W ith Olympic fever setting in, the Big Splash is encouraging people to enter into the spirit at their local pool.

The initiative is aimed at getting the nation in the water in the run up to 2012, whether it be swimming, stretching, jogging or even cycling.

Activities range from gentle exercises, and family challenges, to programmes designed to stretch serious athletes.

Special discounts mean that sessions can be taken for a fraction of the cost in Croydon and Leatherhead thanks to special discounts.

Ian Farlane, sports development manager for Fusion leisure centres in Croydon, said: "The Big Splash is a mass participation scheme designed to get more people to visit their local pool".

Croydon and Leatherhead leisure centres are offering discounts encouraging people to take an aqua class, which are based around movements to music, adult swimming lessons, or just splash around with a friend.

"The response has been fantastic," said Ian. Offers include £2 off aqua classes, which are ideal for older people or those with an injury as water supports the body and puts less strain on joints and muscles.

Also available are two-for-one swims and a £5 voucher when adults book a course of swimming lessons.

The Big Splash itself offers a wealth of activities, details of which can be found on its website together with tips from Olympians.

Families can take on a 10-week, one kilometre challenge with a step-by-step guide by Trunx the elephant.

Solo swimmers can try out Swimfit, which offers 32 gym-style programmes devised by experts at the Amateur Swimming Association.

One option is a tone up plan, aimed at people who want to shed pounds without the pain of the treadmill.

Water is about 800 times denser than air, so you can work harder and lose more calories.

As little as half an hour of gentle swimming can burn 200Kcal, more than you would shed cycling at 12mph for the same time.

Other benefits include toning, aerobic conditioning and the strengthening of the entire body including the heart and lungs.

Ian said: "Swimfit offers programmes for the water using gym-style workout cards. The idea is you come to the pool with a session which you can download from the Internet or pick up on a card from one of the centres.

"You can follow a programme for a number of weeks, focusing on weight loss, toning, fitness or general swimming ability. Swimfit runs at Leatherhead Leisure Centre and all the Croydon centres with the exception of New Addington and Thornton Heath, where we are about to launch instructor-led sessions.

"The programmes are very popular and people have been making use of the cards wherever we've put them out."

With so much going on, a new website called Splashpath is offering live timetable information from centres. Live timetables can be downloaded from the website which is used by all the leisure centres.

You can also register to share your progress with others and take a "Nile challenge" based on the number of lengths you complete in the pool. Splashpath is a website that all the centres use allowing people to download a live timetable.

Ian added: "Swimmers can go on their iPhones and find out straight away exactly what's going on. They can also join up and become part of an online community together with other swimmers."

For people returning to swimming like Amy Ingram, its been a good motivator. "I really like using splashpath. It's a really simple way to see how much swimming I've been doing. It takes all the hard work out of counting lengths and lets my friends know how I'm doing through Facebook."

It's also helped her find a new swimming pool near where she works: "I can check what sessions are on there too which helps me work out how busy it's going to be.

"I've also signed up for the London Bridges challenge which is 160 lengths at my local pool – it'll take a while at this rate but it's great to be able to pick goals – I'm building up to swimming the Irish Channel!"

So, with a world of activities waiting, let the swimming commence!