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
Parents
Former Member
I think for sprinters (50M and over in 20 plus seconds with little breathing), excess weight is negative, therefore most sprinters are long and lean. Alexander Popov, Roland Mark Schoeman, Inge De Bruijn. However middle to long distance requries more breathing and longer gliding phase to preserve energy, buoancy helps. Look at Ian Thorpe, at 6'5 and at one point 230 lbs, hardly chiseled at all.
I think for sprinters (50M and over in 20 plus seconds with little breathing), excess weight is negative, therefore most sprinters are long and lean. Alexander Popov, Roland Mark Schoeman, Inge De Bruijn. However middle to long distance requries more breathing and longer gliding phase to preserve energy, buoancy helps. Look at Ian Thorpe, at 6'5 and at one point 230 lbs, hardly chiseled at all.
