Sport and Body Fat:

What is the Story with Swimmers?

It is commonly noted that most swimmers and even most elite swimmers, have much higher body fat levels than other types of athletes in general, and runners in particular. Elite swimmers do between 4000m and 20000m of training per day, and burn thousands in calories.

Yet these athletes, both male and female, are often criticised by both their coaches and the media for carrying too many kilos. In these cases, trainers and coaches prescribe cross-training exercise as an addition to the regular training in a bid to reduce skinfold body fat measurements.

As a background note, the reader should be aware of the basic theory of weight loss or weight gain. Weight loss occurs when energy expenditure is greater than energy consumption. Weight gain occurs when energy consumption is greater than energy expenditure. There are a few theories circulating to try to explain why swimmers carry extra weight, and these are:

* Swimmers consume more energy than other types of athletes, and subsequently consume more energy in excess of what they burn, resulting in weight gain. A reason for this may be that swimming does not produce an appetite drop like heavy running or cycling does. This may be due to the low temperatures that usually characterise swimming training environments. Read a good book about it:



Another reason for this may be that after swimming training, athletes often feel as though they could “eat a horse”, so to speak, and they may overcompensate then for their energy expenditure by overeating.

* Swimmers tend to be not as active outside of their routine training sessions, avoiding any real expenditure by sleeping or sitting.

A number of studies have been conducted to test the hypotheses surrounding the comparatively high levels of body fat found in swimmers. One study measured the energy consumption and energy expenditure of a group of swimmers and a group of runners. The results showed similar energy intake and expenditure between the groups, and in fact demonstrated a negative energy balance for thefemale swimmers.

When considering the limitations of the methodology used and the results achieved, the study was ultimately not useful in describing the reasons for bady composition differences. A second study concentrated on hormonal pattern differences between swimmers and other athletes, and although small differences were found, their link to the cause of higher body fat levels in swimmers.

A final theory is that a body-type slightly higher in fat composition is in fact a beneficial characteristic and aids performance, perhaps by way of assisting bouyancy in the water or dynamic efficiency because of rounded shoulders and smooth curves. Since studies have shown that a swimmers' energy expenditure is roughly equal to energy intake, the athlete's natural body fat composition is not changed, and the swimmer maintains a constant skinfold measurement.

On the whole, no theory about why swimmers have higher body fat levels than other athletes has been conclusively proven. Some have even suggested that those who aren't genetically inclined to very low body fat levels should take to the water early in life.

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