<![CDATA[Michael Phelps: His Greatest Legacy is Still to Come]]>

856 <![CDATA[Michael Phelps: His Greatest Legacy is Still to Come]]> Phelps talked often about expanding the horizons of the sport, of bringing more awareness to it, of bringing it to the masses. As was evidenced by the disappointing attendance marks set at Nationals last month, the first National championship meet not featuring Phelps since 1999, the sport is going to miss the awareness and interest Phelps drew.

Swimming is a Tough Sell

For the casual sports fan, swimming can be a difficult sport to watch. You don’t really see the athletes faces as they splash back and forth, they swim large portions of the race underwater, and in races like the 50 it’s impossible to judge a winner without looking at a scoreboard. Michael Phelps was a superstar – and the casual sports fan loves a super-star. It’s engaging and enthralling to watch someone at the peak of their sport, an athlete that casually dominates their peers. Jordan had it, Woods has it, Phelps has/had it. In 2009 when Indianapolis last hosted Nationals attendance was nearly triple what it was this year. At that meet Phelps set a world record in the 100m butterfly, no easy feat given that he was less than a year removed from the masterpiece that was Beijing.

Michael Phelps Biggest Contribution

However, Phelps most long lasting legacy is still to be written. It won’t necessarily be the records, the incredible swims, or the wall-to-wall coverage. It will be in the tens of thousands of up-and-coming swimmers who joined the sport in each post-Olympic year in the United States. As these swimmers develop, and a select few grow into top echelon athletes, in the pre-race athlete vignettes at future Games you will inevitably hear, “I started swimming after watching Phelps win in Athens/Beijing/London.” While a bump is expected in a post-Olympic year, it is likely that a great proportion of those new members of USA Swimming were prodded into strapping up a Speedo after the massive coverage Phelps was generating at the pool. Here you can see how membership in USA Swimming jumped dramatically in post-Olympic years--

2005 – 249,182 swimmers (7% increase)

2009 – 286,147 swimmers (11% increase)

2013 – 340,000 swimmers (13% increase)

There will never be another Phelps. There will instead be Lochtes, Franklins, and a host of other swimmers who will develop to dominate on the international stage. And those classes of swimmers, who will in turn inspire another set of young talent, will be the greatest legacy that Michael Phelps could hope for.]]> 901 <![CDATA[Nathan Adrian Raises 12th Man Flag at Seahawks Game]]> nathan-adrian-12th-man-1

Unfortunately for Adrian, his team would lose 17-10 to the Cardinals. ]]> 907 <![CDATA[Ryan Cochrane and Pamela Ware Take Home Aquatic Athlete of the Year Awards]]> Canadian aquatic excellence was honored in Ottawa on December 12, 2013, with Ryan Cochrane of Victoria, BC taking home male athlete of the year, while diver Pamela Ware of Beloiel, Quebec won female athlete of the year. The awards banquet, hosted by Aquatics Canada, showcases the top performers of 2013 across the disciplines of swimming (as well as open water swimming), diving, synchro and water polo. Cochrane, who has carried the mantle of men’s Canadian swimming since Beijing was a double winner at the World Aquatic Championships this summer in Barcelona, placing 2^nd in his best event, the 1500 freestyle, while also picking up a bronze in the 800 freestyle. Meanwhile, 20 year old Ware picked up two medals of her own in Barcelona, winning a pair of bronzes in the 3-metre synchronized diving event (with Jennifer Abel) and in the individual 3m event. The Canadians are off to a good start so far in this current Olympic cycle, with eight medals won at the World Championships in Barcelona earlier this year. Other winners included: Coach of the Year -- Randy Bennett, Island Swimming/Victoria Academy of Swimming, Victoria, BC Cochrane’s coach Randy Bennett picked up coach of the year awards, which comes as no surprise as all four medals gleaned by Canadian swimmers at Worlds were from the stable at the Victoria Academy of Swimming. Team of the Year -- Roseline Filion & Meghan Benfeito Platform divers Filion and Benfeito were winners of a half dozen medals from FINA-sanctioned events this year, as well as silver medalists in the 10m platform synchro diving event at Worlds. This is the second year in a row the tandem has taken this award. AFC Spirit of Sport Award -- Benoit Huot Para-swimmer Huot has been a mainstay on the national team for years, and the 29 year old shone brightly in front of his hometown crowd in Montreal for the 2013 IPC Swimming Worlds. Working dual roles as a promoter for the event, as well as athlete competing and winning in the S10 200 IM. Official of Excellence -- Beverly Boys Long time volunteer Boys has been actively involved in diving for nearly half a century, spent as a competitor, coach, and most recently as a FINA-certified judge, where she has judged at 4 Olympic Games, five World Championships and an endless number of clinics for officials at all levels.]]> 910 <![CDATA[Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool Comes Down to Mixed-Relay Tie-Breaker]]> duel-in-the-pool-672x343

(Glasgow, Scotland / December 22, 2013) The European All-Stars and Team USA capped off a fast weekend of racing at the Mutual of Omaha Duel in the Pool by swimming a tie-breaking mixed medley race to decide the winner. The Americans, down by 23 points at one point in the competition held at the Tollcross International Swim Centre in Glasgow, Scotland, came back to tie up the score at 131 points after 30 events. FRONT END SPEED NETS AMERICANS THE WIN The American squad of Eugene Godsoe, Kevin Cordes, Claire Donohue, and up-and-coming sprint star Simone Manuel beat the world record cruising to a WR of 1:31.17, edging the Europeans by two tenths of a second. The comback was made possible by several American records set by Michael McBroom in the 800 freestyle (7:33.69), while Tom Shields from Cal-Berkeley unleashed his signature stellar underwater fly kick to dominate the 200m butterfly in a time of 1:50.61, while Tucson Ford's Cordes continued his warpath on the US breaststroke records winning the 100m breast in a time of 56.88. North Baltimore Aquatic Club's Conor Dwyer was instrumental in the US comeback as well, winning the 200 freestyle (1:41.68), 200 IM (1:53.51), as well as the 400metre IM. EUROPEANS DOMINATE 800 FREE TO TAKE LEAD Heading into Saturday's session the Europeans led by a score of 77-54, they extended their lead with a sweep of the 800 metre freestyle, with winner Mireia Belmonte (ESP) touching first in 8:07.90. (Interestingly, Katie Ledecky, who has been absolutely dominating the distance events in the world this year, did not swim this event.) ABOUT THE MUTUAL OF OMAHA DUEL IN THE POOL A made-for-television production, this was the sixth time that the Duel in the Pool event has been held, with it being put on every two years dating back to 2003. The meet, held in short course meters, is designed to broaden the appeal of swimming by showcasing some of the fastest swimmers in the world going head-to-head in a team point format. The Americans are now 6-0. For complete results of the Duel in the Pool click here.]]> 913 <![CDATA[Bob Bowman -- Phelps Can Challenge in 2016]]> Michael Phelps will-he or won't-he drama has hit fever pitch with the discovery that he has been readmitted in the USADA drug testing pool, signifying that he has gearing up for a comeback of some sort. What type of comeback, remains to be seen. Phelps struggled with motivation to put in the work necessary to complete at his best in London, and his results reflected this. Getting out-touched in his signature event, the 200m butterfly, while also not placing in another event he had dominated for years, the 400 IM. While he is eligible for competition in March 2014, it seems unlikely that we will see the Phelps that was dominant for so long. A narrower focus of events seems likely, and given that he hasn't been training as much as in the past this would indicate Phelps focusing on the sprint events, such as the 100m butterfly and possibly the 100 metre freestyle. After hanging up his Speedo after London, Bob Bowman -- his longtime coach at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club -- thought "absolutely London would be the end. It was a stretch for him to get there emotionally, psychologically, and physically, so I'm surprised he might have an interest in doing something." Despite the struggle he had in getting amped up for London, Bowman doesn't doubt that his charge has what it takes to compete at that level again, saying "he can physically and mentally do it again." Given that Phelps re-entered the drug testing pool last May (six month before the knowledge went public), it's likely that he is going to play this as close to the chest for as long as he can. While his motivations are unclear, it is obvious that his competitive spirit burns brightly. See below picture for evidence of this -- phelps bowman 2

]]> 918 <![CDATA[50m Freestyle World Record]]> 50m freestyle world record is a fairly recent record -- having only been tracked since 1976 by FINA. It's short course counter-part has only been recorded since 1991. The event is so new that there are only a half dozen Olympic winners in the event, as it has only been contested at the Games since the Seoul Olympics in 1988. (Although, to be fair, it was also competed at the 50 yard distance in the 1904 Olympics. The winner then was Hungary's Zoltán Halmay.) During the super-suit era the long course world record dropped by a mind-numbing 0.65 seconds in the span of less than 2 years by no fewer than 4 swimmers.

MEN 50m FREE RECORD HOLDERS

The current world record for the 50 freestyle long course is held by Cesar Cielo (BRA), who set the mark on December 18, 2009 at the CBDA Open - Brazilian Championships, in a time of 20.91. (For World, Olympics and World Championship records you can view them here.) In short course meters the world record was also broken during the super-suit era, with Roland Schoeman (RSA) breaking it at his own national championship meet in August of 2009 in 20.30. Florent Manaudou (FRA) eclipsed this mark at the 2014 FINA World Short Course Championships in a 20.26.

WOMEN 50m FREE RECORD HOLDERS

In long course meters the current world record holder for the ladies is Germany's Britta Steffen, who set the current mark at the 2009 World Championships at 23.73. The short course record is held by the Netherlands' Ranomi Kromowidjojo, who inched the previous mark by 1/100th of a second at a FINA World Cup event in August of 2013. The standard is now 23.24. SEE ALSO:

READY TO DOMINATE THE COMPETITION?

Ryan Cochrane -- Fast Facts:

Birthdate: October 29, 1988
Birthplace: Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
Height: 6’4” (1.93m)
Weight: 182 lb (82.5 kg)
Coach: Randy Bennett
Club: Island Swimming/Victoria Academy of Swimming

]]> 945 <![CDATA[Germans Struggle in the Pool at World Champs in Barcelona]]> Sure, things could have been worse. After all, they were worse last year in London when the Germans went home empty-handed. But that had been seen as a one-off, a momentary blip in the long-standing tradition of powerhouse German swimming. But then Barcelona happened. The Germans would secure one medal in the pool in Barcelona – a silver – via Marko Koch in the 200 metre breaststroke. Although he did swim well, what is most disconcerting for the Germans is that Koch had been training on his own, electing not to train at the national centre facilities in Darmstadt. Steffen Deibler, the current world record holder for the 50 metre butterfly (SCM), seemed like a sure bet to win a medal in the 100 metre butterfly. In April at German Nationals he dominated his countrymen, posting the fastest time in the world with a 51.19. Not only was it a national record and the fastest time in the world, it was also two-one-hundredths faster than Michael Phelps winning time in London the year prior. In the final, he turned first, well ahead of the field in 23.60. Deibler would fade in the last 25 metres as Olympic silver medalist Chad Le Clos would power past the field to touch first in 51.06. Hungary’s Laszlo Cseh would touch second in 51.45, one-one-hundredth ahead of Poland’s Konrad Czerniak. Deibler, who had the slowest second 50m of everyone in the final, would place a 4^th. Veteran Britta Steffen, who has won the 100m freestyle twice at Worlds, intimated that she was reconsidering her future in the sport after a disappointing week, declining to commit to participating in the European Championships that are taking place in Berlin in 2014. “I have to let things sink in,” said the 29 year old Steffen. “I’m only human after all.” Lutz Buschkow, the head coach of the once vaunted German swim team, didn’t mince words when reflecting on their Barcelona performance: “Things have not improved for us. We still have the same problems.” Buschkow even intimiated towards swimmers being punished financially in view of their performance, adding, “There will be far-reaching changes for the swim team.” What exactly those changes are, and how they plan to address them, are for the Germans to figure out as they move forward to Rio in 2016.]]> 947 <![CDATA[Russian Freestylers Put World On Notice at WUG]]> KAZAN, RUSSIA -- In a Games where the host is running away with everything it seems like – the Russians have 151 gold medals so far compared to 39 overall for the US – nowhere was this domination more apparent than in the mens 4x100m freestyle relay. The Russians put the rest of the swimming world on notice by putting down easily the fastest time of the year, clocking a combined 3:10.88. That time is only a couple seconds off the legendary 2008 Olympic performance and current world record of 3:08.24 set by the US team of Jones, Webber-Gale, Phelps and Lezak. The fastest time for the men’s 4x100 in the post-super suit era was posted last year by the French in London, and the time clocked by the Russians in Kazan was less than a second off that. Here is how the swim was split-- Lead-off leg: Andrey Grechin – 47.98 2^nd leg: Nikita Lobintsev – 47.92 3^rd leg: Vladimir Morozov – 47.14 4^th leg: Danila Izotov – 47.84 Notes:

Three of these guys are training under David Salo at Trojan (Morozov,
Morozov went out in a 21.66 on his leg. Uh, yikes.
Andrey Grechin’s 47.98 makes him now the third fastest man in the world this year, behind only James Magnussen (AUS – 47.53) and teammate Vlad Morozov (47.93).

