So, me and the little lady were discussing this last night.

Male swimmers are, basically, ripped (and I say that without being gay or ‘owt). Not a hint of fat, incredible muscular definition. Female swimmers however seem to be a bit, well, podgy.

In a similar vein, male gymnasts are built like brick poo-houses whilst the women (let’s be honest, girls) are absolutely teeny-tiny.

Why the difference in body shape between the sexes in the same event? If you look at male and female cyclists, or track and field athletes, or rowers, the two sexes are of a broadly similar shape. Why such descrepancies in swimming and gymnastic?

When men’s muscles get stronger they get bigger. When women get stronger it is more complicated – compare Mears and Pendleton.

In gymnastics the events they do are different.

Dunno about the swimming, but gymnastics it’s obvious
Men have to

while women (girls)

When men’s muscles get stronger they get bigger.

no they don’t

Female swimmers however seem to be a bit, well, podgy.

You’re not watching the same female swimmers I do then!

Well, a health body fat level is higher for women than men, so that changes the appearance.

For gymnastics, the girls events are more based on skills and movement, so they can compete younger.
The men it is really about strength, so they only come into good form in their twenties. Yordan Yovchev is 39 and has qualified for the rings final, his 6th olympics. But he has specialized in the rings, not doing all 6 apparatus. He is also 5ft 3in tall.

When women get stronger it is more complicated

Go on…

You’re not watching the same female swimmers I do then!

Compare the build of Rebecca Adlington to Michael Phelps.

I don’t think the male swimmers are trying to be ripped, They’ve got more fat on them than many other athletes.

And I don’t think the women cyclists are a similar build to the men, are they? Hoy vs Pendleton? Armistead vs Wiggins?

Note that women tend to carry more fat* in general than men, so in sports where it’s not a disadvantage (is it actually an advantage in swimming?) they won’t lose it as readily and won’t bother trying hard with that I’d guess.

* I originally typed ‘women carry less vat’ – lol 🙂

There is no way woman swimmers are “podgy” you are frigging deluded…. can’t even be ar*** with this conversation.

the female swimmers do look a bit odd though, shape wise….or maybe it’s the skin suits ?

The Southern Yeti – Member

Female swimmers however seem to be a bit, well, podgy.

You’re not watching the same female swimmers I do then!
Posted 33 minutes ago # Report-Post

he means olympic swimmers… not Class 3a at the local pool on thursday mornings.

They’ve got more fat on them than many other athletes.

There ain’t no podge there:

Where as there is a bit (I stress, a bit, relatively speaking elit sprts wise, compared to, say Jess Ennis)

Whilst I don’t know the details, I realise that man and women lay down and burn fat differently. But if there was an advantage in swimming to have some fat (bouyancy maybe?), why are the men so lean?

diet and training immediately spring to mind for some reason. Olympians train to win not to look pretty.

There is no way woman swimmers are “podgy” you are frigging deluded…. can’t even be ar*** with this conversation.

Apologies, ‘podgy’ is being faecetious (sp). What I mean, as I’ve said aboce, is that they’re not as lean as male swimmers or other elite sportswomen.

I am not being mysogenistic, I’m interested in the reason for the seeming difference.

And I don’t think the women cyclists are a similar build to the men, are they? Hoy vs Pendleton? Armistead vs Wiggins?

Hoy and Pendleton both have big legs

Wiggins and Armistead both have the upper bodies of famine victims

There is no way woman swimmers are “podgy” you are frigging deluded…. can’t even be ar*** with this conversation.

Relatively though? Look at the track (athletics, not cycling) women, almost all sporting 6-packs, look at the swimmers, less muscle definition. I think the answer is though that the male swimmers aren’t as lean as the track men either (look at Bolt Vs Phelps) as there’s less advantage to being lean in the pool as the weight is suppourted and there’s few accelerations, an in order to build muscle you generaly have to build fat simoultaneously as it requires a calorie excess (think of bodybuilders following a bulk and cut reigime), but once the muscles built there’s no reason to cut the fat (which also leads to muscle loss) as ultimaely it’s all about more muscle = more speed.

Is this post for real? 😯

Is this post for real?

Yeah, have you read it? I think I’m asking a reasonable question

Relatively though? Look at the track (athletics, not cycling) women, almost all sporting 6-packs, look at the swimmers, less muscle definition.

This is my point.

Just to be clear, I am NOT saying that female swimmers are fat. What I am wondering, given that they are elite sportsfolk, is why they seem to carry a greater amount of fat and/or their musculature is not the same levels of definition than other elite sportsfolk, including male swimmers.

