|
-
07-31-2012, 04:52 PM #31
-
07-31-2012, 04:54 PM #32
When someone thinks of their dream body type, they often use popular sports physique types to describe it. It isn't uncommon to hear someone compare a mans build to that of a linebacker, or a womans build to that of a dancer. I am going to discuss in detail four types of athletic physiques.
The Swimmers Body: Look no further than record breaking Olympic Gold Medalist - Michael Phelps to find the picture perfect description of a swimmers body (for a man of course). His torso is lean and tone, with well defined (but not bulky) muscles. For men, the swimmer's body type has broad shoulders, a medium to long torso and a flat as a board abdomen. What sets apart the swimmers body from other athletic types is the noticeable lean-ness of their physique and broadness of their shoulders. There long bodies combined with great posture makes for a regal effect. Ironically enough, a swimmers body type for women is a bit different. They too have well defined muscles, but because it shows mostly in their shoulders, triceps and biceps - it can come across as a little too broad or bulky. But trust there is nothing bulky about the female swimmers body - like most women athletes, the training of a swimmer leads to muscle development that the average woman never experiences.
-
-
07-31-2012, 04:55 PM #33
The Gymnast's Body: It's usually easy to spot the trained gymnast - just look for the person that's usually short in height, with long muscular legs and a short torso. Though male gymnasts are taller than female gymnasts (of course), generally speaking - gymnasts tend to be shorter than the average. Their strength is in their legs and upper body, so bulky muscular thighs, calves, biceps and triceps are not uncommon. This becomes even more noticeable in female gymnasts.Taller gymnasts, particularly female gymnasts tend to have leaner muscle definition. Most female gymnasts also have boxy hips and shoulders.
The Dancer's Body: The dancer's body type can be identified by defined calves and thighs, a long or straight torso (often emphasized by great posture) and lean muscular arms. In men, the waist line tends to be thinner and in women, the back/lower back is noticeably toned. Now this is just a general description - there are so many types of dance that bring strength and definition to different muscles in the body. For example, someone trained in ballet will have a taller and leaner looking physique, whereas someone trained in tap will have more definition in their lower legs.
The Track Runner's Body: The sprinter track athlete's body type is hands down the most muscular of them all and this goes for both men and women. This changes for long distance runners. Track athletes who run in cross country events have a leaner and longer muscle. The sprinter's body type is what comes to the mind of most people when they think of a track athlete. Their muscles in their legs are extremely well defined, from the calves, to the quads and including the glutes. Theirs is a body type built for speed.
-
07-31-2012, 05:22 PM #34
-
07-31-2012, 05:44 PM #35
It seems body proportions are very important in swimming, specifically shoulder width and limb length. You'll see even short distance swimmers don't pack a great deal of muscle, which is interesting if, for example, you compare with the muscle mass of sprint runners. My best guess on this is that although water offers resistance, it's not a huge deal, and of course water makes you weightless, so you aren't even doing body weight exercise, so it comes down to how much water you can displace with each stroke, which depends on the length of arms and legs. At least, this is the best theory I can come up with. The lean body probably just comes down to the amount of physical exercise they do.
On a related note, when I was swimming competitively, I was swimming 2 and 1/2 hours a day 5 days a week and I wasn't particularly lean. My body type doesn't seem to respond well to high volumes of cardio in terms of body fat.Follow my 2018 competition prep here:
https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=175566421&p=1547462721#post1547462721
-
08-01-2012, 09:37 PM #36
-
-
08-02-2012, 05:26 AM #37
My extended interpretation of the original query is that in most sports, male and female physiques are similar, e.g. female sprinters may be smaller than male swimmers, but the muscle definition is similar across the body, equally male and female tennis players, cyclists etc have the same body shape, which is the result of training specifically aimed at improving their performance in that sport.
When it comes to swimming however, I see a great difference between, for example, Michael Phelps and Rebecca Addlington. At that elite level, surely all swimmers are doing pretty much the same preparation, targetting the same muscle groups and looking for the same outcome?
