ok. so most of us are not 100% happy with our bodies but then, i was wondering how much does this affest our speed exactly.For my age(16) im pretty short and, i was wondering just how big a disadvantage this is to me and, in what strokes?
p.s. can anyone explain the scientific reason for taking salt when you have cramps& is there nething else you can take?exactly
Originally posted by SwiminONandON
I think height is an advantage, but I don't think lack of height is a disadvantage.
i'd have to agree. i've been endowed with nearly 6' of height (sometimes a blessing, sometimes not...) the biggest advantage to height is in close races. from my experience, if it's neck and neck coming into the finish, 9 times out of 10 i'll win, because i've got incredibly long arms to go along with the height. but if i'm behind, my height doesn't neccessarily help. i've known really good swimmers who were really short and really good swimmers who were even taller than me.
so...Originally posted by SwiminONandON
Work hard and it really doesn't matter.
i don't think it's a good idea to take salt tablets, I did once many years ago then quickly felt queezy and not much later I barfed them up. eww. I recommend water.
on bodies
you've got the body you've got
there's some things you can change for the better and
there's other things you can't
once you're done growing
it's hard to grow
longer arms or legs
bigger hands and
skinnier hip bones
That's one reason Gary Hall is such a fast swimmer,
He's very tall, very skinny, he has a fast kick and a beautiful stroke.
you can't change your age, it is what it is.
on the other hand with exercise and diet
you can change
your strength
your conditioning
your flexibility
your body shape to some extent
your percent body fat
if you're seriously short and you're not done growing
I've heard of doctors prescribing human grown hormone to help patients grow a few more inches than they might have.
A friend of mine's 14 year old daughter was 4'6". Her parents and doctor were concerned that she'd wind up being a very short as an adult, like 4'10". Her doctor prescribed a series of HGH until her growth plates fused. She wound up being 5'3"
Which isn't tall, but she won't live her life as an abnormally short adult.
on the downside HGH is very expensive and not all health insurance will pay for it.
good luck,
ande
Originally posted by butterflygal
ok. so most of us are not 100% happy with our bodies but then, i was wondering how much does this affest our speed exactly.For my age(16) im pretty short and, i was wondering just how big a disadvantage this is to me and, in what strokes?
p.s. can anyone explain the scientific reason for taking salt when you have cramps& is there nething else you can take?exactly
Originally posted by butterflygal
ok. so most of us are not 100% happy with our bodies but then, i was wondering how much does this affest our speed exactly.For my age(16) im pretty short and, i was wondering just how big a disadvantage this is to me and, in what strokes?
p.s. can anyone explain the scientific reason for taking salt when you have cramps& is there nething else you can take?exactly
Don't know too much about the height/speed connection. However, I do know that when I was competing, my relatively short height (5'3") didn't make too much of a difference (i.e. I was still able to win some races). I suppose it might make a difference in sprints, especially if you're competing against people who are 6' tall.
For cramps and salt, I think the idea has something to do with getting your body to retain water. A much better idea than salt tablets is some kind of sports drink (like Gatorade) and proper warm-ups.
My 2 cents
Kae
I think height is an advantage, but I don't think lack of height is a disadvantage. Janet Evans is 5'4" I believe, not to nit pick, but because I know she is a bit taller than I. I know breaststroke and fly aren't dominated by taller swimmers as much as back and sprint free are. And distance swimmers it seem, tend to be a bit shorter (than there sprint counter parts).
There is a thread on here somewhere that talks about all this ... rounder shouldered people as breaststrokers and flyers more squared people as backstrokers? Not exactly sure ...
For any rule out there someone can come up with about body type, some elite athlete can contradict with their body type, so ...
Work hard and it really doesn't matter.
I will give an example that I gave on another thread here.....Apparently one of the fastest young butterfliers in the world is only around 5'4'' (or maybe 5'5'') according to a friend of mine who lifeguards at my pool. The guy's name is Gil Stovall and he is a freshman at Georgia this year....He came in second at the SEC championships this year in the 200 fly with a 1:43.24.....Last year he set the High School state record in TN in the 100 fly with a 47.93......My friend (who is still in High School) grew up swimming as an agegrouper in TN from Memphis....the same place Gil swam for many years as an agegrouper....and so he has had the pleasure of watching Gil swim for many years growing up in the Memphis area.....He says that Gil has always been short and not really all that big (as in muscular) either....He attributes most of Gil's success to perfect stroke mechanics.....He says Gil has one of the smoothest (and prettiest) butterfly strokes he has ever seen.....Hearing about Gil reminded me of a guy that swam at SMU in the early 80's (who is a couple of years older than me)....named Ricardo Prado....another guy who was very short and not very big...(I think Ricardo was actually only about 5'3'' if I remember correctly??)....SMU had a great team back then....Steve Lundquist was a team mate of Ricardo's....anyway Ricardo won the 200 fly at NCAA his junior (and possible senior year I believe?) with a 1:43 low....once again Ricardo had an excellent stroke to make up for his lack of size......Gil Stovall also broke the 100 freestyle state record in TN last year with something like a 44.7 .....this shows that he has blazing speed in sprints as well!....something that we normally only attribute to taller swimmers like Gary Hall Jr. for example.
Newmastersswimmer
I'm 5'8" and I never had a problem winning races with my fly.
I am more of a stocky solid build than skinny type.
It was actually pretty funny during my senior year on my club team. 3 of our top swimmers on the relay were all under 5'9". We'd get up on the blocks and look like we were with the 13-14 age group or something ;)
So while we commonly see the 6' + long slender swimmer bodies, I think a swimmer can be successful with a myriad of body types.
