May/June cover of USMS Swimmer

Originally posted by Peter Cruise Matt- as someone who survived the vituperative chaos of the pre-return-to-civility era of this forum, you're not showing a great deal of endurance. Kind of ionic, whoops, ironic. I'm all about comedy these days. I was banned for a week during that period of chaos so to prevent that situation from recurring..... Like the error by the way! :p ;)

Originally posted by scyfreestyler I don't know who Tom Wolf is but if Swimming World is the ideal magazine for you then you truly should subscribe. Tom Wolf is a Masters swimmer with the Plano Wetcats. He currently owns eight national and five world records in the 50-54 age group. He made the cover of Swimming World (without a flotation vest) as the world Masters swimmer of the year. I do subscribe to Swimming World. Is it "ideal"? Perhaps not, but in every issue there is a section devoted to technique (what used to be Swimming Technique magazine) and one covering Masters swimming (what used to be SWIM magazine). There are interviews, summaries of major meets, features on how they train, etc. You have to look elsewhere for water aerobics, aqua jogging, water slides, and noodles.

It appears that the two swimming publications (USMS/Swimming World) are trying to distinguish themselves...SW seems to be focusing more on masters competition, USMS on the fitness swimmer.

Gull, it sounds like Tom Wolf earned his spot on the cover of that magazine. Anybody who can accomplish those feats sans flotation device gets my vote. :D Anyhow, it sounds like Swimming World is a much better magazine for the competitive swimmer than USMS Swimmer is. However, I will say that it sounds to me like the aqua aerobics stories in USMS Magazine are tied in directly to some very prominent Masters swimmers. It might not seem like valuable information right now but who know what life may bring, you know?

Bill, Thanks for giving us a peak into the content of the next issue. Sounds like the point of one of the articles is don't knock water aerobic exercises as serious training aides until you've tried them. I seem to remember making critical comments about Gary Hall mentioning The Race Club reef dives for lobsters as part of their training regime. Seems to me he proved my criticisms were misplaced, what with winning a gold medal and defending his co-Olympic Championship and all. The authors of the article might have a point worth considering. And yes, to be fair to everyone, I understand that Gull and Geek are NOT talking about serious athletes who use water aerobics as part of serious training. Got it. Their complaint is about people who kid themselves about getting a workout with faux water aerobics "exercises" while exhibiting in every other way imaginable that they don't even understand what exercise is. Roger. I also wanted to point out one thing that appears to be a habit in these discussion groups. To give the articles about water aerobic exercises greater heft and credibility, Bill felt compelled to point out that the authors of these articles have themselves set USMS records and performed at the highest levels in USMS. Why is it necessary for someone to be an elite athlete for me to take him/her seriously as a coach or an author? I understand that some of the most successful and highly regarded coaches in U.S. Swimming are themselves very poor swimmers and/or personally afraid of the water. When discussions in this forum devolve down to the "did not! did too!" level, one of the most common brickbracks that starts flying is "how can you criticize the ideas of someone who is 30 seconds faster than you in the..." Yes, at some level, proving your methods work for you is more impressive than simply spouting off your ideas. However, I've seen people with perfectly valid points get shouted down because they are slower than some of the other participants. Where'd we get that idea? Just asking? Matt

Originally posted by gull80 ... or one of the other swimmers heading to Nationals. Yeah, noodling nationals.

So it sounds like a Bad Cover, however another Good Read. BTW - I just signed up for SW last year and was pleasantly surprised by the amount dedicated to Masters Swimming.

C'mon, Craig, this conversation has nothing to do with stroke victims or our love of the water, it's about our magazine showing water aerobes on the cover. USMS has not ever been about water aerobics. Sure, it might be useful as a training aid but so are a bunch of other exercises. If you were a car enthusiast, would you be more likely to buy Car and Driver if there was a picture of some boring sedan on the cover? How many health and fitness mags put saggy middle aged Americans on the cover in hopes that will attract sales? When have you ever seen a running mag have it's cover shot be someone in a step class? There is no more important item for a magazine than the cover, that's the hook. The cover of the magazine that represents tens of thousands of swimmers, fitness and competitive alike, chose to put a water aerobics class on it's front. It's an entirely different set and type of swimmer. I have witnessed a bunch of floater classes and have never seen one of those folks lap swim and vice versa so what is the point of this cover shot? I'm with Smith, I'm getting a subscription to SW. And, Smith, gull80 has you beat on the most controversial thread, but you are a late bloomer to this category.

By the way, which ones are the All-Americans in the cover photo?

Now here we go, those of us who think water aerobics shouldn't be on the cover of a swimming magazine aren't being respectful or tolerant of others. I'd hazard a guess that a minute fraction of USMS members even go to water aerobic classes or use those classes as their sole form of water exercise. It's called USM SWIMMING. Floating with a belt and flippers, no matter how strenuous, is not swimming either for fitness or competition. I wonder if there is a water aerobe association and they put a picture of a swim meet on their cover this month? I hear competition swimming is a good way to supplement floating.