Performance Enhancing SUpplements

I wonder if Masters has to begin worrying about the use of performance enhancing supplements like HGH. Some people have the luxury of worrying about what other competitors are doing now, but I have not gotten that far. I am still worried about what my competitors did as age groupers.

The older you get, the faster muscle loss takes place. Good diet, exercise, and proper balance between stress and rest keep us young longer. Good genes help. The best part of getting older is retiring from the money jobs and being able to do truly productive things like teaching swimming, practicing swimming and walking dogs.

When Rob Butcher said that masters should keep the tech suits because masters swimmer's muscles "need" the compression, does that open the door to allowing anything else that we "need?" No, why would it? I likewise frequently hear masters swimmers ruminating about drug use ... My hubby, I think (biased, I know), looks amazing for his age. But he has achieved this by an unrelenting commitment to fitness and a lifetime of running/biking/rowing and gym work.

I wonder if Masters has to begin worrying about the use of performance enhancing supplements like HGH. I don't have any clean and simple solutions - just wondering if there are others who are wondering the same thing I am. It's something that should always be on the radar, but obviously there is no testing in place so that's a statement in and of itself. Many of the drugs are ahead of the tests anyways. You will always wonder, but the odds are so slim. When's the last national level American swimmer that tested positive for something?

When Rob Butcher said that masters should keep the tech suits because masters swimmer's muscles "need" the compression, does that open the door to allowing anything else that we "need?" Are you suggesting that someone was on the fence about illegal dugs until they read this rather obscure quote? If that is the case then you contributed to the problem by publicizing the obscure quote. Good job. (obviously I am just joking, but come on, this is too much of a stretch!)

Some don't wish to follow FINA's rules, as this is masters swimming. I've never seen a PED swim a race, or, it's not the PED it's the swimmer, or, if I throw the PED in a pool it sinks. It is a mighty fine line between illegal and legal drugs.

I think there is more information easily accessible about how to stay fit, gain muscle, and improve your stoke available now then ever before. There are also a lot of legal performance enhancing supplements that some might use such as sodium bicarbonate, creatine, caffeine, and ginsing. I doubt many would use illegal supplements for masters swimming but there could be a few.

Has Landis redeemed himself (just a tiny bit) by telling the truth? I think "He has all the qualities of a dog, except loyalty." However, there is probably some truth in what he says. What does he have to lose?

Some people have the luxury of worrying about what other competitors are doing now, but I have not gotten that far. I am still worried about what my competitors did as age groupers. Great line. When I was in college, I had no knowledge of "performance enhancers". Even if I had the knowledge, I don't think I would have had the access, having attended a small Division III college that (outside of lacrosse) wasn't perticularly focused on athletics. I did however notice several of my very successful Division I competitors who gained incredible physiques once they'd gotten to campus. I'm not sure there was a level playing field in those days. Maybe I'm just overly cynical since the revelations of "the Clear", HGH, Epo, CERA, and now even the spectre of mechanical doping by cyclists...I still believe Lance Armstrong is clean, though. note: In the interests of full disclosure, I really believed Marion Jones when she disavowed any steroid use. Now I'm just another jaded has-been.