]]> 949 <![CDATA[Team Australia Ready on Eve of FINA World Championships]]> The 42 member strong contingent of Australian swimming stand ready on the eve of the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona. With six newcomers to the national team, including budding distance star Jordan Harrison, the Australians are sending a powerhouse team that leads the world in no fewer than seven events.

Aussies Without Live TV Coverage of Championships

In a surprise move, World Championships will not be broadcast live in Australia. Viewers down under will still be able to view the Championships however – although only limited to highlight packages – via Fina’s website. For a country that has deep, immense pride in its competitive swimming program this comes as a surprise. Particularly in a year in which they lost a major sponsor, president Barclay Nettlefold resigned last month, and of course, the Stilnox scandal. With seven swimmers going in ranked number one in the world in their respective events, Swimming Australia has a chance to atone for a disappointing London Games, and doing so on the sets in Australian living rooms would have done much to repair the beleaguered image of Aussie swimming power.

Magnussen Seeks Atonement

James Magnussen’s world leading 47.53 makes him again the fastest man in the world at this event this year. He narrowly lost out to Nathan Adrian last year in London, being out-touched by 0.01 in the Olympic final. Perhaps more devastatingly, the Aussie men also placed outside of the medals in the 4x100 freestyle relay after being considered a slight favorite to win gold. He is also the only swimmer on the team who won an individual event at the Shanghai Worlds in 2011.

Notes:

Youngest swimmer on the team is Chelsea Gubecka (Mountain Creek Mooloolaba) at 14 years old.
Oldest swimmer on the team is Brenton Rickard (Southport Olympic). At 29, he was also at Worlds the last time they were held in Barcelona ten years ago.
Average age is just a shade over 21 years of age.
There are two pairs of siblings going to Barcelona. Cate and Bronte Campbell, and then David and Emma McKeon (plus their dad Ron McKeon who is going as a coach).

The 2013 FINA World Championships start tomorrow in Barcelona with the men’s and women’s open water events.]]> 952 <![CDATA[5 Things You Didn't Know About Matt Biondi]]> Matt Biondi swim. I was 8-years old, sitting cross legged on the floor in front of my parents old Zenith tube television, keeping one eye on the television and the other on the VCR’s “record” light (sssh don’t tell NBC sports I was taping it). NBC Sports did a bit on Biondi showing him training at Cal, and swimming with dolphins, and how his nickname was the “California Condor” because of his massive wing span. Move aside Michael Jordan. This guy was obviously the most incredible person in the history of the universe to an 8-year old. He had his own nickname. And swam with dolphins. Awesome. Michael Phelps is roundly considered the greatest swimmer ever, if not the greatest Olympian ever. He will remain so for the foreseeable future. Inevitably comparisons always lead to Spitz, but whether because Biondi didn’t have the epic moustache, or the medal count, he doesn’t get the same attention as other American swim greats. Here are five neat-o factoids you may not have known about the California Condor--

He came close to Spitz’ mark of 7 gold medals in one games long before Phelps.

His first Olympics was in 1984, where as an 18 year old he qualified for the 4x100m freestyle relay. The Americans would win gold in world record time at the Los Angeles Games. This was just a tease for what was to come 4 years later. In the lead-up to Seoul Biondi was hyped up as the one to tie Spitz’ elusive 7 gold medals in one games. Because of two swims in particular – detailed below – he didn’t quite manage the feat, instead taking home 5 gold medals (4 of those in WR time), a silver and a bronze. Biondi took home another two relay gold medals four years later in Barcelona, and also a silver medal in the 50m free, giving him a total of 11 Olympic medals.

His nemesis was The Albatross.

West Germany’s Michael Gross, at 6 foot 7 inches and an almost 7 foot wing span, was billed as Biondi’s chief foe in Seoul. He’d won both the 100m butterfly and 200m freestyle (rather easily as well) in Los Angeles in 1984. Making this rivalry even more intense, was that in ‘84 even though Gross swam the fastest relay leg in the history of the event, the US managed to pull off the upset, getting them the nickname, “The Grossbusters.” (Biondi wasn’t a member of that relay. I just needed to include that tidbit because of the Ghostbusters reference.) Gross and his West German compatriots were billed as the major barrier between US and gold in the relays, and also Biondi’s featured competition in the 100 fly and the 200 freestyle.

He taught a generation of swimmers to finish on a full stroke.

[caption id="attachment_1265" align="alignleft" width="300"] matt biondi 3

Biondi -- Red Arrow, Nesty -- Yellow[/caption] Biondi was heavily favoured to win the 100m butterfly in Seoul. As he approached the finish he had a comfortable lead on the field, about a quarter of a body length, including Surinam’s Anthony Nesty, and Michael Gross. Closing in on gold, Biondi found himself in a bit of a quandry. He hadn’t timed his last stroke correctly, so he was forced to glide in or finish on half a stroke. He glided in from the hash mark noted below in the picture, which even for the 6’7” Biondi is a long distance to cover. Two lanes above you can Nesty (yellow arrow), who closed hard and fast, and on a full stroke.

He also taught a generation of swimmers how to draft.

Also in Seoul, Biondi was the favorite for the men's 200m freestyle. Biondi took it out like a boss, almost a second under World Record pace at the 100. Duncan Armstrong of Australia, swimming in the lane below him, glued to Biondi’s lane line and hitched a ride. Turning at the 150m mark Armstrong was just off Biondi’s shoulder, and with the conserved energy of surfing off Biondi’s massive wake, Armstrong reeled in Biondi and powered past him to win Olympic gold in a world-record of 1:47.25. (I’m pretty sure Duncan Armstrong also flipped off the crowd while perched on the lane line celebrating his win afterwards. One of the first times seeing the bird, I didn’t know what it meant till much later.) This was the first time that I had seen a swimmer get drafted like that, and it was even more noticeable because of the massive wave that crested behind Biondi as he swam, which was impressive in itself.

He is now a math teacher

I think this is my favorite part about Biondi. He isn’t hawking his celebrity around at swim meets or announcing, nor is he using his past swimming accomplishments for endorsement or fame. He teaches math and lives a quite life with his wife and three kids in California, avoiding the spotlight that swimming offers every time the Olympics coming around. The purity of this lends itself well to the nostalgia attached to the ’88 Olympics for me. Sure -- Michael Phelps may have won more medals, and Spitz had the acting career and the undisputed heavyweight champion moustache, but Biondi will always be my favorite. UPDATE: Biondi teamed up with his masters club, the Conejo Valley Multisport Masters (CVMM) to launch the inaugural Matt Biondi Masters Classic. The first edition was held this year, and will be held in subsequent years each spring in Simi Valley, California.]]> 954 <![CDATA[WUG Wrap-Up: Canadians Fall Short of the Podium, Conger Rises]]>

KAZAN, RUSSIA -- Close but no cigar was the theme of the evening for the Canadians as they placed just outside of the medals four times on the last night of finals. The final day of swimming competition at the World University Games saw Katerine Savard, Alex Page and Brittany MacLean all come just outside of the medals. The 4x100 medley relay on the women’s side also incurred a 4^th place fate. Pont-Rouge, Quebec’s Savard, who has already won gold in the 100m butterfly and a Canadian record breaking silver medal in the 50m butterfly earlier in the competition, had a long night with the 200 and then the relay. She led for much of the 200, but on the final 50 metres was tracked won by Japan’s Kona Fujita, who touched first in 2:09.66. Yana Martnova of host Russia touched just under half a second ahead of Savard to secure the bronze medal. Also in the final was fellow Canadian Stephanie Horner, clocking 2:17.00 placing 8^th.

Jack Conger – a Star in the Making

USA Swimming has never suffered from a lack of depth, and emerging talent such as Caleb Dressel, Chase Karlisz, and Jack Conger have put to rest any worries of the future of USA Swimming post-Phelps. Conger, who has committed to the University of Texas this fall, now has the fourth fastest time in the world in the 200 metre backstroke with a 1:55.40 in winning the event at the WUG. Most notable was Conger’s explosive last 50 metres, where he took a 1.5 second lead splitting a 28.91. Japan’s Yuki Shirai placed second in 1:56.95, with American teammate Jacob Pebley placing third. Even though Conger hasn’t attended a single day of university yet, he was eligible to compete in Kazan because he is enrolled for next year. Put on every two years, the WUG are a multi-sport international games put on by the International Sports Federation. Open water events continue this week, while swimming in the pool has now to come to a close.]]> 956 <![CDATA[3 Tips for Making the Most of Your Swim Log]]> SEE MORE: YourSwimLog -- the Ultimate Swim Log

Just imagine the incomparable advantage you would have over your fellow swimmers when you get your hands on a tool that gives you the exact reasons why you swam awesome one day and horrible the next. Your swimmers log can be as basic in its detail or as comprehensive as you like. This is the magic of your swimming log– it is totally yours. It goes without saying that when you make simple entries in your swimming log you are going to limit yourself in the amount of feedback you can pull from it. Conversely, when you carefully scribe all the variables of your workout (diet, sleep, stress levels, etc) you can mine a huge amount of information that will explain your performances.

SEE ALSO: 8 Reasons to Keep a Swim Log

Here are three quick factors to keep in mind when using your swimming log:

1. Choose Your Goals.

My favorite part of using a swimming log is that you can assign daily and weekly goals to your practices and/or competitions. This is a fantastic way to stay focused and to improve the little things in your swimming. Goals for an Individual Workout: No breathing in and out of the walls for the main set. Stretch for 15 minutes after practice. Drink protein shake immediately after to enhance recovery. Goals that Stretch Over the Course of a Week or Longer: Make it to every single practice. Do 300 abs before every workout. Do an extra 300 meter warm-down. Season Long Goals: Qualify for the traveling team. Break:55 seconds for 100 yard breaststroke.

2. Note More Than Just Your Workout.

What this means is, is that it isn’t enough to simply write out what you did for your workout that day in your swimming log. If you simply want to track mileage over a course of time this works just fine, but it you want to find trends and reasons behind your practices you will want to also note:

* The results. Make note of some of the times you put down on the main sets. If you can remember them note your stroke counts, and heart rate as well. * How you were feeling in the water that day. Were you gliding along, or were you really struggling to get a hold of your stroke? * The effort that you gave during the main set(s). Did you give it your all, or did you leave some in the tank? * Your level of focus. Were you “in the zone” or was your mind bouncing with thoughts of outside matters such as school or relationships? * Your levels of stress. Were you feeling overly stressed that day? Or not at all? * Your diet for the day. Did you fall prey to convenience food or did you stick to your diet plan? * Your recent sleeping habits. Have you been getting a solid 8 hours, or have you been having poor sleeps? * Any other factors that may have any effect on the performance you give.

3. Log Your Workouts ASAP.

You should make notes about your workout when they are the most fresh in your mind. Sometimes waiting to get home can skew the memories of exactly what happened. Have your swimming log in your swim bag and you will have instant and ready access to it. Using a swimming log is a proven and time-tested method to improve performance. The best part is that it is you can start doing it immediately, and it’s not something that requires learning some new swimming technique or taking some miracle supplement.]]> 958 <![CDATA[Caleb Dressel Joins The 18-Point Club in 50 Yard Free]]> At the 2013 Speedo Winter Junior Nationals in Greensboro Bolles Swimming Caleb Dressel lowered his own National Age Group record in the 50 yard by leading off the Bolles squad with a blistering 18.94. There has been anticipation that this might happen for Dressel, especially given that he had swum a 19+ during a practice earlier in the year. At only 17 years of age, he still has another year to further lower his own mark, To give further perspective to how quick this swim was the time would have earned a second place finish at the 2013 NCAA Championships. Joining Dressel on the relay was Josh Booth, Arthur Pace, and William McKinney. Their final time of 1:19.27 was a shade back off the meet record Bolles set last year, although the swimmers who made up the team this year was quite different.

RYAN HOFFER CRUSHES NAG RECORD IN SAME LEG

Lost in the buzz about Dressel's lead off was the blistering 19.54 that was churned out by the swimmer next to him. Repping the Scottsdale Aquatic Club, Ryan Hoffer pummeled the 20 second barrier, also setting a National Age Group Record, which is all the more impressive as he is only 15 years old. They had two other swimmers break 20 to place SAC into second place behind the repeating champions, including Nick Magana (who split a 19.77) as well as Jack Blake (who anchored a thundering 19.66 to draw near to Bolles and secure silver). Rounding up the medal podium was Baylor Swim Club in a time of 1:22.32. For complete results from the 2013 Speedo Winter Junior Nationals click here.]]> 961 <![CDATA[6 Tips for Faster Swimming]]> Ed Note: Over the past couple weeks I have been collecting tips for faster swimming from coaches for an article, appropriately titled, “50 Swimming Tips from 50 Coaches.” I’ve been reaching out to coaches from coast to coast, asking them for their favorite tip. Jeff Grace, assistant age group coach at the Hollyburn Country Club in West Vancouver, went above and beyond and submitted the tips for faster swimming below. I asked him if I could publish them on their own, and he graciously acquiesced. While the rest of the 50 come streaming in, here are six great tips for swimmers to get you started–

1. Allow Disappointment to Fuel Your Motivation

Eddie Reese has always said that the best hate to lose more than they love to win. I had a chance to speak to Brendan Hansen about this and he told me that what fueled him to get up every morning for practice was not to break a world record or win Olympic gold, but that he remembered how it felt to miss the Olympic team in 2000 and that he never wanted to feel that way again. You can approach disappointment in two ways, you can feel sorry for yourself, question your ability and allow it to rob you of your motivation or you can have resolve and use it as motivation.

