What does a "swimmers body" mean or entail?

Question

especially since I do not swim I was thrown off by this comment

Answer 1

A swimmer's build just means that you have good muscle tone with a lack of bulk.  Kinda muscular, but still slender.  It's not necessarily related to swimming, but a lot of swimmers tend to have this build.

Answer 2

It basically means Michael Phelps :)  Wide shoulders, but a thin core, and very very muscular.  So, your upper body is kind of in the shape of a triangle or a V.  

Answer 3

Usually it means tall with wide, big shoulders. Look at the US Men's Swimming Team, holy cow. Michael Phelps apparently has the ideal body because he has the torso of a taller man like 6'4", but the legs of a 6 ft man. I don't remember it exactly, NBC explained it. But really it just means tall with nice shoulders and back, IMO.  

Answer 4

A "swimmer's body" means lean muscle mass and an athletic V shape to the body. The V means broad shoulders or stronger upper body strength and tapers downward. Gymnasts have it, surfers have it, and swimmers have it.

Answer 5

Yeah, I'm not too sure myself. I suppose it refers to how swimmers/divers tend to have developed an all-around musculature, as opposed to other sports that focus more on say just lower body or upper body.

What I don't understand is why someone wants to *look* like they have a swimmer's body without *actually* swimming? I mean, they say "I want to look like a swimmer, but I only run & bike." What's up with that?

Answer 6

Swimmers body is just a kind of body. Take a look at michael phelps, brendan hansen, ryan lochte, and other usa olympic swimmers. Their shoulders are wide, they have lots of muscle (not like pro wrestlers, but like lean muscles) and thier body is sort of in a V shape, the wide shoulders, the chest getting less wide than the shoulders, then the hips, smaller than the torso width to explain the V shape upper body. They have incredible core strength.