I'm sure many of you are already aware of this article on about.com It reviews a couple of studies that try to explain why swimmers tend to have more body fat than other athletes.
Thought if you weren't aware of the article you might find it interesting.
swimming.about.com/.../offsite.htm
Lainey
Posted by Knelson:
It's kind of strange they don't mention that swimmers don't need to be thinner. It seems obvious to me that runners and cyclists want to be as light (and for cyclists, the bike too) as possible because they're fighting gravity, whereas this isn't true of swimmers.
Disagree. Swimming is like climbing a ladder, but horizontally. The heavier you are the more force is required through you arms to pull and accelerate your body. The lighter you are, the less slippage there will be in your catch, especially if you are a powerfull sprinter. There is no arguing otherwise. I'm not saying you can't be "fast" while carrying extra unnecessary weight, but you will be slower than you could be. You will never see an overweight Olympic swimmer...never. The only sport you may get away with it is in baseball, but you better be able to hit home runs or throw 95+.
There is a saying in track sprinting "light is right". It is free speed. I remember those hard track workouts and thinking what a shame to do it and then leave free speed on the table by not cutting weight.
Posted by Knelson:
It's kind of strange they don't mention that swimmers don't need to be thinner. It seems obvious to me that runners and cyclists want to be as light (and for cyclists, the bike too) as possible because they're fighting gravity, whereas this isn't true of swimmers.
Disagree. Swimming is like climbing a ladder, but horizontally. The heavier you are the more force is required through you arms to pull and accelerate your body. The lighter you are, the less slippage there will be in your catch, especially if you are a powerfull sprinter. There is no arguing otherwise. I'm not saying you can't be "fast" while carrying extra unnecessary weight, but you will be slower than you could be. You will never see an overweight Olympic swimmer...never. The only sport you may get away with it is in baseball, but you better be able to hit home runs or throw 95+.
There is a saying in track sprinting "light is right". It is free speed. I remember those hard track workouts and thinking what a shame to do it and then leave free speed on the table by not cutting weight.
