However, the body does sweat and Kermiet said people need to drink plenty of water to avoid dehydration.

For those who are looking for a different form of exercise, swimming is a way to get the body used to moving again, Kermiet said.

For casual swimmers, the IM Sports-West has an outdoor pool with lap lanes and diving boards, and IM Sports-Circle offers an indoor lane pool.

Communication senior J.H. Berg worked as a lifeguard at the IM pools for three years. He said he sees a lot of regulars.

“There’s the lunch-time crowd and the morning crowd,” he said. “The same people come in all the time, rain or snow.”

During the summer, Berg sees up to 200 people at the outdoor pool and about 80 people in the indoor pool, he said.

“The biggest advantage of swimming is it’s almost a totally nonimpact sport,” Kermiet said. “Your muscles and joints don’t receive any impact as a result of doing the activity.”

Kermiet recommends, as with any exercise, to start slowly and build up to longer distances.

For competitive swimmers, the Capital Area Swim Team, or CAST, serves as the largest year-round team in the Lansing area, said Tom Dudley, board member president for CAST.

The team, which consists of about 300 people, swims at IM Sports-West during the summer and works with some members of the MSU varsity team, said Steve Weyhing, board member secretary for CAST.

“Many of our swimmers use CAST to train in the offseason to stay in shape for their high school teams,” he said.

Berg began swimming when he was 8 years old and swam for MSU for two years. He chose the sport over others because it’s both an individual and a team sport, he said.

“You’re competing against other people but at the same time you’re racing against the clock, and it’s always about beating your personal best,” Berg said.

The chance to train with the MSU team is beneficial to the younger swimmers, Weyhing said.

“It’s really nice because I can look up to (the varsity swimmers), and I can ask them questions about their experiences, and it empowers me,” said Amelia Marsh, a sophomore at Okemos High School and swimmer for CAST. “I can learn from them and that’s been really cool.”

Marsh took swimming lessons at MSU in elementary school and decided to start swimming to be with her friends, she said. This weekend she placed first in the 200 freestyle race at the State Championship at Eastern Michigan University.

Anyone who can swim one length of the pool is welcome to join CAST, Dudley said.

“We will have a spot for anyone who wants to benefit from swimming,” he said. “We have programs for the really competitive and then we have some (swimmers) who are in it for the fitness.”