DRY-LAND RESISTANCE TRAINING FOR COMPETITIVE SWIMMING

To determine the value of dry-land resistance training on front crawl swimming performance, two groups of 12 intercollegiate male swimmers w ere equated based upon preswimming performance, swim power values, and stroke specialties. Throughout the 14 wk of their competitive swimmin g season, both swim training group (SWIM, N = 12) and combined swim an d resistance training group (COMBO, N = 12) swam together 6 d a week. In addition, the COMBO engaged in a 8-wk resistance training program 3 d a week. The resistance training was intended to simulate the muscle and swimming actions employed during front crawl swimming. Both COMBO and SWIM had significant (P < 0.05) but similar power gains as measur ed on the biokinetic swim bench and during a tethered swim over the 14 -wk period. No change in distance per stroke was observed throughout t he course of this investigation. No significant differences were found between the groups in any of the swim power and swimming performance tests. In this investigation, dry-land resistance training did not imp rove swimming performance despite the fact that the COMBO was able to increase the resistance used during strength training by 25-35%. The l ack of a positive transfer between dry-land strength gains and swimmin g propulsive force may be due to the specificity of training.