Do fatter people have an advantage when swimming?

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They do have a slight advantage because muscle weighs more than fat. Usually you would more likely see marathon swimmers with high percentages of fat but when it comes to faster races you will more likely see skinnier people because we cut through water faster.

Extra buoyancy helps, particularly for persons with poor technique. Most people are faster in a wetsuit precisely because it helps them float flatter in the water resulting in less drag. Equally important, in swimming there isn't a significant performance penalty for carrying extra weight as there is in running.

That said, your problem almost certainly has a lot more to do with technique and specific conditioning than it does to do with your body type.

In swimming, hamburgers are considered PEDs.

One study involving swimmers noted that the average elite / semi-elite swimmer was 5'7 and 137 lbs. ( bmi - 21.5 ) The average elite female runner is 5'5 and 117 lbs (bmi 19.5).

While runners are definitely thinner than swimmers, both are much thinner than the average population.

As an aside, it is not uncommon to be slightly overweight and still be a very good swimmer It is definitely pretty rare to be even marginally overweight and be a very fast runner. Very few clydesdales who are 190 lb (which may not be overweight for people over 6'1) would be under 20 minutes for a 5k.

Additional fat reduces overall density and increases buoyancy, which reduces friction and therefore speed. At some point, the benefits of increased buoyancy are negated by the drawback of hauling extra weight.

When the special suits were introduced, swimmers dropped a lot of weight, because they helped with the uplift, so having a bit more fat was no longer required. Since they have been banned, swimmers became chubbier again, exhibit A:

http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2012/07/24/1226434/286670-leisel-jones.jpg

FastRunner20011 wrote:

When the special suits were introduced, swimmers dropped a lot of weight, because they helped with the uplift, so having a bit more fat was no longer required. Since they have been banned, swimmers became chubbier again, exhibit A:

Stupidest thing I've read on Letsrun for a while. And that's saying something.

If anything, swimmers conditioning changed toward less core work with the body suits, because they helped maintain body position.

The idea that swimmers suddenly started fattening up because they want "buoyancy" is ridiculous. Google Cullen Jones. Google Michael Phelps.

Have you ever been in a body suit? Have you ever been a pool.

rupp-certified saladbar wrote:

Stupidest thing I've read on Letsrun for a while. And that's saying something.

Have you seen the picture I posted?

It's technique.

Your technique no doubt sucks if you can't "swim multiple laps without breaks". But that's to be expected. Technique takes years and years to train. I've heard that unless you had training as a kid it's unlikely to become a good swimmer later in life.

My girlfriend has been swimming her whole life and recently did a 2000m open water swim in horrible conditions at a relaxed pace in 45 minutes. Before the race she had only been in the water a handful of times in the past year and had exactly 5 days open water under her belt. She runs now. I did a half-ironman years ago and trained my ass off to finish the 1900m swim in 48 minutes.

So, these swimmers you see are swimming well in spite of being overweight, not because of it.

It gives you an advantage floating.

running girl 79 wrote:Very few clydesdales who are 190 lb (which may not be overweight for people over 6'1) would be under 20 minutes for a 5k.

I wouldn't say that's true. I know a fair number of Clydesdales that went under 20 for a 5K including myself, and I had a bad knee. I was working on sub-18 when I was closing in on 40. I'm 5'11".

Now if you said your average person who's of Clydesdale weight couldn't break 20 sure, but I'd also say few people under 190 that don't train won't break 20 either. It's more of a factor of training than weight at that level. If you want to say sub 16, sure, but pretty much any Clydesdale male under 40 could break 20 with some work.

Branchy is From Canada wrote:

It's technique.

Your technique no doubt sucks if you can't "swim multiple laps without breaks". But that's to be expected. Technique takes years and years to train. I've heard that unless you had training as a kid it's unlikely to become a good swimmer later in life.

So, these swimmers you see are swimming well in spite of being overweight, not because of it.

The swimmers I saw clearly was not swimming with good technique. This one lady I was looking at was overweight if not obese and her legs and hips were dragging like an anchor. She wasn't moving fast but was able to swim alot of laps without breaks. I'm thinking all the fat she has must be acting sort of like a life jacket in that she doesn't have to work at all to keep from sinking.

Anyway, I think the sport is more tougher mentally than physically. If I give up on it would probably because I got tired staring at the bottom of a pool. Really, I don't get it.

observant swimmer wrote:

The swimmers I saw clearly was not swimming with good technique. This one lady I was looking at was overweight if not obese and her legs and hips were dragging like an anchor. She wasn't moving fast but was able to swim alot of laps without breaks. I'm thinking all the fat she has must be acting sort of like a life jacket in that she doesn't have to work at all to keep from sinking.

Anyway, I think the sport is more tougher mentally than physically. If I give up on it would probably because I got tired staring at the bottom of a pool. Really, I don't get it.

Well I guess floating from end to end of the pool doesn't require that much energy, eh?

I agree with you, pool swimming is boring. The only way I could get through it was with detailed workouts that kept changing things up. Open water swimming, however, I will disagree. I love it. If I lived somewhere where it was more feasible I would surely do it a few times a week.

I think swimming favors a particular pattern of evenly-distributed subcutaneous fat. Someone with a beer gut and otherwise lean will struggle against their otherwise equal who resembles a pinniped instead.