Hey there. I started doing a particular workout regimen at my local college's gym, which involved quite a bit of swimming. I started noticing that most of the guys on the swim team had the type of build I'm going for- especially in the shoulders, upper back, and chest.
I was thinking of working in some new strokes and was wondering what you guys think leads to this physique- freestyle? butterfly? I know they do a combination, but I imagine you seasoned swimmers out there must know which are the best for these muscle groups.
Thoughts?
Former Member
They'll all work you good and devlop your lats and shoulders.
Breaststroke will definitely build more chest power...hence the "***" part. If you're kicking hard the legs will develop well too.
If you can do them, do a bit of all. FR is the "bread and butter" stroke for most folks though.
Former Member
Just Crawl. Breastroke is for mamby pambies.
Former Member
i'd say do them all.
but breaststroke is the stroke that required the most muscle usage.
Former Member
Really?? More muscels to do the breaststroke than fly or back?? Are you sure??
Former Member
Alright, and now for the more subjective question- since I don't want to be working out five days a week, how often will usually build/maintain a swimmer's physique, would you say, if you're already fairly close? Once a week hardcore? Twice at normal intensity? Three times?
Former Member
Really?? More muscels to do the breaststroke than fly or back?? Are you sure??
Yes :p
Alright, and now for the more subjective question- since I don't want to be working out five days a week, how often will usually build/maintain a swimmer's physique, would you say, if you're already fairly close? Once a week hardcore? Twice at normal intensity? Three times?
I think most of us on here swim 2-4 times a week.
Personally, I swim 3 practices/week, ~4500y each. "Normal intensity" for me is pretty intense. As for expected time to see results, I've been swimming masters for almost 10 years and am still filling out in the shoulder area. Some folks change pretty quickly - Fortress's shoulders bulked up w/in 6 months of her starting her career after a 20+yr layoff.
Anyone have any answer to this?
"Alright, and now for the more subjective question- since I don't want to be working out five days a week, how often will usually build/maintain a swimmer's physique, would you say, if you're already fairly close? Once a week hardcore? Twice at normal intensity? Three times?"
I don't know the answer to your second question. I now swim 5-6 times a week, pretty intense, in the 4000-4500 range. I don't believe that caused my build to change substantially from when I was doing 3-4 times/week at 3000 per workout. Any change that did occur I attribute to the fact that I also started lifting weights again. (Alas, something had to give, which was cycling.)
The answer to your first question (best stroke to stay in shape) is butterfly, no question in my mind. Take any set and do it all fly and the difficulty level multiplies.
Watch out for your shoulders, though. And once fatigue causes your fly to fall apart, you need to switch to another stroke. (Don't practice bad habits.) Get a coach to watch your stroke mechanics.
you really need to do A LOT of swimming training to develop a particular swimming stroke body
swim freestyle
train IMs
you see more of a difference between
sprinters and distance swimmers
sprinters tend to be more muscular
swim freestyle
train IMs
This is great advice. Swimming one stroke solely is B-O-R-I-N-G. Even if you stink at the stroke, diversifying your workout will improve your best stroke, I think anyway. The one exception might be ***, which is sort of an island unto itself, a nearly impossible stroke to master, especially if you learned it as a kid in the 70s.
