HISTORY OF SWIMMING

When Did Swimming Originate?

•Swimming has been an activity practiced

throughout history, from the first humans
until the modern day. Thousands of years
ago, swimming had very practical
purposes, such as finding food to avoid
starvation, traveling from place to place,
and bathing.

•In the southwestern part of Egypt there

was a cave of swimmers near Wadi Sora
as stated in the Stone Age.
• The world literature found evidences of the existence of swimming
through the written references date from 2008.C. including Gilgamesh,
the Iliad, the Odyssey, the Bible, the Beowulf, and other Sagas.
• Nicolas Wynman in 1538, German professor wrote the first swimming
book entitled “colymbetes” .
• In 1800, swimming competition started in Europe mostly using
breaststroke.
• John Arthur Trugen, introduce Front Crawl in 1873 called trugen stroke
copying it from the Native American.
• In 1896 Swimming was part of the first modem Olympic in Athens.
•1900: The backstroke is added as an event at the Olympics.
•1912: Women‘s swimming events are added to the Olympics.
•1956: The butterfly stroke is first introduced to the Olympics.
•1976: Goggles begin to be used for Olympic swimming
competitions.
•1981: Women's swimming becomes an official NCAA sport.
•2008: Michael Phelps wins eight Olympic gold medals in
swimming over the course of a single Olympic Games, a record-
setting achievement.
Swimming has been
considered as survival
skills and people
created new challenges
and thrills such as scuba
diving, synchronized
swimming, and
acrobatic.
Seven Fundamental Principles in
Swimming
1. The secret of the effortless swimming lies in the
relaxation of the muscles not necessary to the
performance of the skill at any given moment.
2. The breathing rhythm of swimming differs from the
rhythm of normal breathing.
 3.The position of glide is one of rest.

4. Recovery of the arms and legs should be performed

slowly and in a relaxed manner.
5. Each countermotion, against the forward movement,
should be so performed that a
minimum of resistance results.
6. There should be a minimum of over water recovery
7. The body, in smooth water and when ease rather than
speed is the desire
 Benefits of Swimming

Swimming is widely recognized by health and fitness

professionals as a nearly perfect activity to improve aerobics
fitness, flexibility, body strength, muscle tone, and
coordination. And it is also one of the best rehabilitations for
minor Wear and tear on the muscles since your body is
suspended in the water that results to less impact when doing
physical exercises.
1.Cardiovascular Conditioning
.

Any exercise that raises your heart rate higher than 120 beats
per minute for longer than 20 minutes improves the condition
of the cardiovascular system. When you swim, your pulse rate
increases even more than 120bpm especially if you swim fast.

2. Muscular Strength
Swimming is excellent for improving strength and tone in
several muscles, especially torso, shoulder, and am muscles.
3. Muscular System Aerobic Conditioning
Swimming properly involves a greater percentage of your body's muscle mass in
aerobic exercise than any other popular activity. Aerobic conditioning of any
specific muscle occurs only when the exercise you are doing causes that muscle to
contract repeatedly and consistently throughout your work out like swimming.

4. Flexibility
Because of the large ranges of motion swimmers used during the propelling
movements, evidently an individual who swim regularly becomes more flexible
and supple.

5. Body Composition
Since swimming is an aerobic conditioning, regular practice makes the body
leaner and tone since the energy system involve the burning of fats and calories
converting it into energy