Strength Training For Swimmers #16372

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SWIMMERS! Develop power faster with this race-pace-specific training programme

If you want to get more competitive, spend less time training in the pool.

This advice may appear contrary – even ridiculous - to many readers. But as you read on you’ll discover new facts that are crucial to your improving performance.

Most swimmers and swim coaches believe the number of hours spent in the pool is the main ingredient of swimming success. Distances of between 6 km and 10 km per day are not uncommon in elite swimming circles.

However, a groundbreaking new book reveals the key to success is not the traditional high-volume model of training, but a much shorter, race-pace-specific programme of exercises performed away from the pool.

Here is what you'll get from this book, chapter by chapter:

SPECIFIC EXERCISES: This strength-training programme can really boost your swim results.

TRAINING INTENSITY: If you want to improve your swim performance times, turn up the intensity and turn down the volume.

COMPETITION TRAINING: Here’s an overview of the basics of techniques for all strokes (plus a bit extra) and specific training needs.

ANOTHER STRENGTH PROGRAMME: These workouts are guaranteed to give you maximum bang for your training buck.

CRITICAL SWIM SPEED: This reliable test of aerobic capacity is non-invasive and easy to do.

A GUIDE TO TAPERING: Competitive swimmers and their coaches are constantly seeking new and effective methods to improve performance. Here’s one.

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY: This American study shows which type of weight-training improves performance.

WHAT THE PAPERS SAY: Is the swim bench a mechanical ergogenic aid to training?


Read on for more details:

The fallacy that holds so many swimmers back

Strength Training for Swimmers explains how a team of research scientists and physiologists set out to test the long-held belief that high volume training leads to a superior race technique.

They found this training method has no logical basis.

In fact, after a series of exhaustive tests, the conclusion these experts reached was unanimous:

Long training sessions actually inhibit power development.

Here is a quote from one of the experts on the research team, legendary US physiologist Dave Costill:

“Most competitive swimming events last less than two minutes. How can training for three to four hours a day at speeds that are markedly slower than competitive pace prepare the swimmer for the maximal efforts of competition?”

The research, together with full workout and exercises programmes, are contained in the book. It explains that to optimise strength and power, swimmers need to follow a programme of exercises out of the pool – exercises that replicate their actions in the water as closely as possible.

As we explain below, the best place to do this is in the gym.

What scientific research has discovered

Strength Training for Swimmers is not written from a swimming coach’s viewpoint. Instead, the procedures and exercises contained in this book stem from published research into swim training, scientific analysis of the demands of competitive swimming and proven methods from running training that optimise performance.

The research found that there is no advantage gained in increasing the metres per day involved in high-volume swim training. The team of scientists undertook a great deal of research into swim training over three decades and found extra pool training is a waste of time!

Conclusion: the volume of training has no influence on swim performance. Faster, not longer training is the key to swimming success. Get all the details in Strength Training for Swimmers.