up with an answer on which is the toughest. The jury is still out on what the toughest outdoor sport is, but open water swimming was up there in their comparison. Needless to say we all think our weekly routine is normal, most people don’t.
   Article: https://www.outsideonline.com/2127176/ranking-worlds-toughest-outdoor-sports
2. Its Social
   Of course its social. I would firstly hope that swimmers would swim in open water in a group and not be swimming on their own. Although its easy to get into the pool and smash out an hour session on your own, things are a little different with open water swimming. The safety aspects of getting out into the open water make it necessary to join a swim group or make sure you’ve got some company on your swim.
   Getting into a regular habit leaves you with a weekly or more coffee date afterwards especially when your trying to warm up in the colder months.
3. You Don’t Need To Be Fast
   It’s something that resonates with our friend, “The Red Lantern”. I honestly believe that open water swimming is a very inclusive sport and coming from a team sport and triathlon back ground, I was worried that the separate “clicks” or ego’s would be in place in our sport as well. I had nothing to worry about and felt like I was part of something very quickly.
   The comment seems to come from at least every second new swimmer I speak to “But I’m slow”. Yes, we all are, but there is one thing for sure, if you get out in the open water, you’re already one of us, if you do it on a regular basis, you’ll also have our respect.
4. It Helps Deal With Stress
   Sometimes all you need is a quick 100m dip, sometimes you need to thrash out a 2km session to get the full effects but the stress release that you would get from any exercise, just like open water swimming is beneficial to anyone’s day to day routine.
5. It Gives You An Appreciation For The Environment
   Growing up, we would head to our closest city beach as part of a school excursion, and I would grown in the fact that city beaches simply weren’t as nice as the beaches one or two hours drive from Melbourne. I was so wrong.
   My weekly swim at my local city beach allowed me to come up close with the abundant wildlife of my local swim. Stingrays, gummy sharks, dolphins, jelly fish, sea dragons, starfish and octopus. It breaks my heart to see an empty can on the bottem of the ocean and I try my best to set an example to others. It not only gives me an appreceation of the environment but the local history as well and gets me closer to the local community.
6. You Can Be As Competitive As You Like
   If you want to be competitive, if that’s what keeps you swimming week in and week out, then you can find a way to be as competitive as you want. Small races, big races, age group, overall series points winter, wetsuit, non wetsuit, marathon, ultra marathon distance and cold water swimming. If your worried you won’t be competitive in one category, I am sure there is at least one category that you will be and it can give you the sense of achievement that you may be looking for from the sport.
7. There Are No Boundaries
   I’ve learnt this recently, there are races for distances, but if you want to take things further, there is nothing stopping you from getting the experience of a local boat pilot and taking your distance as far as you want. In previous issues of Open Water, we’ve seen our swimming friends, take on the English Channel, Antarctica and crossing Port Phillip Bay. The crazy thing is that all these swims are small in comparison to what some swimmers are actually doing out there. There is a boundary, but it is only limited to what the mind will stop you from doing.
8. There Are Some Amazing Destinations
   What ever you’re into as an ideal holiday open water swimming destination, you will be able to find it. You can swim in the Arctic Circle in Norway, swim off the cliffs of Positano in Italy, Escape from Alcatraz, or swim around a Samoan Island.
   It’s fun to do these kinds of swims with a friend or group of friends but stepping out of your confort zone and joining up with a group travel or overseas event. You’ll meet up with similar or like minded people who will share your passion, and don’t worry, you’ll always have something to talk about.
9. You Can Get Even More Out Of It Even When The Weather Is Cold
   The benefits of cold water immersion are just starting to come to light. And you don’t even need to be a crazy “Ice Burger” or the next Wim Hoff to get the full benefits of the cold.
   Studies have shown that even minimal exposure to cold on a regular basis helps burn fat, regulate body temperature, increase blood flow, and control hormone levels like cortisol.
10. You’ll Meet Amazing People
    I try my best to highlight this in this magazine, but I have been completely blow away by the people that I have met through open water swimming. Each person I speak to seems to have their own amazing story, some only learn’t how to swim three years ago and are taking on a 10km swim, so were national champions as teenagers and due to being burnt out at a young age, love the all the reasons that I have stated above means their is no reason to do anything else other then put one arm in front of the other and not worry about anything else.
11. Its An Adventure
    Trust me on this one. There have been some moments in my weekly open water swim where, even though I am in the middle of a major city, I feel like I can be transported to anywhere in the world. My winter swims give me an exhilaration like nothing else I have ever experienced before. The thing is, if you’ve read this far and hopefully agree with all the previous points, you’ll hopefully agree that combined together, we have a pretty amazing sport, and there is something a little different that draws us to it. I think that all together, it gives us an amazing adventure.

For more stories on open water swimming go to Open Water Magazine, a free online magazine specializing in open water swimming and being active outdoors, the magazine is a quarterly publication that can be downloaded as a PDF from the website www.openwatermagazine.com