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?
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?
I agree with this to a certain extent, but I think "muscular endurance" formed by doing exercises with 12-20 reps is much different than the type of endurance forged by doing repeat 1000s. Or even repeat 100s.
Doing 12-20 reps is akin to doing repeat 25s or 50s in the pool, but with higher resistance. I think there is some overlap but not a lot.
I agree that doing extremely light weights with a large number of reps (several dozen or more) is probably too much overlap.
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'm not convinced. I thought this thread was supposed to tell me why I need to train for power outside the water, but it seems like that's sort of the going in assumption. Please explain why I can't increase my swimming power adequately just by swimming.
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?
We've been through this issue on several occasions. See, e.g., Girly Man vs. Manly Girl: the Poll - U.S. Masters Swimming Discussion Forums.
My drylands, in general, take the form that you describe. It seems to have helped my swimming and improved my overall fitness. Many, however, would protest that overall fitness or dryland power do not translate to the water.
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?
If I read this correctly, you are basically saying that explosive exercises are the only good way to gain power, because
-- 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.
I realize that explosive exercises are all the latest rage; there is even a recent article on the USMS webpage touting the benefits of plyo workouts. I'm not going to knock them but I'm not going to do them either, for two reasons: risk of injuiry, and (more importantly) the fact that I just don't enjoy them.
Of course, I can also simply parrot back your own argument: as long as I do enough race-pace work off the blocks, using high-speed turns, I get plenty of "explosive-type" work in the water.
the amount of resistance in even "light" lifting is far greater than you ever achieve in the water.
This is the thing I wonder about. If you can't achieve this kind of resistance in water then why do we need all this excess strength? It seems like a Catch-22 to me. The assumption is that we need out of the water strength training because water doesn't provide enough resistance, but if so, then what good does this strength do us in the water?
The fact that there are scrawny 12 year olds who can swim faster than me seems to indicate strength isn't really that critical in swimming.
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.
I don't want to increase my land power. I want to increase my swimming power. I'd rather do that in the water. Drylands are fun but not the sole answer to better swimming. They do alleviate some of the boredom of swimming.
explosive movements
I concur about training explosively, especially with heavy weights and low reps. Best way to extract more work from existing muscles w/o making them bigger or increasing their size. After all, who wants to get heavier and more bulky? Getting expert training in learning to do the Olympic lifts properly is also recommended.
What are you thoughts out there? Controversial. Nothing is either black or white with this topic.
On the one side, ground evidences says it works. On the other side, scientific evidences says it doesn't work.
My take? Weight resistance stuff is a tool. It doesn't own a brain. Therefore it can't be good or bad. It is *there*. Period.
On the other hand, what swimmers and coaches (those who own the brain) decides to do with it, can be good or bad.
Tell me how and why you use this brainless tool, and I'll be able to tell you if it's good or bad.
@Chris @Knelson.. +1. For the large majority of us, our performance over sprinting events is limited by the amount of time spent training at race pace. 1 exception maybe, these strange animals who only commit to 50m long events and that couldn't care less about their performances over 100.
@Knelson, if there's one thing I am convinced about weights in general (to increase power, to increase strength whatever), is that doing just a little makes a huge difference compared to doing none. Especially for swimmers, since as you smartly point out, the actual power requirement while swimming is very low. Although I am a little new to Power applied to swimming, I think that a swimmer (a great one) won't even go over the 100w barrier.
