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
Some open water swimmers are built like line backers, Karl Malone was built like a body builder but his vertical jump was less than one foot. You can't categorize physiques with activities, you can only generalize, evryone's different.
Two people, same relative build and metabolism. One does a standard weight routine as discussed above. The other does the exact same routine, but alternates workout days with sprinting in each of the strokes (say 2 per workout). Will both build in the same way?
That's it.
Going further to assume that genetic predispositions are identical also then the answer is:
NO, they will not have identical builds.
I'm not sure if you understand the underlying biology here but the most basic fact is that the human body is a marvel at adapting to physical stressors.
So for the sake of your question.
Situation: 2 human beings with identical biological, metabolic and physiological characteristics. Expose each body to different physical stressors, one to a purely weight based routine, the other to the same routine and a sprint based swimming routine.
Result: Assuming that physical breakdown doesn't occur and that both are eating the exact same things at exactly the same time in exactly the same way and getting the same level of rest and doing all the exact same activities, etc...etc...etc..(notice how EVERYTHING has to be the same?)
The 2nd individual will show greater adaptation for longer, denser muscle development due to the physiological stressors due to swimming and a slightly lower body fat percentage. Will the differences be great? More than likely not but they should be visible and measurable.
I'd train my traps with shrugs (750lbs for reps at my peak) ...
Wow, that's crazy. I cannot conceive of a 750lb deadlift, let alone shrugs.
On a side note, what are trapezius muscles good for, functionally speaking? I know they help with a deadlift, but what else?
Shrugging your way out of a rear naked choke?
Cracking coconuts between shoulder and head?
Wow, that's crazy. I cannot conceive of a 750lb deadlift, let alone shrugs.
On a side note, what are trapezius muscles good for, functionally speaking? I know they help with a deadlift, but what else?
Shrugging your way out of a rear naked choke?
Cracking coconuts between shoulder and head?
Slug, you're quickly becoming my favorite guy on here :)
The difference between a high level swimmer and body builder who both do deadlifts, squats, bench press etc. for low reps and ~5 sets is mostly diet (and a bit genetics). The body builder is eating excess calories and a high protein diet to gain bulk muscle and fat. They then burn off the fat before competition. The swimmer is eating less protein and and balanced calorie diet so they gain strength without much bulk. The swimmer might be eating the same or more calories as the bodybuilder but burns 2000+ calories every day in the pool. The body builder is not doing any cardio when they are trying to gain mass.
