Does anyone know how strong the top swimmers are? Guys like M. Phelps or B. Hansen, how much can they lift with their legs, bench, lat pull, curl, tri ex, etc. I am making weight training a big part of my workouts, but I understand, at a certain point, adding more muscle or strength is not going to be of much benefit.
Parents
Former Member
Also as Syd mentions - lifting will do very little if you don't transfer the strength into the water.
I hear this a lot, and I have no idea what it means. If you get stronger by increasing the size of muscles relevant to swimming, you will automatically have more power in the water. You don't have to do anything special to make your strength "transfer." Strength is the ability to produce force. In swimming, you produce useful force in the water through a specialized technique. This is called swimming-specific strength. If you apply the technique you already know with stronger muscles, your swimming-specific strength improves.
Also as Syd mentions - lifting will do very little if you don't transfer the strength into the water.
I hear this a lot, and I have no idea what it means. If you get stronger by increasing the size of muscles relevant to swimming, you will automatically have more power in the water. You don't have to do anything special to make your strength "transfer." Strength is the ability to produce force. In swimming, you produce useful force in the water through a specialized technique. This is called swimming-specific strength. If you apply the technique you already know with stronger muscles, your swimming-specific strength improves.
