Dive into a new cross-training routine by adding swimming to your workout docket.

You may prefer to keep your feet on dry land, but for the sake of thwarting injuries and maintaining fitness, you won’t get a better return on your investment than from swimming. Serving as an ideal form of active recovery for runners, swim sessions allow you to increase endurance and oxygen capacity, while giving your weary legs a break from all that pavement pounding.

“Swimming is really an anti-inflammatory therapy for the legs when performed in a cool temperature less than 80 degrees,” explains Sandy Bikus, a USA Triathlon-certified coach and NASM Certified Personal Trainer in Omaha, Neb.

What’s more, the full-body nature of swimming requires wholly different movement patterns, giving a runner the opportunity to work some of those oft forgotten muscle groups. Although the theory of specificity suggests that a runner must run to improve, many of our bodies aren’t built to achieve optimal fitness through running alone. The muscle imbalances that occur over many miles only worsen with each step. Swimming introduces new ranges of motion and strengthens muscle groups that have been neglected, helping a runner avoid classic overcompensation injuries.
Read more at http://running.competitor.com/2014/07/training/cross-training-101-swimming-for-runners_82017#ImToHjyfYtdxrfIv.99