2. Listen

This may seem simple, but it isn’t always. For an athlete to live up to their full potential they need to trust in their coach and trust themselves. Listen to your coach, ask questions and be open to what they are saying. It may not always be what you want to hear, but quite often what we don’t want to hear is exactly what we need to hear. Also learn to listen to your own body and head. Understand how you work and be aware of how your body moves and mind reacts. You need awareness to make positive changes and to improve you need to make positive changes.

3. The Clock Can Be Your Best Friend.

How do you know if you are on track and if you are doing sets in the way they are intended? Most often sets are designed around goal times and splits and the best way for you to achieve the goals of the sets is for you to to use the clock. Swimmers will often profess that long sets and swims are boring, my belief is that is because they lose focus. In longer sets pay attention to your splits while you are swimming, make goals for each 100, this can be done at max effort or at 70% effort. Precision is a skill, a skill that can be the difference between winning or losing or improving or plateauing. Use the clock as motivation and never depend on anyone but yourself to get your times.

4. Race

Every opportunity you get put yourself in a position to race. There will be sets where this may not be appropriate, such as recovery sets, but every opportunity you get in practice race. Remember you are practicing to stand up and race seven other athletes and the more you practice racing and being able to train your mind and body to be successful at that skill, the better your chances of success.

5. Develop Independence

When you step on the blocks at a competition there is only one person in your lane, one person who is responsible for your success and that is the same person that stares back at you in the mirror everyday. The only way that you can truly take on the responsibility for your own success is to develop your independence everyday in and out of practice. Wake yourself up for morning practice, don’t depend on your parents to do it. Get your own times in practice, don’t expect your coach to do it. Give a 100% in practice to achieve the goals of each set, don’t depend on your coach to remind you or motivate you.

6. Never take yourself too seriously

Always remember swimming is just that, swimming. As much as our goals are important to us, as much as we work our butts off and as much as we should be committed and dedicated to the process, in the end it is just swimming. Take the endeavor seriously, but never take yourself too seriously. Relax, enjoy, laugh, have fun and never forget the difference between person and performance. You are not how you perform, that is a moment in time, you are much more then your performance, never let a performance define you, let your actions define you. In the words of the greatest coach of all time, John Wooden, “What you are as a person is far more important than what you are as a basketball player.” Our sport is a wonderful pursuit, don’t sacrifice your enjoyment of it because you have taken too much time taking yourself too seriously. About the Author: Jeff Grace has coached for over 20 years at all levels, and was most recently the assistant age group coach at the Hollyburn Country Club in West Vancouver, a NCCP Level IV coach, and has over 100 published articles on the sport of swimming.]]> 965 <![CDATA[7 Ways to Be More Optimistic At the Pool]]> The only thing more annoying then a swimmer who complains mercilessly about homework, hard sets and reality television is the unfettered optimist. You know this person. They bounce around, fake smile plastered across their face, smiling away in denial of the realities of the world. Everything is “sooo.” “That is soooo the best. This set is soooo awesome guys, let’s go! We gonna swim soooo fast this weekend! Thank you sooo much.” Ugh. This forced, bubblegum cheeriness, while at its foundation comes from a good place, tends to elicit the opposite from its intended reaction. Instead of provoking happiness or optimism from others, it evokes a measured rage. What I want to talk about is not an emotion. It’s not about being “happy” which in itself is a very subjective thing. What we are going to talk about is optimism. While there may be some overlapping areas between happiness and optimism, there is a distinct difference between the two. Having optimism means that you view your life as full of possibility and opportunity. It’s something we can help dictate. Happiness is an emotion, a feeling, something that kind of comes and goes, and that is also a by-product of being optimistic. Here are 7 ways to be more optimistic with your swimming--

1. Decide to Become the Best Version of Yourself.

It’s fairly easy to fall into the trap of comparing yourself to other swimmers. This is a competitive sport, after all, where your results are measured and dictated by the performance of others. Using the competition as a barometer for how you feel about yourself means that you lose the initiative, giving up control over how you feel. If you are going to start comparing, do so against earlier versions of yourself instead. Strive to improve on what you can control, instead of judging yourself based on the performance of others.

2. Steer Clear of Debbie Downers.

We all have these people in our lives. They complain, nag, whine. Nothing is good enough when things are going well, and it’s a zombie apocalypse when things go awry. It can be particularly difficult to avoid the doom-and-gloom types when they are in your lane every day, or in your circle of friends, or in your home. The affiliations and relationships you have should build and nurture your development, not impair it with excessive negativity. Your swimming – and let’s face it, life as well – is exceedingly too short to spend with negative people.

3. Small Victories.

The allure of the big, awesome goal at the end of the tunnel is hard to resist. But with great distance comes great anxiety as well, as the realization of how much work remains to get there can become overwhelming. Combat this by achieving a sequence of small goals. Get into the habit of setting one goal per workout. Pick one thing to excessively focus on. Doing this will develop your goal setting muscles to the point that when you decide on a goal, the execution of it will be habit. And not only that, but the string of small, tiny successes will help you fuel your confidence and motivation for the bigger journey.

4. Be proactive in creating a positive environment.

I swam with a kid who really didn’t seem to enjoy the sport. This was particularly evident in the harder sets of the session, where between repeats he would grumble and curse under his breath about the set, about coach, about the lifeguard, the pool temperature… and so on. When he got particularly sour, I would distract him by telling him a funny story, make fart noises to interrupt his complaining, or I would engage him in a trade of movie quotes. After each repeat, we would have to each think of a movie quote, and the other would have to name the movie. What I didn’t know I was doing at the time was deflecting his grumpiness, and helping to create a more positive environment for myself, for Mr. Negato, and the other swimmers in our lane. Helping to create a positive environment doesn’t mean you have to overly peppy, or excessively “Rah rah, let’s go guys, this one’s for the Gipper!” Something as simple as a well timed joke, or the movie quote game, can help create a more pleasant environment.

5. Bounce Back Constructively.

No matter how much positivity we force upon ourselves, things will still fall apart on occasion. Whether its getting DQ’d at a big meet, an awful swim, or an injury, life has an uncanny ability to whip a curveball at us just when we think we have things figured out. In the aftermath of these setbacks, avoid the finger-pointing, the self-blame, and latching on to the worst aspects of the situation. Instead, search for the silver linings and immediately make a plan to move forward. Dwelling on setbacks and endlessly analyzing them won’t alter the result.

6. Remember that your fears are exaggerated (and almost always wrong).

Our brain has our best intentions in mind. Really, it does. It wants to avoid you pain, embarrassment, humiliation. But sometimes it can get a little too overly Big Brother on us. Unchecked we allow the fear of being embarrassed or blamed to become stronger than the desire to get credit or recognition. This is sucky, for obvious reasons. If we are all too caught up in our mistakes, we are robbed of the conviction to chase success. When pessimism and fear rises up, think back to the last time you imagined the worst possible outcome. Did it come to fruition? (Probably not.) And if it did, was it decimating? (Again, probably not.)

7. Recognize Your Awesomeness.

Whether you realize it or not, or whether you want to admit it or not, you are epically good at some stuff. Grab a piece of paper and a pen. (I’ll wait.) Now write out 5 things that you, and only you, are friggin’ awesome at. Seriously. Don’t play them down, or be overly modest. You have skillz, and it’s important to recognize them. An easy way to get back into an optimistic frame of mind is to create this list, and then figure out ways to build on them. You have a great butterfly kick? How can you make it even better?]]> 968 <![CDATA[7 Ways to Kickstart Your Motivation for Swimmers]]> swimming motivation levels topped-up:

1. Shave Down Your Goals.

Having too much going on is the curse that comes with the blessing of living in today’s day and age. We all have so much going on with school, work, friends, family and of course, swimming. Trying to do too much can rob you of motivation. Spreading our energy, focus and time into a ton of different things will only water down your efforts. Pick that one goal you are intently amped on – and chase it ruthlessly. This single-mindedness will give you clarity and push out the noise.

2. Find Motivation from Other Successful Swimmers.

Whether it’s being around elite swimmers, or later in life, successful entrepeneurs, I’ve found that surrounding myself with people who are kicking ass at what I want to kick ass at is a fantastic way to get motivated. It’s impossible to not have their ambition and drive rub off on you. Personal development speaker Jim Rohn put it well—“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” Take a look at the people you spend the majority of your time around, and seek out people whose success you want to emulate if necessary.

3. Do Something Today.

Dreaming big is okay. It’s encouraged. But once that euphoric, hopeful phase has passed, and you start to think about what has to happen for that goal to come to fruition, you can start to feel discouraged. What if’s start to proliferate your thinking, and doubt plants its ugly seed firmly into the fertile soil of your mind. Combat this by breaking down your goal to the smallest step, the first one of which you can do right now. It’s important that it is something you can do today, even right now if possible. Putting it off until tomorrow, or worse, “someday” is a prescription for acute procrastination.

4. Do Something Every Day.

No matter how small, do something every day that is pushing you forwards. Success is a habit. So said Aristotle— And that Aristotle guy was a smart dude. Doing something every day towards the achievement of your goal gives you something outside of the daily incremental improvements – and that is momentum. Not just something you learn about in physics class (p=mv), momentum is a component of success that isn’t talked about very much. And understandably, have you ever seen or touched momentum? It’s something you feel, an experience, something that seems to just happen. Momentum isn’t created through planning or thinking. It’s experienced through action. The more you act, the more momentum you create. So go create some on a daily basis!

5. Embrace the Challenges.

Failure sucks. You know it, I know it. It can demoralize you, knock you off what you thought was impregnable footing, humble you… You get it. However, when you use failure as fuel you take away its lethality. It’s sort of like a well-executed jiu-jitsu throw – you leverage your opponents weight against them. How to perform this piece of jiu-jitsu wizardry? When failure shows its ugly mug, and the initial sick-to-your-stomach sensation has subsided, step back and look at what happened and ask yourself, “How can I make this the best thing to ever happen to me?” Once you do this, failure won’t seem so scary, and you will be hopefully more willing to tackle those big greasy goals you have for yourself. Best part is that this tactic works for just about anything; a bad swim, break-ups, accidentally deleting every single music file on your iPod. (Okay, maybe not the last one.)

6. Accept that you are going to have bad days.

As awesome as we are (and yes, you are awesome), there are going to be days where we feel anything but. Nothing seems to go right, everyone is annoying us, and no matter what we try to do, it only seems to make it worse. The good news is this – these days happen to absolutely everyone. The even better news – it will pass quickly. Knowing that those dips in motivation is just a brief hiccup in the grand scheme of things can be enough to get through it.

7. Do some sleuthing.

Learning why your motivation levels are soggier than a bathing suit that’s been left in a wet towel for three days is a great way to anticipate and reduce the impact of future dips in motivation. How do you do this? Tracking things like your sleep, workouts, stress-levels and even diet can help you detect patterns. Understanding why your drive is low helps you put it into perspective. Perhaps the most frustrating part of losing motivation is not knowing what brought it about. Go through your log and see the patterns so that you’ll have bright, flashing “Warning! Low levels of motivation ahead” lights in place for the future, giving you the opportunity to deal with it before it strikes. Boom! 7 simple and powerful ways to accelerate your swimming motivation.

Want More Motivation?

If so, you will love our line of exclusive motivational swimming posters. Made by swimmers, for swimmers.

About the Author

Olivier Poirier-Leroy is a former national level swimmer turned publisher and writer. He has a regular column with SwimSwam.com, SwimSwam Magazine, as well as USA Swimming's Splash Magazine. His writing has also been featured on NBC Universal, STACK, Swimming World Magazine, and more. You can join Olivier's weekly newsletter and get motivational tips and more straight to your inbox. Sign up for free here.

