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Why Does Ross Edgley Strength Train for Swims?

Ross Edgley strength trains heavily between country-length swims because a ligament or a tendon is what stops the swim, not lactic threshold, VO2, or technique.

Olympian friends ask whether the swim around Iceland used a two-beat or four-beat leg kick, whether he was breathing on both sides, and what his VO2 and lactic threshold were. Caught in an Arctic storm and windmilling, none of the usual swim measures matter. He lifts for mechanotransduction: strength work does more than make muscles stronger. Connective tissue, ligaments, and tendons get stronger too. Andrew Huberman calls the result the chassis, and Edgley agrees the chassis cannot break down. He jokes that Adam Peaty, from Loughborough University, the greatest breaststroke swimmer the world has seen, is poetic in the water, a mako shark. Edgley calls himself a chubby whale at best, migrating and refusing to stop.

Strength training was a dirty word in endurance for a long time. The newer idea is general physical preparedness in the pre-season, making the body robust enough for the intensity and volume that come later.

Grokipedia·Ross Edgley·Andrew Huberman

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Unlocking Persistent Motivation & Extreme Resilience | Ross Edgley ·

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