Are there differences in muscle fibers between athletes who lifting weights and swimmers?

Answer 1

I'm not sure what exactly you want to know about the muscle fibers and I'm no expert, but here is how I understand it.

Swimmers tend to exercise fast twitch and slow twitch muscles in they're workouts. The fast twitch are engaged during sprint sets and the slow twitch are engaged during aerobic sets. So all swimmers have well developed fast and slow twitch muscles. Good sprinters will probably have 60 to 70 percent fast-twitch muscle, while good long distance swimmers may have around a 50/50 split.

Whether or not weightlifters have fast or slow twitch muscles depends on the type of workout they do. Sets consisting of fast, explosive lifts will build more fast twitch muscle fibers, and longer, slower sets will build slow twitch muscle fibers. That's one reason why plyometric workouts are effective for any athlete who needs flat-out speed; the fast-twitch muscles are engaged and enlarged through fast, explosive training.

Besides that, a muscle fiber is a muscle fiber as far as I know. To be a great swimmer you have to incorporate a weight regimen into your training plan, so the swimmers and weightlifters will be similarly built, outside of the fast/slow twitch differences.

I hope that helps. And if anyone else out there has something to add, I'd like to know more myself.