As an "outsider" to the world of "hardcore" swimming ...
Former Member
I swim a lot and really enjoy it. It's something I've done all of my life, growing up in Southern California, and it's my main form of exercise. I'm good at it, but I do it primarily for health and enjoyment.
I've noticed from lurking around this board for several years that there seems to be a very self-congratulatory, cliquish tone to many threads and posts. It seems like it's often a small group of people who post relentlessly, as if they are engaged in some sort of private conversation where they're trying to outdo each other.
Maybe I'm the only one who feels that way. Maybe that's part and parcel of the world of "hardcore" competitive swimmers. Or maybe it's because there wouldn't be anything else to talk about, unless there weren't a constant focus on who's the "best" at this or that.
A race is something that happens once in a while, whereas a lifetime of swimming lasts, well, a lifetime. Yes, it's great to break a certain time in a certain race, but it's also great to have the self-discpline to keep at a daily swimming program and work on improving one's technique and endurance. Both are valid, and, to my mind, neither is more worthy of praise than the other.
Jim Thornton, if I recall correctly, noted a while ago that there were a lot of people lurking around the board and not really participating. If that is the case, I would propose that may be due to the general off-putting tone of things on here. (I won't give examples at this point, although I could.)
Parents
Former Member
sftom, welcome. Lurking is great if you have a question that has already been answered. Doesn't work so well, once you would like some interactive help. There is a small group that is really good at providing that kind of help, and thus end up with thousands of posts next to their name. There is nothing wrong with being a lurker or even a poster who only posts a few times. If your goal is for everyone to know your name, then it makes sense to post often, and hopefully meaningfully.
It is frustrating at times. Over 90% of USMS swimmers swim for fitness and don't compete, but the magazine and forums tend to obsess over competition.
If you think of swimming as a spectrum, with fitness swimmers at one end and competitive swimmers on the over, the spectrum is probably pretty short.
As a fitness swimmer, you might only care about getting in and doing your thing until you feel adequately tired. In that case, you don't care about forums, magazines, work outs or any kind of competition. You just want a lane open when you want to swim.
As a competitive swimmer, you care about training techniques, starts, turns, how other people are competing that are either your friends or your competitors, depending on how you look at it.
A fitness swimmer who wants to become a better swimmer cares about a lot of the same things as a competitive swimmer. They want to get better, and they need a way to measure that. How the two groups measure that could be completely different, but both need workouts that will push them, and methods to improve technique.
If you think Swimmer is competition focused, pick up a copy of Swimming World. Meet results, meet reviews, interviews with champion age groupers, and to me, boring boring boring. I think we have it pretty good, but I would love to hear what someone who only cares about fitness would like to see added to Swimmer, because it is very likely that whatever they came up with would be of interest to me, some who attends meets, but probably won't see a top 10 time.
There's quite a bit of hero worship, too.
I wish I was Jazz Hands in the morning during my swim workout, and am thankful that I am not in the evening during my weight workout. www.usms.org/.../showthread.php :bow:
sftom, welcome. Lurking is great if you have a question that has already been answered. Doesn't work so well, once you would like some interactive help. There is a small group that is really good at providing that kind of help, and thus end up with thousands of posts next to their name. There is nothing wrong with being a lurker or even a poster who only posts a few times. If your goal is for everyone to know your name, then it makes sense to post often, and hopefully meaningfully.
It is frustrating at times. Over 90% of USMS swimmers swim for fitness and don't compete, but the magazine and forums tend to obsess over competition.
If you think of swimming as a spectrum, with fitness swimmers at one end and competitive swimmers on the over, the spectrum is probably pretty short.
As a fitness swimmer, you might only care about getting in and doing your thing until you feel adequately tired. In that case, you don't care about forums, magazines, work outs or any kind of competition. You just want a lane open when you want to swim.
As a competitive swimmer, you care about training techniques, starts, turns, how other people are competing that are either your friends or your competitors, depending on how you look at it.
A fitness swimmer who wants to become a better swimmer cares about a lot of the same things as a competitive swimmer. They want to get better, and they need a way to measure that. How the two groups measure that could be completely different, but both need workouts that will push them, and methods to improve technique.
If you think Swimmer is competition focused, pick up a copy of Swimming World. Meet results, meet reviews, interviews with champion age groupers, and to me, boring boring boring. I think we have it pretty good, but I would love to hear what someone who only cares about fitness would like to see added to Swimmer, because it is very likely that whatever they came up with would be of interest to me, some who attends meets, but probably won't see a top 10 time.
There's quite a bit of hero worship, too.
I wish I was Jazz Hands in the morning during my swim workout, and am thankful that I am not in the evening during my weight workout. www.usms.org/.../showthread.php :bow:
