Does triathlon training help swimmers?

[Limerick]

Does triathlon training help swimmers?
While swimming is still my main sport, Im doing more triathlon training at the moment, after the next one (this weekend) I will cut back on the triathlon training and get back to more swimming training.
By query is does cross training like this actually help swimmers?
My own opinion is that it helps swimmers like me who have a wee bit of a beer belly keep the weight down, and does improve the endurance fitness, but does not help in your technique or in your fitness for sprints.
what do you think?
anybody else out there who is first adn foremast a masters swimmer who also does 1 or 2 triathlons a year?
(Im doing the Kilkee Hell of the West triathlon this weekend, hope I finish it without dying!!)

[happySwimmer]

I presume it depends on your life goals. Are you swimming to achieve a specific swimming goal or are you swimming to be fit and healthy?

If its the former you may find some help in the book "Conditioning for Swimmers" by Alan Lynn ISBN 978-1-86126-913-9. I've just borrowed it from the local library, but haven't read it yet, so it may be no help at all! If its the latter then I assume cross training by running and cycling would help, so long as you take it carefully and don't injure yourself.

[Limerick]

good point. My intial goal as a masters swimmer was purely to get fit, I think I have got there by now, and my swimming goal now is to get PBs for my main events (100m and 200m LC fly), but if I was totally honest I would say that my overall "life" goal is still to get fit. I wander could cross training help in both goals ie get fit AND imrpove your swim performance?

[Wildswimmer]

I think the main objection is that you will build muscle, particularly because of the cycling, that will have an adverse effect on the body position in the water when swimming, which in turn will obviously affect technique.

That's certainly true. Cycling has given me massive calf muscles which prevent me from kicking correctly. Also being hard meat rather than fat, my legs aren't very buoyant and tend to hang low in the water. However to be fair my legs have developed as a result of years and miles of cycle commuting rather than fast but comparatively short cycle competition.

Wildswimmer Pete

[NotVeryFast]

From my own fairly limited experience, I have found that some swim coaches can be very much against swimmers doing triathlon training.

I think the main objection is that you will build muscle, particularly because of the cycling, that will have an adverse effect on the body position in the water when swimming, which in turn will obviously affect technique.

If this is correct, then I don't suppose it matters that much anyway unless you are hoping to be a top level swimmer. As you mentioned, there are advantages to be gained from triathlon training.

I'd be interested to hear what coaches think, as this question is one that keeps popping up every so often.
From my own personal experience, cycling makes me swim slower. I have a friend who is a keen cyclist and I spent about a month doing quite a bit of cycling to be able to keep up a decent speed on rides with him while on holiday. My swimming got progressively slower as I did this, then my speed gradually returned over a few weeks when I stopped. I felt that my swimming kick in particular was suffering.

[laserblazer]

That's really interesting about muscular legs and poor leg kick. At the club where I use to swim I clocked up around 15k a week and one of the gym trainers said it wasn't a good idea to just swim as it made for light bones. So I started going to the gym working on the cross-trainer and weights. I now just do a bit of upper body weight work. It will be interesting to see if my kick improves.

Pete IMHO .... ability to swim 200m LC Fly = FIT

[White Noise]

i am primarilary a triathlete and have only been swimming for 8 months. i think that the issue is not cycling making your leg muscles bulky, i think its more to do with the fact that you lose some of the flexiblity in your legs though cycling that you require for an effective leg kick. don't strong felxible legs means a good kick?
WN

[chris_lamb]

From my own fairly limited experience, I have found that some swim coaches can be very much against swimmers doing triathlon training.

Isn't that just because if you are doing triathlon training then you aren't doing swimming training. If you want to be an elite swimmer then you won't have time to train in any other sport.

On the other hand if you are just swimming for fun and you find triathlon fun then just ignore the coach :)

[NotVeryFast]

Isn't that just because if you are doing triathlon training then you aren't doing swimming training. If you want to be an elite swimmer then you won't have time to train in any other sport.
In my case, in the period I described when I got slower, the cycling I did was purely in addition to my swimming training. I cycled on a turbo trainer in the evenings when I wasn't swimming, and also went out on bike rides at the weekend after my weekend swimming sessions.

It's entirely possible that my swimming kick suffered simply because my leg muscles were tired out from all the extra exercise!!!

[Stevie_k]

Id say it hurts your swimming overall. Because your wasting energy on other sports that could be saved for lots more swimming.

Also dont the triathletes always tend to be slower at swimming clubs than the swimmers. They are at mine.

But they do have more rounded fitness overall.

[Limerick]

Thanks guys.
I suppose like everything else, its all about balance.
Coming up to a triathlon I would do 2 - 3 runs and 1 cycle per week alogn with 2 - 3 swim sessions, but apart from this it woudl be 1 -2 runs per week, no cycling at all, and 3 - 5 swims per week, so at this level, and not being an elite triathlete or swimmer (a long way off!), I would imagine that this level of cross training would probably help both my overall fitness and improve my stamina for my swimming - and swimming will always come first...

[SuperMangs]

Leg muscles etc aside, you will develop your general aerobic fitness, which will do you no harm for swimming. Whilst the muscles you use for swimming will only really be developed by swimming specific exercise, your aerobic capacity will be utilised in all of the sports and thus have cross over effect.

I query just how much additional weight some cycling will add to someone's legs. A swimmer of reasonable fitness will already have a higher level of leg muscle mass than a non athlete. And I'd argue that for a swimmer of reasonable standard, your capacity to remain balanced and horizontal and in the water will be well advanced, and unlikely to be negatively affected by a kg or two extra muscle mass, particularly if your overall body mass is say, 80kg +.

On the other hand, I'd agree that the lack of flexibility that may develop could be a problem.

[Wildswimmer]

I query just how much additional weight some cycling will add to someone's legs.

In my case it was a lot of cycling and added about a stone (6.3kilos) to my total weight.

And I'd argue that for a swimmer of reasonable standard, your capacity to remain balanced and horizontal and in the water will be well advanced, and unlikely to be negatively affected by a kg or two extra muscle mass, particularly if your overall body mass is say, 80kg +.

The cold-water "head-up" style makes it difficult to remain horizontal in the water at the best of times. I'm also carrying far more body fat than a competitive swimmer which probably affects my "trim". I weigh 16 stone (100kilos) and a good 30% of that is fat so my calf muscles represent about 10% of my total muscle mass.

Wildswimmer Pete

[animal0800]

I'd say - if you enjoy it - then do it. - I've always done loads of sports as well as swimming - Football, Athletics, Squash etc.. - after all sport is for fun..

As for Triathlons - yuk - I can't think of anything worse - for an old sprinter like me sounds like torchure, but good luck mate..