1. There exist sprinters other than Alain Bernard.
2. You tried to swim directly after lifting weights and you felt slow? That's not when you see the results from lifting.
Definitely!
I frequently swim right after lifting without difficulty. It's the day or two after that I feel it. Paddles, chutes and fins can help build strength (and improve technique), but aren't really a substitute for the gym.
Just working on starts and turns won't get you there. Focus on speed-speed-speed. Do AFAP efforts (12.5/25/50s) with lots of rest.
60K a week and I'd be swimming non sprint events or have quit masters. 4-5x a week of fairly low yardage works well for me. YMMV.
Personally I find swimming more demanding on lifting than lifting is on swimming when done succession, resp. Maybe because I'm still kind of new with swimmin?
Sorry for straying OT
1. There exist sprinters other than Alain Bernard.
2. You tried to swim directly after lifting weights and you felt slow? That's not when you see the results from lifting.
1. Sure there's also Alexander Popov for example - he used to swim even more than 60km.
2. It's not the matter that I felt slow - entire week after that my hands were like made from wood - I couldn't stretch them same as I could not bend them and... for 3 days after that I couldn't get up from bed without assistance :-( Damn I didn't use heavy weights - max was 3 sets 15 repeats each. That was really easy when I trained in a gym 4 times a week in my college time.
Referring to the thread question, "how" is almost certainly more important than "how much." And "how much" doesn't have to mean "total yardage," either. (For example, one could answer "almost every day" or "X hours per day" or whatever.)
To swim better you need to swim more. Alain Bernard told in an interview that he swims 60km weekly + gym. Indeed everything depends on your swimming level. The weaker level of swimming, the more time you need to swim and less time spend in gym. I would prefer using paddles and other swimming devices to increase strength.
In my case technique suffered a lot when I tried gym - my muscles were like a sponge after gym. Maybe I did something wrong I don't know but I barely could swim after.
1. There exist sprinters other than Alain Bernard.
2. You tried to swim directly after lifting weights and you felt slow? That's not when you see the results from lifting.
As a follow on to Chris' observation, I think sprinters need to train "enough" which is to say enough to do the race on which you're focused.
I've found training for the 50 is different from training for the 100 by a long shot. At least in the 50 free, the race is really about turnover and keeping your stroke together. You can also get away with not breathing in the 50, but if you try that in the 100 you'll be toast as soon as you make your second turn. Lifting weights helps in terms of turnover, but you still need to swim at least every other day (IMHO).
i am ONLY focused on the 50m and belive i can get good results by gym-ing alot and swimming (weekly) only to correct my stroke and starts.
Possible???
I guess it depends on what you mean by "good results" and how good your strokes and start are already."Gym-ing" will help your power which is very important for sprinting,but I think you will get better with a little more pool time(3 times a week would seem the minimum to me but YMMV)to work on stroke rate,hand speed,foot speed,streamlining.DPS,etc. Just my :2cents:.
