i have read (here actually: www.swimdcac.org/.../article5.html) that the bench press does more harm than good for swimmers. what is everyone else's opinion (and experience)??
Parents
Former Member
That's interesting. The part of the article that mentions bench press says,
"...When developing upper body strength for swimming purposes, you want to concentrate on swimming specific muscles, specific swimming movements and range of motion. THE LAST EXERCISE YOU WANT TO PERFORM IS THE BENCH PRESS. This will decrease your swimming ability. When you are in the water, what stroke has the same range of motion as the bench press? NONE! When you are pushing a large amount of weight (greater than 60% of your body weight) away from your body, you are destroying the rotator cuff muscles. When performing the bench press, too much of the weight is supported and stabilized by the rotator cuff muscles. These are the most important muscles for swimming. Have you ever wondered why so many swimmers have shoulder problems? One, because of poor stroke technique, and two, because of improper resistance training.
On the other hand, one of the best exercises for swimming is a push-up. The push-up only uses about 40-50% of your body weight with more of the weight evenly distributed to the rotator cuff muscles, deltoid muscles, and pectoralis muscles. Have you noticed that when you get fatigued from doing push-ups, you feel the fatigue evenly distributed between your chest and arms?..."
I hadn't really heard this before. I guess my question would be, what about doing bench presses with less weight but more reps? The article implies that it's the bench press with a lot of weight that is a bad thing.
Anna Lea
That's interesting. The part of the article that mentions bench press says,
"...When developing upper body strength for swimming purposes, you want to concentrate on swimming specific muscles, specific swimming movements and range of motion. THE LAST EXERCISE YOU WANT TO PERFORM IS THE BENCH PRESS. This will decrease your swimming ability. When you are in the water, what stroke has the same range of motion as the bench press? NONE! When you are pushing a large amount of weight (greater than 60% of your body weight) away from your body, you are destroying the rotator cuff muscles. When performing the bench press, too much of the weight is supported and stabilized by the rotator cuff muscles. These are the most important muscles for swimming. Have you ever wondered why so many swimmers have shoulder problems? One, because of poor stroke technique, and two, because of improper resistance training.
On the other hand, one of the best exercises for swimming is a push-up. The push-up only uses about 40-50% of your body weight with more of the weight evenly distributed to the rotator cuff muscles, deltoid muscles, and pectoralis muscles. Have you noticed that when you get fatigued from doing push-ups, you feel the fatigue evenly distributed between your chest and arms?..."
I hadn't really heard this before. I guess my question would be, what about doing bench presses with less weight but more reps? The article implies that it's the bench press with a lot of weight that is a bad thing.
Anna Lea