-
08-02-2012, 06:22 AM #38
- Join Date: Sep 2009
- Location: United Kingdom (Great Britain)
- Age: 50
- Posts: 597
- Rep Power: 291
They all have fantastic thighs!
I was reading another article about the technical swimsuits the women wear, and how they are extremely tight, and I think that explains the visible upper body overspill of flesh that I was identifying as flabby. I think anyone squeezed into one of those suits would have rolls lol"Ain't about how fast I get there.....it's the climb"
-
08-02-2012, 06:28 AM #39
- Join Date: Nov 2010
- Location: Winnipeg, MB, Canada
- Age: 55
- Posts: 1,405
- Rep Power: 1833
-
08-02-2012, 09:45 AM #40
-
-
08-02-2012, 09:59 AM #41
-
08-03-2012, 08:34 AM #42
-
08-03-2012, 08:35 AM #43
-
08-03-2012, 08:50 AM #44
She found the need to go into a detailed 3 paragraph explanation when I posted a thread asking other bodyspace members who inspires them. I said I was inspired by some fitness models physiques because of the hard work they put in to get there. She then acts as if looking like a fitness model is an easy application...lol. I think every little word is taken a bit too seriously by some of these forum posters and they feel the need to find something wrong.
-
-
08-03-2012, 09:45 AM #45
Once the zillionth lady came to the forum saying "I hate big muscle, it's manly. I want to be toned" and, as I always do, I replied: "If you hate muscle why did you come to a forum called bodybuilding.com?" and Miranda replied to me more or less (I don't remember the exact words) that since I am not big enough for her standards, I have no business telling people that. I facepalmed myself so hard I almost gave myself a concussion.
Follow my 2018 competition prep here:
https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=175566421&p=1547462721#post1547462721
-
08-03-2012, 09:53 AM #46
-
08-03-2012, 10:14 AM #47
- Join Date: Jan 2012
- Location: Alabama, United States
- Age: 50
- Posts: 18,105
- Rep Power: 136392
I watched the womens rowing last night and was impressed with them. I have never watched a rowing event but it was interesting. Those ladies had some great looking upper bodies so I was curious to see their legs. They were very well proportioned. Can't even imagine the arm pump they get from rowing like they do!
**DIRTYSOUTHCREW**
#sizeistheprizeswoleisthegoal
-
08-03-2012, 10:40 AM #48
- Join Date: Mar 2009
- Location: Junction City, Kansas, United States
- Age: 46
- Posts: 2,067
- Rep Power: 1682
When it comes to physiques, the person will only achieve what they put in. Some of the the swimmers or who ever will look like crap till they have to train, even football players starts to look like crap after they finish playing for the season and then will cut to go to training camp. PPL need to understand that your goals are not their goals. If they what to be out of shape and then go to training camp to complete thats them. I bet they can and will out swim you, even out of shape.
The key answer is their goals are different from yours, you should really stop talking crap about them and concentrate on your self.
-
-
08-03-2012, 10:47 AM #49
I think what some people don't understand is that not being completely shredded is not the same as being out of shape. You can have some fat on and still be the fastest swimmer in the world. For athletes, having the energy to train and compete is more important than having striated glutes. If they dieted to get shredded, they wouldn't have the energy to break world records.
Follow my 2018 competition prep here:
https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=175566421&p=1547462721#post1547462721
-
08-03-2012, 10:54 AM #50
- Join Date: Mar 2009
- Location: Junction City, Kansas, United States
- Age: 46
- Posts: 2,067
- Rep Power: 1682
-
08-03-2012, 11:33 AM #51
Yeah I agree with other posters. Your body adjusts to what you train for. I've been doing grappling/Brazilian Jim jitsu for about 4 years and I've trained with guys that came in with x years of swimming, x years of running and some who were purely bodybuilders and they all get disappointed when their strength or stamina from other sports don't transfer as much as they wished. When I'm in the gym I can't lift as heavy as many of the big guys in there but if they were to grapple with me I can manipulate them and control them much easier than they can me. It's not because there are huge strength differences, it's just differences in training. Muscle memory plays a big part as well.
Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one's potential.
-Bruce Lee
Misc BJJ Crew
Kaizen
-
08-03-2012, 11:36 AM #52
-
-
08-03-2012, 11:47 AM #53
Yeah I think it's funny how much crossfit gets knocked on this site. The theory behind the balanced athlete and a maximum performer holds huge appeal to me. Of course they don't look like bodybuilders, their not trying to haha. And of course there are going to be frauds who don't teach it right. What sport doesn't have it's share of frauds?
The other thing that I think is hilarious is I train with my Uni's ROTC and help teach them combatives. What people don't realize is that the current generation of soldiers are being trained with crossfit. As in they follow workouts of the day for physical training. So people can knock it all they want but when your soldiers are using it for training I hardly think its a joke.Ever since I was a child I have had this instinctive urge for expansion and growth. To me, the function and duty of a quality human being is the sincere and honest development of one's potential.
-Bruce Lee
Misc BJJ Crew
Kaizen
-
08-03-2012, 11:52 AM #54
-
08-03-2012, 01:36 PM #55
Personally I don't think there's anything wrong with it. The problem I have is when it's commercialized with big buff guys and people who don't know much about it think they got that big and shredded JUST doing that (see P90X or Insanity). Especially here in the female forum we get a lot of women who do these workouts and ask if they are going to become big and manly.
Follow my 2018 competition prep here:
https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=175566421&p=1547462721#post1547462721
-
08-03-2012, 08:57 PM #56
-
-
08-04-2012, 06:16 AM #57
- Join Date: Mar 2009
- Location: Junction City, Kansas, United States
- Age: 46
- Posts: 2,067
- Rep Power: 1682
I think some ppl mix conditioning with be shredded. Atheletes have to look at the trade off. When your shredded your conditioning is going to be off, you don't have the energy to keep moving. Look at fighters. When they shred to meet weight and have to fight, they are gassed even before the fight starts.
-
08-04-2012, 07:13 PM #58
-
08-04-2012, 07:48 PM #59
The reasons CF gets knocked so much are
1) It’s stupid. The idea that constantly doing these weird and random WODs is the best way to achieve an athletic balance is really stupid. It’s insufficiently goal-oriented to produce tangible long term progress. Think about real athletes in sports that mix a high demand on multiple systems, where these athletes follow structured programs designed to maximize tangible results in their sport. These athletes would absolutely crush Crossfitters in terms of their ability to produce high performance across multiple “domains” (to use a CF word). Elite heavyweight male rowers have not only endless aerobic capacity (more so than any other athletes), but enormous raw strength and coordination, just as elite sprinters are not only enormously fast and agile and coordinated, but tremendously strong and powerful, and elite Olympic weightlifters are (inhumanly) strong, and powerful, and flexible, and agile and coordinated. These people are far more “un****able with” (to use another CF term) than CF athletes.
2) It’s got a weird cultish structure. It’s straight up creepy.
3) The way they treat the Olympic lifts. Judging by the endless compilations of absurd and dangerous CF fail clips, the majority of CF participants do not have the necessary patience and discipline to learn how to properly execute a snatch or a clean and jerk under maximal loads. Most of them can't even power clean correctly even though that lift is easy to learn. Furthermore, the exercises are not designed to be done in ****ing stupid 30-rep complexes.
4) The presence in their ranks of people like this: http://www.crossfit.com/cf-affiliate...shwithaj_b.jpgLast edited by jb4476; 08-04-2012 at 07:54 PM.
-
08-05-2012, 06:31 AM #60
I thought some of the female swimmers just looked bulky, not fat. Some of them had thick necks. I just hope the girls aren't following Phelp's diet as its incredible the amount of garbage that man eats if what has been reported is true and if the coaches have the girls eating like that it will put fat on a woman. Once he retires he is going to blow up like a balloon if he keeps eating those foods and lowers his exercise regimen.
Similar Threads
-
Pro BBer's getting women?
By Jamier11 in forum Professional BodybuildingReplies: 302Last Post: 02-07-2008, 09:18 PM
Bookmarks