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.
I agree in a distance event, even a 200 that it is easy to find a young girl who can out swim USMS males. I currently swim with a girl who has All American times in the 400 free and destroys me in practice when we do aerobic stuff, but I can outswim her in the 50 free and any breaststroke event.
Sorry, when you said "strength of top swimmers," I didn't realize you only meant sprinters.
The 400 free is not an aerobic event in the true sense of the word, you are well above lactate threshold for the entire race. That is true of the vast majority of pool events.
I agree in a distance event, even a 200 that it is easy to find a young girl who can out swim USMS males. I currently swim with a girl who has All American times in the 400 free and destroys me in practice when we do aerobic stuff, but I can outswim her in the 50 free and any breaststroke event.
Sorry, when you said "strength of top swimmers," I didn't realize you only meant sprinters.
The 400 free is not an aerobic event in the true sense of the word, you are well above lactate threshold for the entire race. That is true of the vast majority of pool events.
