How Many?

I know that with weights for swimming you're supposed to do high reps-low weight, but how many reps is enough? Are you supposed to do like 3 sets of 10 or 5 sets of 40? I'm new to the whole weights thing, so any input would be good. Right now I'm doing lat pulls, bench press, bicep and tricep curls. Thanks a bunch!:groovy: I am not lifting weights right now but I think the traditional view of high reps/low weight for swimmers is no longer the obvious choice. A growing number of coaches suggest that if the goal is to increase strength - you should lift heavy. Not powerlifter heavy, but enough weight that you work hard to do 8-10 reps. I think the decades-old philosophy of doing 20 reps shows that it doesn't increase strength much because it doesn't overload the muscles much. There has been a fair amount of discussion on this on the collegeswimming.com board over the last year and it seems many NCAA programs are lifting much more weight today than they did a decade ago. I suggest that you NOT ignore the abdominals - stomach and lower back. These areas have a tremendous impact on body rotation, ***/fly, etc.

I know that with weights for swimming you're supposed to do high reps-low weight, but how many reps is enough? Are you supposed to do like 3 sets of 10 or 5 sets of 40? I'm new to the whole weights thing, so any input would be good. Right now I'm doing lat pulls, bench press, bicep and tricep curls. Thanks a bunch!:groovy: I am not lifting weights right now but I think the traditional view of high reps/low weight for swimmers is no longer the obvious choice. A growing number of coaches suggest that if the goal is to increase strength - you should lift heavy. Not powerlifter heavy, but enough weight that you work hard to do 8-10 reps. I think the decades-old philosophy of doing 20 reps shows that it doesn't increase strength much because it doesn't overload the muscles much. There has been a fair amount of discussion on this on the collegeswimming.com board over the last year and it seems many NCAA programs are lifting much more weight today than they did a decade ago. I suggest that you NOT ignore the abdominals - stomach and lower back. These areas have a tremendous impact on body rotation, ***/fly, etc.