a thought about body type/make up...

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lynseya83
lynseya83 Posts: 84 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I was having a wee think last night- say your watching the Olympics or athletics etc.
The sprinters all have a specific body shape, marathon runners different again, and swimmers generally look like 'swimmers' for example! (not sure this explanation is going very well!)

But are they that shape because of the specific exercise they do (and theother training to support it obviously) or would they migrat to that type of exercise partly because of their body shape in the beginning?
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Sort of!

Eg. If I lowered body fat % and built more muscle I think I would be most like a swimmers general shape. And strangely out of the cardio I do I like swimming best!

Replies

  • astronomicals
    astronomicals Posts: 1,537 Member
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    they're that shape because of the specific sport they do (and training to support it)


    If a swimmer decided to stop swimming and start sprinting he would look like a sprinter... its sport specific training..

    Id like to note that people all too often confuse weightlifting with bodybuilding.... strength training is necessary for all sports.. bodybuilding is just another style of strength training
  • SomeGirlSomewhere
    SomeGirlSomewhere Posts: 937 Member
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    they're that shape because of the specific sport they do (and training to support it)


    If a swimmer decided to stop swimming and start sprinting he would look like a sprinter... its sport specific training..

    I disagree with this. I was a very fast swimmer until I hit puberty. All female olympic swimmers do have one thing in common....no breasts! :-)
  • Zylahe
    Zylahe Posts: 772 Member
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    I also thin inherent physical structure makes some people more suited to particular sports to start with.
    If they have that initial structure they are more likely to be good and stick to it and then develop the specific muscles.
  • rogerOb1
    rogerOb1 Posts: 318 Member
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    Im sure there was a video about this around the time of the winter Olympics.... Olympic athletes used to be of a more general build, but are now more likely to be of a shape/size that lends itself to the specifics of their event.

    Maybe Bleacher report? I don't remember....
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    Im not sure body type/shape/make up has much to do with it really...

    I had someone tell me I had a weight lifters body...Im like and what exactly is that...response...muscular, defined etc.

    I said I have that body from weight lifting.

    As a teen I had a great swimmers body...even after puberty...guess what I did a lot of swimming

    In the military I had a runners body...guess what did a lot of running/walking
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,268 Member
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    they're that shape because of the specific sport they do (and training to support it)


    If a swimmer decided to stop swimming and start sprinting he would look like a sprinter... its sport specific training..

    I disagree with this. I was a very fast swimmer until I hit puberty. All female olympic swimmers do have one thing in common....no breasts! :-)

    every female swimmer I've seen have "the girls"...they are usually squished under a bathing suit but if you look at them in regular cloths oh boy...
  • AstorMiles
    AstorMiles Posts: 88 Member
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    I think it's a combination of both, and the two probably work synergistically as well. One's body may be naturally slightly better suited to a given activity, and long-term training specific to that activity will accentuate the physical traits that make the person good at it.
  • EarthboundAtlas
    EarthboundAtlas Posts: 17
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    It's a combination of genetics and training style, each varying in amount from person to person. Certain body types lend themselves to success in certain sports (not to say there aren't exceptions). But typically, the style of training supports the activity.
  • weightliftingdiva
    weightliftingdiva Posts: 522 Member
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    I think it is a little bit of both... I remember that during the last summer olympics, one of the female USA team swimmers who medaled, had the BIGGEST feet I had ever seen. I think hard work gets you 95% there, but that genetic predisposition towards one physical attribute can give you that extra 5% boost.
  • hellsbells3272
    hellsbells3272 Posts: 128 Member
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    My son is a competitive swimmer. He has the six-pack and mahoooosive shoulders. He is not that tall at 5 ft 8 in compared to other 15/16 year olds, in fact he is similar to many 13/14 year olds, So his height is a disadvantage when swimming back or front crawl. His shoulders are perfect for butterfly though and that is his best stroke. I don't know if doing the stroke has caused the shoulders to be wide, or if they were wide anyway. Most of his training in the pool is front crawl though, not fly. He only ever does fly sprints (for obvious reasons).
  • neandermagnon
    neandermagnon Posts: 7,436 Member
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    NOTE/ETA: I'm talking about body type, NOT athletic performance, for performance then whoever said 95% hard work 5% genetics is about right.... but the body type won't change because you get good at a sport that's not typical for your body type!


