On the topic (admittedly somewhat loosely) of marketing USMS, every month or so I get a Kiefer or Kastaway catalog filled with pictures of pretty teen/20-something swimmers of both sexes. Maybe it was due in part to the endorphins, but I couldn't help but notice at Federal Way how many really good looking, athletic, sexy swimmers we have in our ranks for whom their twenties are a distant memory. Ande said something similar about the scene at the LCM Nationals. Call me a narcissist, but I am inspired seeing men and women my age and older who are obviously very fit and who have the bodies of folks 20 years younger. (I note that Goodsmith agrees that it's not how fast you are, it's how good you look. Although his mantra may change if Evilsmith gets prize money on the line).
So where are the pictures of 30, 40, 50, etc, somethings in our sponsors' advertising materials? How many parents of age groupers might take a look and say "I want to look like that" -- or maybe it's just "I'd like to see him/her in a fastskin at a meet", but who cares why as long as it gets them thinking about USMS?
One thing I wish I had done was take pictures 3 years ago of what I looked like when I started Masters Swimming, 220 pounds, plus size suits and extremely painful back that spasmed most of the time.
I did take pictures starting in August of 2006 (190 pounds) and have some from August 2007 (165 pounds). Not as dramatic a change though as it would have been from the start.
Perhaps those who are just starting out should take some before pictures and then progress pictures as they drop the weight (or should I say drop inches) and build muscle. This would probably help us keep people too as weight loss takes longer when you are adding muscle. Even if the scale does not move they could atleast see the pictorial evidence of their efforts.
My daughter took a picture of me at a tri in a swimsuit when I was 180, and I look at that to remind me where I was. Size 14 then, size 6 now. although at 46 I am not having my picture taken on purpose in a suit anytime soon!
One thing I wish I had done was take pictures 3 years ago of what I looked like when I started Masters Swimming, 220 pounds, plus size suits and extremely painful back that spasmed most of the time.
I did take pictures starting in August of 2006 (190 pounds) and have some from August 2007 (165 pounds). Not as dramatic a change though as it would have been from the start.
Perhaps those who are just starting out should take some before pictures and then progress pictures as they drop the weight (or should I say drop inches) and build muscle. This would probably help us keep people too as weight loss takes longer when you are adding muscle. Even if the scale does not move they could atleast see the pictorial evidence of their efforts.
My daughter took a picture of me at a tri in a swimsuit when I was 180, and I look at that to remind me where I was. Size 14 then, size 6 now. although at 46 I am not having my picture taken on purpose in a suit anytime soon!
