I've always wondered why swim coaches add weight training to their training programs at USA Swim clubs and colleges all over the United States.
I guess at some point, some coach years ago decided to add "weights" to a swimmer's training, and they discovered that the swimmer was able to pull or kick harder in order to achieve a specific time in race, and from then on, it became scripture for every other coach trying to take his swimmers to the next level.
I mean seriously, that's usually how things go in the sport of swimming. Discover a swimmer who does it better and faster than everyone else, ask the coach "what's the special sauce" and decide to implement into their program for ALL their swimmers - whether it's in the swimmer's best interest or not.
So - the question remains - does weight training really help a swimmer?
I think before we start putting all the swimmers on the bench press or have them do a bunch of pull-ups or push tractor tires over on the ground, perhaps review the law of physics as it relates to swimming.
Water is 800 times denser than air - so if we look at this from a physics point of view, it would appear that two key components of motion will come into play, power and drag.
As a swimmer flies off the blocks, it is the fastest they will ever be, because from that moment, they enter an environment that creates DRAG and ultimately the density of the water will stop their motion. Swimmers practice this all the time during practice sets where the coach tries to illustrate the importance of a tight streamline and push off the wall - to see which kid actually goes farther. Every swimmer tries to tighten up as much as they possibly can just so they can win, but usually it's the taller, skinnier kid who ends up winning. Why? More POWER and less DRAG.
The power/drag coefficient is the most important equation a swimmer must calculate. If a swimmer is planning on swimming a 50 or 100 yard freestyle, it's without question that POWER is more important, but if a swimmer is planning on swimming a 200 yard or greater race, then DRAG becomes the key component in the race.
So - why lift weights if you are a mid-distance swimmer?
Unfortunately it simply doesn't make sense. It goes along with the theory as to why so many swim coaches have swimmers kicking on a kickboard. What purpose does that serve? They aren't kicking a 6 beat kick which could help them in freestyle - and when you think about the kick - it promotes maybe 5% to the overall stroke?
Just as kick sets are overrated, so is the concept of weight training. IF we lived in space and we dove off the block, we could streamline forever - since there is NO DRAG in space, but because we are dealing with water, the molecules are constantly interacting with all elements of the body, thus creating DRAG.
When we streamline - the goal is to make our body SMALLER and to move through the water creating as little a disturbance as possible, so what good is it to have a swimmer increase the size of their chest, shoulders, arms and but in weight training?
Power will NEVER win over Drag. It's time for swim coaches to figure out how they can make their swimmers STRONGER without increasing the size of their body mass.
