Why do Olympic swimmers have so much body fat?

[Descartes]

Originally posted by: TechBoyJK

Originally posted by: darkswordsman17
I think the OP is confused by the very tight clothing they were wearing. It was really pulling into their skin which made them look kinda fat. That one special suit especially looked bad.

I noticed phelps' lat muscles were bulging out of his suit, almost hanging over like a gut.

but when they interviewed him, he didn't look like he had much body fat at all, so i agree that the suits distort their appearance

Not sure which muscle you're talking about, but it's definitely not his lats.

 

[MercenaryYoureFired]

Originally posted by: Syringer
Yeah he's so fat http://farm1.static.flickr.com...1028570_083475b1f7.jpg

Fatty needs to lose some weight.

 

[Modelworks]

Body fat doesn't matter . They now have vacuum packed, heat shrink suits to wear !

 

[tboo]

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: Brovane
How do you figure that the Olympic swimmers have more fat? The ones that I see on TV are overall very lean on both the female and male side. Michael Phelps looks to have no extra body fat on him and neither does somebody like Natalie Coughlin. I won't even mention that Dana Torres looks to be very lean with 6-pack for a stomach.

However sometimes for open water oceans swims the swimmers will put on weight for both buoyancy and insulation. If you look at a open water swimmer like Lynne Cox looking at her body you would never realize she is one of the worlds best open water swimmer. However she can swim and survive in water that would kill most people.

PIC of Dara Torres.

She's in her 40's, and had a kid a couple of years ago. and has a 6pack!!!!!!!!

How the hell does a woman get a 6pack after having a kid, much less in her 40s?

Edit:
PIC2

FAKE...Thats a man!!!

 

[herkulease]

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: Brovane
How do you figure that the Olympic swimmers have more fat? The ones that I see on TV are overall very lean on both the female and male side. Michael Phelps looks to have no extra body fat on him and neither does somebody like Natalie Coughlin. I won't even mention that Dana Torres looks to be very lean with 6-pack for a stomach.

However sometimes for open water oceans swims the swimmers will put on weight for both buoyancy and insulation. If you look at a open water swimmer like Lynne Cox looking at her body you would never realize she is one of the worlds best open water swimmer. However she can swim and survive in water that would kill most people.

PIC of Dara Torres.

She's in her 40's, and had a kid a couple of years ago. and has a 6pack!!!!!!!!

How the hell does a woman get a 6pack after having a kid, much less in her 40s?

Edit:
PIC2

In interviews she said that she had her whole training regimen completely overhauled so she can do only the freestyle strokes. she competed in other strokes previous times.

I thinking genetics has something to do with it. Some people are just born with it.

anyhow see here, in 2000 she was thin but wasn't sport a six pack or anything. Granted its a maxim photo but yeah.
link

 

[idiotekniQues]

have you seen how well penguins swim lately?

 

[JujuFish]

Michael Phelps after winning 4x100m freestyle relay. Fatty McFatterson.

 

[nageov3t]

Originally posted by: JujuFish
Michael Phelps after winning 4x100m freestyle relay. Fatty McFatterson.

jesus, I will never see him as attractive again.

 

[hellokeith]

Keep in mind that muscle mass is heavy. Swimmers don't want to be heavy, they want to be as light as they can while still being in tip top shape. Hence the toned-but-not-ripped appearance.

I would date Katie Hoff in a heartbeat, but I fear she can kick my butt any day of the week.

 

[EMPshockwave82]

I think the "toned but not ripped" mentioned above is absolutely correct. I was a swimmer all through HS and college. We did 7000 yards 6 days per week with about an hour and a half of lifting 3-4 days per week.

The exercises that we did in the weight room were typically created with the intent of toning what we had and building a little more. 90% of the exercises we did were 15 reps or more with 3 sets. This is vastly different from those people that do 2 sets of 6 but max out and move to muscle failure.

Swimmers that you see will typically be very lean and not have an extreme amount of muscle showing until they flex. ie the Phelps picture that was posted above.

You are on something if you think that swimmers are fat. Swimmers cant be. You want a fatty... look at football players. They have a higher percentage of body fat on average. (you have to balance the ripped out players with the fatty linemen)

 

[allies]

Originally posted by: RaistlinZ
Is there a particular reason swimmers in the Olympics seem to have more body fat than other atheletes? Considering what they do is pretty much 100% cardio work and they're using all of the muscles in the body you'd think they'd be more cut than they are, but most of them don't have any muscle definition at all.

Is there a tactical advantage for swimming to maintain a certain weight/body fat ratio?

Are you kidding me? Their BF percentage is low...

Edit: As many have mentioned, their build is predominantly lean muscle mass. Plus, even the 50m swim requires a lot more slow twitch/lean muscle than say the 100m dash...

Edit 2: Past my bedtime and grammar is already asleep.

 

[allies]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
my buddy from school used to swim competitively. they are not so lean, especially at the stomach (notice how michael phelps doesn't have a 6-pack) because the body develops a small layer of fat to act as insulation.

Your buddy is just fat and told you a lame excuse.

 

[allies]

Originally posted by: idiotekniQues
have you seen how well penguins swim lately?

Do people seriously think Olympic swimmers have [a lot of] fat on their bodies?!?

Have you seen how well sharks swim lately?

 

[Nik]

Originally posted by: Baked
What? Link? It's not fat, they just have very lean and flexible muscle, which you perceive as flabby fat.