]]> 972 <![CDATA[7 Ways to Develop Mental Toughness for Swimmers]]> 1. Mental Toughness is Forged by Preparation. The confidence that comes with mental toughness is a point of view that recognizes that everything has been done ahead of time to insure an exceptional result. Doubt generally emerges from cracks in the preparation; If only I had made those morning swims; My warm-up wasn’t as thorough as it should have been. 2. Avoid the Peaks and Valleys. When I competed, I was always most afraid of the guy who didn’t pound his chest before a race. The guy who sat quietly in the ready room; eyes steely, ignoring the world around him. The chest-pounder blabbering to everyone was a non-threat to me – after all, someone who cannot control their emotions didn’t seem like someone who could race tactically. Keeping a level head and avoiding the highs and lows may seem sort of counter-intuitive; after all, passion is necessary. However, this type of level keel means that hiccups don’t derail you, and when success comes your way you brush aside complacency. 3. Embrace Challenges. Being mentally tough isn’t something we are born with. It is something that is shaped by experience and adversity. Generally our fears of those super-hard practices and sets aren’t born of reality – they are exacerbated by our minds. How many times have you finished a set you previously thought too challenging and told yourself, “Now, that wasn’t so hard!” So the next time a coach is writing up a set that has others cringing, remember that it’s how you react in precisely those moments that will shape your degree of mental toughness. 4. Focus on Right Now. We live in a society that expects more and more of us each day. We are bombarded with expectations from the moment that dastardly alarm clock rings until we finally doze off at night. But the reality is that we are not natural multi-taskers. Dividing up our attention amongst various tasks or activities simply guarantees that we end up with a handful of mediocre performances. Focus everything you have on what you are doing at this moment. Don’t worry about the next set, the next practice. Execute with ultimate excellence on what you are doing at this very moment. 5. Nerves of Aluminum, err, Steel! It would pointless to say that you don’t get nervous as hell each time you step up on those blocks; staring at the flat water ahead of you, hoping your preparation was enough to propel you towards that best time. Nerves are there, and they aren’t going anywhere. It’s how you handle them that ultimately decides how you perform. This goes back again to being prepared, of focusing on the moment, 6. Be Perpetually Ready for War. Elite swimmers don’t need conditions to be perfect. They simply need a bathing suit and a lane. They don’t mope when they swim poorly in the heats and get an outside lane for finals. They can be up and ready to swim on nearly a moment’s notice. The reason the mentally tough can crush consistently solid performances is that they don’t require conditions to be completely ideal to swim their butt off. 7. Relentless Purpose. Do you have goals for swimming? Do you have a concrete, visceral idea of what you want to achieve this year? Those who possess mental toughness have a destination, and they will do whatever it takes to get there. The destination for you could be a best time, making a travel team, or smashing some world records. Whatever it is, write it down, and start chasing that awesome goal right this second with vicious, unending purpose.]]> 976 <![CDATA[4 Reasons Swimmers Lose Confidence]]> 1. Needless Comparison I’ll never forget the first time I heard about Ian Thorpe’s swimming exploits. He was a 15 year old he won the 400 free at the 1998 Perth World Championships in a time of 3:46. I’ll never forget the utter discouragement I felt hearing about this as we were getting ready to jump into practice. Standing in front of the blackboard as coach scrawled the day’s workout, I felt any hope I had for my own swimming career disappear. After all, not only was Thorpe killin’ it, he was also 3 years younger than I was at the time. This type of comparison is dangerous, and as my lowly effort in that practice showed, was utterly counter-productive. This type of comparison happens all the time; with the people you train with (“how is that guy beating me right now?”) to the swimmers you frequently compete against at local meets (“Wow, she looked really good in heats”). It’s difficult, but focus on yourself, your training, and your own preparation. You’ll never be able to control the outcomes of other swimmers, but you can give yourself the greatest chance for success by zeroing in on yourself.

2. Lack of Clear, Tangible Goals

I don’t know about you, but unless I have a specific plan or goal for something, the likelihood of anything of note being achieved drops in a hurry. This experience isn’t just limited to swimming; in my post-competitive swimming days I still occasionally catch engaging in this directionless meandering. If I don’t sit down at the computer with a plan for what I am going to do, suddenly my time starts to evaporate to stuff that doesn’t really matter – browsing the internet, creating Angry Cat memes, watching random videos of killer whales wake surfing. The same goes with your swimming. You should be showing up every day to the pool with a crystal-clear idea of what you need to achieve. Focusing on a clear, awesome goal reduces something else that can cripple your motivation and self-confidence, and that is your worst possible outcomes.

3. Worst Possible Outcomes

These are, as it plainly says above, the worst. We all experience this in some form or another – the panic and dread of imagining a poor swim. Whether its getting beaten by a slower swimmer, getting DQ’d, or your suit falling off, we all tend to imagine the WPO from time to time. Having that crystal clear goal is vital for combating this; focus on your awesome goal instead of the often ambiguous WPO (your suit is going to fall off? No, its not.). Think about the last time your WPO actually came to fruition. Probably never, right? It’s normal to over-exaggerate our fears. WPOs can be of some benefit; they are designed to implicitly keep us from being hurt, whether its physical (heights, snakes) or mental/emotional (disappointment, failure). Typically what happens in these situations is that it will pass, and you’ll find yourself saying, “That wasn’t so bad.” Alternatively, when you find yourself getting lost in a steaming pile of WPO, step back for a moment and honestly ask yourself if this WPO is even close to being a valid fear. More often than not, you'll be able to invalidate the WPO by taking an objective look at it.

4. Failure becomes fatal

The ultimate confidence killer comes when we come up short on our own expectations. Our shortcomings, setbacks, hiccups – whatever we wanna term them, can solidify those self-doubts that we had been carrying along. I knew I would never beat swimmer so-and-so.I was right; I really am not that talented. I’ll never be a successful swimmer. I’ll never be able to take my swimming to the next level. Setbacks are lame enough without having to let them make doubts into full fledged beliefs. They should be embraced as learning opportunities. “What can I draw from this?” You can draw a dizzying sense of empowerment from knowing precisely what leads to less than desirable performances so that you can avoid it in the future.]]> 979 <![CDATA[How to Use Visualization to Improve Your Swimming]]> 1. Practice Doesn’t Make Perfect, But It Will Make You a Lot Better! Visualization should be treated as a skill, not a band-aid for a last minute lack of preparation. Doing it well requires you doing it often. Fortunately you can do it just about anywhere, anytime (though preferably when not driving). You can do it at night in bed, in the back fo the car, on the bus, when you are stretching before practice, and so on. Do it consistently, a few minutes a day, as opposed to banging out one long session every couple weeks. The more you do it the easier it will be to imagine an outcome that you desire, as well as keep a lid on outcomes you don’t want from popping in there. Speaking of which…

2. Avoid Negative Conclusions.

This seems obvious, but you and I both know what it is like to have our thoughts run away from us. We start out imagining the best possible outcome, but then those awful and nagging little cracks of doubt begin to tear open our positive outcome. What if my bathing suit falls off? What if my goggles fill up? False start? I leave early on the takeover? Similarly, you might find at first that you are having difficulty keeping a rein on your thoughts. You find a quiet place, close your eyes, imagine your race in full detail, but soon you catch yourself thinking about your homework. Or what you are going to do with your two days off practice next week. Or whether Rick will ever go to war with the Governor and simply stop talking about it (Walking Dead reference for the uninitiated). Each time this happens, reset, and focus on the details to make the image clearer in your mind.

3. It’s All In the Details.

Sure, you could imagine yourself winning a race or destroying that personal best time over and over, but to take your visualization to the next level you should be focusing on 4 areas—

How it Looks. The look of the water. The officials on the pool deck. Anything you can see.
How it Sounds. The sound of starter’s pistol, the roar of the crowd, water splashing past your ears.
How it Senses. This is different from ‘how it feels’, because we are talking about physical sensations. The briskness of the water. The snugness of your cap. Your goggles digging comfortably into your eye sockets. Gripping the starting block. The thickness of the water in your hand. The relaxation of skimming across the water. If you can sense it, picture it.
How It Feels. An overlooked part of visualization that can make it really stick is connecting the images, sounds and senses to your emotions. The exhilaration of catching the leader. The rapt joy of touching the wall and seeing a time on the scoreboard even faster than you hoped. The happiness resulting from the pride of your coaches and teammates. Incorporate the emotive responses of success and it will make the visualization much more “sticky.”

With these four components in place you will be building imagery that is more powerful, more visceral, and even more “hard-wired” into your brain.

4. Imbed Cues.

You don’t have to imagine everything from scratch. There are things you can experience or sense prior to your race. Get up on the block and see how to the block feels. Listen carefully to the starters pistol. The roar of the crowd. File these sensations and use them later for your visualization efforts.

5. Create a Launch Program.

As mentioned above, visualization is a skill; a skill that should be incorporated into your preparation as much as stretching or warming up. The power in visualization is that by experiencing the race repeatedly before hand, when you finally do dive in there’s nothing left to really think about. Your sub-conscience has been here before and re-enacts it. As mentioned earlier, you should be doing a little bit of visualization every day, particularly in the weeks leading up to your competition. In my racing days I would bang out a good 5-10 minutes (time permitting, of course) of visualization about 10 minutes before my race. In addition to the 15 minutes or so each night in the couple of weeks leading up to the competition. Of course, you don’t need nearly as long -- 1-2 minutes can work just as well if you are doing it correctly. Put a towel on your head, some music to block out the people around you, and imagine yourself achieving your goals. Create a routine for yourself and make it part of your race preparation. So there you have it, five powerful (and easy!) ways to implement the massive power of visualization into your swimming. Now, I am off to watch the Walking Dead series finale! [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Unfortunately for Adrian, his team would lose 17-10 to the Cardinals. ]]> 999 <![CDATA[How Badass is Ruta Meilutyte's Start? ]]> Meilutyte is coached by Jon Rudd at Plymouth College in the U.K., where she has trained since age of 13. Renown for her start, below you can see just how far ahead of the competition (heads and shoulders, quite literally) she is off the start-- Meilutyte-start

Rudd makes no secret of having her train starts (something many coaches don't do for a variety of reasons -- from lack of time, lack of equipment, to wanting to spare athletes of injury), and her work ethic is becoming the stuff of legend. meilutyte-muscles

Here is another shot of her start, this one from the London Olympics. Meilutyte is in the green cap, fourth up from the bottom, clear off the blocks while many swimmers are just starting to roll forwards-- meilutyte-start-london

In races where hundredths or tenths of a second means the difference between gold and not medaling at all, Meilutyte's phenomenal start proves that it pays to work on them. ]]> 1011 <![CDATA[Top 9 Nathan Adrian Quotes]]> 1013 <![CDATA[Nathan Adrian and Speedo USA Join Forces with Art of the Cap]]> Speedo's Art of the Cap is a campaign put on by Speedo combining handful of Olympic gold medal winning US athletes, including Nathan Adrian, Natalie Coughlin, Cullen Jones, Dana Vollmer and Ryan Lochte, with stars in the world to create some kick-ass limited edition caps while also raising some money for charity. Each athlete were combined with an artist who designed a limited edition Speedo cap, with the proceeds going to support the charity of the athlete's choice. In Adrian's case, he choose to have the proceeds from his cap sales go to Kids Beating Cancer. The charity works to help children receive cancer treatment no matter what the finances of the family looks like. Adrian was paired up with Peruvian artist Gianmarco Magnani. The cap, which features a navy ship themed blue and grey, with a matching anchor and the number "08" emblazoned as though the cap were the side of a battle ship. The number represents Adrian's first Olympics, back in 2008 in Beijing, where he won a gold medal swimming in the heats of the 4x100m freestyle. The theme arose from Adrian's upbringing on the Puget Sound in Bremerton, Washington, near the Naval Shipyard.

“I feel like I’m in a really blessed position,” said Adrian. “With that position, I’ve always felt a need and a desire to give back to people who haven’t been given the ability to live their dreams.”

The basis of the cap design and the resulting artist they were paired up with was rooted in the personal history of each of the athletes. Here is the promotional video that Speedo produced outlining the history behind the artwork that was chosen for Nathan Adrian's cap: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Vcy4t2UqmM]]> 1029 <![CDATA[Jason Lezak and the Greatest Relay Leg of All-Time]]> Jason Lezak and the Americans the storyline couldn’t have been more perfect. The French were boasting that they were going to take down the Americans, and that they would “smash them,” American Michael Phelps would need a gold medal if he hoped to best the record set by Mark Spitz of 7 gold medals in one games set way back in ’76, and Lezak, swimming the final leg for the Americans, would be trailing the French by ¾’s of a body length with the anchor leg of the powerful French team being swum by a man who until 3 minutes earlier was fastest ever man in the 100m freestyle, Alain Bernard. [blockquote source="Alain Bernard"]The Americans? We're going to smash them. That's what we came here for.[/blockquote]

EXPERIENCE WHEN TEAM USA NEEDED IT MOST

While Lezak was never an individual world record holder, he had placed prominently on international podiums in the 100m freestyle for nearly ten years leading into Beijing. He’d been the American record holder in the event for a considerable amount of time, and was a veteran on the National team, with two previous Olympic appearances under his belt in 2000 in Sydney and 2004 in Athens. (He would also make the 2012 team qualifying for the as an alternate on the 4x100 free relay.)

Jason Lezak – Quick Stats:

4-time Olympian
8 Olympic medals
Former American Record holder 100m freestyle
Former member of Irvine Novaquatics & Rose Bowl Aquatics Swim Club
H/W: 6’4”/215 pounds
Lezak's official site

AN UNLIKELY COMEBACK

For the Americans, who had held a strangle-hold on this event for 7 straight Olympics until the South Africans and Australians won it in 2000 and 2004, it was an opportunity to reassert their dominance in men’s freestyle. In a race that was so fast that two world records were beat (Eamon Sullivan of Australia beat the 100m WR that belonged to Bernard on the lead-off leg), no one could have predicted the nail-biting tenor that it would take, with most analysts predicting a swift French victory. Even Rowdy Gaines, generally the eternal Team USA optimist, didn’t see how the Americans could pull it off, and it wasn’t until his color commentator partner noticed Lezak with about 30m to swim closing in on the big Frenchman did Gaines enthusiasm take a rapid U-turn.

