Swimming after liftin'

A very interesting thread. Allow me to throw in my (very anecdotal) 2/100. I will be 58 next week and have been swimming and strength training for years. I have gone from HIT type training, to powerlifting type training to what I do today - kettlebells and bw exercises. I have found strength training to be of great benefit to me but in a GPP way. I am quite muscular (in an athletic, not bodybuilding way) and strong for my age but I have never felt that there was a noticible transfer to swimming. I regularly see women in the pool who are faster than me even though they are not muscular at all. They are great technicians and spend all their time swimming. I do not beleive that composite exercises like squats or deadlifts are really transferable to the water. I was deadlifting about 200% of my bw but it had no effect on my swimming. Recently, I have been giving thought to the idea of doing more strength training in the water with the aid of big paddles, pullbouys etc. Another point to consider is the slower recovery rate as we age. At various times I prioritize swimming or strength training, but I can't go really hard on both during the same period (add in the job factor). Finally, I have recently felt that improving my flexibility would be a greater contribution to my swimming and to my general well being as I age. :cane: After every swim session I do about 10 minutes of flexibility work in the pool and I am feeling alot "looser" especially in my shoulders.

A very interesting thread. Allow me to throw in my (very anecdotal) 2/100. I will be 58 next week and have been swimming and strength training for years. I have gone from HIT type training, to powerlifting type training to what I do today - kettlebells and bw exercises. I have found strength training to be of great benefit to me but in a GPP way. I am quite muscular (in an athletic, not bodybuilding way) and strong for my age but I have never felt that there was a noticible transfer to swimming. I regularly see women in the pool who are faster than me even though they are not muscular at all. They are great technicians and spend all their time swimming. I do not beleive that composite exercises like squats or deadlifts are really transferable to the water. I was deadlifting about 200% of my bw but it had no effect on my swimming. Recently, I have been giving thought to the idea of doing more strength training in the water with the aid of big paddles, pullbouys etc. Another point to consider is the slower recovery rate as we age. At various times I prioritize swimming or strength training, but I can't go really hard on both during the same period (add in the job factor). Finally, I have recently felt that improving my flexibility would be a greater contribution to my swimming and to my general well being as I age. :cane: After every swim session I do about 10 minutes of flexibility work in the pool and I am feeling alot "looser" especially in my shoulders.