's motd Friday June 4, 2010

[Guest guest]

BACKSTROKE

Friday, 04 June 2010

It was very important to my parents that my brother, Lenny and I learn to swim. There was a beach about 20 minutes from our house in New Orleans' French Quarter. It was called Pontchartrain Beach, right on the edge of Lake Pontchartrain. It had an amusement park with lots of rides and there were also quite a few restaurants at Pontchartrain Beach, too.

Every Sunday afternoon after church during the summer, my mother would take Lenny and I to the beach. We'd pitch a big umbrella, lay a blanket in the sand and spend the whole day cooling off at the beach.My mother taught us how to swim when we were still just about babies. In fact, my parents called us their little "water babies." And when we were old enough, my parents would send us to a youth camp during the summer called Twin Oaks. And there, they had this huge Olympic-sized swimming pool.Now I have to tell you, I both loved and hated going to camp. See, I hated when I had to wear swimming trunks in front of everyone when it was time to go for a swim in the pool. I didn't want anyone staring at my already very overweight body! I was really ashamed of my body, at a very early age.

Still, when I took my first dive into that pool, I just loved it! I loved flapping my arms in the pool and swimming along like a dolphin as I swam from one end of the pool to the other. And although my weight may have held me back from participating in other sports, swimming was not one of them. I was "weight-free" as I dove to the bottom of the pool and danced around down there for a few seconds. Then I'd propel myself back up like a submarine. (Oh I just loved doing that!) But after my swim, I hated getting out of the pool and having people see my now wet and fat body.To this day, I love to swim. I still love taking that dive into the water then flapping my arms and legs as I perform my little water-ballet at the bottom of the pool.Did you know swimming is a great exercise that burns lots of calories? When your arms and legs are moving around in the water, there's a lot of resistance exercise going on. I mean, not only are you burning lots of calories but, as you do, you're building strength in your muscles and bones. Hey, all of those pluses for your body...while you're having fun at the same time!

I know many of you, like me, don't have the greatest body image. I know you don't like donning a swimsuit. You're thinking people will be staring at you. But don't let anyone stop you from doing something you love to do and that's so good for your body.There're a lot of public swimming pools that offer water-aerobics classes. I say get into your swimsuits and join one of them! If you live near a beach, get yourself into that water and get every part of your body moving. And by the way, besides all of the good that swimming does for you, there's one more good thing about it. Swimming make your whole body feel refreshed, which makes sense, when you consider your body is made up of some 60% water! Now......Splash! I wish you lots of happy backstrokes!Love,