Though my form still needs a lot of work, I am considering starting strength training in the near future, since I have read about how it can help swimming speed, form, etc.
However, I am still struggling with the idea of why strength training is needed. Lets assume that lifting a certain weight in a certain way improves a core muscle, which will help steady my posture (?).
Now assuming I don't weight lift, but instead try to hold the proper posture (high elbow, etc.) for a long period of time, and gradually increase the time I do that over weeks and months, won't those muscle(s) automatically improve?
It seems to me that intuitively the proper muscles would gradually get stronger in order to adjust to the frequent usage - that way the exact muscles I need would get stronger, instead of having to train a large array of muscles that have a relation to swimming.
What am I missing?
My point is not that anything of these things are horribly dangerous, just that most quasi-athletic people remember how good they used to be at doing X, and figure that their former peak should be the current baseline.
And how many swimmers jump in the pool, after a long hiatus, and do a 5000+ yard/meter set, tight intervals, on their first day back? I can't imagine them coming back again if they do.
Nearly every athletic endeavor I can think of requires some degree of conditioning. Although I'm a runner and can knock out some longish runs today, if I take even a month break, I ease back into it, sometimes starting with just a 2 mile run/walk, then gradually building things back. Same thing with weights, if I take a month break, I'll start out lighter, feel how things are for the first couple sessions, before I begin the build back.
Common sense should be the primary concern here.
My point is not that anything of these things are horribly dangerous, just that most quasi-athletic people remember how good they used to be at doing X, and figure that their former peak should be the current baseline.
And how many swimmers jump in the pool, after a long hiatus, and do a 5000+ yard/meter set, tight intervals, on their first day back? I can't imagine them coming back again if they do.
Nearly every athletic endeavor I can think of requires some degree of conditioning. Although I'm a runner and can knock out some longish runs today, if I take even a month break, I ease back into it, sometimes starting with just a 2 mile run/walk, then gradually building things back. Same thing with weights, if I take a month break, I'll start out lighter, feel how things are for the first couple sessions, before I begin the build back.
Common sense should be the primary concern here.
