Help me tone up.

[elbows_and_knees]

I used to have an instructor that said, "If you have time to go lift weights, you have time to train martial arts." He never lifted a weight in his life and had definition that Bruce Lee would admire. Mortals like myself, however, need a little bit of iron in our exercise diets.

I like the idea of swimming. I swam Masters last year and really enjoyed the cardio and flexibility gains I achieved.

Respectfully,

Sohan

depends on the goal - if you are after continued strength and mass, weights are the only way to go. for muscle endurance, no, you don't need to touch a weight. Bodyweight exercises and MA are sufficient.

Only way to go? I'm sorry, but that's not an accurate statement.

Actually, I swam competitively all through high school and college and managed to develop some good muscle mass and strength without hitting the weights much during the season. I had a 44-45 inch chest and benched 300 with regular swim workouts and pushups. Take a good look at a experienced swimmer's physique sometimes and you'll see what I mean. I'm not referring to a plodding lap swimmer, but rather someone who does interval sets using varying intensities of work.

I have competed in powerlifting, bodybuilding, and swimming and have experienced respectable muscle and strength gains with each. Obviously weights are the most efficient solution, but it is a fact that a proper swim workout can certainly build strength and muscle size while developing muscle endurance as well.

Respectfully,

Sohan

two of my thai students are on the swim team. they are strong... but not as strong as the weight trainers we have. the fact that you competed in body building and powerlifting tells me that that's most likely where the 300lb bench came from - that and you said that you didn't lift much during swim season. I'm guessing you maintained with swimming and pushups. However, when I said "only way to go" that was alluding to the best way to go - perhaps I should've just said "best way to go". swimming cannot offer continued increasing resistance - the muscle development MUST stop at some point lesser than it would with weights, which do offer progressive resistance.

[elbows_and_knees]

But doing the kind of exercises they do will make you look better. there is a difference between training for size and training for strength.

There is. But you can strength train and still gain mass, which obviously makes you look better. The isolation exercises they do are not as conducive to MA training as compound. From an efficiency standpoint, isolation exercises are inferior, for our purposes.

[DJmma]

But doing the kind of exercises they do will make you look better. there is a difference between training for size and training for strength.

There is. But you can strength train and still gain mass, which obviously makes you look better. The isolation exercises they do are not as conducive to MA training as compound. From an efficiency standpoint, isolation exercises are inferior, for our purposes.

yea that is true. when you train for strength, you will gain mass as well. and "your purpouses" are martial arts i assume. and as you said earlier, compound is best for martial arts. however, if he wants to look bigger and better, size lifting IS what he should do. I did not say you cant gain size with strngth training, however you will not get as defined or as big as you will with isolation. and visa versa, if you train for size, you will not get as strong as if you train for strength. I agree though, size does not matter in martial arts, strength is more important. therefor, just because someone is "big" doesnt mean they are strong. So, for his needs, i'd say isolation and size training is for him, to get that look.

[DJmma]

I used to have an instructor that said, "If you have time to go lift weights, you have time to train martial arts." He never lifted a weight in his life and had definition that Bruce Lee would admire. Mortals like myself, however, need a little bit of iron in our exercise diets.

I like the idea of swimming. I swam Masters last year and really enjoyed the cardio and flexibility gains I achieved.

Respectfully,

Sohan

depends on the goal - if you are after continued strength and mass, weights are the only way to go. for muscle endurance, no, you don't need to touch a weight. Bodyweight exercises and MA are sufficient.

Only way to go? I'm sorry, but that's not an accurate statement.

Actually, I swam competitively all through high school and college and managed to develop some good muscle mass and strength without hitting the weights much during the season. I had a 44-45 inch chest and benched 300 with regular swim workouts and pushups. Take a good look at a experienced swimmer's physique sometimes and you'll see what I mean. I'm not referring to a plodding lap swimmer, but rather someone who does interval sets using varying intensities of work.

I have competed in powerlifting, bodybuilding, and swimming and have experienced respectable muscle and strength gains with each. Obviously weights are the most efficient solution, but it is a fact that a proper swim workout can certainly build strength and muscle size while developing muscle endurance as well.

