Do people do upper body weights to improve swim speed?

Andrewf20

Im thinking of brushing off the dust from my dumbells and going to the gym more often to improve on my swim speed / power for the front crawl, but do folks think it would be better to just spend more time in the pool rather than this?

Cheers.

Killgore Trout

I do weights September to May - I think it's contributed to my swim strength and stamina, and it's nice for a change. But i'd attribute most gains to getting in the pool and getting the distance in and working against the clock

hunnymonster

I only train for OW swimming but I think, gains in time came in the follwoing order
1. work on technique
2. sustained hard effort sessions in the pool (e.g. 100-200 repeats)
3. dry land work
4. long pool sessions

The orders might be different for different people. I really do think that getting the technique right is by far the most important for everyone though.

sock puppet

Depends. Power is useless if you can't utilise it effectively. Also big biceps aren't really that important in swimming. Most of our dry land training consists of pushups, tricep dips, situps, core work and squats. Although a couple of the guys do weights.

Killgore Trout

hunnymonster wrote: »

The orders might be different for different people. I really do think that getting the technique right is by far the most important for everyone though.

Yup - forgot to mention technique. I agree.

Clseeper

I think sock puppets points is the key. There’s no point having lots of power if you can’t apply it. Technique is key.

Yes doing weights will give you a large power boost and will allow you to build up strength and toning a lot quicker than in the pool as it’s overload resistance training [working with a heavier weight than your used to]. But you still have to put in the pool time.

Superdub2

I read an interview with michael phelps from 2005 and he said he never lifted a weight in his life... but sure what does he know...........:D