Dryland Strength That Transfers to the Water

Strength training has gone from optional to standard advice for triathletes, and TriForward has covered its value for cycling durability and running economy elsewhere. Swimming is the obvious next question. If you lift, will you swim faster? If you only have time for one or two strength sessions a week, can they also help in the pool?

The answer is less straightforward than for cycling or running. There's real evidence that strength training improves swimming, but it comes almost entirely from young, technically skilled pool swimmers racing short distances. That's a long way from an adult age-grouper trying to speed up a 1,500 m wetsuit swim. This article sets out what the research shows, what probably transfers, and how to make gym time count without expecting too much from it.

What the reviews find

Mixed results in the earlier literature

A 2018 systematic review by Amaro and colleagues in Science & Sports looked at 16 studies of dryland strength and conditioning and swimming performance. Seven of the 16 found no effect on swimming performance. Where benefits appeared, they were mostly in experienced swimmers, and maximal strength training seemed most effective. Plyometric training was the most effective option for starts and turns. The authors suggested programmes of 6-12 weeks, two to four sessions a week, with two to three sets of three to five repetitions at 80-90% of one-repetition maximum. They also noted that the studies predominantly involved male swimmers, limiting what can be said about women.

A 2022 systematic review by Muniz-Pardos and colleagues in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research covered 33 studies. It found positive associations between dryland strength, particularly upper-body strength, and swimming performance in cross-sectional studies, meaning stronger swimmers tend to be faster. But the effect of strength interventions on swimming performance remained unclear. Power training such as plyometrics clearly improved block starts, and jump tests were the strongest predictor of start performance. The authors called for higher-quality intervention studies.

A clearer signal from randomised trials

The strongest recent evidence is a 2024 meta-analysis in Frontiers in Physiology by Jin and colleagues. It pooled 13 randomised controlled trials involving 267 competitive swimmers, with performance tested over 25-200 m. Resistance training significantly improved upper-limb maximal strength and front-crawl performance across all tested distances.

Two details matter for triathletes:

• The performance gain came from a higher stroke rate, not a longer stroke. Stronger swimmers turned their arms over faster at a similar distance per stroke.
• Methodology mattered. Concurrent training (combining dryland and in-water resistance) and power training gave the best results.

A smaller 2020 study by Sadowski, Mastalerz and Gromisz in 26 youth swimmers adds a related point. Over 12 weeks, a group training on a swim-specific ergometer, which mimics the swimming pull, showed better transfer to the water and a significant increase in swimming velocity, compared with a group doing traditional gym exercises. The more the resistance resembled the swimming movement, the better it seemed to carry over. That's one small study in young swimmers, so it's a signal rather than a conclusion.

Why transfer to triathletes is uncertain

Several gaps separate this evidence from the typical age-group triathlete. They're worth spelling out because they change what you should expect.

Distance. The meta-analysis covered 25-200 m events lasting under about two and a half minutes. Triathlon swims run from roughly 10 minutes to more than an hour. Short events depend heavily on force and stroke rate. Long events depend more on aerobic capacity and efficiency. A strength gain that raises sprint stroke rate may matter much less, or not at all, over 1,500 m. That's an inference from the nature of the events, not a tested finding, because the long-distance studies largely haven't been done.

Technique and efficiency. Toussaint's 1990 comparison found that triathletes converted only about 44% of their stroke power into useful propulsion, against about 62% for competitive swimmers. If much of your effort is already lost in the water, adding more force may mostly add more wasted effort. Competitive swimmers in the trials had efficient technique to apply new strength through. Many triathletes don't, yet.

Population. Most participants were young competitive swimmers, often teenagers and often male. Adult age-groupers differ in age, training history, recovery and starting strength. Women are under-represented, as the Amaro review noted.

Starts and turns. Some of the clearest strength benefits are for block starts and turns, which don't feature in triathlon.

Wetsuits. Most triathletes race in a wetsuit, which changes buoyancy, body position and energy cost. A 2021 review found wetsuits improved performance by up to 11%. How strength gains interact with wetsuit swimming hasn't been studied.

Taken together, the honest summary is this. Dryland strength clearly helps competitive swimmers over short distances. Whether it makes a meaningful difference to an adult triathlete's race-distance swim is largely untested and plausibly small compared with technique and swim-specific training.

Why it's still worth doing

That doesn't make strength training pointless for triathlete swimmers. There are good reasons to do it, some well evidenced, some reasoned.

