Fort, I think there's a lot of willful ignorance about the role of muscle in swimming. Someone here told me to quit the "pro wrestling" thing, as if muscles are just for show.
Not so much willful ignorance but rather healthy skepticism when we see an almost evolutionary shift in the physiques of swimmers, Dara and Alain being the most extreme...at a time when PED use is seen in every single sport and tier of society (high school girls for cosmetic reasons as reported earlier).
Have there been changes to strength training in the last 20 years...yes...but for the most part they have been fairly minor. In swimming the most recent "trend" has been a going back to traditional "Olympic" style lifting at programs like Auburn & U of A....something teams like Texas and Arkansas were doing in the 80's.
So tell me how many of the swimmers have transformed themselves to the level of Dara & Alain? Simon Burnett..pretty consistent size/weight the last few years, how about Gary Hall Jr. who working with Mike Bottom is probably part of what many would consider the most innovative sprint program in the world...I haven't seen Gary start to look like a bodybuilder.
The very nature of swimming...especially training like Bernard does (6-7000m per session) makes putting on muscle mass VERY hard.....especially when it happens in months not years. Maybe he has found some major breakthrough that we will hear more about in coming years?
Fort, I think there's a lot of willful ignorance about the role of muscle in swimming. Someone here told me to quit the "pro wrestling" thing, as if muscles are just for show.
Not so much willful ignorance but rather healthy skepticism when we see an almost evolutionary shift in the physiques of swimmers, Dara and Alain being the most extreme...at a time when PED use is seen in every single sport and tier of society (high school girls for cosmetic reasons as reported earlier).
Have there been changes to strength training in the last 20 years...yes...but for the most part they have been fairly minor. In swimming the most recent "trend" has been a going back to traditional "Olympic" style lifting at programs like Auburn & U of A....something teams like Texas and Arkansas were doing in the 80's.
So tell me how many of the swimmers have transformed themselves to the level of Dara & Alain? Simon Burnett..pretty consistent size/weight the last few years, how about Gary Hall Jr. who working with Mike Bottom is probably part of what many would consider the most innovative sprint program in the world...I haven't seen Gary start to look like a bodybuilder.
The very nature of swimming...especially training like Bernard does (6-7000m per session) makes putting on muscle mass VERY hard.....especially when it happens in months not years. Maybe he has found some major breakthrough that we will hear more about in coming years?
