I am swimming in France particularly focused in the sprint 50 and 100 m free and fly.
I am surfing in your web site regularly from France and I would like to know where to find weight lifting training programs for sprinters, unless you have already this kind of workouts in your data base.
I thank you very much in advance for your support and I look forwards to reading from you soon,
Regards,
Olivier JACQUESsprint
Former Member
Jacques,
On our previous board software we had a thread dealing with weight lifting, but there was a great deal of disagreement as far as best methods. I personally feel weightlifting is essential for sprinters, although elite athletes might characterize their practice more as "dryland" exercise. When our 50M gold medalists are slam-dunking basketballs, that to me constitutes "weight training"
My recommendations are:
Use free weights/dumbbells whenever possible rather than machines.
Work large motion, multiple joint exercises.
Work on core (stomach, back) and prime movers (triceps,lats).
Do shoulder stability exercises (rotator cuff) if you have a history of injury.
3-5 reps, 3 sets after warmup sets, plenty of rest, either heavy weight or moderate weight power-based.
Not too many different exercises; the whole practice should take 45 minutes or less.
In practice this might be
Pullups
Dips
Jumping squats, holding dumbells in hand.
Core body exercises with Swiss ball
or
Lat pulldown - aim for more than bodyweight
Military press
Deadlift
stomach exercises
There is a machine called a power rack, in which you pull weights up as you swim away from the wall. This machine, or surgical tubing attached to a belt, is another good way to develop power, although it can damage your technique.
Consider it vitally important to practice explosive starts and turns.
If you are not doing that already, that may precede the need for weights. Doing 10 good starts is as rough as a good leg weight workout, at least for me.
Swim fast,
Greg
