[nostatic]

A few months back I had a couple of acute episode with my back, and at the third one my chiro told me that I needed to get to a pool and get serious about rehab. Basically she said, "if you don't change your life and make your body a priority, you'll be on a surgeon's table in 6 months." Of course she has been telling me variations of this for years, but hard headed me...

I took her seriously, as it was a bad stretch where I couldn't do anything without pain. As luck would have it my wife got me to join her at the local YMCA a month or two prior to these episodes so I'd been swimming a few times but it was "oh, when I have time I'll go..." Given the fact that I couldn't walk upright and was sick and tired of being sick and tired, I decided to shift priorities. I started arranging my schedule around the pool time. At first I was just floating and walking in the water. I felt like the seniors who often are at the pool, but that's what my body could tolerate. Eventually I started doing laps swimming breaststroke.

Fast forward 2.5 months. I have only missed 4 days, and one of those the Y was closed so I didn't have a choice. Despite getting rear ended on Monday, my back is functional, and now I'm up to 30 min of laps, mixing breast and some free (have to be careful with rotator cuffs). I'm probably in the best shape I've been in since grad school when I was racing bikes - and with no aches or pains. I can see the results, especially with upper body.

Any other exercise would either be hard on my body (which is pretty shot from years of competitive sports) or require a lot of planning to get whole body fitness. Swimming though - just get in and go. I admit that I have a bias towards water, as I grew up in a pool and the ocean, and played water polo in HS. But I always hated swimming laps - boring and hard. Now though I find it meditative. The great thing about doing laps in the pool is that there are no freakin' electronics around. Just you and the water. And the old guy in the lane next to you. And the cute woman lifeguard who can swim twice as fast as you (but I digress).

Downsides? Well, the YMCA can be an interesting place, and public indoor pools have a special ambiance. Plus you have to show up - get there, change, swim, change, head back to home or work. But the results are addicting. And no knee pain (running), back pain (cycling), etc.

May sound like a commercial, but I'm sold. ymmv.