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?
Parents
Former Member
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.
Well, I don't know. My *** stroke was so bad that I just gave up doing it altogether for a couple of years. I've been working with the newest T.I. dvd on *** stroke and it's really improved, to the point where it's only 5-10 seconds slower per length than my front crawl, instead of about 20-30 seconds slower. Timing is everything in this stroke. I still wouldn't say I'm good at it, but I suck a whole lot less and occasionally it feels smooth and effortless.
I agree about it using the most muscles of all the strokes. I feel the abdominals being used just after the catch, to pull my body over my hands, the chest and shoulder muscles pushing the hands forward, the quads, hamstrings and glute at the end of the stroke in the kick. Last year when I blew the dust off my commuting bike and started riding to work I was pleasantly surprised at how much easier the steepest hills on my route home were, considering I'd been doing almost no cycling but more *** stroke.
As for any stroke transforming a person's body, I'm not so sure. Elite competitive swimmers probably would look a bit that way even if they didn't swim. There is only so much you can do with the body your genes have given you.
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Former Member
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.
Well, I don't know. My *** stroke was so bad that I just gave up doing it altogether for a couple of years. I've been working with the newest T.I. dvd on *** stroke and it's really improved, to the point where it's only 5-10 seconds slower per length than my front crawl, instead of about 20-30 seconds slower. Timing is everything in this stroke. I still wouldn't say I'm good at it, but I suck a whole lot less and occasionally it feels smooth and effortless.
I agree about it using the most muscles of all the strokes. I feel the abdominals being used just after the catch, to pull my body over my hands, the chest and shoulder muscles pushing the hands forward, the quads, hamstrings and glute at the end of the stroke in the kick. Last year when I blew the dust off my commuting bike and started riding to work I was pleasantly surprised at how much easier the steepest hills on my route home were, considering I'd been doing almost no cycling but more *** stroke.
As for any stroke transforming a person's body, I'm not so sure. Elite competitive swimmers probably would look a bit that way even if they didn't swim. There is only so much you can do with the body your genes have given you.
