Since strength makes all physical performance better, do you think the 4 or 5 basic lifts, and the resulting strength gains, make for better swimming? And since swimming is mainly an upper body action, I would think one could continue to train squats and deadlift even when swimming hard. Austin, do you think if you had even some of the strength you have now when you were swimming in college, would you have been faster?
Being stronger generally improves sports performance if you’re very weak. There is likely a sport-specific threshold of diminishing returns for additional strength for each individual, and I don’t know where I was relative to that threshold myself. I was a short- to mid-distance swimmer (though not a true sprinter) and had around a 225 squat at the time. Would I have performed better with a 275 squat? 315 squat? I don’t know. Maybe, maybe not.
Hello
To piggyback off this question, do you guys find that swimming is the best form of cardio/active recovery for strength training?
I do a push-pull-break-push-pull-break-break split and I am thinking of adding some low-medium intensity swimming on Wednesday and Saturday. And of course, not just 1 style of swimming.
What would you guy think about this idea?
I think this has been discussed several times on the forum before, a quick google search should help you find those discussions.
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