Can lighter resistance training loads help swimmers? The role of movement velocity

A force session cannot be assessed only by the weight placed on the bar. The task also involves speed, volume and the role it occupies within a swimming routine.

A study published in 2026 compared similar programs with two load ranges. The result opens a useful discussion on how to develop off-water capabilities without turning every session into a search for the greatest possible weight.

What was Compared

Eighteen elite young swimmers completed eight weeks of training. The groups used 40–50% or 55–65% of a maximum repetition in squat and supine, with maximum intention of speed. Swimming training took place in parallel.

The two groups improved strength measurements and the free 50 meters. There were more favorable changes to the lower load group in jump, bar repetitions and 50 meters with block output. The sample was small, there was not only swimming group and the timing was manual. The findings did not show general superiority of smaller loads.

Low load does not mean task without requirement

“Take” can describe the relative weight, but does not define the stimulus alone. Running a movement with an intention to accelerate is different from just completing repetitions without a speed orientation.

Therefore, the result should not be translated as “any light training produces the same benefit”. What was compared was an organized program, with specific exercises, progression and conditions. By removing these elements, one ceases to discuss the intervention that actually occurred.

It is also important to distinguish intention and measured speed. An athlete can quickly try to move a load and still produce a lower speed as weight increases or fatigue appears. Interpreting the session requires observing the complete task.

Transfer to the water is a question of its own

Enhancing a strength exercise is one result. Enhancing performance in the pool is another. Both can relate, but the association does not automatically identify the responsible mechanism.

In the case of 50 meters with block output, the result includes different components of continuous swimming in open water. It would not be appropriate to turn the finding into a direct recommendation for the pace of a triathlete in 1500 meters.

And as the two groups also swam during the period, part of the temporal improvement may involve this training and other adaptations. Comparison between groups helps to investigate the relative load, but does not answer how much they improved by doing resistance training rather than just swimming.

Editorial example: the purpose before weight

A swimmer has an important session in the water the next day. Before choosing the weighting load, the coach sets the goal: to develop strength, practice a quick execution or maintain a capacity? Then organizes the stimulus considering the sequence of sessions.

The example does not mean that reducing weight is always the best choice. It shows that the decision needs to have a criterion beyond finishing tired. If the task loses the desired quality, completing more repetitions may fail to meet the original purpose.

What to get from the research?

The study offers an alternative to investigate in a specific group of young swimmers. Its value is to expand the programming repertoire without establishing a universally superior range.

The weight of the bar is a tool, not the final result. The useful question is whether the combination of load, speed, volume and organization helps to develop what the swimmer needs and allows sustaining the quality of the complete program.

Cada um no seu ritmo. Juntos no caminho.