Hello all! I've browsed the forums a bit but this is my first real post. I guess I should start with my background. I am a 21 year old personal trainer who recently fell in love with swimming. Before I started swimming I was a competitive weight lifter. I started training about 4 months ago and I swim about 20 hours a week and I'm still in the process of trimming my weight down. I was really inspired to start trying to get competitive but because of my age and height (5'9) i got kinda turned off. Is there any hope of me competing at a moderately high level at my height and age? I know I only have 3 years till I move up a bracket in nationals so I was curious on others opinions if I was just wasting my time.
The title of your thread is an oxymoron to those of us who belong to USMS and compete at ALL ages past 18! My teammate, Anne Dunivin, is 98 years old and signed up to race in San Antonio at Nationals. :cheerleader:
I'm not sure what you mean by "moderately high level." If it's not the Olympics, then Masters Swimming is THE place to be if you're not in college and not yet old enough to compete at a senior games meet.
Like the Waves said, go check out a Masters meet and observe. At Nationals, you'll see everything from current Olympians on down to newbies who are slow. All are welcomed and respected for being there and participating! I know, because I was that newbie at 2010 Spring Nationals at Georgia Tech, and I had the time of my life! :D
Hello all! I've browsed the forums a bit but this is my first real post. I guess I should start with my background. I am a 21 year old personal trainer who recently fell in love with swimming. Before I started swimming I was a competitive weight lifter. I started training about 4 months ago and I swim about 20 hours a week and I'm still in the process of trimming my weight down. I was really inspired to start trying to get competitive but because of my age and height (5'9) i got kinda turned off. Is there any hope of me competing at a moderately high level at my height and age? I know I only have 3 years till I move up a bracket in nationals so I was curious on others opinions if I was just wasting my time.
Welcome
You're young. Being a former weight lifter my guess is you are very strong. It would be very worth your while to learn proper technique so you could apply your strength to the pool. Events that favor shorter stronger swimmers are Breastroke & sprints, especially sprints involving streamline dolpin kick, which we call SDK.
if you want to "compete at a moderately high level"
you need to know what your times are
so have someone time you for a 25, a 50 & a 100 all out
you can swim faster faster
forums.usms.org/showthread.php
Starting Blocks are optional.
Heck, isn't diving in optional? I suppose with the approval of the starter, you could start in the water for more than just backstroke, yes?
Accuracy is not the issue ... (carbon dating cartoon elided...)
(I know, getting off-topic, but wow...) "Carbon dating" would appear to be an entire sub-genre of cartoons. I don't recall it being a subject brought up on the Big Bang Theory though...
images.fineartamerica.com/.../radiocarbon-dating-keith-smith.jpg
