I have been reading and watching posts and replies, on the General forum, as well as Coaching forum, that seem to dismiss the importance of having developed triceps. I may be wrong, but what I surmised is that even though having a longer stroke is of great importance (and I am an advocate of a longer sroke depending upon the distance and actual stroke being swum), that many people including Kaizen making statements that a long stroke is better, there is much conclusion that "finishing" the stroke lower on the leg has several problems: 1) it takes tricep strength so avoid it and 2) finishing shorter and closer to the waist area is the way to go.
Now granted, a 50 free sprint probably needs a lesser SPL than a 200 or 400, but my concern in this topic is that there may be a message to other swimmers that finishing later on the body requires more strength in the back of the arm (triceps) so avoid it. My Word: Wrong!!
Every great, great swimmer I have ever seen has the arms of Hercules, both in biceps, shoulders and triceps. And even at my older age and a fatter body, the one remaining muscle group that is ripped is the triceps on my arms because they have been trained over years and carry me through even now. Having these great muscles developed continues to aid in my powerfully finishing my stroke and setting up for the next one. Triceps DO provide propulsion in the stroke finish/recovery portion of the stroke, so making sure they are developed, as well as other components of your body, is extremely important. Just one swimmer's point of view....and open for discussion.....
donna
Parents
Former Member
Here's my generalization (without regard to a person's gender, age, creed, religion, political affiliation, sexual preference, favorite color, etc.): ability to do pushups has close to zero correlation with ability to swim fast. Well I guess that like with anything else, that depends.
Ability to do pushups probably has some correlation with ability to swim fast butterfly, since it does target arm adductors as well as triceps. Also, let us not forget that correlations work both ways. Can a swimmer that never does any pushups perform better at a pushup test than a runner that never does any pushup? Of course. Take any elite swimmer that doesn't perform any pushups, they can probably book over 60pushups in 1 minute.
That raises a question. When correlation clearly works in 1 way, can we assume it could work the other way?
As far as I am concerned, the two most striking examples happen to be chin up and leg extension. I clearly have a huge edge on these two stations over non swimmer general gym crowd. Completely out of shape, I pull down at least the equivalent of my body weight. When swim fit, I can pull down up to 200 pounds (I weight only 150). It is even more apparent with leg extension. Some say it burns, I can't feel it. Hard kick sets are burning much more.
And anyway, pushups are just a training means. Like any other training means, it doesn't own a brain. It doesn't think by itself. Can't be entirely good or entirely bad. It all depends on what the person that owns the brain does with it.
That said, for this year's butterfly events preparation, I did favor dips over pushups. They target the same muscles in a more specific manner (at least in my opinion). Since I wanted to keep the muscle strength/endurance component of my dryland program within 30min including squats and abs etc, pushups weren't on the menu. I also did 1 or 2 sets of fly as well.
Here's my generalization (without regard to a person's gender, age, creed, religion, political affiliation, sexual preference, favorite color, etc.): ability to do pushups has close to zero correlation with ability to swim fast. Well I guess that like with anything else, that depends.
Ability to do pushups probably has some correlation with ability to swim fast butterfly, since it does target arm adductors as well as triceps. Also, let us not forget that correlations work both ways. Can a swimmer that never does any pushups perform better at a pushup test than a runner that never does any pushup? Of course. Take any elite swimmer that doesn't perform any pushups, they can probably book over 60pushups in 1 minute.
That raises a question. When correlation clearly works in 1 way, can we assume it could work the other way?
As far as I am concerned, the two most striking examples happen to be chin up and leg extension. I clearly have a huge edge on these two stations over non swimmer general gym crowd. Completely out of shape, I pull down at least the equivalent of my body weight. When swim fit, I can pull down up to 200 pounds (I weight only 150). It is even more apparent with leg extension. Some say it burns, I can't feel it. Hard kick sets are burning much more.
And anyway, pushups are just a training means. Like any other training means, it doesn't own a brain. It doesn't think by itself. Can't be entirely good or entirely bad. It all depends on what the person that owns the brain does with it.
That said, for this year's butterfly events preparation, I did favor dips over pushups. They target the same muscles in a more specific manner (at least in my opinion). Since I wanted to keep the muscle strength/endurance component of my dryland program within 30min including squats and abs etc, pushups weren't on the menu. I also did 1 or 2 sets of fly as well.
