will swimming as hard and fast and for as long as i can once every other day...

[davedabomb]

Do me any good? Will I notice any difference to my muscles power/look?

[King]

Swimming is cardio, you will lose fat, so it will improve your "look"

[davedabomb]

What if you dont have much fat (It just so happens I dont). Surely it must build up muscles and muscle strength though.

[Steve]

Well yes, you'll probably have some increase in back size if you eat well

[davedabomb]

I eat like crap. Well , I eat healthy, fruit and stuff. Nothing fancy though. Fantastic avatar steve.

[NinjaCOB]

I think I'm going to start doing that. Once or twice a week. I had a pump after like one lap ahha. Witch is sweet. And it feels good on my ankle, AND it's good conditioning, ANNNNNNNNNNNDD it works an anusload of muscles that normally wouldnt do shyte in a weightlifting gym. AANNNDDDDDD it'S free.

[Lobo]

It'll improve your muscle endurance more than anything, it's possible that you'll see some minor improvements in muscle size.

[benmoore]

http://www.joefire.com/psglibrary/photos/sports/swimmer.jpg

http://www.naspensacola.navy.mil/mwr/images/swimmer.jpg

http://www.speedo.ru/catalog/male/swimming.jpg

[TartanPajamas]

davedabomb appears to have confused his post count with his age, odd.

[ryanlq]

swimming is great for muscle building. when i was on the swim team we swam 1 1/2 miles a day and my outer pecs got bigger in a week. also, swimming butterfly works out your abs like crazy and breaststroke (haha) works out your arms, plus swimming is one of the best endurance workouts in the world.

[Zeppelin_Child]

Micheal Phelps said the only working out he does is swimming.

One interesting aspect of swimming is the toning of the muscle. It occurs difrently than in a lot of other sports because you have less oxygen when the muscle is under stress. I don't know a lot about it, but it's worth looking into if your interested.

[theswede]

Never mind

[chicanerous]

I used to swim competitively and I can tell you that the majority of swimmers are not very muscular and the strength they do have is in the movements they perform. Swimming does not develop any type of strength that is easily crossed over to a discipline such as martial arts or tricking. You may see a slight increase in your back strength while weight-lifting after a few months, but that's about it.

It's almost useless to post a picture of a top level Olympic swimmer (like above) as your own training will not be in any way comparable to his in intensity or volume. That's his body after years and years of swimming and specifically conditioning for Olympic level competition.

I'm not saying swimming does not build muscle, but the muscle it does build is not significant in amount and the strength you develop is not useful for anything outside of swimming itself. If you want to maximize your muscular gain, it's going to take a combination of diet and working true sprint interval and race pace work. Just doing laps is not enough.

Remember that even while max effort sprinting, you're still working with a resistance that is endurance based -- otherwise you'd have muscular failure in one to two strokes, instead of 20 or 50. Swimming is endurance work no matter how you cut it and, thus, the amount of muscle you can build is inherently limited.

So what can swimming do for you?

-- Increase cardiovascular fitness
-- Help lose fat
-- "Tone up" your muscles
-- Make you a better swimmer
-- Teach you breath control
-- Generate fun and discipline

What won't swimming do:

-- Make you muscular
-- Improve your other sports' performances
-- Get you laid or impress others with your prowess
-- Give you a beautiful smell or lush sexy hair

It's a good activity and a very good form of cardio -- just don't labor under misconceptions.

[CanEHdian]

I used to swim and almost became a lifeguard but i never got much muscle definition but its the best physical activity you can do. it works all those control muscles that you never use aywhere else and will improve your strength because of it.

And not to mention, the ladies love guys who swim.