    most of it (your body type that is) is genetics. I have the right body type for powerlifting, without ever having trained for it. I have short limbs, big shoulders and a big rib cage, and I'm naturally muscular and gain muscle/strength easily for a woman. My lean body mass before I ever started powerlifting was 100lb... I'm only 5'1" so that's quite a lot higher than average lean body mass and that's from genetics My LBM is currently around 107lb, and I haven't done that much actual powerlifting (i really need to focus better and not let my work schedule get in the way of training so much.... because actually being good at powerlifting depends on training, having the right body type is only 5% of what makes you good at something...). (for comparison, the normal BMI range for women my height is 100-132lb, and that's total body weight, my lean mass is in that range, my total body weight is "overweight" according to BMI but my body fat percentage is in the healthy range so I don't care about BMI)

    My shoulders and chest (i.e. above/below boob) measurements are bigger than they were when I started, but only by an inch or two. They've always been bigger than average. I haven't made my shoulders or chest the size they are through powerlifting, because they were big to begin with due to genetics. And as I'm female, there's a limit to how much bigger I can expect to get, (but no harm in trying lol)

    And as for training like a runner, no matter how much I train for running (if I were so inclined, I'm not) I will never look like an olympic runner or have an ideal runner's physique. My legs aren't going to grow any longer. I'm going to look short and stocky no matter how I train (and I'm cool with that, I like my body type... see my username, profile etc). And yes it's genetic (and quite possibly neanderthal genes :drinker: ) my dad has the same build/body type as me (just the male version of it) my mum is a bit taller, but she still has a big rib cage and big shoulders. My 4 yr old daughter also has the same body type as me (the 7 yr old one is more like her dad, but is pretty strong for a 7 yr old without training (other than playing outdoors like any other kid), she can carry her 4 yr old sister on her shoulders without much difficulty... not that i let her do this for safety reasons, but she can).

    So while there is some degree to which the way you look can be changed by how you train, as in everyone can get more muscular by lifting heavy weights and you can control where you gain mass by the kinds of exercise you do, you can't change the overall shape of your body and you can only add muscle up to your genetic potential, which is different for everyone.

    As for watching international sports... yes there is a body type for each sport, but it's because to get to that elite level in any sport you need both good genetics and a ton of hard work. So the differences you see in body type have a lot to do with genetics, it's not just sport-specific training. I have totally the wrong body type for basketball, and no amount of sports-specific training will change that. Likewise, someone who's tall, small-framed and not genetically predisposed to gain muscle easily will never have the ideal powerlifter's physique no matter how much they train. It doesn't mean that they can't gain a lot of strength though, or that someone who doesn't have ideal genetics can't get really good at something, but their body type isn't going to change and they're unlikely to be able to compete at the elite levels in their sport due to limitations in their genetics.
  • polkadotmoon
    polkadotmoon Posts: 25
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    Most professional swimmers who turn their hands to another sport would still retain their swimmers body, those broad shoulders tend not to go away just because you've switched to sprinting. Very few start out with the body of a sprinter and end up with the body of a competitive swimmer - yes they end up with muscles and all that fun stuff, but a great deal of it is to do with what they're working with naturally. At the risk of offending some people humans are very much like horses; we all have the same basic structure, but there are enough differences to make the slight variations ideal for different things. We can all turn our hands to the various activities, and we can certainly aim towards a certain type, but trying to make a body naturally inclined towards that distinctive swimmers shape look like a sprinter is like trying to force a very rectangular body look like a curvaceous hourglass; you can get toned, you can build muscle, but you work with what you work with.

    (I have wide shoulders, very wide for a woman, and that's why a swimming coach worked so hard to get me to swim butterfly to a competitive standard - but that was only part of the reason I was selected. The selection was based on my physique and swimming ability, so ... it's a little bit of this, a little bit of that)
  • SomeGirlSomewhere
    SomeGirlSomewhere Posts: 937 Member
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    they're that shape because of the specific sport they do (and training to support it)


    If a swimmer decided to stop swimming and start sprinting he would look like a sprinter... its sport specific training..

    I disagree with this. I was a very fast swimmer until I hit puberty. All female olympic swimmers do have one thing in common....no breasts! :-)

    every female swimmer I've seen have "the girls"...they are usually squished under a bathing suit but if you look at them in regular cloths oh boy...

    True enough I guess I should have said they have smaller breasts instead. My opinion is based solely on the fact that my time on the 100 yard freestyle, for example, DECREASED from around 57 seconds to about a minute and one second after my bra size INCREASED to a 34DDD. And let's be honest, NO olympic swimmer is wearing a DDD cup. :-)

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