I’ve only been swimming for the three years and it’s only in the last 6 months that I’ve gotten serious about it and joined a masters program. My speed and efficiency are really improving (now in the second fastest lane at masters - woo hoo!) but the problem is my back just keeps on growing. I have been an athlete my whole life and played college volleyball where we used our back muscles pretty regularly in addition to a pretty rigorous strength training program so I wasn’t a twiggy bird when I first got into the pool.
I can no longer fit into any of my button up shirts and each time I got to get fitted in my wedding dress my seamstress yells at me for swimming because she has to take the back out some more. At some point does your back reach a point where it stops growing? This is getting ridiculous.
You’ll just have to get a wedding dress that shows off you incredibly ripped swimmer’s back! Congrats…don’t let the twiggy centric seamstress get in the way!
Good point. And my fiance is counting his blessings that with all of this training another part of my anatomy isn’t shrinking. He always points to the flat chested women in my triathlon/running magazines and says “Please don’t turn into this.”
We did a 30 minute distance swim test the other night in which I had a 250 yard improvement me over my test a few months ago so my distance is improving and I can now keep my 100s at about 1:25 whereas before I was keeping them at about 1:30 so both are improving but as my IM nears I’ll start focusing more on distance practices and less on speed so hopefully that will help to elongate the back muscles. I’ve already lost half of my work wardrobe to swimming, I can’t afford for my back to get much bigger.
I went to college with Jessi so I’d say it’s a small world that her picture turned up on my thread, but I know all of you guys love her on here (as you should, she’s fantastic) so I’m not that suprised.
I can tell you that there are no guarantees that you won’t continue to build muscle. But I can also tell you that it could always be worse. I was a competitive swimmer up until college and spent every spare minute I had in the pool. So basically starting at about 12 years old or so every dress that I bought my mother would have to alter. She’d have to let a little out at the seems so that I actually fit into them. And not only that but she’d have to open up the arm holes too. As a 5’ something under 100lbs girl, it absolutely sucked. I couldn’t buy anything off the rack.
Luckily for me, becoming a triathlete means less swimming and more of the other two sports. So I’ve actually shrunk and can fit into normal clothes again (well, with the exception of my quads acquired via soccer that won’t go away).
I will say that as I aged, I did get lots of compliments from the guys both swimmers and non who were pretty impressed with the muscles. Just wait until you head to the beach in a bikini.
Small world indeed. Did you play v-ball at GW? I was good friends with a number of the players during the late 80’s/early 90’s and played a ton (indoor and beach) until getting into triathlon. What year did you graduate?
Yeah, it was fun watching Sveta play. I actually played outdoor with her after she graduated. She was a good grass player but as you can imagine with her size, moving around on the beach was not quite as easy…
She was (and I’m guessing still is) huge. I’m pretty small for a volleyball player (only 5’5" - yep, setter and DS) and after she graduated we came across her uniform and I put it on was unbelieveable how big it was.
Did you play grass over on the courts by the Lincoln?
first of all, forget the button up shirts. if you have any breasts at all in combination with a broad back, you’ll soon have to buy a shirt so big to fit your breasts/back it will need tailored in the sleeves, waist, etc, to fit you properly. it is just not worth it. yesterday i tried on a size 10 button up, and even that didn’t accomodate the boobs and back. forgettaboutit.
secondly, you will stop your “growth” at some point, but your back will become broad–as you’re already seeing.
i rowed in college and swam competitively growing up–so my back has been subject to some serious athletic work. granted, i haven’t rowed competitively in 10 years, and really don’t swim much now (even though i’m a triathlete, go figure), but i still have a broad back, even at skinny puny marathon weight. so, i have accepted this “back” is something that will probably not go away.
but the good news is that you will get to a stopping point–you’re probably very close in fact. the other good news is that you should have a gorgeous back in your wedding dress!
It’s a strapless. Purchase long before the back really started growing. Good to know about the halter’s flattering the shoulders - thanks. I find dress shopping to be the most frustrating with the current back situation.
Good to know it stops at some point. I was a size 4/6 but had to buy a dress for my rehearsal dinner in a size 10. Very frustrating to watch my weight go down but my dress size go up.
