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.
Former Member
Floating may not translate to speed, but it can help.
Most long distance ocean swimmers carry the extra weight for both insulation and buoyancy.
In a pool setting, the skinny people seem to have the advantage.
Former Member
what would be the typical body fat of an Olympic swimmer vs. a top-level Masters swimmer?
Elite swimmers have around 5%. And body fat differences are influenced in how much one might practice, and what kind of eating habits are established. Most former swimmers maintain the appetite of hungry bear long after their competition days. In due time the only ribs you may see on those guys is when they're eating.
But with good technique even the big football player types can move through the water with the greatest of ease. You could bet money that Michael Phelps at 250+ pounds would still be quite the speed demon.
This was an interesting study called "Slim Enough To Swim?"
Former Member
Quantifying how much faster you will swim with weight loss seems trivial when you compare it with the health benefits you will reap. Ever since I ditched diets and focused on my health, I have been able to very easily stay at a normal weight - believe me, I never miss a meal. :) What about finding ways to enjoy meals that are a little healthier and make small improvements to the diet step by step? That's what I did after college and after awhile I actually preferred the healthier fare!
I can come up with a dozen "yeah but..." answers to this. Certainly none of them are good or even logical :) I've taken a few strides towards something like this, but its not been so much of a change of "what" as opposed to "how much" :) Most days for lunch, instead of $12 at taco bell or burger king, it's like $4-5 now lol :banana: Eventually perhaps my appetite will grow up too :blush:
Right on the cusp this week. Weighed in at 250. That 249 scale reading will be a milestone :) I have a meet tomorrow and sunday also, so i'll have more non-shave, non-taper results at this weight. I'd be thrilled to go sub 50sec in the 100y free.
Former Member
Good luck! I hope you have a fast swim. But seriously..fast food? Blechh!! I always take food I fix myself to work. Whole wheat bagels with sliced veggies and mozzarella, grapes, strawberries, yogurt, pistachios and/or almonds...oh and sometimes one or two homemade chocolate chip cookies :)
I eat fast food at least 3 days a week. On the days that I don't (lunchtime swims), I supplement with 2 gas station hot dogs after practice :) Most of my dinners are home cooked or regular restaurant though. Not saying there's no reason I'm heavy either ;)
Former Member
You seem to be saying that the effect of being overweight should greater on longer races. I am not necessarily disagreeing, but why would that be? I think all of the factors you mention are worse at the higher speeds one encounters in shorter races, and I don't believe the effects (eg form drag) are linear with speed.
well at least for me the extra weight slows me down more on longer races, because I can fake being in shape for 50 yards.
Former Member
Pre meet weigh in for me was 250lbs
50y free 23.2
100y free 51.1
Both were in a regular speedo jammer.
Both times are season bests if you disregard taper/shave/techsuit times. Pretty good results overall but it's hard to separate these mentally from taper times only 6 weeks ago. Still its fun to go rock a usas meet in the 15+ age group. I had most my competition doubled in age and also had them outweighed by about 100lbs each... still wound up with a first and a second place :)
Vids of the taper swims for reference:
2010 50m - ‪swim_race1‬ - YouTube
2011 50m - ‪swim_race7‬ - YouTube (far right lane)
Just thought I'd keep the thread updated :)
Nice videos! Man, you really attacked those sprints.
Do you think the weight difference is what directly accounts for your time change, or do you think it is an indirect effect, or maybe even spurious correlation?
By this I guess I mean something along these lines:
Direct effect: weigh less, more streamlined in water, less drag = better speed.
Indirect effect: weighing less has no specific benefit for speed (less weight might be cancelled out by reduced buoyancy or a slight loss of muscle mass and power). but it IS directly correlated with being in better shape. Hence you swim faster not because you weigh less but because you are more fit (which has as a side effect reduced weight)
Spurious correlation: weighing less has nothing to do with swimming faster at all. The differences in heavier vs. lighter times are within the margin of error. Had you swum the event a handful of times in mid june last year, odds are you would have swum as fast as you did in mid june this year. Ditto for the converse. Had you swum several 50s this year, odds are you would have had at least one swim as slow as last year. Just random distribution, in other words.
I suspect you believe in option 1, and you might be right. Then again, there could be a placebo effect involved with such a belief, too. You believe slimming down will let you swim faster, and expectations nudge you towards improvement whether or not the weight has nothing to do with it.
What do you think, in your heart of hearts, is the likeliest explanation?
Former Member
Finally have some decent comparatively measured results a year later from two meets last year:
50 free LCM
=============
Mid June - 2010: 267lbs - 26.9 sec. no shave, no taper
Mid June - 2011: 253lbs - 26.6 sec. no shave, no taper
.02 sec/pound
Aug 1 2010 - 257lbs - 26.5 sec. shaved, tapered.
Jul 31 2011 - 248lbs - 25.9 sec. shaved, tapered.
.06 sec/pound
The two don't exactly show an exact quarrelation, but tapered/shaved 50 LCM swims a year apart may be the closest I can come to comparing weight loss to speed. The training program hasn't changed much, taper program was the same, and shave was the same, approved jammer both years, but I did move from a grab start last year to a track start this year. Unsure if that poisoned my results a measurable amount or not. It may have.
Vids of the taper swims for reference:
2010 50m - ‪swim_race1‬ - YouTube
2011 50m - ‪swim_race7‬ - YouTube (far right lane)
Just thought I'd keep the thread updated :)
Former Member
I suspect you believe in option 1, and you might be right. Then again, there could be a placebo effect involved with such a belief, too. You believe slimming down will let you swim faster, and expectations nudge you towards improvement whether or not the weight has nothing to do with it.
What do you think, in your heart of hearts, is the likeliest explanation?
Actually I think it is indirect. I've long postulated that swimmers, typically, are slender and shaped the way they are as a direct result of the intense training they do, rather than a fit-the-mold requirement to go fast. The weight probably doesn't help speed, but I hesitate to say that it hurts it as much as many think, which is kindof why I started this little experiment.
My improvement is probably more related to what I've done in a year rather than simply being lighter. The move to the track start may have skewed those results in favor of speed though.
In heart of hearts explanation, as you ask, The likeliest is also the simplest: I've probably just gotten better since last year. I don't think it is random chance that I dropped time.
Former Member
Do you have any data for your 100 meter race from a year ago shaved and tapered and also times that are non-shaved and non-tapered?
Unfortunately last year I didn't swim the 100 free at all in LCM, only in SCY. All of those results should be in this thread somewhere. But I could go through and pull them if you really want to know.
