I'm 6'5", 185lbs, will swimming a lot make me even thinner or just tone and build upper body muscle?

Question

I am tall and at 185lbs, slim for my height and was thinking of swimming perhaps 1 and a half hours every morning, 6 days a week. What will this do to my body though because really, I'd like to tone up a bit because I've lost any definition I had since I stopped playing football (soccer) as much as I used to and also build a bit of muscle in my upper body. Plus I hear swimming is one of the best sports for keeping you in good shape

Does swimming even help build muscle in your upper body? I know it's a good exercise for toning but if you have a skinny upper body will it build some muscle as well? You look at some swimmers and they look quite powerful despite being slim but does this come from supplementing their swimming with weights or what?

I have a similar build to someone like Mark Foster (broad shoulders, long torso, very tall) so that was what lead me to think swimming might be a good idea for me, from the things I have said that I want to achieve is swimming a lot agood idea?

Answer 1

It will most likely do both. The only thing is you wont appear as tone as athletes such as runners because swimmers keep a small layer of fat to protect from the cold water. If your looking to build muscle in your upper body you can do drill such as just pulling w/o using your legs and many others. It will definatly keep you in shape and keep you healthy. Its one of those sports you can do all of your life. It sounds like a great idea and im sure you'll love it. and adding in some conditioning will help wheather or not its wieghts. you can do anything such as running pushups and other common exercizes. There are also many workouts for both conditioning and swimming that you can find online. Have fun!

Answer 2

Well I am only 11 and I swim w/o weights. I have very broad shoulders because i used to be a butter-flier and my legs are toned. People ask me if i lift weights which is kinda weird but anyway swimming will be AWESOME. What would also help is (this is what my team does) if once a week you run for about half of your practice time. we also do lunges, push ups, stretches, and flutters.

Answer 3

it does somewhat of both for you depends on if you are willing to do some weight lifting with it as well

Answer 4

Unless your workouts are intense, you won't see much of a change.  Use hand paddles if you want to get a little stronger, but you really need to lift a little to get bigger

Answer 5

Swimming will help tone you up. Remember it is a cardio as well, so it will burn calories. You just need to eat more than you burn. Swimming places a lot of resistance on your body so it helps build and tone muscles as well. I recommend swimming a lot.

btw, I have a similar build as you. I am 6'4.5" @ 185lbs and when I was swimming a lot I got really toned. I got lazy for a few months now since I started my current job but am getting back into it again now.

Answer 6

Yes swimmers are diesel and who you are looking at probably are hitting some weights at the highschool level.  However even if you look at 8 yo little girls they are built like little tanks and that is straight swimming.  The lats and traps are so large that even in 8 yo girls they are buying larger dress sizes and taking them in.  I remember coaching a 12 yo who had a formal and she was not yet weight training and this little 135lb girl wearing size 3-5 jr pants had to buy a 9 dress to accommodate her swimming physique Yes swimming is a good idea, you will be amazed Swimmers are ripped the abs are phenomenal