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?
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Former Member
An example of "training in the same manner" is training the hamstrings to extend the hip, like we see in the pool. Instead of doing hamstring curls (which teaches the hamstring to flex the knee) do and RDL or bridge that teaches it to extend the hip.
Well, this was my first point. The hamstring is just a muscle. It contracts, and depending on what the other muscles are doing and the position of the leg, it either flexes the knee or extends the hip. In either situation, the muscle does the same basic thing. It can't learn to do anything else, except in a figurative sense where the nervous system coordinates the muscles and can learn to apply more force in certain movements as compared to others. Even so, it's a misapplication of the SAID principle to say that dryland training of a particular muscle is better if it more closely resembles the movements in the water. Skills really don't transfer like that. I don't expect to have a powerful tennis serve just because I can generate a lot of power in the water. Yet the basic movement is the same. And I suck at tennis.
Side note: hamstrings also flex the knee in swimming. Nobody kicks with completely straight legs.
An example of "training in the same manner" is training the hamstrings to extend the hip, like we see in the pool. Instead of doing hamstring curls (which teaches the hamstring to flex the knee) do and RDL or bridge that teaches it to extend the hip.
Well, this was my first point. The hamstring is just a muscle. It contracts, and depending on what the other muscles are doing and the position of the leg, it either flexes the knee or extends the hip. In either situation, the muscle does the same basic thing. It can't learn to do anything else, except in a figurative sense where the nervous system coordinates the muscles and can learn to apply more force in certain movements as compared to others. Even so, it's a misapplication of the SAID principle to say that dryland training of a particular muscle is better if it more closely resembles the movements in the water. Skills really don't transfer like that. I don't expect to have a powerful tennis serve just because I can generate a lot of power in the water. Yet the basic movement is the same. And I suck at tennis.
Side note: hamstrings also flex the knee in swimming. Nobody kicks with completely straight legs.
