Gaining muscle from swimming?

Whats up guys, in about a month, my swim season will begin and that will mean taking a 4 month break from weightlifting. This is because i swim every single day bascially for 2 hours.

Last year after coming back from the 4 month break i did not loose any strength and maybe lost very little muscle mass. My question is--is it possible to gain some muscle mass from swimming alone with a proper diet. Our practices are both sprints and endurace. So that means i will be working both types of muscle fibres, type I and type II. i know the type I are smaller than the type II but can i still aquire some mass? I will be taking creatine, whey protein mix (malto dextrin, dextrose, hydrolized high quality whey protein, glutamine peptide, and BCAA's), and multi vitamin/multi mineral/anti-oxidants/B complex capsule.

Thanks in advance.

Swimming is one of the/if not THE most complex sports! It is great for your health...here are some of its advantages:
- Swimming uses almost all the major muscle groups, and places a vigorous demand on your heart and lungs.
- Swimming provides most of the aerobic benefits that running does, with many of the benefits of resistance training thrown in.
- Swimming does not put the strain on connective tissues that running, aerobics and some weight-training regimens do.
[b] - Swimming develops muscle strength and endurance, and improves posture and flexibility.[/b]

I swam 3 years of varsity in high school. I grew a little bit of lats, but that's it. Why do you think BB's always call people swimmers when they're making fun of someones body.

[QUOTE=W8isGR8]I swam 3 years of varsity in high school. I grew a little bit of lats, but that's it. Why do you think BB's always call people swimmers when they're making fun of someones body.[/QUOTE]

You too? That's cool... ironically, that is where my screen name came from.

Maybe 'swimmers' is just a bb slang term! Like juniors/seniors call on 9th grades: FISH! Swimmers in general have great bodies!

swimming wont really build u up, u might get half decent shoulders but in the end its just a form of cardio, tho a damn good one... another benefit not mentioned above is u can do it with more intensity for longer periods as the water cools your body making it more bearable

I use to take swimming lessons starting when I was 5 years old and quit when I was 17. I was always thin with small muscles and I never had a swimmer's body because I have narrow shoulders. However swimming was good for cardio.

[QUOTE=varteju]Maybe 'swimmers' is just a bb slang term! Like juniors/seniors call on 9th grades: FISH! Swimmers in general have great bodies![/QUOTE]

Not really. Weightlifters in general have good bodies. Swimmers attain their physique from weightlifting, not swimming.

swimming wont make u big, but its good cardio

swimming to gain mass is like an oxymoron

mass = +++calories in

swimming = ---calories out



[QUOTE=Zoupa]Not really. Weightlifters in general have good bodies. Swimmers attain their physique from weightlifting, not swimming.[/QUOTE]

^^^

i wish people would realize that that most if not all athletes train with weights.

like football players; i can't believe people HONESTLY believe that they never weight train and they get that big just from playing football, lmao.

You're not going to end up looking like arnie.

Unless you train with weights on your hands+feet or something.

[QUOTE=$AJ]swimming to gain mass is like an oxymoron

mass = +++calories in

swimming = ---calories out





^^^

i wish people would realize that that most if not all athletes train with weights.

like football players; i can't believe people HONESTLY believe that they never weight train and they get that big just from playing football, lmao.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, Michael Phelps is one of the few swimmers that doesn't weight train (at least he didn't prior to the olympics). And not coincidentally, he's also skinny.

Oh, and on top of lifting weights, high level athletes generally have fairly good (muscular) genetics.

Swimming is for pansies anyway.

[QUOTE=Zoupa]Oh, and on top of lifting weights, high level athletes generally have fairly good (muscular) genetics.[/QUOTE]

yep :(

i need me some better genetics, heh

swimming won't build muscle/mass like weight training does, even if it does its "soft" muscle. you will never achieve that ripped/hard powerful look.
if you look at most swimmers many of them have wide bony shoulders with skinny arms and torso.

I think the thread maker has to make a decision, weights or swimming. One or the other bro.

