Does swimming "inform" muscle growth? A dryland/weights q.
Former Member
Ok, so here's the thing. I know well and good by now that swimming does not really build substantial muscle mass. If there was any doubt, all you'd have to do is look at someone like Mark Spitz- an Olympic champion who clearly would have swam enough to see any of the benefits swimming had to offer:
www.tierraunica.com/.../6a00e551962103883300e55419aa128834-800wi
Compare that though to today's champions:
4.bp.blogspot.com/.../ryanlochte.jpgwww.popstarsplus.com/.../MichaelPhelpsPicture.jpg
Obviously huge by comparison. Now, the simple answer might be "weights. These guys do a lot more dryland than they did back in the day". But here's the thing- in all my years of lifting, I have never once seen anyone lifting beside me at the gym built like these guys. The people I see are jacked, sure, but proportioned very differently- and I've seen hundreds if not thousands of guys who were serious about weights!
The only time I *did* see, in person, people who looked like the pics above were, no big surprise, the guys on the local college's swim team.
So I contacted the coach and she was kind enough to send me their dryland routine- and guess what? Incline bench, deadlifts, flys, laterals, etc. etc. etc. In other words, the same identical program that countless weightlifters use every day. There was no magic formula to it.
So this left me really confused. Swimming alone doesn't build this sort of physique. But weights alone don't do it either.
Is their some sort of magic I'm missing here? Does something happen with the combination of the two that results in this type of build?
Please chime in if you have a lot of dryland experience or, even more so, if you're actually built like this from doing these things!
Thanks so much for your help,
BB
Swimshark, thank you, narrowing in on my question. But this is why I should have specified same relative genetics. Put another way- the same person spends a year doing each of the above. Will the swimming affect the muscle mass gained?
You'll agree with me that anyone who lifts hard will gain some muscle. I'm just trying to deduce if, regardless of genetics, there will be a "sway" because of sprinting.
As a non-sprinter, I'm not sure. And yet we mostly train sprinting.
My sister is one of those with great muscle tone and almost not fat. But in swimming she is a distance one (doesn't compete but does train and swim in the Ironnman). I compete in distance and do not have the muscle tone my sister does. I don't bike and run like she does but I do lift weights. In fact for 3 weeks I was out of swimming due to an ankle sprain and all I did was lift weights and "swim" using stretch cords. Does that help at all?
Swimshark, thank you, narrowing in on my question. But this is why I should have specified same relative genetics. Put another way- the same person spends a year doing each of the above. Will the swimming affect the muscle mass gained?
You'll agree with me that anyone who lifts hard will gain some muscle. I'm just trying to deduce if, regardless of genetics, there will be a "sway" because of sprinting.
As a non-sprinter, I'm not sure. And yet we mostly train sprinting.
My sister is one of those with great muscle tone and almost not fat. But in swimming she is a distance one (doesn't compete but does train and swim in the Ironnman). I compete in distance and do not have the muscle tone my sister does. I don't bike and run like she does but I do lift weights. In fact for 3 weeks I was out of swimming due to an ankle sprain and all I did was lift weights and "swim" using stretch cords. Does that help at all?
