Does the way the muscles are used in cycling help with swimming? I feel it does. When pedaling the bike it makes me think of kicking in freestyle, especially 2 beat kicks (of course I don't mean I kick the way I pedal a bike).
@Allen Stark, brilliant. Not sure if it's true, but at least the muscles masses involved are kind of close, and the angles are somehow related.
I'd say though that if there's any cross transfer between the gesture of riding and breaststroke kicking, it's probably amplified if riding uphill at relatively low cadence.
I wonder if this also works the other way around. I have a half decent breaststroke. On my first real biking outing early this year, I really clobbered some hills, much easier than some more seasoned cyclists I was riding with.
As to cycling helping swimming, I have to say no. Other than as others have said, if you have weight to drop, it will help, with minimal negative impact to your swimming. I've found more negative impact to my freestyle than my breaststroke. But for me at least, running has helped much more with weight, but at a higher cost in reduced leg strength when swimming. Other than losing weight, general aerobic conditioning and fitness, I don't think either cycling or running contributes to improving my swimming.
@Allen Stark, brilliant. Not sure if it's true, but at least the muscles masses involved are kind of close, and the angles are somehow related.
I'd say though that if there's any cross transfer between the gesture of riding and breaststroke kicking, it's probably amplified if riding uphill at relatively low cadence.
I wonder if this also works the other way around. I have a half decent breaststroke. On my first real biking outing early this year, I really clobbered some hills, much easier than some more seasoned cyclists I was riding with.
As to cycling helping swimming, I have to say no. Other than as others have said, if you have weight to drop, it will help, with minimal negative impact to your swimming. I've found more negative impact to my freestyle than my breaststroke. But for me at least, running has helped much more with weight, but at a higher cost in reduced leg strength when swimming. Other than losing weight, general aerobic conditioning and fitness, I don't think either cycling or running contributes to improving my swimming.
