Will my Athletic Ability As a D1 Athlete Be Affected if I Get Breast Implants?

It would be fair to say that getting breast implants will not improve your performance and will likely have an adverse effect. No matter how small the implants are, they will increase drag in the water and your strength of pectoralis muscle movement may be slightly diminished. As a competitive swimmer, you are best to wait until that experience is over. You can get breast implants anytime and enjoy their benefits for many decades. Your college swimming experience is far more time limited so you should enjoy the competitive experience implant-free for now. 

The short answer is yes, breast implants will compromise your performance and add seconds to your time. Submuscular placement will cause a loss of your edge, and the fullness can produce more drag in the water. Sorry, but it is best to wait until you swim for fun on a less competative level.

Best of luck,

peterejohnsonmd

If you are actively competing at level 1 college sports, you may want to hold off until you are no longer competitively swimming. While I doubt it will impact your overall performance, you will need downtime probably of at least 6 weeks before you can go back to your usualy workouts.

You should think twice about getting augmentation surgery as this will alter your center of gravity in addition to increasing your over all weight. Altering your center of gravity will definitely affect your running dynamics. Although these changes are subtle, if your livelihood depends on it, then I would not recommend altering any part of your body.

Hi.

We actually had a competitive swimmer who got implants and then felt that the implants increased drag through the water.

I agree that in your case you probably should delay your breast augmentation until finish your career as a competitive swimmer.  The surgery would definitely interfere with your training and might also adversely affect your times.  You sound as if you would be a very good surgical candidate after finish swimming competitively, however.