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
When I went into grade 11 in high school I took a strength training class. I was never able to do fly well and it was my worst stroke. I was a summer swimmer then so I only swam from May to August. The summer after grade 11 I took 4 seconds off my 50 fly. The strength training I am sure gave me the ability to become fast. In a one or two year time frame fly went from my worst stroke to my best.
There was a website in 2003 that I read that referred to a small study of weight training to improve sprint freestyle. I looked for 20 minutes but I can't find any information about it. In this study one group did a generic weight training routine and the second group just did a lat exercise and dips. The first group didn't improve after 6 weeks and some tapering time but the second group had slightly faster 25 free times.
Currently I am doing a modified version of Jason Lezak's routine. What is important is to focus on exercises that relate to swimming and not to train like a body builder. You aren't trying to bulk up so doing a higher number of reps with a lower amount of weight is important.
www.bodybuilding.com/.../jasonlezak1.htm
When I went into grade 11 in high school I took a strength training class. I was never able to do fly well and it was my worst stroke. I was a summer swimmer then so I only swam from May to August. The summer after grade 11 I took 4 seconds off my 50 fly. The strength training I am sure gave me the ability to become fast. In a one or two year time frame fly went from my worst stroke to my best.
There was a website in 2003 that I read that referred to a small study of weight training to improve sprint freestyle. I looked for 20 minutes but I can't find any information about it. In this study one group did a generic weight training routine and the second group just did a lat exercise and dips. The first group didn't improve after 6 weeks and some tapering time but the second group had slightly faster 25 free times.
Currently I am doing a modified version of Jason Lezak's routine. What is important is to focus on exercises that relate to swimming and not to train like a body builder. You aren't trying to bulk up so doing a higher number of reps with a lower amount of weight is important.
www.bodybuilding.com/.../jasonlezak1.htm
