Strength of top swimmers

I used to train with top-level swimmers around a decade ago. I don’t know any of the elite swimmers these days, but I do have some old school perspective. I could definitely bench 300 while in college and swimming (I did it fairly easily at a weight of 185 my senior year). My strength also greatly declined when the swimming yardage went up, so when I was broken down, my lifting numbers also decreased. Hitting good numbers in the weight room for a lift like the bench press is fairly irrelevant for most swimmers. Swimmer aren’t football players. Some of the fastest guys I knew would rep around 185 to 200. When I quit swimming, there was a period when I focused on lifting and all of my numbers dramatically increased. I was stronger for those lifts, but that doesn’t mean that I was a faster swimmer, it just means I could bench/squat/deadlift more. It’s funny because most swimmers (sprinters) have physiques more closely resembling basketball players (who rely on quickness), and yet no one is that concerned about Michael Jordan’s bench press. For the sprints, it’s about quickness and power, but not the kind of power that you need for a deadlift. In the end, swimmers are fairly weak compared to other athletes that utilize movements that more closely mimic their sport. I absolutely believe that lifting is critical to going fast in swimming; however, I don’t believe a swimmer will ever push big weights relative to other power sports. Look at Ben Wildman-Tobriner. He tore things while bench pressing, probably with an amount of weight suitable for a girl, and yet he made the team in the 50 free. As for guys like Tiger Woods, benching 300 is very believable to me (and really not that impressive), especially since his sport doesn’t involve tearing down his body. As a matter of fact, I would be very surprised if he couldn’t do it. It’s funny to me that he suffered a knee injury though. Maybe golf is a contact sport after all. In the end, I don't know much but it's my two cents.

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 think absolute strength in the weight room is very weakly correlated (if at all) with swimming prowess. If I look on the blocks next to me and see someone who is obviously a strong man, I certainly do not faint in fear. I've known many very strong men who were marginal swimmers, and many very fast swimmers who were less than impressive in the weight room. I am NOT saying that lifting is bad for swimming, but I think that the "strength," in the sense that you originally asked, of the top swimmers is all over the map. Use strength training to improve your explosive power, sprint speed, and muscular endurance. I think it is a bad idea to compare yourself to anyone else's strength and think you're doing fine (or not).

Chris, totally on board with you. I think the guy is just curious and I hope he does not put too much stock in lifting weights as we have been pointing out. Actually, I am curious as well For the 50m guys I think it is MUCHO.

I have to say, after reading all the answers, I am not finding things that match up with reality. It seems that you all, as a whole, don't think weight lifting is that important. There are guys that are strong and swim fast, and their are guys that are not strong and they also swim fast. Seems like it really doesn't matter. That mentality flies in the face of a few things. First, men are stronger than women. Men swim faster based on that fact. Second, Dara Tores has severely tweaked her training. Old school days she was doing little in the weight room and 40K per week. Now she is at 20K per week and lifting her butt off. She is now faster, even with age related changes that should make her slower.

In my original post I asked about Brendan Hansen and Phelps.

First, men are stronger than women. Men swim faster based on that fact. I don't have to look very far to find some 15-year-old girls with sticks for arms who can swam faster than 99.99% of all USMS males.

I have to say, after reading all the answers, I am not finding things that match up with reality. It seems that you all, as a whole, don't think weight lifting is that important. There are guys that are strong and swim fast, and their are guys that are not strong and they also swim fast. Seems like it really doesn't matter. That mentality flies in the face of a few things. First, men are stronger than women. Men swim faster based on that fact. Second, Dara Tores has severely tweaked her training. Old school days she was doing little in the weight room and 40K per week. Now she is at 20K per week and lifting her butt off. She is now faster, even with age related changes that should make her slower. My hunch is that quality, targeted strength-training for women produces relatively better results in swimming than it does for men because women have to work much harder to build muscle (thanks to all the estrogen, I guess), whereas men can be naturally more muscular without really working at it and they might easily cross a certain tipping point where they get too much muscle and it actually hurts their swim times. So a woman who adds muscle can probably improve her times (relatively) more than a full-grown guy (teens don't count). In the same way, perhaps flexibility- and balance-training like pilates and yoga would benefit male swimmers more than females. (Not as a replacement for weights and time in the water, obviously, but as an addition).

Actually, if you read interviews with her, she has pointed out several times that she is lifting a lot lighter nowadays. She said that 8 years ago, it was about heavy weights and few reps. Now, it is about lifting lighter weights with movements that are more swim specific. The people aren't saying that a good weight training isn't important. What is being said that trying to judge what YOU do versus what SOMEONE else does isn't a good way to tell if you are doing what is best for you or will even help you be a better swimmer.

www.bodybuilding.com/.../jasonlezak1.htm Lezak lays out a routine but gives no numbers.

Maybe sites like timed finals will have an answer for you. Maybe you can get flowswimming to actually ask them.