Respectfully,

Sohan

two of my thai students are on the swim team. they are strong... but not as strong as the weight trainers we have. the fact that you competed in body building and powerlifting tells me that that's most likely where the 300lb bench came from - that and you said that you didn't lift much during swim season. I'm guessing you maintained with swimming and pushups. However, when I said "only way to go" that was alluding to the best way to go - perhaps I should've just said "best way to go". swimming cannot offer continued increasing resistance - the muscle development MUST stop at some point lesser than it would with weights, which do offer progressive resistance.

true. but people generally dont swim to get real strong. they swim to increase their endurance, and it is a good cardio workout. I am on the swim team at school. I did not join to get strong. however i have gotten stronger, because i weight train as well. swimming will not make you a power lifter, however you will get stronger. From swimming alone, my back muscles, lats and triceps got stronger. and i gained alot of endurance. it has been rewarding. But i agree, weight training is much better than swimming for gaining strength, as you cannot increase resistance in swimming. Personaly, i find doing swimming and weight training together to be the most rewarding.

[Sohan]

I used to have an instructor that said, "If you have time to go lift weights, you have time to train martial arts." He never lifted a weight in his life and had definition that Bruce Lee would admire. Mortals like myself, however, need a little bit of iron in our exercise diets.

I like the idea of swimming. I swam Masters last year and really enjoyed the cardio and flexibility gains I achieved.

Respectfully,

Sohan

depends on the goal - if you are after continued strength and mass, weights are the only way to go. for muscle endurance, no, you don't need to touch a weight. Bodyweight exercises and MA are sufficient.

Only way to go? I'm sorry, but that's not an accurate statement.

Actually, I swam competitively all through high school and college and managed to develop some good muscle mass and strength without hitting the weights much during the season. I had a 44-45 inch chest and benched 300 with regular swim workouts and pushups. Take a good look at a experienced swimmer's physique sometimes and you'll see what I mean. I'm not referring to a plodding lap swimmer, but rather someone who does interval sets using varying intensities of work.

I have competed in powerlifting, bodybuilding, and swimming and have experienced respectable muscle and strength gains with each. Obviously weights are the most efficient solution, but it is a fact that a proper swim workout can certainly build strength and muscle size while developing muscle endurance as well.

Respectfully,

Sohan

two of my thai students are on the swim team. they are strong... but not as strong as the weight trainers we have. the fact that you competed in body building and powerlifting tells me that that's most likely where the 300lb bench came from - that and you said that you didn't lift much during swim season. I'm guessing you maintained with swimming and pushups. However, when I said "only way to go" that was alluding to the best way to go - perhaps I should've just said "best way to go". swimming cannot offer continued increasing resistance - the muscle development MUST stop at some point lesser than it would with weights, which do offer progressive resistance.

Swimming can indeed offer tremendous gains in strength if the training methodology is tuned to developing power. A swimmer's sprint workout involving 12-14 second high-intensity swims can be as effective at developing muscle strength as an 6-8 rep set of a resistance exercise, IMO. The progressive resistance increase comes as the body generates more power to propel through the water. You'll likely never see anyone bench 500 off of a swimming workout, but I wouldn't discourage someone from swimming if they prefer that to weights.

I think we both agree on the same thing, we're just expressing it differently. Best wishes for your training.

Respectfully,

Sohan

[DJmma]

yes, if you train for long distance races(500 m) then you are building mostly endurance. however, by training for sprints(50 m), which is what i mostly do, you train more for explosive power and strength. but in practices we do both long distance and short distance. and i must say, swimming practices are brutal. we do tons of dry land work for abs with medicine balls, and we do alot of pushups, and pullups etc. there is deffinatly a difference between just going to a local pool and swimming casualy, and swimming hard, and pushing your limits. I also play water polo, which if anything, is harder than swimming. it involves a ton of sprinting back and forth, and treding water for the entire time, since you cannot stand, since they are all deep pools. anyway, swimming can deffinatly offer gains in strength and endurance.