Bingo. They're toned, not cut.

It's the same reason major league pitchers can pitch 90mph+ fast balls and big beefy body builders can't lob it half way to home plate.

 

[Whisper]

Originally posted by: Nik

Originally posted by: Baked
What? Link? It's not fat, they just have very lean and flexible muscle, which you perceive as flabby fat.

Bingo. They're toned, not cut.

It's the same reason major league pitchers can pitch 90mph+ fast balls and big beefy body builders can't lob it half way to home plate.

I'd say that has a lot more to do with proper form and technique (and some good genes) than anything else. I haven't seen very many major league pitchers who I'd describe as being "toned" in the strictest sense of the word.

 

[Chiropteran]

It's evidence of evolution!

You see on the micro scale, you have humans becoming more fat to swim a little better. On the macro scale you have whales, some of the fattest mammals on earth, which are also excellent swimmers.

Evolution towards good swimming = gaining fat.

 

[Nik]

Originally posted by: Whisper

Originally posted by: Nik

Originally posted by: Baked
What? Link? It's not fat, they just have very lean and flexible muscle, which you perceive as flabby fat.

Bingo. They're toned, not cut.

It's the same reason major league pitchers can pitch 90mph+ fast balls and big beefy body builders can't lob it half way to home plate.

I'd say that has a lot more to do with proper form and technique (and some good genes) than anything else. I haven't seen very many major league pitchers who I'd describe as being "toned" in the strictest sense of the word.

I remember reading about it in health in jr high. I remember it because I was a pitcher Something about the size and shape of a trained pitcher's bicep being longer, thinner... or some shit like that. I don't remember to well, it's late and I really don't care about the subject enough to bother googling it

 

[Red Dawn]

Originally posted by: Whisper

Originally posted by: Nik

Originally posted by: Baked
What? Link? It's not fat, they just have very lean and flexible muscle, which you perceive as flabby fat.

Bingo. They're toned, not cut.

It's the same reason major league pitchers can pitch 90mph+ fast balls and big beefy body builders can't lob it half way to home plate.

I'd say that has a lot more to do with proper form and technique (and some good genes) than anything else. I haven't seen very many major league pitchers who I'd describe as being "toned" in the strictest sense of the word.

Nik followed the David Wells fitness regimen.

 

[0roo0roo]

op failed to post pics....sad.
i wanna see the fat girl

now archery, i saw a few tubby girls with guts there!

the top two teams of china and korea were all thin though

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Originally posted by: Fenixgoon
my buddy from school used to swim competitively. they are not so lean, especially at the stomach (notice how michael phelps doesn't have a 6-pack) because the body develops a small layer of fat to act as insulation.

Yeah. I swam competetively too and there's no way we were all the leanest. I think we all had decent muscles and most of us were toned. There's no way we had a great amount of fat but we weren't all like ripped and crap. Oh and also there are fat people who can swim incredibly fast. I know some. They just glide right through the water.

 

[AbAbber2k]

Lot of ignorance in this thread. But then, that's what you get when a bunch of tubby nerds try to understand elite athletes with single digit BF%.

 

[edro]

I equate a swimmer body to that of a marathon runner.
Long, lean, efficient, not bulky or ripped.

 

[ebaycj]

Originally posted by: JEDI

Originally posted by: Brovane
How do you figure that the Olympic swimmers have more fat? The ones that I see on TV are overall very lean on both the female and male side. Michael Phelps looks to have no extra body fat on him and neither does somebody like Natalie Coughlin. I won't even mention that Dana Torres looks to be very lean with 6-pack for a stomach.

However sometimes for open water oceans swims the swimmers will put on weight for both buoyancy and insulation. If you look at a open water swimmer like Lynne Cox looking at her body you would never realize she is one of the worlds best open water swimmer. However she can swim and survive in water that would kill most people.

PIC of Dara Torres.

She's in her 40's, and had a kid a couple of years ago. and has a 6pack!!!!!!!!

How the hell does a woman get a 6pack after having a kid, much less in her 40s?

Edit:
PIC2

She is disgusting.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: JEDI
PIC of Dara Torres.

She's in her 40's, and had a kid a couple of years ago. and has a 6pack!!!!!!!!

How the hell does a woman get a 6pack after having a kid, much less in her 40s?

Edit:
PIC2

You are just used to most women who are lazy and when they have kids completely slack off. There are plenty of women who have kids and get exceptionally lean after and very fit. It's just the exception in the same way that most guys who get married and have kids look like sh*t in no time.

I equate a swimmer body to that of a marathon runner.
Long, lean, efficient, not bulky or ripped.

Elite marathoners are thinner though I think, even if we ignore the fact that they are almost emaciated from a muscle standpoint.

She is disgusting.

I completely disagree, mad respect.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Originally posted by: Descartes

Originally posted by: TechBoyJK

Originally posted by: darkswordsman17
I think the OP is confused by the very tight clothing they were wearing. It was really pulling into their skin which made them look kinda fat. That one special suit especially looked bad.

I noticed phelps' lat muscles were bulging out of his suit, almost hanging over like a gut.

but when they interviewed him, he didn't look like he had much body fat at all, so i agree that the suits distort their appearance

Not sure which muscle you're talking about, but it's definitely not his lats.

when you reach behind your armpits and grab that big back muscle, that's not your lat? I saw him from behind as he was getting out the pool, and his lats were bulging out.. the suit was soo tight.