I have practiced swimming for years, since I was 11-12 years old when I eventually learned to do it in a swimming pool of the town where I was born, Genoa, Italy.
I soon learned 4 of the main swimming styles : free-style, breast-stroke and back-stroke (double and alternate); just in time to have the pleasure to start going to the sea with my school-fellows along the Riviera, mainly, between Genoa and Camogli and having fun with swimming in the sea, at the age of 14.

Then, I kept on swimming, that had already good results for my health, also helping me to correct an initial lateral scoliosis that I had in my childhood.
This, was supported by some gymnastic exercises that I had to make at home daily, after prescription of the orthopedist, under the control of my mother with a clock in her hand.

I think that the swimming training, continued with intensity until 20 (alternate with body-building since the age of 17), has obliged my vertebral column to move symmetrically and regularly, under the action of muscles.

In any case, the positive effects of swimming are on the whole organism:

1) ON MUSCLES AND SKELETON
Swimming is a very complete training for most of our muscles; back, legs, arms, shoulders, neck, abdominal and pectoral muscles have to work together, to push our body into the water, much denser than the air and just the back plays a very important role to keep a moderate tension so that our body remains horizontal or not bent forward (risking to damage the vertebral disks).
Then, also the neck, in these styles, must remain on the same line with the column, while our face is slightly looking downward, for not stressing the rear neck muscles.

In the back-stroke, besides the good work for legs and shoulders, also abdominal muscles work well to sustain and move legs while back muscles keep the body horizontally.
Abdominal muscles work much also in the free-style, as antagonists of back muscles, for not bending backward the body.

2) BREATH AND RESISTANCE
Swimming is great to improve the overall body resistance to long physical work, also for other non aquatic sports, like running, soccer, athletics, biking.

I remember that when, sometimes, I played soccer with my friends during the first years of university, I was among those with the best resistance in running after the adversaries with the ball, although I could do very little when I had to play the ball, because I was really scarce, technically.
This, because I still practiced

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