I'm a rookie in the pool, and am surprised that keeping one's weight down appears to be less important than I thought. After decades of running with the knowledge that every pound over my running weight added 20 secs to my p/m pace, am I ok being a little chunky? I do aspire to be competitive in my age class. Thanks, Steve
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Former Member
Lower body fat is generally correlated with faster swimming. That's the gist of the research I've read, but there's not much research. Also, the studies are all correlational. Swimmers who have less fat tend to be faster. What this doesn't necessarily mean is that any individual will swim faster from making an effort to lose body fat. If you go on a diet or a cardio bender to lose weight, you'll lose not only fat but muscle.
In swimming, body weight is supported and not a huge issue (I'd be more concerned about body shape as it affects drag), but muscle is a huge issue because it's what you use to swim. If the benefit from lost fat doesn't overcome the detriment from lost muscle, you'll swim slower by losing weight, even when the ratio might lead to faster running. It's just due to the differences between the two sports in how weight affects performance. In studies of elite athletes across sports, swimmers and other weight-supported athletes (like kayakers) tend to have slightly higher body fat than runners.
Lower body fat is generally correlated with faster swimming. That's the gist of the research I've read, but there's not much research. Also, the studies are all correlational. Swimmers who have less fat tend to be faster. What this doesn't necessarily mean is that any individual will swim faster from making an effort to lose body fat. If you go on a diet or a cardio bender to lose weight, you'll lose not only fat but muscle.
In swimming, body weight is supported and not a huge issue (I'd be more concerned about body shape as it affects drag), but muscle is a huge issue because it's what you use to swim. If the benefit from lost fat doesn't overcome the detriment from lost muscle, you'll swim slower by losing weight, even when the ratio might lead to faster running. It's just due to the differences between the two sports in how weight affects performance. In studies of elite athletes across sports, swimmers and other weight-supported athletes (like kayakers) tend to have slightly higher body fat than runners.
