What is the worst disease to die from?

So far the worst I’ve seen was emphasema. That is scary as hell, just slow suffocation with deep breaths non stop, with eyes popping out until you die.

HIV (full blown AIDS)
I worked in a hospital when I was a teenager and there was a floor with alot of aids patients lying there dying in their beds. Every day I would come and deliver their food ( I worked in food service ) and every day they were alone. People like their family, friends, etc, too scared, too angry, or embarrassed to come and comfort them in their last days. I really felt sorry for them and it really didn’t matter how they contracted the disease to me- it just mattered that they were all alone.

I am on the swim team and my endurance is really bad. What should I do?

I am a 15 guy and I m on the swim team. I also run and I am a sprinter. Ever since I was little, I get tired easily and I have bad endurance but I have high speed for a short burst. The thing is, during swim practices, I get tired really fast. There are girls younger than me that have better endurance than me. My lungs are terrible and I always feel out of breath even when I take a breath every stroke. My stroke technique isn’t bad but I am dying just to keep up with the drills. I consider my self to be fit and athletically built. Is there something wrong with me, like a disease for example? Or are there ways to help with my endurance? Thanks

You may have identified the exact reason you have little endurance.

We are each born (so it is genetic) with muscles that are composed of cells that are of different colors. One color cell contracts quickly, but has little endurance. Those cells are called “fast twitch” cells. The other cell is darker in color and contract more slowly but have a lot of endurance. Those cells are called slow twitch. Most commonly, we are about 50% fast twitch and 50% slow twitch.

But, due to variation (just like Darwin said), there are some who are born with a greater percentage of one type of cell over another.

GREAT sprinters (i.e. Usain Bolt in the 100m dash world record performance in the Olympics) is a genetic freak! He is likely around 92% fast twitch fibers. The marathon runners are the opposite.

By training, you can develop one type of fiber over another. However, if you have a greater percentage of fast twitch over the slow twitch, you’ll not see great improvements in your endurance. You will see some improvement, but you’ll likely never have a huge change in your endurance.

So, it sounds as if you have a predominance of fast twitch fibers and you are more of a sprinter than an endurance swimmer.

You can improve your endurance by doing some slow swims (or sets) in practice. Keep your eye on the pace clock and keep track of your AVERAGE time for a set of, let’s say, 15 100s on 90 seconds. Work on keeping your speed throughout the set and, while doing that set once or twice a week, see if you can bring your average time for the set down to a faster average.

This will take time.

In addition, be certain to be doing sets that will improve your sprinting ability. Sets of, let’s say, ten 50s with a new 50 every 3 minutes. You get a lot of rest but you MUST work very hard.