Medical Question to a Doctor regarding Supplements.
Former Member
When competing last week in Hawaii, I read in the Honolulu Star Bulletin newspaper from Saturday May 18, in page A5, an advertisement promoting a product stimulating the release of the Human Growth Hormone by the body.
I read in it: "Practically EVERYONE over the age of 40 has a Growth Hormone deficiency.". I am age 43, and even though I trained more than ever for the past year, I swam slower in Hawaii in 100 free and 200 free than I did last year, which was slower than in 1998, which was slower than in 1996, which was slower than in 1994 when I peaked in yards competitions. Because of this, I kept reading:
by taking the product advertised in the newspaper "In the FIRST MONTH: You should expect: Improved stamina;...".
My question for a Medical Doctor familiar with competitions, regards one specific side effect of such a product, not approved by FDA. I remember reading in the Swimming World magazine in mid-90s, when Chinese Olympic swimmers were being caught on illegal products, that a possible side effect of Human Growth Hormone stimulants given to adults, was an increase of extremities like nose, hands, ears and forehead. A picture of the swimmer Massimiliano Rosolino (Ita.) who in the 2000SydneyOlympics won gold, silver and bronze medals, picture published in 2000 in www.nbcolympics.com, semmed to me to show the increase of the nose. www.nbcolympics.com didn't mean to imply anything like this, this is my interpretation of Rosolino's face. It is publicly documented now, that Rosolino took Human Growth Hormone stimulants before the Olympics.
My question is:
The product advertised in Honolulu Star Bulletin as being a Human Growth Hormone stimulant, does increase the nose?
If so, what safer supplements achieve "...improved stamina..."?
San Francisco Chronicle did mention once before the 2000Olympics, two Olympians who were achieving with legal supplements the outcome of illegal products.
Ion, I watched your 100 Free. To me it looked like you swam the first length with only one breath, it was hard to tell. Then you seemed to switch to breathing every stroke, but only now and then. It was a very erratic pattern. What was your strategy?
Reason for going slower in a meet than in practice could be the drafting factor if you go last in a pack of six swimmers in your lane.
I wish that I could agree with Jim Thornton about the steroids or other "additives", but I can't. I'm not sure that buying HGH or some other product mail order without knowledgeable assistance will improve performance, but with knowledgeable assitance regarding doses, and so on, the lesson of sports over the last 20 years is that there are substances that improve athletic performance. Look at Ben Johnson, the East Germans, the Chinese women, Michelle Smith(allegedly and denied by her), and so on.
Is the price too high for that form of success.? I think so, and there is a big difference between drinking coffee before a workout for a caffeine boost, and the East German swimming machine. But I think its wishful thinking to claim that there are no performance benefits. It is possible that what is being sold is not always what is being claimed, but track athletes and some swmmers on the international level are cheating because it works. If it didn't work, there wouldn't be the problems that exist. For information about the East German experience, with an emphasis on the resulting problems, see Fast's Gold. I've forgotten the author. But that was a scientifically run program that found that steroids improved performance. To be blunt, ask Shirly Babashoff if it helps make swimmers faster.
I don't think any masters swimmer should use products that are banned in other sports, and I hope none do. I'd like to swim faster but not that badly, and not that way. And I hope others agree with me. But I can't honestly say that what I view as cheating doesn't help people swim faster even if I wished it didn't.
All posts make good points. I weigh in very heavily on the side of NO DRUGS, EVER, NEVER...to go faster in sports.
I believe any athlete caught doping in sports where specific drugs are banned should be kicked out for LIFE! (Providing there is irrefutable proof of such).
Beireland gives an example of the terrible ramifications to athletes, (Shirly Babashoff) that have dedicated their entire lives to achieve a certain goal..only to have it stolen by a cheater...How sad ....Drugs in sports are a bad deal!
Originally posted by Gail Roper
Ion, I watched your 100 Free. To me it looked like you swam the first length with only one breath, it was hard to tell. Then you seemed to switch to breathing every stroke, but only now and then. It was a very erratic pattern. What was your strategy?
...
US Olympic Swimmer, Gail Roper, talks to me. I am touched by being noticed by Gail.
I breathe for the first time at the 30 yards mark, then I breathe like somebody who trains with me at UCSD reported that Mark Spitz (US) coaching and swimming at UCLA said: "Breathe every time you need it.".
Regarding breathing for the first time at the 30 yards mark, trials and errors tell me that's for my best.
Regarding breathing afterwards in an "...erratic pattern...", I developed asthma and at slow speed I control it, but at full speed I am coughing in the water.
Originally posted by Gail Roper
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Reason for going slower in a meet than in practice could be the drafting factor if you go last in a pack of six swimmers in your lane.
Right on.
Two weeks before the 2002ShortCourseNationals, in a workout I swam a 300 yards in 3:30, then within minutes I swam another 300 yards in 3:27.
A few months ago, I swam a 500 yards in practice in 6:00.
Both instances I was drafting, indeed, much easier than leading.
In Hawaii I was overconfident in the 500. One day before it, I was thinking there is even no real need for me to show up, since breaking my best of 5:51.96 is quasi-guaranteed.
Then in the 500 when the going got tough, I backed away.
What a winner I am...
Originally posted by Gail Roper
...
Reason for going slower in a meet than in practice could be the drafting factor if you go last in a pack of six swimmers in your lane.
I forgot to tell this, Gail:
one week before competing in 2001ShortCourseNationals in Hawaii, in a workout having the 200 free for time, from push off the wall, no dive, I swam 2:14.xx alone in the lane, no drafting; diving would have brought the time at 2:13.xx;
tapering would make it faster, so people were prompting me to swim in Hawaii under 2:10.
Right?
No, in Hawaii I swam in 2:13.66.
Hello Everyone!
There's a lot a fine advice to be taken here. I have the opportunity to professionally meet with, at times, with a registered dietician/nutritionist and have received some good advice. From what I've been able to find out, it seems that most of today's supplements are not a good substitute for a balanced diet, unless there is a medical reason to indicate otherwise. There's an old axiom, we are what we eat, and I would think that most of us here believe this to be very true. Coincidentally, there's a major article in the June 2002 issue of Consumer's Reports which discusses weight loss, nutrition, "fad" diets and more. The article is quite informative.
Many of todays supplements, along with the "10-minute abs" videos, electronic ab stimulators, the "Ab-Doer," ad nauseam, remind me of the old Sears catalogues of the early 20th century. There were pages upon pages of "patent medicines" and "remedies" that were sure to cure most any malady. I daresay that things 100 years later are not much different in this respect. I must confess that I do take a multiple vitamin, only because we have so much processed food which is available to us. Other than that, I've learned to stay away from the rest . . . including learning to do without caffeine ('cept chocolate!).
To sum up what everyone else has said here, a balanced diet, no dubious supplements (including illegal), plenty of rest and exercise is a lifestyle. All of us here already pretty much follow this lifestyle, but the point here is that risking one's health using some supplement is just not worth it.
Just sign me . . .
Mark in MD
