Cheating at practice?

If you ain't cheatin'....you ain't tryin'!!!!! If you git caught.....you ain't tryin' hard enuff!!!!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

I think you are all wrong to regard such behaviour as 'cheating'. Instead it should be viewed as adapting the circumstances to suit the needs of the individual. Isn't that a far more sensible, mature approach, indicative of masters swimming? Certainly that's why I always get in half way through the warm-up and never swim breaststroke. I agree! I certainly wouldn't call it cheating! We're in masters now and we have earned our right to do whatever the heck we want to (as long as it doesn't interfere with another swimmers workout). If you want to get out early - go for it (these people may have to go to work???). If you need to modify your practice, do so - I have to change stuff up at practice so I don't blow out my shoulder again!! (I'm trying to not sound pi$$y:D). I don't know if I could ever call myself or my teammates cheaters who make the effort to get up at 4:45am to swim and use fins or whatever to modify a set. It's awesome that they are THERE and working hard! Every one of you should be proud of what you have accomplished as a masters swimmer! Not too many people can say that they are a competitive swimmer at our age(s)!:D Take care, S

Gosh, you all have me on this one. I thought the only way to cheat while working out would be to make a U-turn before the turn thereby avoiding it entirely and passing up everyone in your lane. I did that a couple of times when I swam for San Mateo Masters Marlins in California. I did it because I got tired of swimming behind a slow person. Hey, fins are cheating; they have a wonderful purpose; they get your heartrate up, they strenthen your legs and they help to keep you more buoyant de-stressing shoulders!!! Donna

I sin continually, but usually with reason i.e. I have a very bad neck that interferes with some drills etc. What I do to mitigate my sinning is anytime we get a new coach I take them aside and explain that if they see me 'editing' their workout it is not from a lack of respect but necessity. It helps that I have a floating "Doctor's note" (my GP swims in my lane). Otherwise, I find that some 'Cheating' stems from intervals that are too stiff to perform the skills required properly.

Are there masters swimmers "cheating" at practice? Like: Leaving early? Using pull buoys? Kicking whatever they want despite what the workout says? Swimming free on designated "stroke" sets? I do it all the time. But I've never heard any grumbling since I'm the team and coach. :joker:

Are there masters swimmers "cheating" at practice? I am a cheater. I did all of the following yesterday... One handed touches on ***/fly? I try not to since I don't want to accidentally do it in my 400 IM that is hopefully going to be under 5:00 at Zones but it did happen on fly yesterday. Kicking whatever they want despite what the workout says? I always just do flutter kick on my back. Yesterday we did 12 x 75 kick (25 fly on back, 25 flutter on back, 25 choice---I think!?!?) and I did it all flutter kick on my back. Swimming free on designated "stroke" sets? Not exactly, but I do skip fly or *** every once in a while in IM sets. Again, not so good considering my goals. Pulling on the lane line on backstroke? Guilty. I did it yesterday once or twice. As for leaving early, do you mean people who go just a second before the interval? Drives me nuts when I'm going on the same intervals as the lane next to me and I'm about their same speed and they leave early. It stinks to start off a second behind. I don't have any good excuses as to why I am a cheater. I'm going to make a good effort this week to not cheat...or at least not pull on the lane line. Some of these things though are resulting from the back pain I have been experincing the last few weeks so in an attempt to not make it worse, I bailed on the fly and *** and dolphin kick stuff. When I was coaching one night, I gave a set of 200 IMs and watched as almost every single person did one hand touches. After the set everyone was ready to warm down and I made them do one more 200 IM with legal turns, breaststroke kicks, etc. and told them that if I saw anyone cheating that they would have to do it again. It was fun to watch everyone be so diligent about their turns!!! I knew I was a cheater when I was 4 years old. I cheated at pin the tail on the donkey (lifted up the blindfold a little and put the tail right in the right spot) and when my parents told me that I didn't win because I had cheated I threw a tantrum and they had to call all of the parents to come pick up their kids.

I'm a big cheater. First, I use fins a lot when I'm not supposed to. Second, I do one handed turns on fly and *** at least half the time. But in the "You are the rules dictator" thread, I announced my disapproval of the two handed touch rule. Don't see the need for it. Of course, as someone told me then, these bad practice habits could get me in trouble at a meet. So far, I've been sufficiently Mindful to avoid a DQ. I try not to leave early. Although yesterday someone in the adjacent lane was leaving a bit early, which was slightly annoying as I was trying to keep up. But no big deal. Usually leaving early just creates a lane clogging problem. Better to stick to the intervals and give everyone their space. I never use pull buoys though. Although I know people that do when they get tired. I couldn't care less if they do or don't. I could also care less about whether someone is doing the designated type of kick as long as they're doing the correct distance. As long as you're in the correct lane and not disturbing someone else's practice or disrupting the set, I don't see the big deal about modifying a practice a bit. Why, on Saturday, I just got out and left when the coach announced an 800 free with paddles and fins. So I didn't disturb anyone by being an outrageous slacker.

Oh, I thought this was about another kind of cheating. :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: Couldn't resist ... sorry! I think it's safe to say my family knows about my shoulder woes and fin use. I'm a big cheater and a big complainer. But I am not an eager beaver. And I even swim breaststroke when it's specifically assigned.

I think you are all wrong to regard such behaviour as 'cheating'. Instead it should be viewed as adapting the circumstances to suit the needs of the individual. Isn't that a far more sensible, mature approach, indicative of masters swimming? Agreed!!! I sometimes cheat myself by not sticking to my pre-designed workout. I always consider it adapting to the circumstances. Although ocassionally I feel like I can handle a dose of something extra, so I though that in. So it all balances out.

I try very hard not to cheat. Since I am back in the pool for the first time in 4 years I will do some free in place of fly during long IM sets. That is just because I do not have my strength up yet for long yardages of fly. Leaving early on intervals really bugs me. The way I see it is they are there for a reason so pay attention and do the set correctly. But the long and the short of it is I will not say anything to anybody about how they work out. They made an effort to get there and they can swim how they like. If I get fired up it just makes me swim faster and burns some stress. Got Boost