SWIMMING IN WINTER

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 48, 26 February 1927, Page 20

SWIMMING IN WINTER

ADVICE FROM ANNETTE KELLER- J ■ • ■ " ' MAN. ' ■ When a friend on cold cheerless mornings casually mentions that she is "just off for a swim," one rather naturally shivers and murmurs, "Oh, how could you!" And yet, if the majority of us only realised what splendid exercise swimming is, both physically and mentally, how it helps to promote and maintain perfect fitness, we should think twice before condemning our friend's action as an extravagant piece of bravado, writes Annette Kellerman in the "Daily Chronicle." It' is really remarkable what a false impression people have of winter swimming. Good swimmers invariably advocate the winter as being by far the most suitable time to learn, and when the majority of baths warm the water to a temperature of 68 to 70 degrees, no one can reasonably make excuses on the ground that it is too cold. In the United States physical culture has progressed much further than it has done in England. The Americans were the first to realise the valuable properties, of swimming, not only as a physical educator, but also as- a health giving exercise, and so convinced were they of its possibilities that they have since taken,up swimming on proper scientific lines. ■„-'.'■... Swimming is of a particular value to *vomen, since it not only develops those parts of the body which are apt to grow fleshy with age, but it also, prevents those tissues from becoming clogged, to the detriment of one's health. A woman, if she desires to acquire- a good figure, should visit the swimming baths at least two or three times a week. Swimming does not, of course, reduce superfluous flesh to any great extent, because after leaving the water most people overeat, but it proportions the flesh over the body and thus prevents it from collecting in any particular part. ,' -■"'.. -

Perhaps one of the greatest advantages is the chest -development which it achieves through the regulation of correct breathing. And swimming the breast stroke without the legs is a splendid exercise for this purpose. I discovered this fact some few years ago when we were training a number of girls for an important film where they wore fishtails. :

Quite a number of people who delight in_ summer swimming /refrain from going in during the winter owing to their susceptibilty to colds. More Often than not, however, these infections are due to tho lack of a few smple precautions. Beginners are too fond of dallying about in the water and sitting on the edge of the bath. The correct thing to do is to make a practice of swimming a regular distance every time you enter the water, and then, as soon as you come out, to dry yourself thoroughly. I have found eucalyptus to bo one of thebest remedies against catching cold. It is not a nice taste, but a drop on tho tongue and a touch inside each nostril, before entering the water and again on leaving the bath, is a splendid preventive.- < ■■:■,■