Swimming as a primal activity

[iluvthors]

I love to swim, and am convinced it is a primal activity - you can sprint, or move simply ease your way through the water at a nice, unobtrusive pace. For now, I have been finding myself stuck in a pretty generic free style routine.

Does anyone have suggestions for me? I want to make the most of my water workouts, doesn't have to be just swimming laps...

Gracias.

[chadwick]

The most primal type of swimming is--wild swimming! Just imagine as our ancestors would scavenge local rivers and and lakes looking for fish and other game. They would have to swim through strong currents, watch out for rocks and other sharp debris, and most importantly--not fall off of waterfalls!

Check out Wild Swimming for more information! Has some great articles, rivers and lakes (unfortunately, only for the UK primal tribe though!), and safety tips.


wild-swimming (vb.):
1. Swimming in natural waters such as rivers, lakes and waterfalls. Often associated with picnics and summer holidays.
2. Dipping or plunging in secret or hidden places, sometimes in wilderness areas. Associated with skinny-dipping or naked
swimming, often with romantic connotations.
3. Action of swimming wildly such as jumping or diving from a height, using swings and slides, or riding the current of a river.



One branch of evolutionary theory, expounded by Sir Alistair Hardy in the 1950s, suggests that being by and in water is more than just a pleasure, it is at the core of our human condition. During the ten million years of the Pliocene world droughts, while our species was busy evolving into uprightness, we did not, suggests Hardy, choose the arid deserts of Africa as our home, as mainstream evolutionists believe, but the more tempting turquoise shallows of the nearby Indian Ocean. There we became semi-aquatic coastal waders. Our subsequent life on dry land is a relatively recent and bereft affair.

Could this explain some of our more peculiar habits and features? Apart from the proboscis monkey, we are the only primate that regularly plays in water for the sheer joy of it, and whose offspring take naturally to water from birth. We are also alone in having subcutaneous fat, like a whale’s blubber, for buoyancy and warmth. We are almost hairless, like the dolphin, and what little hair remains is arranged to make us streamlined for swimming.

http://www.wildswimming.co.uk/about.html
http://www.wildswimming.co.uk/safety.html

[iluvthors]

being by and in water is more than just a pleasure, it is at the core of our human condition.

I certainly agree with this! In fact, that quote summarizes the reason I like to swim so much. This wild swimming sounds exciting! Anyone wanna make a trip to the UK with me?

And that second definition:
2. Dipping or plunging in secret or hidden places, sometimes in wilderness areas. Associated with skinny-dipping or naked
swimming, often with romantic
connotations. is right up my ally!

Haha, thanks Chadwick.

In all seriousness though, I think that wild swimming has to be great for the mind, body and soul. There might not be anything better.