DRAFTING AT ITS FINEST

One of the oldest swimming tactics in the book, drafting is the opportunity of one swimmer to brush up against the lane-line of a fellow competitor and hitch a ride on the swell that the leading swimmer is providing. A little too far behind, and you are swimming in their wash. A little too close, and the effect is negated. Lezak was at a perfect distance to ride the massive rolling wake created by the Frenchman. While the Frenchman churned his way down the first 50m of the final leg, Lezak quite literally hitched a free lift, putting himself into position to stage the unlikely comeback. With 25m to go, Bernard began to tighten up, and Lezak covered ground, stroke-by-stroke, until they were nearly even coming in under the flags. With Phelps and teammate Garrett Weber-Gale on the blocks screaming Lezak on, the 32 year old barreled into the finish, just barely surging past the hulking Frenchman to win gold for the US, touching of a firestorm of celebration behind the US blocks (eventually also including a visibly drained Jones). Lezak’s final split? An absolutely insane 46.06, easily the fastest relay split ever. How Team USA split the relay:

Michael Phelps -- 47.51 (American Record)
Garrett Weber-Gale -- 47.02
Cullen Jones -- 47.65
Jason Lezak -- 46.06

Here is the video of the race. It is still difficult to fathom the distance that he made up to win gold. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxy920Nd7yY [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Isabella Rongione

Barely a teenager, Rongione from Virginia’s Fish Swim Team is the youngest swimmer going to World Trials. Having broken National Age Group records on numerous occasions, she is seeded 9^th going into the 1500m freestyle. Though it’s unlikely she will be punching a ticket to Barcelona this time around, there still remains an early opportunity to see an age group phenom begin her transition into a star.

Kevin Cordes

With Olympic veteran Brendan Hansen taking time off to tend to fatherhood, and Eric Shanetau taking time away from the pool, the time is ripe for Kevin Cordes to make a splash. He junior from the University of Arizona destroyed the 1:50 barrier for the 200y breaststroke – also being the only to ever do it. He is also now the holder of NCAA and American records for the 100y breaststroke. He has been in fine form long course as well, winning the Santa Clara Grand Prix in a time of 1:00.47.]]> 1079 <![CDATA[Missy Franklin and Nathan Adrian Punch Tickets to Barcelona on 1st Day of US World Trials]]> Missy Franklin, Colorado Stars, Nathan Adrian, Cal, not disappointing on the first night of finals at the Phillips 66 National Championships, both taking first in the 100m freestyle and punching tickets for Barcelona. The men’s 100m was a line-up of international experience, with fellow Olympians Ryan Lochte, Jimmy Feigen, and Anthony Ervin rounding out the top 4. Former Texas Longhorn Feigen nabbed the second individual team spot, touching the wall in 48.24, a time that now ranks him 8^th fastest in the world, just behind Adrian’s 48.24. Perhaps most notable were a couple youngsters who put up impressive mid 49’s. Jack Conger, who in February broke Jeff Kostoff’s 30 year 500 yard national high school record, won the “C” final in a time of 49.44, a half second drop on his best time, and also quicker than the entire “B” final. Caeleb Dresser, a spry 16 years of age, demolished Joe Hudepohl’s long standing 15-16 National Age Group record in a time of 49.50, shaving 0.73 seconds off the 1990 mark. Lochte’s 48.53 and caginess about whether what other events he may or may not swim this week signal that he may be shifting towards shorter events as he gets older. Missy Franklin’s 53.43 was faster than she swam last year at the London Olympics, and also set a new Nationals record beating Amanda Weir’s former record of 53.58. She displayed her usual back-end resolve, chasing down a field including Natalie Coughlin, who led at the 50 in 25.70, Megan Romero and Simone Manuel. Shannon Vreeland also had a strong second 50, splitting a tenth of a second slower than Franklin on the second 50 to place second. Filling out the relay will be Manuel (53.86) and Romano (53.90). USA Swimming’s Phillips 66 National Championships is being held at the Indiana University Natatorium on the Campus of IUPUI. The competition runs until Saturday, June 29.]]> 1084 <![CDATA[Graham Backs Phantom Boycott of Sochi]]> “I would. I would just send the Russians the most unequivocal signal I could send them." Edward Snowden applied for asylum in Russia earlier this week. He has been stuck in a transit zone at Moscow’s airport since June 23^rd. The United States Olympic Committee briskly brushed aside any such move. Committee spokesman Patrick Sandusky, in a statement released earlier said—

Our boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games did not contribute to a successful resolution of the underlying conflict. It did, however, deprive hundreds of American athletes, all whom had completely dedicated themselves to representing our nation at the Olympic Games, of the opportunity of a lifetime.

The United States boycotted the 1980 Moscow Games in response to Russia’s invasion of Afghanistan. Four years later it was the Russians turn to boycott, as they forewent the Los Angeles Games in 1984. Both boycotts cost a generation of athletes their opportunity to perform under the Olympic banner. House Speaker John Boehner was asked about such a move, and was just as dismissive as Sandusky, saying that Graham was “dead wrong.” White House spokesman said that while he would not speculate on Graham’s statement, he did add that the U.S. agrees with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Edward Snowden dilemma doesn’t need to harm US-Russian cooperation on countless other issues. It should be noted that simply because Graham would support such a move certainly doesn't mean that there is any push to make one happen, particularly with the memories of missed opportunities of Moscow and Los Angeles so fresh.]]> 1089 <![CDATA[USA Swimming Hits 400,000 Members]]> Nathan Adrian, Katie Ledecky, as well as the runaway social media juggernaut that was the US team’s lip-sync video of Carly Rae Jepsen’s “Call Me Maybe” USA Swimming membership numbers have exploded above 400,000 for the first time in it’s history. USA Swimming benefited greatly from the attention not being focused exclusively on Michael Phelps as was the case in Beijing, where the story-lines of other swimmers was a little lost as everyone scrambled to cover Phelps trek towards that vaunted 8 gold medal mark. Swimmers like Missy Franklin become media darlings, while athletes like Nathan Adrian stepped out of the huge media glare that was showcased on Phelps and Ryan Lochte. While the bump was expected in a post-Olympic year as evidenced in years past, the 13.2 increase bettered the 11.3 increase that followed the Beijing Olympics. USA Swimming Membership Stats:

404,448 – Total membership including athletes and non-athletes
340,564 – Total membership of year-round swimmers
+13.2% -- Membership increase over the year prior
+11.3% -- 2009 membership increase after Beijing Olympics
+7.2% -- 2005 membership increase after Athens Olympics
+4.9% -- 2001 membership increase after Syndey Olympics
2,915 – Member clubs and teams
54,000+ -- Number of swimmers added to USA Swimming membership in the past 4 years.

LONG TERM TRENDS HOPEFUL FOR US SWIMMING Michael Phelps always stated that his long-term goal for the sport of swimming was to expand it and help it grow. It’s clear that his popularity, his accolades and his personality were huge in helping the sport grow. The real fruit of his popularity, however, won’t really show themselves until the next couple Olympics, where the kids who signed up to the sport as a result of him will begin to appear on the international stage. ]]> 1092 <![CDATA[USA Swimming Call Me Maybe]]> Michael Phelps and his quest for 8, the London Games were being hyped as a showdown between “rivals” Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. But if there was one thing that the US squad would become known for – outside of a dominating showing in the pool where they would win 1/3 of the total US medal haul in London – is the fact that, well, they are adorable. Over 12 million views later, as well as the supplemental national coverage of the social media juggernaut, the Carly Rae Jepsen “Call Me Maybe” lip-sync (who, incidentally, is Canadian) endeared the public with a sport that is only given wide-spread visibility when the Olympics show their face. USA team members Alyssa Anderson, Kathleen Hersey and Caitlin Leverenz were the running force behind the video, with national team staff member Russell Mark putting the finishing touches on the video. Almost the entire national team is in the video, with Phelps visible right at the beginning, as well as Ryan Lochte who makes a brief appearance that is befitting of his reality-television persona. It is the other stars that make the biggest impression, most notably Missy Franklin, whose big smile and enthusiasm is impossible to miss, as well as team captain Brendan Hansen’s impeccable underwater dance moves. Other swimmers include Cullen Jones, Anthony Ervin, and Jimmy Feigen. Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPIA7mpm1wU]]> 1096 <![CDATA[Georgia Coach Jack Bauerle Withheld From NC State Dual Meet]]> th victory.]]> 1099 <![CDATA[Michael Phelps By the Numbers]]> Michael Phelps was a gifted athlete in many ways. He benefited from having a coach who recognized his talent at an early age, and Phelps was also instilled with an exceptionally strong work ethic from a young age, having watched his older sister Whitney Phelps excel on the national swimming stage. On a physiological basis, there is no question that Phelps was built for the water. With an above average wing-span, double-jointed at the ankles and knees, and a lactate clearing capacity that surpassed a great percentage of the population, one can say that he was born for the sport of swimming.

Here is how Phelps breaks down by the numbers: Wingspan: The wingspan of most people is supposed to be the same width as the overall height of their body. Phelps wingspan of 6’7” surpasses his height of 6;4” by athree inches. Flippers and Paddles: While Phelps foot size doesn’t match Ian Thorpe’s ridiculous 17 inch soles, they do come in at a bigger-than-average size 14. Along with hands that are bigger than average, Phelps is equipped with paddles and flippers to help propel him through the water. Enhanced range of motion: Phelps has a double-jointed knees, ankles, and upper body, which means that he can extend his range of motion. Hyperextension and flexion in his knees and ankles in particular allow him a greater whip with his kick, securing more propulsion. Michael Phelps resting heart rate: The average human being has a resting heart rate of approximately 70 beats per minute. Miguel Indurain has one of the most legendary heart rates of all time, with a reported 28 bpm, with most endurance athletes clocking in around 40bpm. Michael Phelps’ resting heart rate was a steady 38bpm, meaning that his heart was more efficient at pumping blood to his muscles than his competitors. Lactace capacity: Perhaps most impressive about Phelps is his body’s ability to recycle lactic acid. In 2003 stats were leaked that showed after his world record swim in the 100m fly the lactate levels in his blood were at a paltry 5.6 millimoles, a figure that was just over half of other elite swimmers, never mind the rest of the general population.

Other stats:

Phelps could bang out 34 pull-ups consecutively, one of the top dryland exercises swimmers engage in.
He had the same warm-up routine before each race. This was invaluable to keeping his mind on an even keel, helping him sort with the pressure of not only his own expectations, but a swimming public hanging on to his every swim.
Phelps’ inseam was a short 30”. This was typical of someone who is over half a foot shorter, giving him less body to pull through the water.
His height and weight when competing were 6’4” and 195 pounds.

Image: Cory M. Grenier]]> 1103 <![CDATA[Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte: The Rivalry & Friendship]]> Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte in anticipation of the Beijing, and especially London Olympics, was something that made for a great storyline, but in the end it was more about two teammates and friends. At first glance, it wasn’t very difficult to cast them as opposites. Phelps, with his manicured answers, carefully managed responses and polished media presence (despite the two hiccups that were his DUI and photographed bong hit) were an easy contrast to Lochte’s surfer-dude, laissez-faire attitude. Phelps two bumps with the law (and USA Swimming – they suspended him from competition after the photo of him smoking marijuana at a house party went public) went against the grain of his public persona, while had they had happened to Ryan Lochte it would seem plausible. Between stories of filling balloons and lobbing them at concert goers, lighting a bag of dog poop (on his girlfriend’s front porch, of all people), Lochte – whether tactically or not, it’s not entirely apparent – has owned the image of the “whatever, man” athlete.

