21 Swimming Blogs For Kids, Parents, Physiotherapists (And Their Patients) to Dive Into

Conquering the fear of water and knowing how to swim opens up a world of watersports, from boating to surfing. As a form of exercise, it’s relatively injury-free, and the water’s buoyancy supports much of a person’s weight. That means a full-body workout is possible even for people who are injured, are recovering from surgery or have a painful chronic condition such as arthritis.

We’ve found 21 blogs that are loaded with information, swimming technique tips and how-to instructionals as well as inspirational rehab stories, many of which you’ll want to bookmark, share and follow.

   

Swimmers Daily, Twitter: @swimmersdaily

This is a news feed on everything of interest to swimmers, with stories such as:

• “How to spot symptoms of dry and delayed drowning”
• “Female scientist strips naked to swim with belugas”
• “Missy Franklin to leave Cal swim team to focus on Olympics”

There’s a Health section where you can also find articles like Why a Quick Cold Water Swim is Good For You and Secrets of a Regular Swimmer.

   

Swimming Pool.com, Twitter: @SwimmingPoolCom

The self-proclaimed Ultimate Swimming Pool Resource, the SwimmingPool.com blog offers more than pool design and maintenance ideas. There are articles about safety, a post about the possible link between early age swimming and intelligence, and one on the use of swimming for cross training and recovery.

   

AquaGear, Twitter: @AquaGear

Selling swim equipment and aquatic therapy products since 1992, AquaGear’s blog has categories of interest to swimmers such as Learning to Swim, Swim Training Tips and Water Workouts. An example of a how-to post is 6 Pro Tips to Swim the Freestyle Faster.

   

HydroWorx, Twitter: @HydroWorx

HydroWorx designs and builds aquatic therapy equipment, including rehab pools and swim spas. The company also builds underwater treadmill pools, used both by athletes for training and rehab and by physical therapists for patient rehabilitation and massage therapy. The blog provides insights from athletic trainers and athletes on how they use hydrotherapy and offers free webinars on how to treat specific injuries with aquatic therapy.

 

Healthy Pools, Twitter @SwimTips

From the good people at the Water Quality & Health Council, this blog addresses pool matters such as chemicals in pools, so you’ll finally know the ideal level of free chlorine and finally dismiss that urban legend of red eyes being caused by chlorine once and for all. The question of children, pools and asthma is tackled, and there are also helpful facts and tips for salt pool owners.

   

Swimex Aquatic Therapy Blog, Twitter: @swimexpools

SwimEx is a retailer of a line of fitness and therapy pools, and its blog posts testimonials and articles about how aquatic exercises benefit people with arthritis, high school athletes with back pain, and even spinal injury patients at the Carolina Spine and Neurosurgery Center.

   

Swimator, Twitter: @360swim

With Twitter tips such as “keep that bottom arm stationary while taking your precious breath – do not sway it sideways or up and down,” swim coach Libor Janek offers valuable how-to advice and lessons in his blog posts and on his YouTube channel, as well. He thinks everyone should know how to swim and says: “70% of our planet is water and the water level is rising. Shouldn’t you know how to swim?”

   

Underwater Audio, Twitter: @UnderwaterAudio

This retailer sells waterproof products like iPods and headphones, so its customer base is swimmers, and its blog is written for them. Posts include interesting takes on how swimming with music can help you achieve weight loss goals as well as instructional articles. It even gives you a suggested playlist for your next musical swim.

   

Goldfish Swim School, Twitter: @GoldfishSwim

With more than 20 locations from Massachusetts to Illinois, this swimming school has taught lots of infants and toddlers how to swim. The blog is geared to parents of very young children, with posts like why babies should start swimming and what pool toys are really used for.

   

In The Swim, Twitter: @intheswimmers

InTheSwim is a Chicago-based, direct-source pool equipment and supplies retailer founded in 1982. The site’s blog is a mine of information, with articles such as Pregnancy & Swimming and Asthma & Swimming in the Health and Aging section.

 

Swimtastic, Twitter: @Swimtastic_Swim

This swimming school offers lessons and classes mainly to children, but it also has some adult classes as well as stroke clinics and recreational swim teams at its locations in six cities across three states. The blog runs the gamut from finding goggles that fit to the health benefits of swimming (for both kids and adults), as well as looking at how young baby swimming lessons can start.

   

Swimming That Changes Your Life, Twitter: @TISWIM

Founder of Total Immersion Swimming Terry Laughlin says that the mission of his blog is to ponder “how to practice swimming as the pursuit of happiness.” While you’ll find posts such as How a Swim Can Make You Happy, you’ll also read technique-based how-to articles such as How to Swim Faster . . . and Pain Free.

   

National Swimming Pool Foundation, Twitter: @NSPF

The stated mandate of this non-profit organization is to encourage “healthy living by increasing aquatic activity through education and research.” As such, while not all the blog posts will be of interest to swimmers, such as those targeted to the pool and spa industry, there are many that are of interest. These include topics such as health benefits and learning-to-swim articles, and even some about how to deal with the fear of water.

   

The Swimming Wizard, Twitter: @SwimmingWizrd

Professional coaches share their swimming workouts, sets and dryland exercises (for free!) on this blog. They send their training idea to Swimming Wizard editor, Ryan Woodruff, who is also the head coach of the Parkland Aquatic Club.

   

South Florida Aquatic Club, Twitter: @swim4soflo

This swim club in South Florida (known as SOFL) is dedicated to coaching, teaching and mentoring young swimmers. The blog includes team race results, member interviews and life fitness articles.

   

SwimmerJoe, Twitter: @SwimmerJoe

Business executive and swim coach Joe Auer competed for the University of Florida and was an Olympic trial qualifier. His site include swim tips, news, advice, cross training and coaching editorials.

 

Lone Swimmer, Twitter: @donalbuckley

Co-founder of the Marathon Swimmers Federation, English Channel soloist and Ice Mile swimmer Donal Buckley says his primary goals for Lone Swimmer are to educate swimmers about open water and cold water swimming.

   

Open Water Swimming, Twitter: @OpenWaterSource

A monthly print magazine as well as a website, the stated purpose of Open Water Swimming is to “educate, entertain, and enthuse those who venture beyond the shore.”

   

Fly Like a Girl (Crazy Swim Mom), Twitter: @flylikeagirl1

You’ll appreciate this blog if your kids have entered the strange, new world of competitive swimming, and you’ve been a proverbial landlubber (‘til now).

   

Simply Swim, Twitter: @SimplySwimUK

While this blog tags itself as “the UK’s best loved online swim shop,” there is a lot of information to be had, especially how-to posts and beginner articles, although there are some for experienced swimmers, such as the Strength Training for Swimmers post.

   

About Swimming, Twitter: @GaryJohnMullen

Gary is the About.com swimming expert and columnist and has a series of how-to articles that covers topics such as how to swim events like the mile, the 50 freestyle, the 200 butterfly and the 100 backstroke. He’s got something for everyone, with posts that include 10 tips for beginner swimmers and how to prevent swimming injuries.

   

Images by:
Thomas Grunert / Flickr