When the leading men from the extreme world of ice swimming stand in public in their swimming briefs, they re are impressive for their relative slender builds. None of them can be said to be obese or even relatively overweight.

Rather, compared to the average middle-aged man, these hardened souls are defined as extraordinarily fit individuals. Solid physically and diamond-tough mentally.

Their lack of relative body fat and incredible dedication to their chosen aquatic discipline are examples of why gaining weight for open water swims are not absolute necessity.

Henri Kaarma is one of these renowned ice swimmers. An Estonian, he swam 1650m in 25 minutes 25 seconds at the 2012 Russian Winter Swimming Championships held in Tyumen when the water temperature was 0.3°C and the air temperatures was as low as -33°C.

Kaarma previously swam 1 km in 25m pool cut in ice during winter swimming festival Pirita Open 2011 in the Pirita river in Tallinn, Estonia when the air temperature was -1ºC and the water temperature was 0.4ºC (32.7ºF).

Copyright © 2012 by World Open Water Swimming Association