[QUOTE=AussieBloke]Swimming is for pansies anyway.[/QUOTE]

Spoken like a true teen :rolleyes: Go tell that to half the Marines I served with... we were highly trained in amphibious ops. Might as well tell it to the Navy Seals as well. Swimming is an excellent activity, I just wouldn't recommend a lot of it if your primary goal is accumulating serious muscle mass.

everything on the internet should be taken at face value. i was just joking dude.
;)

You won't really get that big from swimming, simple fact. But you will gain strength. Like a friend of mine, he's a kayaker....he just recently started doing some lifting, but more for strength purposes than BB'ing. At any rate, he's a real skinny kid but you're amazed at how much weight he can lift even though he has like no muscle haha. So swimming will give you strength, but mass? hardly.

What about incorporating at least some weight training a couple times a week during your swim season?
Even if you can only do 20-30 mins a sesson, it should help you out if you can do a couple/ few times a week.
If last season you didn't loose that much, this may help you gain.

Actually, my back didn't start really filling out until I started swimming.

dude you were really 520 lbs @ 62% BODYFAT!??? Good work, thats insane.

I recommend you swim and lift weights, I do it and I'm a competive Club swimmer and high school swimmer.

Your swimming will generally not give you weight, with the exception being your back and shoulders. Since I started ~9-10 months ago, I have gained a [b]lot[/b] on my back and shoulders.

With proper diet, you can continue to swim and get big. I'm currently trying to get up to 185lbs [b]for[/b] swimming. I have gone from 160 to 170 in about a month and a half, but thats only because I keep a good diet.

Good luck to you,
-Kyle

You do not actually gain muscle from swimming. Any gains will be minimal. "Filling out" your back or any other muscle group/body part will most likely be the illusion of size from shedding bodyfat.

The gaining happens during the heavy lifting and associated diet.

[QUOTE=fcukme421]Whats up guys, in about a month, my swim season will begin and that will mean taking a 4 month break from weightlifting. This is because i swim every single day bascially for 2 hours.

Last year after coming back from the 4 month break i did not loose any strength and maybe lost very little muscle mass. My question is--is it possible to gain some muscle mass from swimming alone with a proper diet. Our practices are both sprints and endurace. So that means i will be working both types of muscle fibres, type I and type II. i know the type I are smaller than the type II but can i still aquire some mass? I will be taking creatine, whey protein mix (malto dextrin, dextrose, hydrolized high quality whey protein, glutamine peptide, and BCAA's), and multi vitamin/multi mineral/anti-oxidants/B complex capsule.

Thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]

.i was a swimmer w\for 4 years with great results and i can tell u that swimming does not give u muscle mass, it gives u the nice structure of every muscle group.(chest, shoulders,lats,back) it doesnt give u traps, tricpes or huges bicepes...however if u swim at yuonger age and start bbuilding u will gain mass and grow muscles pretty quick as ur muscles are all prepeared and ready for intense exersise...( coz swimming takes alot of muscles strenth but it does not give u mass becoz it adapts ur body so that ur body does not resist with water). for example us swimmers we have flat chest( wide, nicely developed but not buff).
So when u see the swimmers u see every single muscle on the back, shoulder delts, wide chest, but u do not see buff, bulked up massive body builder.... however the combo of it will give u a great results....

I weighed 130kg last year I now weigh 93kg( I got down too 95kg in four monthes. Haven't seemed to go down much and I sill have belly) I do weights every other day and in gaps I do running or step climbing. I wanted to add swimming to my router. In the mornings after run. As I want to get more defined body. But I also want to get bigger. I would like to do swimming but seeing all the posts looks like wont help me to much. I train 7 days a week the steps (15 min work out (run up the rock of Gibraltar ) if I go running it 30mins roughly 6.3km weights I do upper body and abs I don't do legs currently (due to horse legs from steps+ carrying all that fat) my eating properly is pretty bad. I only drink water and maby two days a week pizza rest healthy roasted peppers chicken or sweat potato chicken. Getting down to my question. Can I swim and still gain body mass (from gym) and not have swimming do negative impact. and how do I calculate this (swim and gym) to make sure I don't undo what I did at the gym. (Swim run morning gym I have always done at night ) also regarding technique ( always been professional swimmer till 18 then smoking and drinking killed that :p (don't smoke now and drink once or twice a month)

well, it's been 11 years, I wonder if Opie has figured this out yet?

[QUOTE=Get-n-fit;1432674171]well, it's been 11 years, I wonder if Opie has figured this out yet?[/QUOTE]

He should be [I]jacked[/I] after all those years of swimming.





Step aside, Phil Heath.











Gonna close this train wreck before anyone else in it gets banned.