SEE ALSO: Michael Phelps By the Numbers

Which all makes it harder to imagine the two of them as pals. LOCHTE’S EMERGENCE AS A FOIL TO PHELPS DOMINATION In the mid-2000’s Phelps appeared unbeatable. After his appearance in the 200m butterfly at the Sydney Games, he quick took over the event, the shorter distance, and soon the Ims and the freestyle events. His legend was growing quickly, and in perspective, it hadn’t even come close to hitting its zenith, which would come in 2008 at the Beijing Games. The media made a frenzy of Lochte beating Phelps in the 200IM at Winter Nationals in Atlanta in November 2007. The story was silly, of course, the race was short course, off-season, but that didn’t mean the swimming community wasn’t looking for a David to Goliath. Were Phelps days numbered? Despite Phelps not swimming up to others expectations of him in the year leading up to Beijing, when it came down to crunch time he did not disappoint. He cleaned house, winning 8 gold medals, while Lochte fell behind in the medley events, placing 3^rd behind Phelps and Hungarian Lazslo Cseh in both the 200 and 400. He did, however, win the 200 backstroke in world record time. LOCHTE’S ASCENSION IN LONDON There is no doubt that they pushed each other to new limits. Lochte had the greatest swimmer in the history of the sport as a teammate and competitor, to chase day-in and day-out, while Phelps had a hungry, talented swimmer who was itching the get to the top of the podium and taste some of the overwhelming success Phelps had been enjoying. Lochte had the good fortune of being the underdog, the spoiler, until it came time for him to be the headliner, which happened for him in London. With Phelps having been uncharacteristically unfocused and unmotivated in the run-up to London, many were expecting that Phelps would finally fall to the not-so-new newcomer. And the predictors were right. Lochte would run away with the 400IM while Phelps would be shut out of the medals. Lochte was tactical in his comments leading up to and after the race. He acknowledged Phelps greatness, and his undeniable track record is the best of all time, while also asserting that he was now the top dog. In the end Lochte wasn’t able to come close to Phelps’ Beijing haul, placing 4^th in the 200 free, 2^nd in the 4x100 free relay, gold in the 4x200 free relay, bronze in the 200 back, and silver behind Phelps in the 200 IM. THE FUTURE: MEET AT THE 100’S? Lochte has committed to swimming through until Rio. One gets the sense that he wants to fully unshackle himself from Phelps shadow, knowing that his career to date is of that of “the other guy.” Phelps, meanwhile, has left the door open for a return to the sport after insisting at the London Games that they would be his last. As of May 2013 he was reentered in the drug testing pool, and if comments by his coach are to believed (so far both coach Bob Bowman and athlete have been remarkably coy about intentions – even though they both have known since at least last May that he was still in the drug-testing pool) he is in pretty rough shape right now, and has a long ways to go to sniff at his past form. There is no doubt, however, that with Lochte’s plans to focus on shorter events, and Phelps’ limited base and training that if both of these men are going to be meeting at the pool again, it will be in the shorter events, to write yet another chapter in their storied friendship and rivalry. Image: InCase]]> 1113 <![CDATA[Ryan Lochte & Katie Ledecky Named 2013 FINA Swimmers of the Year]]> Ryan Lochte and Katie Ledecky were named the top male and female swimmers of 2013 by FINA, the world’s governing body for the sport of swimming. American Katie Ledecky’s year was one for the books. After emerging as a star-in-the-making at the London Games last year, she has completely dominated the distance freestyle market ever since. Her 2013 Fina World Championships performance was utterly dominant, winning four gold medals, three of them individual, as well as one in the 4x200m freestyle relay. Her 800 and 1500 freestyles deserve special mention. She destroyed the former world record of 15:42.54 by compatriot Kate Ziegler recorded in 2007 by nearly six seconds. Denmark’s Lotte Friis was also under the former world mark, and actually swam with Ledecky for 1300m before the American took off. In the 800m freestyle Ledecky swam a time of 8:13.86, setting another world record, beating Great Britain’s Rebecca Adlington’s mark. Perhaps most impressive about Ledecky’s race was her final 50m, swum in 29.79, showing that she still had more in the tank, a harrowing sign for anyone hoping to challenge the female distance crown leading into Rio. Lochte’s year was a little more bumpy. A two-time winner of this award in 2010 and 2011, Lochte came back after a somewhat disappointing Olympics, where he failed to defend his 200m backstroke crown, and a dismal foray into the muddy waters of reality television, Lochte bounced back to swim a Phelpsonian schedule at the 2013 Fina World Championships in Barcelona.

This time Lochte would win the 200m backstroke, while also taking the 200m IM. He deferred the 400IM, an event that he would have been favored to win and repeat from the Olympics, but he did pick up another gold medal in the 4x200 freestyle relay, and a silver from swimming the preliminaries in the 4x100 freestyle relay. Per FINA, the swimmers of the year are decided by a total of nearly 700 voters, comprising of members of countries’ respective FINA federations, various FINA committees, members of the swimming media, partners and experts in the swimming community. The world governing body for swimming also recognized competitors in other aquatic disciplines, including diving, water polo and synchronized swimming. The full list of recipients can be seen here.]]> 1117 <![CDATA[10 Michael Phelps Quotes]]> motivational swimming quotes, from the greatest swimmer of all time, Michael Phelps-- [blockquote]Nothing is impossible. With so many people saying it couldn’t be done, all it takes is an imagination.[/blockquote] Phelps sets him apart by the competition by willing to dream the impossible, by willing to stretch the borders of what is considered possible in the sport of swimming. Ultimately his swimming would demonstrate that limits are made to be not only broken, but completely disregarded. [blockquote]Before the (Olympic) trials I was doing a lot of relaxing exercises and visualization. And I think that that helped me to get a feel of what it was gonna be like when I got there. I knew that I had done everything that I could to get ready for that meet, both physically and mentally.[/blockquote]

SEE ALSO: Michael Phelps By the Numbers

Phelps understood that excellence at the peak of the sport was more mental than anything else. He knew that he would have to be zeroed in on his swim and tune out the distractions; whether it was the competition, the media, or even his own expectations. [blockquote]If you want to be the best you have to do things others are not willing to do.[/blockquote] Phelps had a work-horse ethic when it came to putting in work. He trained 7 days a week because that extra day (most swimmers typically train 6 days per week) would give him the edge he needed. [blockquote]I won’t predict anything historic but nothing is impossible.[/blockquote] This mindset is precisely what set Phelps apart from the competition. An unwillingness to accept the status quo, a refusal to allow others expectations of him (and ultimately of themselves) to dictate what he was capable of. [blockquote]Things won’t go perfect. It’s all about how you adapt from those things and learn from mistakes.[/blockquote] While Phelps’ career was storied, it was far from perfect. There was the goggle fill-up in his 200m butterfly at the Beijing Olympics. His two brushes with the law. A lack of motivation and focus following the high of winning 8 golds in 2008. In each case he bounced back better then ever. [blockquote]I feel most at home in the water. I disappear. That’s where I belong.[/blockquote] Swimmers know this feeling. The silence, the aloneness, with nothing but your thoughts. Slipping into the water is rebirth, its zen, it’s quality time spent with yourself. [blockquote]If you’re not on your game every day you’re gonna get smoked.[/blockquote] Phelps knew that his success was in large part due to his consistency. He showed up every day to the pool ready to work, and it should be the same with you. Be willing to put in the work every single day. Success isn’t a part-time gig, nor is it something you stumble upon. It is a task you devote yourself to every single day. [blockquote]The more you dream, the further you get.[/blockquote] Something awful happens when our goals don’t pan out. We begin to buy into the doubts, the nagging self-doubt that tells us that we aren’t as good as we think we are, we aren’t that talented, that we don’t deserve success. Your plans will go awry at times. It is specifically then that you must dare to continue to dream. [blockquote]Goals should never be easy.[/blockquote] Phelps knew this better than most. To stretch your concepts of what you are capable requires setting hard goals. Some with smaller imaginations will try and knock you for dreaming big. Don’t give them the privilege. [blockquote]Once I retired, I’m retiring. I’m done.[/blockquote] We’ll see.]]> 1123 <![CDATA[How to Swim with John Wayne]]> 1127 <![CDATA[Rise and Swim - The Ultimate Motivational Video for Swimmers]]> YouTube user Swim Fan, has been a viral hit over the past year, surpassing well over a million hits (it's not USA Swimming's "Call Me Maybe" but still very respectable in terms of social reach for a swimming video). It features mostly snippets from commercials, training and competition of Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. I dare you to watch this video and not want to go down to the pool and crush out a work out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tzm6TEManmQ Here is a second video made by the same user entitled Swim and Shine, with music by Rudimental (track: Not Giving In). This video features more Phelps and Lochte, as well as Jason Lezak's incredible finish in the 4x100m free relay in Beijing, Sun Yang, an intimidating Nathan Adrian, and various Paralympic athletes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YG6c3fEv5so [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

]]> 1153 <![CDATA[Michael Phelps Freestyle]]> Michael Phelps freestyle was a dominant presence on the international scene. He held the 200 metre freestyle world record until Paul Biedermann came along and broke it during the super-suit frenzy of 2009, and was also a key piece on the US men’s 4x100 freestyle relay (also breaking the American Record in the 100m leading off that relay at the Beijing Games). His trademark quasi-catch up freestyle stroke in combination with his phenomenal underwater dolphin work made him a menace on the freestyle scene.

THE DEVELOPMENT OF PHELPS’ TECHNIQUE

Bob Bowman, Phelps long-time coach, modeled Michael Phelps freestyle technique after legendary sprinter Alexander Popov, who dominated the 50m and 100m freestyle for nearly a decade. His smooth, relaxed freestyle was the model for Phelps’ development as a freestyler. With a focus on relaxation, of distance per stroke, and maximizing the amount of water pulled Bowman succeeded in making Phelps a mirror image of the legendary Russian sprinter.

WINDMILL VS BENT ARM RECOVERY

For a period of time after his three-month suspension after being photographed smoking out of a bong Phelps experimented with a windmill technique, deciding to change up his roster of events at major meets. The straight-arm recovery has a few advantages over the traditional bent-arm recovery—the straight arm recovery – and entry – allows the swimmer to enter the propulsive portion of the stroke quicker, and it also gives the athlete a more explosive stroke as they can more fully engage their torso to whip their arms around. For Phelps the windmill experimentation was short-lived. For most swimmers it is very difficult to keep up that kind of explosive output for a 100 metre distance – let alone a 200m or 400m swim. Here is a fantastic video where you can see Phelps’ freestyle technique from every angle. You also get a great view of his dolphin kick, his high elbow catch, and how his hand enters straight ahead of his shoulder: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax77_hHq9Dc[/youtube]]]> 1160 <![CDATA[200m Freestyle World Record]]> MEN’S 200m FREESTYLE WORLD RECORDS On the men’s side the world mark was broken dozens of dozens of times by American swimmers in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Don Schollander was the first man to break the first two minute barrier when he did so in a time of 1:58.8 in July of 1963. Schollander would break it another 8 times, until Mark Spitz, Tim Shaw and Bruce Furniss all took turns at the record, lowering it to 1:50.29 in Montreal at the Olympics in 1976. A pair of Australians – Ian Thorpe and Grant Hackett, would duel with the Netherlands Pieter van den Hoogenband in the late 90’s and early 2000’s until Michael Phelps would take sole ownership over the long course world record in Melbourne at the 2007 FINA World Championships. He would lower it further to a then unbelievable 1:42.96. As with the 50m and 100m freestyle world records, the current world marks were set during the 2008/2009 super-suit era, where suits made of polyurethane gave swimmers an added buoyancy and speed in the water. Most notable of these suits was the Arena X-Glide, and 100% polyurethane suit that was worn by the current world record holder in 200 in both short course and long course, Germany’s Paul Biedermann. Biedermann would establish the current fastest time in history with a mark of 1:42.00 set in Rome at the 2009 World Championships. Here is a video of Biedermann’s swim in Rome, where he beat Phelps— [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MeOw35fsltE[/youtube] The short course world record is also held by Paul Biedermann, which he did months after the long course mark, and only weeks before FINA would finally implement a ban on the controversial polyurethane suits that had helped Biedermann achieve a near 4-second drop in less than a year in the event. Biedermann’s time of 1:39.37 was swum in his home country of Germany at the Berlin stop on the FINA World Cup Series in November 2009. WOMEN’S 200m FREESTYLE WORLD RECORDS Dawn Fraser, one of Australia’s swimming legends helped lower the 200m long course world mark by nearly ten seconds in the late 1950’s. As with the men a group of Americans would come on the scene in the 1960’s and take turns demolishing the record, with names including Lillian Watson, Pam Kruse, Susan Pederson, Edith Wetzel, Debbie Meyer and Linda Gustavson all taking turns as holders of the record (some for literally as short as minutes as often the record was broken at the same competition by different swimmers as was the case at the US team’s 1968 Olympic Trials). In Montreal at the ’76 Games East Germany’s Kornelia Ender would be the first woman to break the two minute barrier, but it would be Italian superstar Federica Pellegrini who would take the record to it’s current standing. From 2007 to 2009 Pellegrini lowered the record from 1:56.47 to its current 1:52.98, which was set (surprise, surprise) at the 2009 World Championships in Rome. Here is a video of her dominating performance in Rome, where she destroys the field to win gold and set the record— [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTdBdTYBUZ0[/youtube] In short course meters Pellegrini also holds the fastest time ever, having posted a 1:51.17 at the 2009 European Short Course Championships in Istanbul, Turkey. SEE ALSO:

]]> 1165 <![CDATA[400m Freestyle World Record]]> 400m freestyle world record is overseen and ratified by FINA, the aquatic sports governing body responsible for competitive swimming. The 400m free is a unique event in that it is an event – along with the 800 (for women) and 1500 (for men) that is competed only in freestyle and the individual medley, unlike the “specialty” strokes which are competed at the 100-200 meter distance at the Olympics. The event was initially recognized as an event in 1908 in long course meters, and since 1991 FINA has also kept track of and ratified the distance in short course meters as well.

