STRENGTH VERSUS POWER....

There is no doubt that muscular power is the determining factor in the success of competition swimming. This is even more apparent in sprint swimming particularly the 50m event, which can be regarded as a maximum-effort power event. In this area, weight work will certainly be efficacious – but there are restrictions.

The requirement of the stroke itself creates a problem in an analogous strength-training program. Strength alone – and that appears to be the target of most weight training schedules – is not an important issue.

Power is the product of force and velocity and within this formula lays the success or failure of any gym program.

Demonstrations from researchers have found that it takes .5 to .8 of a second to apply maximum force during the stroke. Unfortunately, the most powerful section of a swimmer’s stroke only lasts for .3 to .4 of a second (Rasulbekov et al 1986), which means of course, that the swimmer cannot achieve maximum efficiency during the pull regardless of strength levels. There simply is insufficient time during the stroke to achieve maximum effort.

The power produced during muscular contractions is largely dependant on both force and velocity. Therefore, increasing the force factor alone may not improve the gain in power if the speed of the stroke is compromised in any way.

However, if Stroke Power could be increased by specific strengthening work, then more force could be applied earlier, and then carried through the whole stroke movement resulting in an increased swim velocity.

These principles need to be kept in mind when tailoring a weight program so that exercises are heavy enough to increase strength and fast enough in application to elicit a response in speed.

A further problem in improving power output is the water itself. Because of its mobile and fluid nature it can be difficult to design a resistance program relevant to the swimming strokes. Another complication is the very nature of the swimming strokes.

Because of the movement patterns peculiar to swimming, it can be difficult to copy those strokes in dry land exercises. Specificity is always the main aim in the design of such programs and care must be taken to assimilate as close as possible the movements, speed, contractions and stroke patterns.

All dry land and water-based exercises within the macro cycle of training that are designed to increase the swimmer’s speed should be focused on production of power regardless of their ergonomic structure. When that power is applied to the stroke efficiently the swimmer’s velocity will increase naturally.

Swimming power could be defined as the ability to combine an efficient stroke application of a maximum effort force with a stroke function velocity, sufficient to achieve an optimal swim speed.