oxologic

A recent article:
https://www.active.com/story.cfm?stor...egory=swimming

There is this part that writes about swimming building long lean muscles. Are long and lean muscles much better, stronger and more resistant to injuries than short and bulky muscles? In what way are long and lean muscles different and which would be the more prefered muscle type for a lean and sleek physique?

MichaelW

Im a pretty slim guy, with limitted flexibility. I found that the muscles I developed when swimming were very loose and flexible. They were a little bit bulky, but not really hard like a weight lifters. I prefer that kind.

RWTD

My understanding your muscle length is pretty much genetically determined and can't be changed by training.Ectomorph types will tend to have longer leaner muscles no matter how they train compared to mesomorphs who will tend to have shorter more bulky muscles.

juciluci

i spent half my life in the water competative swimmers, whether they are still in high school or have reached national status develope pretty quickly.. but like rtwd said, genetics really are the deciding factor. one family i started out with in teams were from Nigeria.. all 4 were good i mean great swimmers developing strong hard muscles- 3 girls, 15,11, and little toya 6, and one boy 10. he had the musculature of a little man.. it was killer to see him against the other boys his age however the olderst girl as she hit puberty.. changed, her speed slowed and she got soft. it was tough for her.. but what i remember most was her mom.. a non swimmer who had the best laugh and smile in the world.. she goes- who needs to look like a body builder- just keep swimming.
most of the guys my age had ripped abs and big big shoulders, but didn't carry a lot of weight.. the women tended to get softer muscles and the only ones that really showed was on my back- lol setting up for the I.M. for backstroke..lol and doing butterfly(my specialty)
so what i am getting at; i didn't notice bulky or lean muscles in general.. it was totally genetic.. much like the fastest freestylers were soooooooooooooo tall.

oxologic

Okay, now that I know it is larger genetically determined, is there any difference in strength or injury-resistant properties in the 2 muscles length type?

RWTD

Yes everything else being equal a longer muscle would be able to develop more strength but many other genetic factors intertwine to overshadow this such as muscle fiber type,number of muscle fibers,hormone levels,bone/joint thickness,limb/torso length,pelvic structure/width and point of tendon insertion. As to injury prevention I believe muscle and tendon length would help but again if you have small bones,joints etc. you are going to be more suceptable to injury.
Keep in mind this is distinct from the shortening and lengthening that occurs every time you contract or extend a muscle.If a muscle is tight or inelastic it may not lenghten to its full potential and thus be susceptable to injury.Exercise focusing on stretch position whether through weights/swimming/stretching/yoga etc. can help here with flexibility and thus injury prevention.

Track lover

In fact, all your musxles are long enough. They just don't know it yet. You gotta teach them by proprioceptive neuromuscular fascilitation.

oxologic

Huh? Proprioceptive what?

dumpstervegan

As far as I understand it's genetics. I am just short and stocky, nothing really changes that. I do find however, that my body type doesn't keep me from being faster than elven-looking folks. I think it mostly depends on the amount of training you put in. I guess what I'm saying is that, of course genetics comes into the picture but I think what you do with the genetics is up to you...

dumpstervegan

Jesus, it's so early I can't even use proper english. Please excuse the lack of grammar and sentence structure above...

Pat

Well long lean muscles are not stronger then short muscles. It is probably the other way around. A muscle's stength is determined by its cross sectional area not its length, at least that is what they taught us when we were studing the muscle physiology.

My leg muscles seem plenty strong and I have really short legs for my height but I have very large muscles.

Thing is there isnt much I can do about it. I mean my legs are that length and when I train my muscles get that size. I would go with the folks who say this is genetically determined.

Well depends on what you mean by genetics. In populations that are subject to starvation, rich folks (who get enough food) tend to be taller then poor folks. In the contemporary USA, I don't think there is any particular effect of wealth and height. So in one society, height would be affected by social conditions and in the USA height is genetically determined.