• Durability across the whole race. TriForward's article "Two Sessions a Week" covered the controlled evidence that strength training improves cycling durability. You're likely already doing strength work for that reason. Adding swim-relevant exercises costs little extra time.
• Shoulder resilience. Swimming is repetitive and shoulder pain is common in swimmers and triathletes, as covered in "Swimmer's Shoulder in Triathletes." Strength work for the muscles that control the shoulder blade and rotate the shoulder outwards is widely recommended to balance the internal-rotation bias swimming builds. The evidence that it prevents injury is thin (see below), but the rationale is reasonable.
• Possible gains in stroke rate and force. For triathletes whose technique is already reasonably efficient, the competitive-swimmer evidence suggests strength could support a higher sustainable stroke rate or more force per stroke. That's speculative over race distances.
• Ageing. Muscle mass and strength decline with age, and swim performance in Ironman results starts declining earlier than bike or run. Strength training is a sensible general countermeasure, though its specific effect on masters swim performance hasn't been tested.

What the shoulder-prevention evidence says

Band-based shoulder programmes are near-universal in swimming. The supporting evidence is weaker than their popularity suggests. In a 2023 randomised trial by Della Tommasina and colleagues, 22 male swimmers either added an 8-week elastic-band programme for the shoulder rotators to their training or continued aquatic training only. The band group improved external-rotation strength and the balance between internal and external rotators, but the improvements weren't statistically significant. The authors said larger and longer studies are needed.

That's one small study, not proof that band work is useless. The reasonable reading is that it's low-cost and low-risk, plausibly helpful, and not a guarantee against injury. Managing swim volume and paddle use is likely to matter at least as much.

A practical approach for time-crunched triathletes

TriForward's suggestions below are reasoned from the evidence above, not tested as a package in triathletes.

Fold it into what you already do

If you do one or two strength sessions a week for bike and run durability, add swim-relevant movements to them rather than creating a separate swim-strength session. The minimum-effective-dose principle covered in TriForward's earlier strength articles applies: consistency matters more than volume.

Prioritise these movement patterns

• Vertical pulling: pull-ups, assisted pull-ups or lat pulldowns. The closest gym pattern to the propulsive phase of the stroke.
• Horizontal pulling: rows of various kinds. Builds the upper back and the muscles that control the shoulder blade.
• Controlled pressing: push-ups or presses within a pain-free range, for balance around the shoulder.
• Shoulder rotators and shoulder-blade control: external rotation with a band or cable, and exercises where the shoulder blade moves under control. Light loads, good control, done consistently.
• Trunk anti-rotation and hip work: carries, anti-rotation presses and hip hinges. These support body position and the transfer of force from hips to arms. Their link to swim speed is assumed, not measured.

Load: heavy, but earn it

The reviews point to maximal strength (around three to five reps at heavy loads) and power training as most effective in competitive swimmers. For an experienced lifter, that's a reasonable target for the main pulling exercises. If you're new to lifting, spend several weeks building technique with moderate loads (around 8-12 reps) before progressing. The point is gradual exposure. Strength gains that cost you a shoulder injury aren't worth it.

Consider swim-specific resistance

The Sadowski study and the concurrent-training finding in the meta-analysis both suggest that resistance resembling the swim stroke transfers better. Practical options include stretch-cord pulling on land mimicking the stroke, short sets with a small parachute or drag device in the water, or limited paddle work. Introduce paddles carefully. Paddle use was associated with shoulder overuse injuries in a study of 193 amateur triathletes, as discussed in "Kick, Pull Buoy, Paddles."

Timing within the week

Avoid heavy upper-body strength work immediately before a key swim session, when fatigued shoulders may compromise technique. Many athletes place it after a swim or on a separate day. That's practical judgement rather than tested guidance.

A note for women and masters athletes

The swim-strength literature leans heavily towards young male swimmers, as the Amaro review acknowledged. There's no reason to think the basic principles of progressive loading work differently in women or older athletes, but the size of any swim benefit hasn't been established for either group. For masters athletes, the argument for strength training rests more on general health, maintaining muscle and shoulder resilience than on proven swim-speed gains. Those are good enough reasons on their own. Older athletes and anyone returning to lifting after a long gap should give themselves a longer technique-building phase before going heavy, and should treat joint pain as a signal to adjust rather than push through.

An example of swim-relevant additions

Here's how the patterns above might be added to an existing strength session. It's an illustration, not a tested programme. Adjust exercise choice to your equipment, experience and any injury history.

