I was wondering if being tall gives you an advantage in swimming because alot of the olympic male swimmers today are over 6 feet.
What do you guys think?
:D
A while back someone linked to a statistical study of elite swimmers that concluded close to what Allan said. (These conclusions are what I remember and might not be complete or perfectly accurate. Sorry don't have time to find the link.)
- Height helps, particularly among male sprinters.
- Wingspan really helps, particularly among sprinters.
- Height makes less of a difference in breaststroke and IM.
- I think there was something about short legs helping in backstroke.
(That said, I'm 6'2" with a 75 inch wingspan and just about everybody who posts could beat me, because I'm lacking in just about everything else - flexibility, upper body strength, technique, etc.)
Now I've always thought that your kick was helped by wide feet - though I've never seen it studied. That would help me rationalize having a lousy kick with a 12B foot.
not short legs, per se. that comment was in relation to IMers. backstrokers tended to have a longer torso compared to IMers, but we're talking about an average of 5cm for women. for men, it's 13cm. the only reason that backstroke is mentioned is because, when compared to IM, the difference is statistically significant... comparing backstroke to the other strokes, the difference is not significant...
this study was done on 2000 OT qualifiers. who knows what kind of data would show up with more recent qualifiers, or for masters...
but here's the link, if anyone is interested...
www.usaswimming.org/.../DesktopDefault.aspx
If one more person mentions NASCAR in reference to a "sport", I think I'm going to puke.
I would categorize synchronized swimming as having more true elements of a "sport" than NASCAR.
John Smith
We need to cut lose the Carolinas, Mississippi and Alabama and set them a drift in the Atlantic. They can compete as individual nations for the NASCAR world championships.
John Smith
And I think you're being rude, no matter what size you are. People are as tall or short as they are and have to swim with what they've got. Period.
Hasn't this been discussed to death now?:dedhorse::dedhorse::dedhorse:
No offense intended. The title of this thread is "Does being tall give you an advantage." I think there is general consensus that the answer is yes. I'm 5'8" and am doing the the best I can with my height as is. Not considering HGH or height increasing surgery. But I'm pretty sure I'd be a faster swimmer if I were 6'0".
A while back someone linked to a statistical study of elite swimmers that concluded close to what Allan said. (These conclusions are what I remember and might not be complete or perfectly accurate. Sorry don't have time to find the link.)
- Height helps, particularly among male sprinters.
- Wingspan really helps, particularly among sprinters.
- Height makes less of a difference in breaststroke and IM.
- I think there was something about short legs helping in backstroke.
(That said, I'm 6'2" with a 75 inch wingspan and just about everybody who posts could beat me, because I'm lacking in just about everything else - flexibility, upper body strength, technique, etc.)
Now I've always thought that your kick was helped by wide feet - though I've never seen it studied. That would help me rationalize having a lousy kick with a 12B foot.
A while back someone linked to a statistical study of elite swimmers that concluded close to what Allan said. (These conclusions are what I remember and might not be complete or perfectly accurate. Sorry don't have time to find the link.)
- Height helps, particularly among male sprinters.
- Wingspan really helps, particularly among sprinters.
- Height makes less of a difference in breaststroke and IM.
- I think there was something about short legs helping in backstroke.
(That said, I'm 6'2" with a 75 inch wingspan and just about everybody who posts could beat me, because I'm lacking in just about everything else - flexibility, upper body strength, technique, etc.)
Now I've always thought that your kick was helped by wide feet - though I've never seen it studied. That would help me rationalize having a lousy kick with a 12B foot.
It's kind of what I was driving at all along. Since this is a masters forum, I had masters in mind...
- Height helps, particularly among male sprinters.
- Wingspan really helps, particularly among sprinters.
I guess it depends in your definition of a sprinter. Being 6’3” with an 84” arm span should give me sprinting advantages, but unless sprinting extends up to around 10-15K (any swim that doesn’t require feeding stops should be classified as a sprint) I think other generic and training factors come into play. At least they do for me.
This will also be a great asset when you have kids...It’s also an asset in painting ceilings and changing lightbulbs.
I have really narrow feet, so that may explain my crappy kicking.
I have a massive armspan, so that would explain my sprinting and awesome pullingskills.
A while back someone linked to a statistical study of elite swimmers that concluded close to what Allan said. (These conclusions are what I remember and might not be complete or perfectly accurate. Sorry don't have time to find the link.)
- Height helps, particularly among male sprinters.
- Wingspan really helps, particularly among sprinters.
- Height makes less of a difference in breaststroke and IM.
- I think there was something about short legs helping in backstroke.
(That said, I'm 6'2" with a 75 inch wingspan and just about everybody who posts could beat me, because I'm lacking in just about everything else - flexibility, upper body strength, technique, etc.)
Now I've always thought that your kick was helped by wide feet - though I've never seen it studied. That would help me rationalize having a lousy kick with a 12B foot.
