Weights

Every sport these days has an associated strength program, but swimmers use weights in a very specific manner. A swimmer's body needs to be flexible and quick. As such, a strength program that bulks up a body at the expense of endurance, speed, and flexibility is counterproductive at best. So when Mr. Lars MuscleBound takes you through your first gym workout, smile and nod, and do what he says. What he's just shown you will be the perfect method of strength training for almost any sport but swimming. He'll have you using your full range of motion, isolating the proper muscle groups, and performing your reps very slowly in order to get the most out of your workout. That's great for the run-of-the-mill athlete, but you're a swimmer. You need to do something different.

Control the Weight

Whether you're doing free-weights or machines, the same thing holds true for swimming strength training. Speed and flexibility are key. You work on your endurance in the water so nothing you do while strength training will hold a candle to what you do in the pool. Your heartrate in the gym won't ever go above 120 bpm when you're in shape. So you're only in the gym to work on your strength and speed. Here's how it's done.

Each time you take a rep in a strength workout you will want to explode up with the weight and bring it down as slowly as you can. Now some swimmers when they first start this method of strength training throw the weight around, but this isn't what you want to do. You want to push up as fast as you can without losing control. You know you've lost control when the weight bounces at the top of the rep cycle. Never let it bounce. You can injure yourself if you do, and torn muscles (and worse) are not fun. What I do when I'm strength training is count the rep number as I explode up while keeping under control, then I count 2, 3, 4, on the way down as slowly as I possibly can. This way you work on your explosiveness on the way up, and your flexibility on the way down.

As a swimmer, you'll also want to do more reps than the average athlete does. You're not looking to stack the machine or lift the biggest barbell in the gym. As a swimmer, you're looking to push your muscle groups to failure at the end of every set. Your first set at a machine or a particular muscle group should go for around 12 to 20 reps before failure. Your next set at the same machine (with 10% more weight) should go from 8 to 12 reps before failure, and your third set (with 20% more) should go from 6 to 8 reps before failure. This way you've pushed every range of motion within your isolated muscle group to its limit and broken it down so it can be built back stronger as you rest and recover.

Remember though, that most people are in the gym in order to get in shape and when you do several sets at one machine or on one set of free-weights, you'll want to let them work through between your sets. Doing so, gives you just the right amount of rest between sets and keeps good old Lars happy since you're not pissing off his customers by "hogging" the machines.