Why swimmers need to train for power outside the water
Former Member
Bottom line is that we can improve our power more on land than we can just doing sprint sets and power racks in the water. Training for power in the water is essential for swimmers but should be complimented with a solid dryland/strength program.
Strength training does not have to include heavy lifting (in fact if you go to heavy, you move to slow and that is not ideal for increasing power output). Try simple bodywieght exercises such as squatting, lunging, pull - ups and of course a lot of core and rotational work. Once you master the basics you can progress to more explosive movements such as squat jumps, split jumps, and explosive pull - ups.
Of course there is much more to get into on this topic. It is just my opinion that to many swimmers and coaches use the "high rep to increase muscular endurance" philosophy in the weight room. Don't you think we get enough muscular endurance from all the volume we do in the pool?? I feel it is better to use our dryland time focusing on explosive movements, power is something that to many swimmers lack.
What are you thoughts out there?
Parents
Former Member
I definetly want to make it clear that I do believe training for power in the pool is a must when it comes to increasing your swimming power. My point is that it cannot be maximized without a good dryland/strength program. In other words you can do your quality sprint sets and see a great increase in speed, power, acceleration. I believe we can see even more power when combining this with a solid strength program.
"heavy lifting with slow reps doesn't help swimming power, and
-- neither does high-rep light lifting to build "muscular endurance."
I disagree with both of these assertions. Increased strength will increase power, and the amount of resistance in even "light" lifting is far greater than you ever achieve in the water."
increasing strength will increase power to some extent. Remember that the equation for power is power = force x distance/time. So the time component of the equation is an important part as well as the weight or load (force).
My point about light lifting is that if we are spending time in the gym we should make the most out of it. If we are working on our endurance in the pool for the most part (at least this is most common) then why work on the same thing in the weight room. Wouldn't we be better off training for power development since a lot of us don't see enough of that in the pool?
A great point from the previous poster about injury prevention. If your hurt you can't train. Training the shoulder to be stable is just as important as training for power in my opinion.
I definetly want to make it clear that I do believe training for power in the pool is a must when it comes to increasing your swimming power. My point is that it cannot be maximized without a good dryland/strength program. In other words you can do your quality sprint sets and see a great increase in speed, power, acceleration. I believe we can see even more power when combining this with a solid strength program.
"heavy lifting with slow reps doesn't help swimming power, and
-- neither does high-rep light lifting to build "muscular endurance."
I disagree with both of these assertions. Increased strength will increase power, and the amount of resistance in even "light" lifting is far greater than you ever achieve in the water."
increasing strength will increase power to some extent. Remember that the equation for power is power = force x distance/time. So the time component of the equation is an important part as well as the weight or load (force).
My point about light lifting is that if we are spending time in the gym we should make the most out of it. If we are working on our endurance in the pool for the most part (at least this is most common) then why work on the same thing in the weight room. Wouldn't we be better off training for power development since a lot of us don't see enough of that in the pool?
A great point from the previous poster about injury prevention. If your hurt you can't train. Training the shoulder to be stable is just as important as training for power in my opinion.
