Is the SS program right for me?/ The Aquatic Ape

[mikasa1]

As of right now, I am 6'3 and 160 lbs. I'm a water polo goalkeeper/swimmer and pretty good at that. However, I do see that I am underweight and would like to do Starting Strength and build some muscle mass but I do have a few questions.

1) Recovery. Right now I'm in a club season when I casually have practice 2 days a week and a game on the weekends. Will that affect gains because I am overtraining my muscles?

2) Gaining mass bad? I always wanted to gain strength and size because I would just like to be a stronger person, I don't care if I look like Brad Pitt or whatever. The problem is that my sport comes first before weightlifting and I hear that being too 'heavy' will inflict on how fast I react when I stop a ball. Take this goalkeeper, Craig Wilson (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWY-3gyXjQ0). He's tall but he doesn't seem bulky. He also doesn't seem underweight like I might be because I have developed an hourglass shape in my core from not eating properly, sadly. Is Starting Strength right for me? If I gain too much weight, I fear that my jumps for blocking the ball will be hindered by the pounds that I've put on.

Thank you for the help.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Added muscle mass will negatively affect your buoyancy. Choose carefully.

[twogun]

I used to be able to float with minimal effort. I was a good swimmer and knew that if I were ever in a life threatening situation on the water that I could last a long time.

Now, after several years of lifting, I sink like a rock and have to work to stay afloat.

[Mark Rippetoe]

Humans are not aquatic animals.

[Mark Edward]

Well, now we all need to listen to a (possibly-crazy) old lady give a TED talk about how we are aquatic animals.

http://blog.ted.com/2009/07/31/did_we_evolve_f/

[Kregna]

Humans are not aquatic animals.

Isn't it thought that the reason we lost most of our bodyhair was because we started hunting in the water more? There are other traits that support this, like a hooded nose to stop water getting in as easily

[warmachine7954]

I used to be able to float with minimal effort. I was a good swimmer and knew that if I were ever in a life threatening situation on the water that I could last a long time.

Now, after several years of lifting, I sink like a rock and have to work to stay afloat.

After I hit puberty I sank like a rock in the pool. You will still float in the ocean. Plus Rip says swimming will screw up your lifting.

Rip, wouldn't his added muscle mass make him a better, stronger swimmer?

[Mark Rippetoe]

Isn't it thought that the reason we lost most of our bodyhair was because we started hunting in the water more? There are other traits that support this, like a hooded nose to stop water getting in as easily

It's believed by you and Elaine Morgan.

After I hit puberty I sank like a rock in the pool. You will still float in the ocean. Plus Rip says swimming will screw up your lifting.

Where did I say this?

Rip, wouldn't his added muscle mass make him a better, stronger swimmer?

I don't know. Swimming is not an interest of mine.

[Philbert]

Try it and see. If it negatively affects your performance it is easy to fix, muscle mass is easy to lose and you would likely have some residual strength gains. To be clear, I am NOT advocating that you or anyone else should try to lose muscle mass. Also, gaining some fat per the standard protocol of eating well above maintenance for skinny young males should reduce the adverse effect on your buoyancy.

[veryhrm]

OP, search the forum (according to the 'how to search this forum' thread) for threads on swimming. There are a handful which will likely be interesting reading.

As to your hour-glass shape... have you considered that your butt and thighs might also be large for some other reason... maybe something having to do with getting out of the water up to your waist 10 or 50 times a day a couple of days a week?

In general the waterpolo players i've known who also swam were among the largest swimmers. This makes sense given the power requirements of the sport. 160 @ 6'3 seems small (even for a goalie), but i don't know. Curious... i used ye olde internet to find some data: let's look at some dude named Merrill Moses. He's also 6' 3" and the web suggests that in Beijing he was 215 and now is 205. Other people: Andy Stevens 6' 3" 205. Genai Kerr 6'8 225. (These three are the current and recently retired keepers for the US team). It's not conclusive, but those few points are suggestive.

My guess is that all the SS lifts will be good for you legs, butt and posterior chain in general because they build strength for the power things you already do. Press and BP for the upper body power that you use both to launch and also to throw a ball across the pool for a counter-attack. It's unlikely you'll be able to do the program as written in-season because of recovery concerns, but w/ two practices/scrimages a week it will prob. work. Then read around the site (or in Practical Programming) for options like doing it maybe just 2 times a week or splitting it into 4 workouts and others. Do you currently do any drylands?
That also factors into your recovery equation, obviously.