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.
Since it is hard to do experiments involving actual weight loss perhaps we can get a slim swimmer to put on one of those big flotation belts to simulate a larger sized body. They might have to also wear a weight belt to counter the buoyancy.
As Gary Sr points out in another thread buoyancy can increase speed.
Actually, here's a possible way of testing it.
To increase buoyancy uniformly over the body, have a swimmer wear a couple different wet suits of increasing thickness. Provided they all have a negligible effect on stroke mechanics, the thicker the neoprene, the more buoyant the swimmer, and the faster he/or she should go (at least that is out hypothesis.)
You can buy lead tape to put on tennis racquets to adjust the center of gravity. Perhaps a few strips of lead tape arrayed here and there would be able to add weight without appreciably changing a swimmer's physique.
These two adjustments could at least help judge the relative roles of buoyancy and weight as independent factors. To analyze how being overweight in different parts of the body (hips vs. gut, for example), perhaps there might be some way to put neutrally buoyand material--silicone?--under the wet suit that would pooch out the abdomen or butt in a relatively smooth way to see how this effects speed.
Since it is hard to do experiments involving actual weight loss perhaps we can get a slim swimmer to put on one of those big flotation belts to simulate a larger sized body. They might have to also wear a weight belt to counter the buoyancy.
As Gary Sr points out in another thread buoyancy can increase speed.
Actually, here's a possible way of testing it.
To increase buoyancy uniformly over the body, have a swimmer wear a couple different wet suits of increasing thickness. Provided they all have a negligible effect on stroke mechanics, the thicker the neoprene, the more buoyant the swimmer, and the faster he/or she should go (at least that is out hypothesis.)
You can buy lead tape to put on tennis racquets to adjust the center of gravity. Perhaps a few strips of lead tape arrayed here and there would be able to add weight without appreciably changing a swimmer's physique.
These two adjustments could at least help judge the relative roles of buoyancy and weight as independent factors. To analyze how being overweight in different parts of the body (hips vs. gut, for example), perhaps there might be some way to put neutrally buoyand material--silicone?--under the wet suit that would pooch out the abdomen or butt in a relatively smooth way to see how this effects speed.
