Hey Larry

I have missed him too and have been thinking the same thing. He is such an important member of this
group. Marianne

"rtk" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

I hope you've left us to yawn because you're at a med conference and that all is well with you and
your family.

Ruth Kazez

Ruth/Mary: You are too kind. A couple of weeks ago, I read of a "new" medical condition, which I
think applies to me. It is called "hypergraphia." Compulsive urge to write. A lot of really good
writers have "suffered" from it. For them, it was fortuitous. But a lot of less talented people get
it also, and produce reams of, well, less valuable literature. I decided that I could only afford
one writing indulgence at a time, and politics seemed more urgent. So I've been wasting time arguing
with other hypergraphics on political newsgroups (trying to be respectful of Donald Graft). More
than you wanted to know.

I logged onto r.s.s. today because I wanted to comment on the medical examiner's report on Robert
Atkins. He died (at age 72, ostensibly of a "fall"😉 weighing 258 pounds at only 6'0" tall. His
autopsy showed congestive heart failure, hypertension, and prior myocardial infarction. The
physician currently running the Atkins foundation tried to blame it all on a viral cardiomyopathy.
Nice try, but this does NOT produce myocardial infarction. And if his 258 pounds were owing to edema
from congestive heart failure and not from garden variety obesity, he would have been in bed on high
flow oxygen, and not out walking the streets of New York. What I want to know is the condition of
his coronary arteries (not reported in the Wall Street Journal report). His widow (and his
foundation) were outraged over the leakage of the medical examiner findings (by a physician group
which advocates a plant-based diet).

In contrast, when Nathan Pritikin died (he was in the advanced stages of chronic lymphocytic
leukemia, which he battled for nearly 25 years -- the onset of which antedated his changing his diet
from the "standard American diet" to the ultra low fat diet,...when he died, his autopsy findings
were published in the New England Journal of Medicine (title: "Nathan Pritikin's Autopsy"😉. This
showed perfectly clean coronary arteries and no evidence of any vascular disease, hypertension, etc.

I do plan on hypergraphically writing about something new relating to swimming in the next week or
so. I'm going to call it "The Secret of Speed."

- Larry

Shoulda been: Ruth/Marianne (not Ruth/Mary)

I knew that. Sorry.

"Larry Weisenthal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message "]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

So I've been wasting time arguing with other hypergraphics on political newsgroups (trying to be
respectful of Donald Graft).

Much appreciated. Maybe it's safe to come back? :-)

I notice when I get fatigued, my weak left arm seems to just go through the motions of pulling and
doesn't accomplish much. My right arm is raring to go while my left is just delaying things. So I
thought, why not have a short bent-arm entry and early exit on the left and a long strong pull on
the right. The idea is to minimize the troughs in the velocity graph. This seems another way to
approach justifying the idea of loping.

Don

Larry Weisenthal said:

I logged onto r.s.s. today because I wanted to comment on the medical examiner's report on Robert
Atkins. He died (at age 72, ostensibly of a "fall"😉 weighing 258 pounds at only 6'0" tall. His
autopsy showed congestive heart failure, hypertension, and prior myocardial infarction. The
physician currently running the Atkins foundation tried to blame it all on a viral cardiomyopathy.
Nice try, but this does NOT produce myocardial infarction. And if his 258 pounds were owing to
edema from congestive heart failure and not from garden variety obesity, he would have been in bed
on high flow oxygen, and not out walking the streets of New York. What I want to know is the
condition of his coronary arteries (not reported in the Wall Street Journal report). His widow
(and his foundation) were outraged over the leakage of the medical examiner findings (by a
physician group which advocates a plant-based diet).

But in the photos I have seen, he isn't overweight, and he is well into his sixties, I would guess,
so if he was 258 when he died, he would have had to gain a lot of weight in a short time.

martin

--
If you are a US citizen, please use your constitutional right to vote, because we badly need a new
president.

m. w. smith said:

But in the photos I have seen, he isn't overweight, and he is well into his sixties, I would
guess, so if he was 258 when he died, he would have had to gain a lot of weight in a short time.