MEN'S 400m FREESTYLE WORLD RECORDS

Since the first 400m free was held in the Olympic Games in London in 1908, the world record has dropped by nearly two full minutes. The first man to hold it was Henry Taylor of Great Britain in a time of 5:36.8. Famed 100m sprinter and Tarzan actor Jonny Weissmuller who would also break the minute in the 100m freestyle world record was the first to break the 5 minute barrier as well when he did so in March of 1923 in New Haven. It wouldn’t be until 50 years later, when Rick DeMont would break the vaunted 4 minute barrier in September of 1973 at the FINA World Championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Names like Tim Shaw, Mark Spitz and Brian Goodell (all Americans) would continue to lower the mark during the mid-to-late 70’s until finally Vladimir Salnikov of the Soviet Union would be the first man to break 3:50 at a dual meet between the Soviets and East Germany. While Ian Thorpe isn’t currently the world record holder in the event, he was the most recent athlete to shave significant time off the record. He beat legendary Aussie distance swimmer Kieren Perkins (better known for his stranglehold on the 1500m freestyle world record during the 90’s) mark of 3:43.80 swimming a 3:41.83 at the Pan Pacific Championships in Sydney, Australia in 1999. Three years later at Commonwealth Games in Australia he would swim an unreal 3:40.08, which stood for almost exactly 7 years before falling to Paul Biedermann of Germany, who would lower it by the slimmest of margins, swimming a 3:40.07 at the FINA World Championships in Rome during the polyurethane era in July of 2009. Here is a video of Biedermann's race in Rome: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83nnTFQ6vCw[/youtube] Biedermann also held the short course world record in 3:32.77, swum weeks before the Arena X-Glide suit he was wearing would be banned by FINA, until Yannick Agnel of France bested it at French Nationals in Angers, France in November of 2012. The current short course world record is 3:32.25.

WOMEN’S 400m FREESTYLE WORLD RECORDS

On the women’s side the world record was dominated by the Americans over the years. Ethlda Bleibtrey was the first woman to hold the record in a time of 6:30.02 back in 1919. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, a line-up of Americans including Marilyn Ramenofsky, Martha Randall, Pam Kruse, Debbie Meyer, Keena Rothhammer, Heather Greenwood, Shirley Babashoff and Kim Linehan would all take turns owning the record, with intermittent record breakings by Australia Shane Gould and East Germany’s Barbara Krause and Petra Thumer. The last great American in the race would be the incomparable Janet Evans, who would set the mark at 4:03.85 in Seoul at the 1988 Summer Olympics, a time that would last in the record books for nearly 20 years. Laure Manaudou of France would finally break Evans’ mark a couple times in 2006, and then Italy’s Federia Pellegrini would be the most recent world record holder, and also becoming the first woman to siwm under 4 minutes, when she did so in a time of 3:59.15 at the FINA World Championships in Rome of 2009. Here is the race video of Pellegrini's world record setting swim in 2009-- [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80GISfh5PrE[/youtube] In short course meters the women’s 400 meter freestyle world record holder is Mireia Belmonte. She swam a 3:54.52 at the Berlin stop on the FINA World Cup Series in August of 2013, shaving 3/10ths of a second off of the old mark of 3:54.85 set by Camille Muffat of France from 2012. SEE ALSO:

]]> 1177 <![CDATA[Club Profile: Delaware Swim Team]]> Delaware Swim Team has enjoyed a ton of success. Known as one of the top programs in the Mid-Atlantic area, the Delaware Swim Team swims out of Wilmington, Delaware. In just a short time they have won 49 championship titles, at the state level and both at Summer and Winter Age Group Championship levels. They swim under Middle Atlantic Swimming and are a Gold Medal USA Swimming Club. They have won the Delaware State Meet 16 times, Winter Age Group Chmapionships 7 times, Summer Age Group Championships 6 times, and also won the TYR Cup in 2009. THE PROGRAM DST is split up into three parts. They have a traditional program, which is for young and developing swimmers. Targeted at kids who can swim a minimum of 25 yards of free and back to the “Top Dawgs”, the highest level of training offered within the traditional program, which is for high school athletes looking to compete and set and achieve goals. The “Keep Your Feet Wet” groups are short-term commitments and/or programs designed to prepare swimmers for the high school season, keep them in shape during the high school season without added commitment, or a spring conditioning program that takes place between March and May designed to prepare kids for the summer swimming season. Lastly, they have the national program, which is for kids looking at competing and excelling at the highest levels of American swimming, whether it is at the junior national, senior national or international level. Athletes are expected to train and compete in a schedule that is nearly year round, and specific groups within the national program are determined by qualifying standards. OWNERSHIP & COACHES The Delaware Swim Team is owned by Mike Ramone. Born in Delaware, he has been involved in coaching competitive swimming for nearly 30 years. He previously coached Oakwood Valley Swim Team, the high school teams at John Dickinson High, and most recently ran the program at Pike Creek Fitness Club. He also owns the Delaware Swim and Fitness Center in New Castle, Delaware, where the 400+ team regularly trains. DST’s Senior National Coach and program director is Sean Dougherty. He has been with the team for over ten years, was named Middle Atlantic Age Group Coach of the Year and ASCA’s Age Group Coach of the Year in 2007 for DST’s region. The program produced 2012 Olympian Andrew Gemmell, who qualified for the US team in the 1500m freestyle. See Also:

]]> 1181 <![CDATA[Lochte Won't Make Competitive Return This Weekend; Will Wait Till Orlando Next Month]]> Ryan Lochte still getting back into the swim of things after injuring his knee after being tackled by a fan in the fall of 2013, he has passed on attending the Arena Grand Prix event that was scheduled to take place this weekend. Swimming fans across the world – and especially in the United States – were excited when psych sheets were released showing Lochte entered in the 100 fly, 200 back, and 100-200 freestyle. Although he was entered into the meet, SwimMAC head coach David Marsh confirmed that Lochte wouldn’t be coming back quite yet. Instead, Lochte will be competing at the Orlando stop of the Arena Grand Prix. That meet takes place February 13-15 at the YMCA Aquatic Center in Orlando, Florida. Austin will still see its fair share of American superstars in Austin, with national team members Michael Klueh, Michael McBroom, and Jimmy Feigen scheduled to compete. Numerous Olympians will be swimming as well, including Nathan Adrian, Tyler Clary, Katie Ledecky, Allison Schmitt and sprint stud Anthony Ervin. The competition is taking place at the University of Texas’ Lee & Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Centre from January 17-19. After one stop of the six scheduled Arena Grand Prix Series Conor Dwyer and Megan Romano lead their respective gender in points. Top point-getters at the end of the series will be honoured. The final stop is hosted by the Santa Clara Swim Club at the George F. Haines International Swim Centre in June. For up to date point leaderboards and dates for future dates visit the official USA Swimming page for the Arena Grand Prix Series.]]> 1184 <![CDATA[19 Ryan Lochte Quotes]]> 19 Ryan Lochte quotes we get a full dose of the laid-back, surfer-boy attitude. But what also gleams below the surface is a fiery competitor who loves to train, and does so even while fully embracing the slacker-party boy persona. Love him or hate him, Lochte has achieved at the pinnacle of our sport, and at the end of the day his medals, world records and Olympic titles will ultimately do the talking. With Lochte training with David Marsh at SwimMAC for the next Olympic cycle we can fairly estimate that Lochte will be the source of many more of his light-hearted and sometimes motivational quotes. But for now, here are 19 pearls of wisdom, some of them motivational swimming quotes, others not, from Lochte himself--

Pick and choose your battles.

It’s hard to express yourself as a swimmer. You’re pretty much staring at a black line for hours on end.

I hate to lose. I like winning.

The big picture is Olympic Trials and the Olympics. I just have to keep focused on that and keep moving forward.

Abraham Lincoln is my favorite president. He pulls off that top hat pretty well.

I just go with the flow. Whatever happens, happens.

I love working out. I’ve been doing it every day for about 20 years.

I have a lot of endurance and I have a good background right now in my training and it’s time to get ready.

I surround myself with people understand and love me. I think that’s the best thing I can do.

I hope for the best in every situation and want to see the good in people.

I wasn’t happy with the way the 2008 Olympics turned out. I wanted to change some things.

I am very competitive. I remember being 4 years old trying to out-chug my dad in a milk-chugging contest. It’s in my blood.

I’m going to keep living my life the way I’ve been living my life, and nothing is going to change that even if the Olympics are coming up.

I’m always living life to the fullest.

Go big or go home.

My philosophy is if you’re a man at night, you gotta be a man in the morning.

I try not to read the negative comments. When I do, I let them roll off my back. I remind myself that there will always be haters as long as you are in the public eye.

No matter what I’m doing, I’m training. It’s just something that I love to do.

Have fun, because that is what life is all about.

]]> 1189 <![CDATA[Michael Phelps' World Records]]> 2001 - FIRST WORLD RECORD Phelps was coming up in the age of the Thorpedo. The pair of them were taking the swimming world by absolute storm as they were so young to be swimming so fast. In 2001 at the ripe old age of 15 Phelps became the youngest male swimmer to break a world record in the pool (the record was previously held by Thorpe at over a full year older when he broke the 400m free world record). Phelps beat the WR in the 200 fly at the Americans’ World Championship Trials, and then would break it again en route to becoming world champion later that year in Fukuoka, Japan, which would only be a tease of what was to come two years later.

2003 – THE FIRST AVALANCHE OF WR’S

The next time Worlds came around in 2003, Phelps’ range and depth became apparent, and this was when the swimming community and world at large began to fully comprehend that there was something intrinsically special about him. He started the year off at Nationals winning the 200 free, 200 back and 100 fly, becoming the first swimmer in US history to win three races in three different strokes at a single National meet. Later that year he would break the 400IM world record at the Duel in the Pool meet between the US and Aussies (4:10.73), and set his first mark in the 200 IM shortly afterwards at a meet in Santa Clara in 1:57.94. Worlds would be where he would truly make his mark, with a 4-gold, 5-WR performance. He lowered both IM marks – dropping nearly two seconds off of his own 200 record, and taking the 400 below 4:10 for the first time in history. He broke his own 200 fly record in the semi’s (1:53.93), swam an American record of 1:46.60 on his lead-off leg of the 4x200 free relay, and would also break the WR in the 100 fly (even though Ian Crocker would beat him in the final and take the record).

2008 – THE GOLDEN 8

Phelps’ accomplishment in Beijing is all the more impressive when his times from 5 years previous are held up against his performance at the Games. In all, Phelps would set an Olympic record 8 gold medals, with 7 of those swims coming in world record time, with only his 100m butterfly swum “only” in Olympic record time. The 400IM mark he set still stands as a world record to this day. He would break his own record by another two seconds, finishing in 4:03.84. The biggest obstacle Phelps had to win 8 golds was the 4x100 free relay, with the favored French boasting a line-up that included world record holder in the 100m freestyle Alain Bernard. Ultimately, Jason Lezak would have the swim of his life anchoring the relay in a ridiculous 46.0, out-touching the French in world-record time and keeping the streak alive for Phelps. Here are Phelps list of swims in Beijing—

200m fly -- 1:52.03 WR
200m free -- 1:42.96 WR
200m IM -- 1:54.23 WR
400m IM -- 4:03.84 WR
100m fly – 50.58 OR
4x100m free relay -- 3:08.24 WR (+AR on lead-off)
4x200m free relay -- 6:58.56 WR
4x100m medley relay -- 3: 29.34 WR

WORLD RECORDS STILL HELD

Currently (01/14/14) Phelps still holds 7 world records – three individual events and 4 as part of US relay teams. The individual races were done either in Beijing in 2008 or at the FINA World Championships in Rome during the super-suit record frenzy of 2009.

100m butterfly - 49.82
200m butterfly – 1:51.51
400m IM – 4:03.84
4 x 100m free relay – 3:08.24
4 x 200m free relay – 6:58.55
4 x 100m medley relay – 3:27.28
4 x 100m free relay – 3:03.20 (short course)

References: World Swimming Records -- FINA]]> 1195 <![CDATA[1500m Freestyle World Record]]> MENS 1,500m FREESTYLE WORLD RECORDS Hometown swimmer Henry Taylor set the first 1,500m WR on record in 1908 at the (original) London Olympics in a time of 22:48.4. In subsequent years numerous swimmers would take large swaths of time off of the records, with the next swimmer to lower it by 48 seconds at the next Olympics (George Hodgson of Canada). In the 60’s and 70’s the race would be dominated by the Americans, including such legendary names as Tim Shaw, Michael Burton, John Kinsella, Rick DeMont, Steve Krause, and Roy Saari. The American domination would be broken up intermittently by Aussie’s Stephen Holland, Murray Rose and Roy Saari, giving a preview of the Aussie domination that would ensue in the 1990’s with two of the sport’s biggest superstars. The last American to hold the world record in the mile would be Brian Goodell, who would come close to beating the vaunted mark of 15 minutes for the first time, clocking a 15:02.40 at the Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976. From there iVladimir Salnikov would take the baton, dipping under 15 at the boycotted-Moscow Games in 1980. He would lower the record down to 14:54.76 in 1983 before Jorg Hoffman, swimming under a freshly unified German flag, shaved another five seconds off Salnikov’s mark 8 years later at Worlds in Perth during January of 1991. The following year, however, would mark the beginning of an Aussie domination of the event that would last for nearly 20 years. First it would be Kieren Perkins taking the record back down under, breaking the record three times, the final time at Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia in August of 1994. His time of 14:41.66 would stand until Grant Hackett would swim a blistering 14:34.56 at the 2001 Worlds in Fukuoka, Japan. Another ten years would pass before that mark would be beaten twice by Sun Yang of China, whose time of 14:31.02 swum at the recent London Games is the fastest in history. Here is video of Yang’s swim in London in 2012— [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6uqZd8Tn3Y[/youtube] In short course meters, both Perkins and Hackett are the only four record breakers on file, with Hackett’s 14:10.10 being the fastest mark recorded in a short course pool. That swim took place at the Australian Championships in Perth during August of 2001.