Phase 1: weeks 1-4, building technique and tolerance

• Lat pulldown or assisted pull-up: 3 sets of 8-10, controlled, full range without pain
• Single-arm row: 3 sets of 8-10 each side
• Push-up (incline if needed): 2-3 sets of 8-12
• Band or cable external rotation: 2 sets of 12-15 each side, light, slow
• Prone or bent-over shoulder-blade raises (arms in a Y or T shape): 2 sets of 10-12
• Anti-rotation press or suitcase carry: 2-3 sets each side

Phase 2: weeks 5-10, adding strength

• Pull-up or heavy pulldown: 3-4 sets of 4-6
• Heavy row: 3 sets of 5-6
• Press variation: 3 sets of 6-8
• Rotator cuff and shoulder-blade work as before, slightly heavier, still controlled
• Trunk work as before

Optional, if technique is already efficient: short land-based stretch-cord sets mimicking the pull, for example 3-4 × 30 seconds, or a few short in-water resistance repeats. This moves towards the concurrent approach that performed well in the meta-analysis.

Done alongside existing lower-body work, these additions take roughly 15-20 minutes per session.

Common mistakes

• Expecting gym strength to fix technique. If your stroke loses most of its power, more power is mostly more waste.
• Too much, too soon on the shoulders. Adding heavy pulling, pressing, more swim volume and paddles in the same few weeks stacks load on the same joint.
• Skipping the small muscles. Rotator cuff and shoulder-blade work is easy to drop because it feels unimportant. It's cheap insurance, even if the evidence for it is modest.
• Swimming hard on exhausted shoulders. Heavy upper-body work right before a technique or threshold swim tends to make the swim worse.
• Training like a sprinter for an endurance race. Plyometric start work and very high-power sets target things triathletes don't need. Strength in the main pulling patterns and resilience come first.

What to expect

Set realistic expectations. If your stroke is inefficient, strength work alone is unlikely to change your swim times much, and the research gives no reason to expect it would over race distances. If your technique is reasonably efficient and you're already swimming consistently, strength training may add a little speed and is likely to make your shoulders more robust.

Either way, strength work in the gym doesn't replace technique and structured training in the water. It supports them.

References

• Amaro N, Morouço P, Marques M, Batalha N, Neiva H, Marinho D. A systematic review on dry-land strength and conditioning training on swimming performance. Science & Sports, 2018 (online). doi:10.1016/j.scispo.2018.07.003
• Muniz-Pardos B, Gomez-Bruton A, Matute-Llorente A, Gonzalez-Aguero A, Gomez-Cabello A, Gonzalo-Skok O, Casajus JA, Vicente-Rodriguez G. Nonspecific resistance training and swimming performance: strength or power? A systematic review. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2022;36(4):1162–1170. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000003572
• Jin G, Jin Y, Zhang H, Fu X, Yang Y, Lin SC. The methodology of resistance training is crucial for improving short-medium distance front crawl performance in competitive swimmers: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Physiology, 2024. doi:10.3389/fphys.2024.1406518
• Sadowski J, Mastalerz A, Gromisz W. Transfer of dry-land resistance training modalities to swimming performance. Journal of Human Kinetics, 2020. doi:10.2478/hukin-2020-0025
• Toussaint HM. Differences in propelling efficiency between competitive and triathlon swimmers. Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 1990;22(3):409–415. PubMed 2381311
• Della Tommasina I, Trinidad-Morales A, Martínez-Lozano P, González-de-la-Flor Á, Del-Blanco-Muñiz JÁ. Effects of a dry-land strengthening exercise program with elastic bands following the Kabat D2 diagonal flexion pattern for the prevention of shoulder injuries in swimmers. Frontiers in Physiology, 2023. doi:10.3389/fphys.2023.1275285
• Schorn D, Vogler T, Gosheger G, Schneider K, Klingebiel S, Rickert C, Andreou D, Liem D. Risk factors for acute injuries and overuse syndromes of the shoulder in amateur triathletes: a retrospective analysis. PLoS ONE, 2018;13(6):e0198168. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0198168
• Quagliarotti C, Cortesi M, Gatta G, Bonifazi M, Zamparo P, Baldassarre R, Vleck V, Piacentini MF. Wetsuit use during open water swimming. Does it "suit" everybody? A narrative review. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 2021;16(9):1217–1224. doi:10.1123/ijspp.2020-0808
• Käch IW, Rüst CA, Nikolaidis PT, Rosemann T, Knechtle B. The age-related performance decline in Ironman triathlon starts earlier in swimming than in cycling and running. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2018;32(2):379–395. doi:10.1519/JSC.0000000000001796