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.
After reading all the replies to my original question, it seems that no one really knows what the top sprint swimmers are doing in the weight room. In light of current research in the field of exercise science, I would imagine that sprinters have a variety of different phases to their weight training. A general conditioning time, a time for building muscle, a time for building strength, and a time to do more sport specific stuff at high velocities. I really would like to know what numbers these sprint swimmers put up during their strength building phase, just so I can have a goal to shoot for.
I understand that at a point, adding strength is not beneficial for swimming, since lifting speeds at high weights tends to be a slow velocity movement (not very sport specific), but I am just not sure what that point is. Without the reasearch being their specifically on swimmers, the best invesigation I can do is finding out what the best are doing right now.
After reading all the replies to my original question, it seems that no one really knows what the top sprint swimmers are doing in the weight room. In light of current research in the field of exercise science, I would imagine that sprinters have a variety of different phases to their weight training. A general conditioning time, a time for building muscle, a time for building strength, and a time to do more sport specific stuff at high velocities. I really would like to know what numbers these sprint swimmers put up during their strength building phase, just so I can have a goal to shoot for.
I understand that at a point, adding strength is not beneficial for swimming, since lifting speeds at high weights tends to be a slow velocity movement (not very sport specific), but I am just not sure what that point is. Without the reasearch being their specifically on swimmers, the best invesigation I can do is finding out what the best are doing right now.
