Does your weight coach know swimming?

A strength coach has many responsibilities, but I’d argue that the most important one is to assist in improving performance on the field, court, mat, or in the pool.  Football players need to get bigger, stronger, and faster—so their strength and conditioning workouts are designed to improve these three things.  Soccer players aren’t very concerned with getting bigger, although it’s important to become faster.  Wrestlers try to get as strong as they can without gaining too much (or any) weight.  All sports are different, and need to be treated differently in the weight room.  Unfortunately, this doesn’t always occur—especially for the non-revenue generating sports. 

Over the years, I have spoken with dozens of swim coaches about their training philosophies, and have also had the pleasure to talk with a plethora of strength coaches (some who work with swimmers, some that do not work with swimmers) about what they have their swimmers do in the weight room, and their reasoning behind it.  From those conversations, I wonder how many strength coaches really know much about swimming.  I feel that there are several reasons why this occurs:

The first problem is that some strength and conditioning coaches aren’t certified strength coaches.  The three big certifications are the C.S.C.S (Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist), USA Weightlifting (you are certified to teach the Olympic lifts), and A.C.S.M (American College of Sports Medicine).  There are others, but I’d argue that these are the big three that most strength have, or should have.

The second problem that I’ve seen is that many strength coaches were former football players.  Most of these coaches know how to get athletes to become bigger, stronger, and faster, but that’s not necessarily what swimmers need to focus on in the weight room.  And because these strength coaches typically only know football, they design their program for football players (I used football as an example, but it could be any sport).

The third problem is that some strength coaches are hired because they played a sport for that school, and know the right people (usually the head strength coach).  But just because you played a sport doesn’t mean you should be a strength coach.  I realize that in today’s world, it’s all about who you know, but a former wrestler with a P.E. degree shouldn’t be hired to be the strength coach for a collegiate swim team.  Unfortunately, this happens way too often.

The fourth problem is that many strength coaches don’t have any idea what swimmers go through on a daily basis.  Swimming is one of the only sports that practices twice a day, both in the morning and afternoon.  I believe that strength coaches need to be aware of the toll practicing twice a day has on swimmers.  Not only that, but many strength coaches think that swimming is a purely aerobic sport, which it isn’t unless you’re a distance swimmer. 

I know that there are a lot of strength coaches that don’t know much about swimming, but go to practices, meets, and talk with the swim coaches extensively about swimming to learn about the sport.  I think you can tell how invested your strength coach is in your sport by the number of meets he or she attends.  Some strength coaches attend every meet, while others have never even been to the pool.

This summer, I had the pleasure of watching a couple lifting workouts from one of the top teams in the country.  I was thoroughly impressed with the creativity of the exercises, how specific many of them were to different swimming movements, and the power that the team had.  Their strength coach knows lifting and he knows swimming.  This is one reason why this team wins NCAA Championships.  You can only get so fast by swimming.  This team has one of the best lifting programs in the country, and realizes that lifting can take them farther than just swimming alone.

I’ll leave you with a couple things to think about:
Many people think that distance swimmers need to perform a lot of repetitions at a lower weight so they don’t get “bigger.”  Look up the word “hypertrophy,” and tell me if distance swimmers need to do lots of reps and low weights.  Hypertrophy is caused by training that is high in volume (8-12 reps) with limited rest in between sets.  This type of training enhances growth hormone output and lactic acid production.

If you want to get stronger, you must know what the terms “progressive overload” and “periodization” are.  Progressive overload simply means that you must force your muscles to work harder each time you lift.  Periodization is the process of structuring training into phases (muscle endurance, hypertrophy, strength, and/or power).  During different times of the year, training programs vary in the length or number of repetitions in a training session (volume) and the percentage of one's maximum capacity (intensity).

Many people think that swimmers need to do a lot of lat exercises in the weight room because swimmers need a lot of strength in their lats.  Yes, swimmers need to have a lot of strength in their lats, but do we really need to do extra lat exercises in the weight room.  Is 2 hours in the AM and PM not enough to strengthen your lats?  I’m all for pull ups, chin ups, rows, etc.—but sometimes we go overboard.
 
What’s the goal in swimming?  To go faster, right.  You do this by moving your body through the water as fast as you can.  So, wouldn’t it make sense to train your body to move rapidly—either by moving weight quickly or your body weight quickly?  You can turn just about any exercise into a explosive exercise if you tweak it the right way. 

Why would you not do the Olympic lifts?  Safety reasons, hard to teach, space—please.  Do you have any idea the vertical jumps these guys have?  Nicu Vlad of Romania (bodyweight 100 kg / 220 lbs), World Record holder and two-time Olympic Weight lifting medalist in 1990, recorded a 42" vertical jump.  American Wesley Barnett, 3-time Olympian and Silver Medalist at the 1997 World Championships (he is 6'1" tall and weighs 105 kg / 231 lbs), has recorded vertical jumps of over 39".  I couldn’t find the exact numbers, but I remember reading about an Olympic weight lifter that weighed around 300 lbs that had a vertical of over 30”.  This is the epitome of explosiveness. 

Abdominal exercises.  Your abs are just like any other muscle group in your body.  Believe it or not, you can do too many abdominal exercises.  You wouldn’t squat or bench every day, so why would you do abs every day?   If you do want to work your abs every day, just make sure that you aren’t going at a high intensity every day.

Dynamic vs static stretching.  It kills me when I see athletes sitting down stretching (static) before practice and/or a competition.  Static stretching decreases your ability to produce power.  You do not want that before you practice or compete—so why are people still doing it?  Instead, move static stretching to after a practice or a meet.  Before exercise, stretch on the move, which is called dynamic stretching.  Light jogging, jumping jacks, walking knee hugs or toe touches are all great ways to warm up your body as you are stretching.  

There are many ways to become a faster swimmer; although most swimmers lift weights, I don’t think that many swimmers and coaches are fully aware nor have the attitude that weight lifting can be every bit as important as what you do in the pool (more so for sprinters).  The sooner swimmers and coaches realize the impact that weight lifting can have on performances in the pool, the better we will be.

ArtVanDeLegh10