Pulled from the headlines: He was trim, svelte really, at the time of his fall, then gained 58
pounds while in a coma. That bit of news really lightened my day. Can we safely assume he was
allergic to cameras for a while before his fall?

Ruth Kazez

rtk said:

m. w. smith said:

But in the photos I have seen, he isn't overweight, and he is well into his sixties, I would
guess, so if he was 258 when he died, he would have had to gain a lot of weight in a short time.

Pulled from the headlines: He was trim, svelte really, at the time of his fall, then gained 58
pounds while in a coma. That bit of news really lightened my day. Can we safely assume he was
allergic to cameras for a while before his fall?

I don't know, but we *can* safely assume that Nathan Pritikin, faced with the choice: Diet or die,
had an incentive to stick with his diet that most of us (knock on wood) don't have.

martin

--
If you are a US citizen, please use your constitutional right to vote, because we badly need a new
president.

"Donald Graft" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<8NeWb.268104$I06.2863623@attbi_s01>...

Quoted message said:

"Larry Weisenthal" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:20040210123833.13722.00001298@mb-
m27.aol.com...

Quoted message said:

So I've been wasting time arguing with other hypergraphics on political newsgroups (trying to be
respectful of Donald Graft).

Much appreciated. Maybe it's safe to come back? :-)

I notice when I get fatigued, my weak left arm seems to just go through the motions of pulling and
doesn't accomplish much. My right arm is raring to go while my left is just delaying things. So I
thought, why not have a short bent-arm entry and early exit on the left and a long strong pull on
the right. The idea is to minimize the troughs in the velocity graph. This seems another way to
approach justifying the idea of loping.

Don

You've brought up an interesting point, Don, that I've mulled from time to time.

I too have problems with my left arm pull. Most people do have a dominant arm, and it's usually the
right one. This arm is usually stronger and more coordinated than the left. That's certainly the
case with me, partly due to an old injury to my left shoulder many years ago.

So anyways, here's my idea. One of the reasons people "lope" has been partly attributed to trying to
get body assist to the weaker (usually left) side. So you will often see much deeper catches on this
side, even at the elite level, which aids in swimmer rolling to air, and also provides for a big
chance to roll the body back to horizontal and assist that left arm pull. And of course their bodies
are often much flatter when they pull with their right arm - they don't need much body assist to
their dominant arm, and it would increase their stroke cycle. And we know that elites have turnover
rates of their arms that utterly dwarf recreational swimmers.

But your idea of making the pull short and clipped on the weak side may be just as valid a way to
improve the weak side. And at least one swimmer at the elite level, Massi Rosolino, maybe doing just
that. IF he is right handed, then he is using that technique. That is, he breaths to his NON-
DOMINANT left side, which is uncommon, which allows him to have a quick short pull with his left
arm. He doesn't extend on the left side, just jams it in and does a short quick pull. The hard part
of swimming, laying out on the arm while breathing and then trying to do a long, high elbow pull, he
reserves for his right arm.

I've thought about trying to do that myself. That is, breath left so that my left arm pull is much
easier. But it would take a long time for me to become proficient breathing on that side. (Plus,
Rossolino could be left handed, in which case he's doing what the vast majority of swimmers do:
breath to the dominant side while their weaker arm is in the water.)

Eric

"4precious" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
"]news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

You've brought up an interesting point, Don, that I've mulled from time to time.

I too have problems with my left arm pull. Most people do have a dominant arm, and it's usually
the right one. This arm is usually stronger and more coordinated than the left. That's certainly
the case with me, partly due to an old injury to my left shoulder many years ago.

So anyways, here's my idea. One of the reasons people "lope" has been partly attributed to trying
to get body assist to the weaker (usually left) side. So you will often see much deeper catches on
this side, even at the elite level, which aids in swimmer rolling to air, and also provides for a
big chance to roll the body back to horizontal and assist that left arm pull. (snip) But your idea
of making the pull short and clipped on the weak side may be just as valid a way to improve the
weak side. And at least one swimmer at the elite level, Massi Rosolino, maybe doing just that. IF
he is right handed, then he is using that technique. That is, he breaths to his NON-DOMINANT left
side, which is uncommon, which allows him to have a quick short pull with his left arm. He doesn't
extend on the left side, just jams it in and does a short quick pull. The hard part of swimming,
laying out on the arm while breathing and then trying to do a long, high elbow pull, he reserves
for his right arm.

