The Fastest Age

Originally posted by cinc310 Well, Bray is like open water swimmer Suzanne Heim-Bowen who can swim a 800 meter freestyle like Debbie Meyer did in 1968. Most master swimmers can't do the yardage these people do because they took 20 years or so breaks and the body has a harder time doing the yardage you did as a teenager in your 40's. We all have different abilities and as a teenager Exactly! My biggest trouble with Ions arguments is that I really can not accpet the idea that it all boils down to the VO2Max. I think what you said about all of us having diffrent abilities (in a number of ways) is right on the money! The disadvantage that I do believe in is, as you said, many masters swimmers taking a long break, which plays into physical conditioning, and also, those who neverhad the initial technique base in their early years... so theyare coming from behind now. Also, the fact that the body ages, and starts changing physiologically is also a contributing factor. Even if a person stays in their top physical condition their whole life, aging is still going to catch up with them, and the performance will decline. For most people it's around age 23-25 that the body stops growing, and starts to age. Even if one is in a superb athletic physical condition.

Originally posted by cinc310 Well, Bray is like open water swimmer Suzanne Heim-Bowen who can swim a 800 meter freestyle like Debbie Meyer did in 1968. Most master swimmers can't do the yardage these people do because they took 20 years or so breaks and the body has a harder time doing the yardage you did as a teenager in your 40's. We all have different abilities and as a teenager Exactly! My biggest trouble with Ions arguments is that I really can not accpet the idea that it all boils down to the VO2Max. I think what you said about all of us having diffrent abilities (in a number of ways) is right on the money! The disadvantage that I do believe in is, as you said, many masters swimmers taking a long break, which plays into physical conditioning, and also, those who neverhad the initial technique base in their early years... so theyare coming from behind now. Also, the fact that the body ages, and starts changing physiologically is also a contributing factor. Even if a person stays in their top physical condition their whole life, aging is still going to catch up with them, and the performance will decline. For most people it's around age 23-25 that the body stops growing, and starts to age. Even if one is in a superb athletic physical condition.