Swimmer Physique - Telltale Strokes?

Question

My swim coach used to be able to tell if players competed in freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, or butterfly based solely on their physique.

What exactly are the different muscle groups that each stroke works out most? Can anyone give me the target areas (as specific as possible) for all four strokes?

Answer 1

Butterfly: Broad Shoulders from quick rotation where height does not matter since the rotation is a small axis anyhow.

Backstroke: Strong legs since they usually kick more than they pull. When in the water they feel more comfortable on their back where a freestyler will be awkward. Usually tall.

Breastroke: Oddly enough they are said to walk with there feet pointing out. Usually small (as in skinny) and muscular so as to slice through the water quickly

Freestyle: Broad shoulders, strong overall body, and tight kick. Basically the all around good shape person, who is usally tall

Hope I helped:)
P.S. Your coach could only assume your stroke because though I am a breaststroker my coach first assumed i was a freestyler but the assumption go by what the stroke requires.

Answer 2

work on your lats - a must for any swim stroke due to the pull-down motion. your coach might be talking about other physique tell-tales than just muscle. breaststrokers usually walk with duck-feet because of the way the breastroke kick affects their knees. butterflyers usually have huge lat muscles, because of the double pull on each stroke. backstrokers and freestlyers have wider shoulders than most, because of the rotation required in the water for efficient strokes. most of these aren't muscle driven, but the way you develop your stroke and ligaments. most weight lifting and muscle development, though for swimming should concentrate on lats (for pulling), shoulders (for pulling), squats (for good wall technique), leg lifts/curls (for kicking).

Answer 3

I think he might talking about proportions in addition to body shape. For example, breaststrokers often have proportionally bigger thighs than upper body musculature as compared to freestylers.