[eidt] I’m also NOT saying that they’re doing something wrong. They’re obviously doing exactly what needs to be done to be amazing at what they do, which they are. I’m just interested as to why this brings about a different body shape/make up from the male swimmers.

You need a bit more padding as a swimmer to give you a smoother hydrodynamic profile, innit?

The skinsuits are super tight to make you as smooth as possible, and you can squeeze fat about much better than you can squeeze muscle.

Also, with fat being less dense than muscle you’d be relatively more buoyant with a higher percentage of bodyfat, which would enable you to ‘sit’ higher in the water, which would also reduce drag.

I think.

You need a bit more padding as a swimmer to give you a smoother hydrodynamic profile, innit?

The skinsuits are super tight to make you as smooth as possible, and you can squeeze fat about much better than you can squeeze muscle.

Also, with fat being less dense than muscle you’d be relatively more buoyant with a higher percentage of bodyfat, which would enable you to ‘sit’ higher in the water, which would also reduce drag.

All reasonable stuff, so why are the fella’s so lean?

Cos they get to show off their chesticles where as the women aren’t allowed to?

I was wondering the same thing aloud to the OH last night. While they’re obviously in superb shape and they’ve got that sort of triangular upper body shape going on, the women don’t seem to have the same muscle definition as the men, or indeed women in other events.

I think it’s possible to wonder about the different physiological demands of different sports without “ZOMG are you saying they’re fat biffers?!” isn’t it?

most of the muscle definition you see on the male swimmers would be hidden if they were wearing suits like the women.

i think swimmers probably carry more body fat than other athletes but i’m not sure the differences between male and female are any greater than in track athletes.

I’ll give you the fact that Adlingtons arms aren’t as ripped as the mens.

I’ve watched virtually nothing but swimming since the Olympics began and the majority of women have very little BF and IMO are the exact female counterpart to the mens.

Gymnastics – men and women do different sports.

All reasonable stuff, so why are the fella’s so lean?

Dunno, maybe it has something to do with the 5-7 hours of swimming everyday?

All reasonable stuff, so why are the fella’s so lean?

In athlete terms they’re not. On average they’re something like 4% BF higher than runners, cyclists and triathletes. Thye’re also on average higher BF than footballers.

Totally random guess here….

but in order to be a world class swimmer (male or female) i would have thought that a full set of toned muscles isn’t necessary.

so it comes down to the individual athlete. perhaps the guys are more likely to factor in toning every possible muscle to their training regime, whereas the women are not?

Not suggesting that the guys’ completely toned bodies don’t offer some sort of benefit to their competition form, but perhaps a good deal of it is simply choice rather than a requirement to reach the top level?

(I used to go to university with someone who competed at a really high level at swimming, and although he was broad and powerful, he wasn’t particularly toned)

And Phelps/Lochte are (relatively) sprinters whereas Adlington is a distance swimmer, training completely differently for different outputs. It’s like comparing Bolt to Radcliffe. Someone like Fran Halsall is (relatively) ripped.

The different strokes and distances make for different body compositions depending on the swimmer. Even for comparable distances (say 200 metres) you can generally tell who swims breastroke, backstroke and butterfly just looking at their muscle composition.

A butterfly and IM specialist like Phelps looks far more cut than the likes of Thorpe or Hackett (200, 400 and 800 metre freestyle swimmers) did at their peak…they had IMO the male equivalent body composition to someone like Adlington who swims the same event and distance.

mrhoppy – sort of. Except that in all other sports the further the distance the leaner the athlete?

Adlington has a brilliant technique. She can start her catch a lot higher than most swimmers, maybe natural skill has a role to play.

I’m more dismayed that IHN had to explain 3 times that he wasn’t calling Female Olympic Swimmers fat. Far too quick to feign offence you fat ********

I’m more dismayed that IHN had to explain 3 times that he wasn’t calling Female Olympic Swimmers fat. Far too quick to feign offence

People are waaaaaaay too keen to accuse someone of an “ism”

Regardless of the fact the question was perfectly reasonable.

(and I say that without being gay or ‘owt)

Thank god you cleared that up….

…even though, you do seem to be protesting a little bit too much.

Don’t want to get into comparing makes and females per se, but I think that you highlight two sports that produce extremely healthy and strong-looking physiques IMO. Less so for female gymnastics but as hi lighted before this reflects the requirements of the sport.

Hard to think of better male physiques than either gymnasts for pure strength and swimmers for strength plus healthy look.

Addington has amazing elbow position both in relation to her arm and her shoulder. Plus great body position, rhythm and catch. Quite a low stroke count which shows what great technique she has for longer distances. Hope she pulls it off in the final!

Hope she pulls it off

Mysiogithingy

Ian Thorpe has said in the past that he never swam at his best when his BF% got too low.

Matt