I've thought about trying to do that myself. That is, breath left so that my left arm pull is much
easier. But it would take a long time for me to become proficient breathing on that side. (Plus,
Rossolino could be left handed, in which case he's doing what the vast majority of swimmers do:
breath to the dominant side while their weaker arm is in the water.)

For the last 5 months I've been recovering from a severe viral ear infection that paralyzed the
whole right side of my face (elegant poker face). In order to swim I have to strictly breath on the
left. I used to always bilateral breath, so switching exclusively to the left was no problem. Even
though I always felt slightly more comfortable breathing on the right and always took "right"
breaths when "bearing" down, I've noticed that left side breathing is typically no slower. In fact,
I may be slightly faster when breathing to the left, at least for longer distances. I definitely
feel a better surge from my stronger right hand.

I have actively practiced loping in open water since my first Alcatraz swim 4 years ago. For me, as
well as others, I think the loping better exploits the leverage factor that allows for a stronger
propulsion, although disproportion. The none breathing side hand can momentarily push down during
the initial catch (instead of back) allowing the swimmer to lift their head up higher to better
"sight" and breath over less than flat conditions. I don't lope at all in flat conditions, but in
chop, it comes naturally. The head up needed for open water swimming also got me out of the habit of
swimming head down. Instead of pushing the head down, I push the chest down. The head up is much
more powerful than down, even though down is arguably more slippery. All of you, right now,,,go over
and lie face down on your bed in the superman position (while no one is watching) and push down with
your hands. Try it with your head down,,,, then up,,,,what a difference huh? When you lope from this
position you get a huge disproportionate surge that allows you take a nice big gulp of air while
enjoying the view of everyone in front of you. If the lope is faster for some people, I think it is
because of the stronger head up position needed to lope more effectively.

Rick Swanger

Swanger said:

For the last 5 months I've been recovering from a severe viral ear infection that paralyzed the
whole right side of my face (elegant poker face). In order to swim I have to strictly breath on the
left. I used to always bilateral breath, so switching exclusively to the left was no problem.

Perhaps a warning label is in order for people that only breathe to one side. ;-)

Donal Fagan AIA Donal@DonalO'Fagan.com (Anglicise the name to reply by e-mail)

Quoted message said:

I logged onto r.s.s. today because I wanted to comment on the medical examiner's report on Robert
Atkins. He died (at age 72, ostensibly of a "fall"😉 weighing 258 pounds at only 6'0" tall. His
autopsy showed

congestive

Quoted message said:

heart failure, hypertension, and prior myocardial infarction. The

physician

Quoted message said:

currently running the Atkins foundation tried to blame it all on a viral cardiomyopathy. Nice try,
but this does NOT produce myocardial

infarction.

Quoted message said:

And if his 258 pounds were owing to edema from congestive heart failure

and not

Quoted message said:

from garden variety obesity, he would have been in bed on high flow

oxygen, and

Quoted message said:

not out walking the streets of New York. What I want to know is the

condition

Quoted message said:

of his coronary arteries (not reported in the Wall Street Journal report).

His

Quoted message said:

widow (and his foundation) were outraged over the leakage of the medical examiner findings (by a
physician group which advocates a plant-based

diet).

Quoted message said:

- Larry

I read a story today saying his weight fluctuated between 180 and 195 before he went into the
hospital with the heart problem. People shouldn't jump the gun when they read the first story on it.

Pat in TX

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

(Larry Weisenthal) said:

Here's a news story that someone e-mailed me:

This article is much the same as what I just read in the paper issue. Two things puzzle me:

Apparently the report was based on an external examination. Maybe I've been watching too much CSI,
but don't they have to look inside to really know what happened?

Does one really gain seven pounds a day in a coma?

Re: the weight gain, for what it's worth, whomever the medical talking head on the Today Show this
morning said that it was "unlikely, but possible." I'll leave the extrapolation to Larry...

- Al