At my yearly physical last week a funny thing happened. The doctors staff informed me that swimming is not an aerobic exercise and that I would be better off walking briskly for 20 to 30 minutes a couple days each week.
I explained I try to swim 2 to 3 times each week for 60 to 90 minutes,and my workout is prepared by MO, ya'll might recognise that name. They asked me the distance I cover in that time and I responded with 2800 to 3500 yards or 1.5 to 2 miles depending on time.
Not good enough according to the staff. I should be walking. I will let the facts stand for themselves.
Age 48
Wt 149
BP 120/80
Pulse 60
Body Fat 18%
Total Cholesterol 194 (need to eat better)
Well it is off to the pool for another MO workout. Maybe I will walk briskly from my car to the pool and see if that counts. Thanks for those workouts MO I enjoy them.
Have a great day
Paul
Former Member
Originally posted by emmett
But before those free samples, the drug companies proactively provide some basic education to the doctor about their product and its use. They send reps to visit doctors.
I think that most Masters clubs do give away free samples in the form of tryout visits. Our insurance arrangement allows for 30 days grace period for signing up and most clubs take advantage of some or all of that time to allow newbies to try out their programs free of charge.
But, for the most part, our education is passive - the doctor must seek it out to get it. There are relatively few Masters groups that seek out and establish business relationships with individual medical practitioners. Those that do have a leg up on the competition. And the benefits of such relationships will only increase over time.
Interesting thoughts!
There are some exercise programs that specifically target doctors with some of their advertising. I wonder if there would be any value in USMS doing something similar. The advertising would need to be written, I think, by somebody in USMS who is also a doctor, and who can address the kind of concerns a doctor would be likely to have.
Don't get me wrong, I think the idea of contacting doctors is a terrific idea... guess what I am trying to say is that the strategy lends itself to programs (teams/clubs) selfpepetuating themselves rather than to the expansion of USMS in general. I see the outreach and solving the problem of areas where there are no teams/clubs as inter related. What if, an aggressive coach were to go to an area where there isn't a team/club and start talking to doctors about the benefits, would it generate enough interest that a club might form?
Originally posted by msgrupp
Scansy--last time I was at CMU's pool (1/2003)--there was a branch of the "O" JUST outside the pool deck!!!
If you have an opportunity to swim there--you can kill 2 birds with one stone!
Wow, I could fatten up and trim down all in one visit!:D Sounds better than sex. (Well, not really.)
Rob, I do talk to everyone I get a chance to talk to about forming a club, including the other lap swimmers I meet in the pool and of course my doctor when he took my pulse twice because he didn't believe it the first time. So far the most common response has been, "let me know when things get going."
Originally posted by Tom Ellison
Don't forget the THRASHERS FRIES...over on the Shore.... Would that be Thrasher's French Fries in Ocean City, Maryland, on the Boardwalk near Trimper's? There's a branch in Baltimore's Harborplace as well.
Addenda: Guess Tom's reminded me about the one in Rehobeth Beach as well. I'll take mine with ketchup, please.
I happen to take have quite a bit of interest in this subject, in particular the marketing aspect that's been touched on. I attended my first USMS convention last year and it was quite a learning experience. I had several side conversations with people about marketing or the lack thereof of our sport that we're rather enlightening, I even attended the marketing committee meeting.
Emmett, I hope in the future we have a chance to meet and discuss in person. I know you attended the same meeting as I and I'm somewhat dissapointed that you didn't bring up some of the very good/important ideas you have promoted here.
I do however have to admit that I can possibly understand why, although I'm very impressed with the commitment of the people who make up the committee's I'm not convinced it's an environment thats all that conducive to change.
My argumnet against that theory is seeing a very healthy dialogue and almost immediate reaction to feedback during the championship meeting. I hope and would like to see the same type of thing happen in marketing and Emmett's feedback should/could be acted on.
Originally posted by Bob McAdams
There are some exercise programs that specifically target doctors with some of their advertising. I wonder if there would be any value in USMS doing something similar. The advertising would need to be written, I think, by somebody in USMS who is also a doctor, and who can address the kind of concerns a doctor would be likely to have.
As luck would have it, our USMS President, Dr. Jim Miller, is just such a person.
But, because USMS is really a free-form assemblage of clubs that are quite varied, such writings could only be in the broadest of terms - like a drug company putting out general information along the lines of "We make good drugs, our manufacturing facilities are high tech and our reps are knowledgable." Then, the reps (in our case, our coaches) go to individual doctors and educate them about specific drugs (in our case, specific Masters clubs).
And, since most clubs of moderate to large size likely have a medical practitioner or two as members, using these doctors to help gain access to other doctors would make sense.
The bottom line is that it will take grass roots coach to doctor contact, undertaken in a professional manner.
