I started swimming about 7 years ago. Smoked since i was a kid and never been into playing sports (always been a music head) and my complete lack of health became really clear to me when my daughter was old enough to start running around in the park, and i was out of breath in no time at all. First swim, got told by one of the life guards that i needed to go in the 'floating about' pool as opposed to the lane swimming pool because i kept having to stop. Couldn't even do 50m without stopping. I now do 1km without stopping once or twice a week. Find it boring as sin (30 mins or so just swimming up and down), but the benefits from it have been pretty gobsmacking. Loads more energy, and just feel a lot healthier. Definitely worked for me.