Can i gym and swim? trying to gain muscle mass

what other training are you doing alongside the swimming?

Mainly just gym weights and swimming. I may run for 30 mins sometimes. I also sometimes do "finishers" with my gym sets where you do high intensity exercises for maybe 10 minutes but.that's pretty much it. But yeah swimming.2-3 times a week. Was suggested also running.for.20 -30 mins 2 times a week but.haven't done.that

U can swim to increase muscle mass, but U HAVE TO SWIM HARD. Apparently, there's only about 1% of the population can swim hard enough to make a difference size wise etc. I do a mile once a week absolutely flat out, one length front crawl, one length breaststroke etc. I have been weight training 25 years, & nothing in the gym has increased my shoulders & back definition & size like swimming has. Plus it also pulls the stomach in. Plus it helps your biking times be faster if u do anything else.
But if u just do 75% pace, it's not good enough to be effective like a weight session. U only have to look at the Olympic Swimmers, their back & shoulders etc. When u get out the water, you want your lungs to be popping & really out of breath for a minute or so.
I don’t use my legs a lot, as I don’t do swimming to be superfast, I do it to improve my top half shape, plus the breathing fitness that comes with it. Just make sure u swim hard enough ie. Try & either beat the clock, many lengths as u can in 30mins & try to equal or beat that every week, or as many length as u can in 30mins or so.

Hi Ryourus,

Putting on strength and mass are two different things, as one in theory can train in a way to make the muscles extremely strong and defined without adding much bulk to their frame. You only have to look at the physiques of light weight Olympic Weight Lifters or 100 meter sprinters to understand this.

You have already correctly stated that you will need to eat more, and this is certainly the case if you are looking to add muscle mass which ultimately means you will gain 'muscle weight' to your body.

Part of my concern for you which I see with so many of my clients who enlist my services is a failure to gain mass/speed/strength etc. because of not eating enough and then over training.

Remember adaptation occurs during rest and not whilst training.

I suppose it really comes down to what your goals are with regards to your swimming. If you just use it as an aerobic exercise, then it will be fine to gain muscle mass, but be aware that additional mass will not make you a faster swimmer if you wish to grow your muscles to the extent of considerably changing your shape. In fact quite the opposite will occur.

To add muscle mass through swimming alone would be very difficult as it would simply not give your muscles enough resistance to force the actin and myosin filaments to get bigger and stronger in direct response to the normal high stimulus that weight training correctly can bring about.

Whilst it is certainly true that there are some swimmers out there with impressive physiques, I doubt any of them carry the sort of muscle mass/definition you would like to achieve, and I am not talking about looking like Arnie in his prime here either.

Do you homework as there are some fantastic articles on this site, but most of all make it clear to yourself exactly where you want to take your training/body shape aspirations, and then adjust your training techniques/food intake accordingly.

One of my clients had been bench pressing the same weight for 3 years and then wondered why he was not adding any size or definition to his frame. Only after going through the principals of progressive overload with him did he understand the error of his ways, and then within about 6 weeks he had doubled his bench press and started to notice a change in shape and size of his muscles.

Carried out correctly weight lifting can take your body performance/shape wherever you desire to take it. However most people fail to train correctly, and then when you throw in incorrect nutrition and insufficient rest to boot, you can see why they fail to make any progress.

For you I would suggest a 4 day split by dropping your 2.5km swimming sessions to 2 a week and then incorporating 2 weight lifting sessions a week as well. If done correctly you will certainly require the 3 days of rest per week. Structure this is a way perhaps as follows:

Mon - Swim
Tues - Full body weights
Wed - rest
Thurs - Swim
Fri - Intense fully body weights
Sat - rest
Sun - rest

Warm up correctly and providing you work hard enough with good form you should not need to do more than 3 sets of 10 reps per exercise with about 1 - 1.5 minutes rest between sets so your workout with weights should last no more than 1 hour 15 minutes excluding cool down and stretching. Ensure however you vary the reps/sets etc by maybe every few weeks changing to 5 sets of 5 reps with 2 minutes rest in between.

There are endless combinations that can be carried out, the most important part is to keep you muscles guessing and hit them hard each session, then ensure you give them adequate time to adapt. And in line with the principals of progressive overload, aim to add weight every second session even this is is only 1 - 2.5kg at a time. Stick to compound movements with good form, rather than isolation exercises, which will see you spend hours in the gym for very disappointing levels of return.

Good luck.

Simon

Simon Vincent
Performance and Nutrition Consultant
Body Bullet Dynamics
Aberdare
South Wales
www.totalcyclingperformance.co.uk

Welcome Ryorus