Here's my question: Should one intentionally loose muscle mass and weightlifting strength in order to be more streamlined and potentially go faster in the water? How much mass would one have to lose in order to present less resistance in the water?
Maybe on a related note: Let's say a swimmer has a muscular build, and their technique is very good, would they benefit from losing ten lbs. of extra muscle mass and maybe becoming a more streamlined vessel?
Any thoughts? :weightlifter::banana::weightlifter::banana:
Ande, Thanks for the response.
Current stats are:
Height: 5' 10"
Weight: 174lbs
Body fat %: 4-6
Chest: 45"
Arms: 16"
Waist: 30"
Thighs: 23"
I'll get some current pics in the next day or so. The main reason I asked this is that I'm within 2-3 seconds of swimming as fast as I did in high school (22yrs ago), and I have a personal goal of meeting or beating my times from back then. I'm currently about 20lbs heavier and much stronger weightlifting-wise, but I'm after the speed. I believe my bodyfat is probably close to what it was back then.
I think that by starting this thread I've answered my question, in that I'll try and loose about 10lbs of mass and see what happens. Thanks again to everyone for the responses, and hope to see some of you at Nationals this May. Take care.:wiggle:
Its a tough call. Gary Hall Jr and Anthony Ervin both won their dual 50 free gold medal in Sydney in 21.98 with two pretty different builds. AE was definitely built up top, but was pretty tall and lanky, whereas GHJ was (and still is) very broad up top. picture, clothed, but still apparent
Be efficient with a tight streamline, good cadence and good technique and you should be ok either way.
...just don't do well with photos.
Uh, yeah...what a dog, jeez.:D
I have seen good swimmers with builds close to yours. Again, I don't think the issue is hydrodynamics but muscle mass around MAY hamper flexibility (hard to say from a single photo). Can you hold a tight streamline without much effort? Are you "long" in the water?
And seriously, lose the beer belly.:drink:
losing fat and muscle = less weight, which should be easier to pull through the water, but you've got less muscle to do the pulling, are more dense (and probably lower in the water), so it takes more energy, you get tired faster and as a result, probably die (in the water) and go slower.
On the other hand, fat helps with buoyancy, which makes you float a little better, which should make it easier to pull through, except that you've got this exess weight to pull through now, so you have to get stronger, add more muscle and weight...
its a never ending circle of fitness decision hell. :doh:
I've competed at 4 SCY nationals' with four different weights and fat contents over the last several years, and I've had lifetime bests at ALL those meets. I've come to the conclusion that no matter how much appreciate the presence of abs and that swimmer V on my front side, I'll probably swim pretty fast regardless of how well defined those are. :weightlifter:
Maybe it’s their natural competitive nature, but athletes are at high risk for developing an eating disorder or distorted body image. I think swimmers may be even more susceptible to this because they are looking for whatever can give them the slightest edge over their opponents. I'm not saying you have an issue at all - I just think its an important issue that swimmers should be aware of.
Masters swimmers?!
No thanks, I like food.
Maybe it’s their natural competitive nature, but athletes are at high risk for developing an eating disorder or distorted body image. I think swimmers may be even more susceptible to this because they are looking for whatever can give them the slightest edge over their opponents. I'm not saying you have an issue at all - I just think its an important issue that swimmers should be aware of.
Yeah, no worries here. While I've had to clean up my diet recently, I still eat a lot of the healthy stuff, I just have to stay away from the junk. Good food in general is just too awesome to pass up.
:banana::banana::banana::banana:
I have never ever seen an anorexic swimmer, I don't think it's possible. However, go to a running race and it doesn't take long to see some nastified skinny jokers. Swimmers are universally known by their ability to consume tons of food, and beer.
I disagree with this. I believe that the loss in WEIGHT makes you faster, and that it is better to lose fat than muscle (which, after all, provides propulsion). Buoyancy complicates this a little, but not much in my opinion. Greatly simplified (perhaps oversimplified), it is all about F = ma: a given force will produce more acceleration when acting on a lighter object.
I should have clarified my statement perhaps. I agree with you that losing any weight should make a person faster as long as they don't lose strength as a result of losing weight. My assertion was, that as a relative newbie to swimming, losing body fat probably isn't going to make me faster without the required increase in work to lose the body fat.
I don't believe there is proof that lighter is faster, all things being equal. Today's modern athletes are bigger, stronger, heavier and faster than ever. Knock 30 pounds off of your favorite athlete and tell me if you'd really think they'd be as fast, strong or dominant. I doubt they would.
You're not keeping all things equal. If you compare two athletes who are identical in every way except for weight (obviously they are two theoretical athletes:confused:), the lighter one will accelerate more quickly with the same exerted force. Knocking 30 pounds off a lean, elite athlete would result in that athlete not being able to exert as much force.
Maybe it’s their natural competitive nature, but athletes are at high risk for developing an eating disorder or distorted body image. I think swimmers may be even more susceptible to this because they are looking for whatever can give them the slightest edge over their opponents. I'm not saying you have an issue at all - I just think its an important issue that swimmers should be aware of.
