My great friend, the charming ignoramus Leslie "the Fortess" Livingston, and I recently had the opportunity to bandy about a debate topic in the November issue of Swimmer magazine.
Leslie has asked me to create a poll to see which of us had the more persuasive arguments vis a vis the usefulness of weight lifting to behoove swimming performance.
I tried to talk Leslie out of such a poll, because I wasn't sure her delicate albeit manly temperament could take the likely beat down she would get, vote wise.
After all, her teenage daughter had already proclaimed, in uncertain terms, that she was best off pleading Nolo contendere here (see en.wikipedia.org/.../Nolo_contendere if your legal skills are as atrophied as Leslie's). In her daughter's own words, "He totally owned you, Mom! Like totally! It was so awesome! He's so totally funny, and you are so totally uptight, Mom! I mean, it was like so totally embarrassing how much he owned you! Please tell me I'm adopted! Please tell me Jim Thornton is my real mother!"
Unfortunately, this kind of advanced rhetorical argument on my part fell on deaf ears, just as my advanced rhetorical argument--in which actual studies were cited!--also fell on deaf ears. Evidently, the dear girl has overdone the neck thickening machine, and in the process, mastoid muscle processes seem to have overgrown her ear canals!
I know that not everyone has received their copy of Swimmer yet. Rumor has it that those of us who live in the higher class zip codes get the extra virgin pressed copies, with the rest of you having to wait to the ink starts getting stale.
You will get your copies one day, I assure you! Just as you will get your H1N1 swine flu vaccines dosages when me and my friends at Goldman have had our third inoculations!
But I am getting a bit off the track here.
If you've read our Inane Point (Leslie) - Brilliant Counterpoint (Jim) *** for tat debate, Leslie asks that you vote in this poll for the person you think was RHETORICALLY superior.
Note: this does not mean which of us was right.
Hell, I have already conceded Leslie was right, and have begun weight lifting myself thrice weekly!
I am one bulked up monstrosity of a girly man at this point, and I don't plan to stop till you can bounce quarters off my moobs.
So. Forget all aspects of actual rational correctness here, and certainly forget all aspects of who is more popular.
And vote with your pitiless inner rhetoritician calling the shots.
Leslie, I warned you: Nolo contendere was the smart plea. But no, you just wouldn't hear of it!
Parents
Former Member
Sharpsburger, why do you feel lifting has helped you?
It's pretty simple, really.
A few years back, I tried to get back into swimming. But I wasn't conditioned. I did some lifting, enough not to be completely untoned, but didn't take it very seriously.
When I got in the pool, it was like hiking through a snowdrift. I had no speed, couldn't establish a pace, and wore out very quickly.
Well, a couple of years ago I decided to get serious about conditioning. I used trainers to help me set up my workouts and started spending an hour a day in the gym.
So 2 months ago when I once again attempted to start a swimming routine, I was amazed at the difference. At that point, I was strong enough so that right off the bat I was skimming thru the water and recovering my old stroke from over 25 years ago, and an hour workout was no problem.
Clearly, the strength training made the difference.
So it's of tremendous benefit for someone in my situation, a returning swimmer.
On the other hand, I recall watching an interview w/ Phelps (60 Minutes, iirc) in which he said he never lifted, so I'm willing to accept that weights make no difference for swimming-conditioned athletes. (I'll see if I can find the cite and link it.)
That said, part of my job involves researching health news, and the points you make in your article about the general health benefits of lifting are right on target. Still, swimming itself is a type of resistance training, so perhaps those benefits can be had thru pool work. I don't know of any studies that compare lifting and swimming. (But I have read recent studies comparing swimming and running over the long term, and swimmers turn out to be healthier and to live longer.)
Sharpsburger, why do you feel lifting has helped you?
It's pretty simple, really.
A few years back, I tried to get back into swimming. But I wasn't conditioned. I did some lifting, enough not to be completely untoned, but didn't take it very seriously.
When I got in the pool, it was like hiking through a snowdrift. I had no speed, couldn't establish a pace, and wore out very quickly.
Well, a couple of years ago I decided to get serious about conditioning. I used trainers to help me set up my workouts and started spending an hour a day in the gym.
So 2 months ago when I once again attempted to start a swimming routine, I was amazed at the difference. At that point, I was strong enough so that right off the bat I was skimming thru the water and recovering my old stroke from over 25 years ago, and an hour workout was no problem.
Clearly, the strength training made the difference.
So it's of tremendous benefit for someone in my situation, a returning swimmer.
On the other hand, I recall watching an interview w/ Phelps (60 Minutes, iirc) in which he said he never lifted, so I'm willing to accept that weights make no difference for swimming-conditioned athletes. (I'll see if I can find the cite and link it.)
That said, part of my job involves researching health news, and the points you make in your article about the general health benefits of lifting are right on target. Still, swimming itself is a type of resistance training, so perhaps those benefits can be had thru pool work. I don't know of any studies that compare lifting and swimming. (But I have read recent studies comparing swimming and running over the long term, and swimmers turn out to be healthier and to live longer.)
