This is on behalf of my husband, who has a number of questions. It is his post that he asked me to put here to anyone who might have good input on this.
I know swimming is a great cardio workout and a good all around workout, but is it a good Martial Arts workout for developing the kinda of muscles and conditioning you need for martial arts?
My wife is a swimmer and has gotten me into swimming now and I told her that I would give it a try for a few weeks and then see how to work it into a workout schedule. My wife wants to be a good swimmer, I don't want to be a good swimmer but I want to use swimming to improve my martial arts (if it can).
My fear is that the swimming is very time consuming and that while it will give me good cardio and good a good general workout I will be missing in some areas and need to supplement with other areas.
What I need specifically:
1) More endurance/stamina/cardio - a given for all athletes
2) More upper body explosive power. (I'm not strong in my upper body and need more work on chest and arm strength for power)
3) More leg work. I do Hapkido mixed in with Taekwondo, a lot of kicks and a lot strength needed in the hips/butt/thighs).
This is just targets, I know I need it all in measures. My concern is that a) swimming won't give me the fast twitch explosive power need for strikes and that b) swimming favors more upper body, which I need, but I will need to use other exercises (pushups, weight and resistance, etc...) to develop the explosive power needed and I won't be getting the leg work I need.
Top ranked swimmers have great bodies, but they get those bodies with dry land exercises in order to develop the bodies needed to be great swimmers. Home-run hitters work their timing, coordination, mechanics in the batting cage, but they get those muscles in the gym. I would love to say that swimming could be an all over workout for 5 hours a week, but I don't know if it will be the kind of workout I need, and I also don't know how I could tailor the swimming to get the kinda of workout I need, if possible.
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Former Member
I don't want to be a good swimmer but I want to use swimming to improve my martial arts (if it can).
I find that attitude incomprehensible. Why swim if you don't want to be good at it. By good I don't necessarily mean fast, I just mean doing it properly. What did you mean?
If I were training primarily for martial arts I would use swimming for meditation, and as a recovery workout to loosen up and flush lactic acid. I say this as someone who has already learned the basics and can swim long distances without giving it my full conscious focus. Swimming is the perfect recovery workout to do after a harsh session of something else, as long as you're swimming at 75% effort or less. If you haven't mastered the basic swimming technique, then this is very difficult.
If you're just starting out then I recommend dedicating some serious time to swimming for pure technique work and stroke mastery, to get to the point where you can just relax and swim. You might try that in your off-season, then incorporate swimming later as a part of your regular training.
As far as explosive power, there are things you can do in the pool to train for that like all-out sprints, using paddles, fins, stretch cords, etc. I wouldn't recommend any of it though unless you're already a good swimmer. It's too easy to injure your shoulders with bad technique.
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Former Member
I don't want to be a good swimmer but I want to use swimming to improve my martial arts (if it can).
I find that attitude incomprehensible. Why swim if you don't want to be good at it. By good I don't necessarily mean fast, I just mean doing it properly. What did you mean?
If I were training primarily for martial arts I would use swimming for meditation, and as a recovery workout to loosen up and flush lactic acid. I say this as someone who has already learned the basics and can swim long distances without giving it my full conscious focus. Swimming is the perfect recovery workout to do after a harsh session of something else, as long as you're swimming at 75% effort or less. If you haven't mastered the basic swimming technique, then this is very difficult.
If you're just starting out then I recommend dedicating some serious time to swimming for pure technique work and stroke mastery, to get to the point where you can just relax and swim. You might try that in your off-season, then incorporate swimming later as a part of your regular training.
As far as explosive power, there are things you can do in the pool to train for that like all-out sprints, using paddles, fins, stretch cords, etc. I wouldn't recommend any of it though unless you're already a good swimmer. It's too easy to injure your shoulders with bad technique.
