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.
Jazz -- that is not quite the case. There are steroids for muscle growth, but for swimmers that is not the key -- I know the East Germans used steroids to speed up recovery. They were able to pound away almost each and every day. The guys were no bigger than anybody else and later on, even the women were not that much different than the other countries. Recovery not muscle mass.
I totally agree that steroids help athletes recover faster, but that is due to their ability to maintain muscle mass in the face of huge amounts of training. Those taking steroids are in an anabolic state more of the time than your average Joe. Therefore, steroids allow swimmers to retain more of the muscle they gain in the offseason while swimming a ridiculous amount of yards during the in season part of training.
Jazz -- that is not quite the case. There are steroids for muscle growth, but for swimmers that is not the key -- I know the East Germans used steroids to speed up recovery. They were able to pound away almost each and every day. The guys were no bigger than anybody else and later on, even the women were not that much different than the other countries. Recovery not muscle mass.
I totally agree that steroids help athletes recover faster, but that is due to their ability to maintain muscle mass in the face of huge amounts of training. Those taking steroids are in an anabolic state more of the time than your average Joe. Therefore, steroids allow swimmers to retain more of the muscle they gain in the offseason while swimming a ridiculous amount of yards during the in season part of training.
