This has been something I've wondered the last few years. I used to be a college swimmer, fit and trim, but the 10 years since then I've drank my fair share of beer and ate plenty of cheeseburgers. Just curious what peoples' take is on how much the extra baggage really effects swim races.
I don't really fit the swimmer mold anymore. I'm 31, 6'2", and 270lbs with a huge beer gut. I got some strange looks since the meet i was in recently was a USAS meet and I outweighed my competition by 100lbs in many cases. My first race in about 5 years i went 23.4 in the 50y free. I didn't expect to be that fast at this weight but at the same time I almost wonder if the added intertia is helping me more on the start and turns. Followed it up with a low 52 in the 100y free but I had a horrible reaction on the start and incorrect pacing. I think if i raced again today that'd be deep in the 51 range. For reference, typical non-taper times for me in college were in the low-mid 22 range at just a tick over 200lbs but I was obviously a lot stronger, younger, and doing a TON more yards at the time, that's why it makes me wonder just how much the weight is actually holding me back.
How much time do you think I stand to drop if i were 50lbs lighter? Could it be a measurable difference or something just slight? I guess I ask that to see if it'd be worth my while to drop that much weight quickly by dieting in addition to the swimming i'm doing. I don't really like dieting, and i generally eat what I want, when i want. Not gorging myself at every meal doesn't really seem to fit into my lifestyle :blush: Anyone have a similar story? "I dropped XX lbs and went XX seconds faster because of it."
Maybe it's an immeasurable, but I thought I'd ask for opinion anyway. I'm hoping it doesn't turn into a "to diet or not to diet" discussion though.
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Former Member
Who knows, try it out and let us know. Good luck.
Trying... but it's a slow process. Weight doesn't exactly fly off when you love cheeseburgers so much :banana:
The particular heat in that video was me against all 15-16 year olds at a USAS state championship meet ... so i had their ages doubled, and in many cases, their weight too. Strangely I still feel like i was beating up on a bunch of kids. :cool: (no summer masters meets in my state)
This topic always intrigued me though, since I don't exactly fit the fast swimmer mold, but i'm probably faster than most my size. That's kinda why i created the discussion though. Just to try to figure out how much the excess baggage effects overall speed. There aren't many people that even have this discussion because swimmers as a whole are so in-shape, and the out of shape ones typically aren't competing.
Anyways, as far as your observation about energy... I definitely feel more energy after starting "training" again even though it's only 3 days a week max. But the comparison is looking back to the 5 year no-excercise hiatus I was on. Naturally doing anything will provide more energy. I think mental commitment is the hardest part though. Physical energy is there if mental energy is there. I haven't noticed any excess of energy that I can attribute to mere weight loss between starting last december, through spring and into summer though.
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Former Member
Who knows, try it out and let us know. Good luck.
Trying... but it's a slow process. Weight doesn't exactly fly off when you love cheeseburgers so much :banana:
The particular heat in that video was me against all 15-16 year olds at a USAS state championship meet ... so i had their ages doubled, and in many cases, their weight too. Strangely I still feel like i was beating up on a bunch of kids. :cool: (no summer masters meets in my state)
This topic always intrigued me though, since I don't exactly fit the fast swimmer mold, but i'm probably faster than most my size. That's kinda why i created the discussion though. Just to try to figure out how much the excess baggage effects overall speed. There aren't many people that even have this discussion because swimmers as a whole are so in-shape, and the out of shape ones typically aren't competing.
Anyways, as far as your observation about energy... I definitely feel more energy after starting "training" again even though it's only 3 days a week max. But the comparison is looking back to the 5 year no-excercise hiatus I was on. Naturally doing anything will provide more energy. I think mental commitment is the hardest part though. Physical energy is there if mental energy is there. I haven't noticed any excess of energy that I can attribute to mere weight loss between starting last december, through spring and into summer though.