WOMEN’S 1,500m FREESTYLE WORLD RECORDS

Although this event is not competed at the Olympics for women, it is held at the FINA World Championships which is now held every two years. The women’s long course record has been held nearly exclusively by Americans and Australians in the nearly 100 years on record. The first was Helen Wainwright, who set the first mark of 25:06.6 back in August of 1922 at a pool in New York. Since 1962 the record has been been held by numerous American swimmers including Carolyn House, Patty Caretto, Debbie Meyer, Cathy Calhoun, Jo Harshbarger, Alice Browne and Kim Linehan. On the Australian side swimming greats Jennifer Turrall, Tracey Wickham and Shane Gould all at one point broke it during the 1970’s. In July of 1987 American distance legend Janet Evans would take it over, swimming a 16:00.73 before breaking the 16 minute barrier the following year in Orlando at Spring Nationals in a time of 15:52.10. That mark would stand for nearly twenty years, and it wasn’t until Kate Ziegler shaved an unreal ten seconds off the mark in 2007 that a new standard would be set. Just this past summer Katie Ledecky of the USA lowered the mark further, placing the mark at its current 15:36.53 during the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. Here is race footage of Ledecky’s record breaking swim— [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZElGXQ6HTk[/youtube] The current short course world record was set even more recently by Mireia Belmonte of Spain at the Spanish Championships in Castellon, Spain on November 29, 2013. SEE ALSO:

]]> 1199 <![CDATA[800m Freestyle World Record]]> 800m freestyle world record is ratified and monitored by the governing body for swimming, FINA (federation internationale de natation). This race is competed for both sexes at FINA World Championships, some major FINA-sanctioned international competitions such as Pan Pacs, as well as most major national championships, FINA World Cup events, and Grand Prix meets in the US. At the Olympics, however, it is only competed by the women.

MEN’S 800m FREESTYLE WORLD RECORDS

The first world record on file for this event on the men’s side not even a meters swim – it was recorded in yards. Henry Taylor of Great Britain has this distinction, swimming an 11:25.4 back on July 21, 1906. Sweden’s Arne Borg would have the first meters time, set in 1924 in a time of 10:43.4. The Australians dominated this record in the 1970’s, with Stephen Holland, Brad Cooper and Graham Windeatt. Holland, for his part, would break the record 7 different time from 1973 to 1976. In 1979, distance legend Vladimir Salnikov would come along, and just like he did with breaking the 15 minute barrier in the mile, would be the first to break 8 minutes when he swam a 7:56.49 in March of that year in a dual meet between East Germany and the Soviet Union. In 1992 the Australian distance era would set the sun on Salnikov’s records, with Kieren Perkins being the first in 1991 to take it below 7:50, lowering the mark three times to a mark of 7:46.00. Ian Thorpe would take the record below 7:40, until Grant Hackett came along and swam a 7:38.56 in the summer of 2005 at FINA World Champs in Montreal. The current mark is held by Zhang Lin in a time of 7:32.12, who dropped Hackett’s mark by a ridiculous 6.5 seconds at the super-suit Worlds in 2009. Here is video of Lin’s swim, done in Rome— [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JwBh8piF2bM[/youtube] Hackett’s short course world record, however, survived the polyurethane suit era and remains at 7:23.42. He swam that race in Melbourne in July of 2008.

WOMEN’S 800m FREESTYLE WORLD RECORDS

Like the men, the first 800 world record on file was actually swum in yards. Done by American Gertrude Ederle in August of 1919 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The record over the years is largely dominated by the Americans and Australians, with names like Shirley Babashoff, Jo Harshbarger, Keena Rothhammer, Ann Simmons and Debbie Meyer repping for the Americans, while the Aussies had names like Michelle Ford, Jen Turrall, Karen Moras, Shane Gould and Tracey Wickham take turns at the record. American distance legend Janet Evans broke the record three times (once having to get it back after East Germany’s Anke Mohring broke it at the European Championships in 1987). Her final mark of 8:16.22 was set at the 1989 Pan Pacific Games in Tokyo, Japan. Much like the 1500m world record, Evans’ 800m mark would stand up for nearly 20 years. It would be Great Britain’s Rebecca Adlington who would shave over two seconds from the American’s record at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in a time of 8:14.10. The current world record holder for the women is Katie Ledecky of the United States of America. Her time of 8:13.86 was a few tenths of a second faster than Adlington’s mark, but it is impressive in that it was done without the aid of a polyurethane bathing suit, which did much to taint many of the world records that were set in 2008 and 2009. The swim was also her fourth gold medal at the FINA World Championships last summer in Barcelona, with her also setting a world record in the 1500m freestyle. Here is video of Ledecky’s swim in Barcelona— [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nfwEP1hedM[/youtube] Similar to the 1500m short course mark, the short course 800m world mark was set by Mireia Belmonte of Spain , who swam it weeks after Ledecky’s swim at the Berlin stop on the FINA World Cup in August of 2013. SEE ALSO:

]]> 1203 <![CDATA[Swimmers at St. Petersburg Pool Swim Next to Phelps and NBAC Squad (Video)]]> Michael Phelps coach Bob Bowman poolside, with Olympians Allison Schmitt, France's mid-distance superstar Yannick Agnel, Danish distance star Lotte Friis, Conor Dwyer, Matt McLean, Tom Luchsinger, and now Tunisian Olympic champion Ous Mellouli, who recently joined the squad as well after making a move from USC. Most notable -- and suggestive, especially given Phelps' evasiveness when asked if he plans to make a full come-back or not -- is that the NBAC caps the squad are wearing all have the words "Rio 2016" emblazoned on the side of them. Here is the video-- FOX 13 News Here is a photo that Tom Luchsinger posted to his Instagram account (follow Tom on Instagram here) of the full group on the beach in St. Petersburg--

]]> 1216 <![CDATA[James Magnussen’s Beard Growing Skills Are Quite Epic]]> Photo via Magnussen's Facebook Page[/caption] As a fellow beard grower, I will always respect a man who can grow a thick, lushy beard. And by great Oden’s raven can Magnussen grow one. The following video was shown on Australian television in the run-up to the London Olympics. Witness: ]]> 1223 <![CDATA[Russian World Champion Breaststroker Efimova Allegedly Tests Positive for DHEA]]> Vedomosti, Russian breaststroker Yuliya Efimova, a two-time World Champion, world record holder and Olympic bronze medalist, has tested positive for prescription steroid and banned substance DHEA. The positive sample came in October during an out-of-competition test, approximately four weeks after a dominating performance at the FINA World Championships where Efimova won the 50m and 200m breaststroke, with the former being in world record time. Efimova is no stranger to international swimming; she repped the Russians in Beijing in 2008 and also won a bronze medal in the 200m in London in 2012. Efimova trains with fellow Russians Vladimir Morozov and Nikita under Dave Salo at the powerhouse USC Trojans program based out of Southern California. The official statement from Vitaly Mutko – the Russian Sports Minister – is to treat the report “with caution.” [blockquote source="Vitaly Mutko, Russian Sports Minister"]This sort of information should come out after a decision by the responsible disciplinary bodies. In high-level sport there are always many problems related to health, the treating of athletes, the application. There can be some kind of nuances in every athlete's life.[/blockquote] For any kind of punishment to be levied a B-sample would also have to come back positive. Her worlds results would presumably remain intact, as only the results since the infraction are stricken. That being said, in the time after the test in question was taken she won over $50,000 on the FINA World Cup circuit. That money (and medals) would have to be forfeited, in addition to a subsequent ban. The timing could not be worse for the Russians as they are set to host the most expensive Olympics on record with the Sochi Games set to begin in three weeks time. If this test is confirmed, Efimova will be another in a litany of positive doping tests to come out of Russia over the past year, and perhaps more distressingly for the Russian swim program, the fourth positive from the swim squad that was sent to London in 2012. DHEA – What Is It? DHEA (Dehydroepiandrosterone) is a steroid hormone that is produced in the adrenal glands. It’s reported to increase lean body mass, and decrease body fat. The substance might be familiar to sporting fans – cyclists Tyler Hamilton and Tom Zirbel, NBA stars O.J. May and Rashad Lewis and sprinter Lashawn Merritt all tested positive for DHEA at various points. Merritt was handed arguably the most punishing penalty of the group, being banned from athletic competition for 21 months. (In comparison, Rashad Lewis was suspended for 10 games for his infraction.)]]> 1230 <![CDATA[Adrian and Magnussen Unleash In-Season Speed]]> Nathan Adrian out-sprinted a top flight field in the 50m freestyle to swim a blistering 21.89, beating fellow Olympians Anthony Ervin, Matt Grevers, silver medalist in this event at London in ’12 Cullen Jones and Jimmy Feigen. The time is about four tenths off of his best that he did in July of 2009. The 6’6” Adrian capped off a successful Grand Prix – the second of six meets in the American circuit – where he also convincingly won the 100m freestyle in a time of 48.26. In that race he pushed the pace hard and fast early, taking the race out in 22.96 (splitting a 25.3 on the way home). Meanwhile, across the planet in Melbourne, Australia, two-time defending world champion James Magnussen crushed a 47.73 at the Victorian State Championships. Magnussen split the first half of the race exactly the same as Adrian, but broiugh it back in 24.91. The time was 0.02 slower than his winning time at the FINA World Championships in Barcelona last summer. Second place was another big name in the sport, South Korea’s Park Tae Hwan, who swam a 49.35. Tae Hwan is training with Michael Bohl at St. Peters Western Swimming Club in Brisbane. Next up for Magnussen is the BHP Billiton Aquatic Super Series January 31-February 2, while the next stop on the Arena Grand Prix Series is in Orlando February 13-15.]]> 1241 <![CDATA[10 Motivational Swimming Quotes]]> the list of motivational swimming quotes outlined in this post are designed to help you curb the biggest practice-killer of them all… insufficient motivation. Without further ado, here are 10 quotes (plus some thoughts of my own on selection and interpretation) to get you fired up for your next practice/competition--

1. I only fear not trying.

Simple, and yet profound. Living a life without regret should be the true aim for each and every one of us. And that includes our swimming. Looking back on our swimming days and wondering “what if” can be a life-lasting and agonizing experience. It’s why you see so many comebacks in the run-up to the Olympics. Don’t wonder what you could have done with your swimming, and instead resolve to live regret-free with your swimming.

NOTE: Check out our "I Only Fear Not Trying" poster. It's organic, rad, and 102% legit.

2. The greatest pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.

The reality is an overwhelming majority of people have no idea what they are talking about. While it is inevitable that the perceived authority of a select number of people close to you – whether it is a family member, coach, friend – may have some impact on you, do not allow others to dictate what you are capable of. Ever. The Greatest Pleasure in Life is Doing What People Say Cannot Do

The Greatest Pleasure in Life is Doing What People Say Cannot Do

3. Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected. – Steve Jobs

Being a kick-butt swimmer is about much more than setting records or winning gold medals. It is about being part of an environment that fosters and encourages success for not only yourself and the swimmers in your group but the ones coming up behind you. Establish a culture where excellence is common-place, and the impact will ripple far outside the pool deep into people’s lives long after they have hung up the bathing suit. Be a Yardstick of Quality

4. The price of excellence is discipline. The cost of mediocrity is disappointment.

Discipline gets a bit of a bad rep. When you hear the word your first thoughts tend to flutter to the stereotypical 1960’s conservative dad, sporting black horn-rimmed glasses with the short sleeve white dress shirt, cracking his belt in his hand. Not pretty. But in reality, discipline can be your best friend, because once you harness it, discipline becomes easier and easier to use. Disciplines form habits, and good swimming habits are what makes champions. Don’t shy away from being a self-disciplined athlete, embrace it. The Price of Excellence is Discipline

5. The harder you work, the harder it is to surrender. – Vince Lombardi

Hard work is an investment. Not only is it the blood, sweat, and tears that you pound into that pool on a daily basis, it is accumulated wealth. What I mean by that is once you have stockpiled hard work, once you have begun to travel down the path to success, it becomes much harder to turn around and go back. Put in the hard work and you’ll discover that you are in it for the long haul. The Harder You Work

6. If it’s important to you, you will find a way. If not, you will find an excuse.

We are imperfect in a lot of ways, but one of the ways where we truly excel is in finding excuses. Sometimes we pull the old and tried out of the toolbox (“I’m tired”, “Don’t feel like it”) and then other times we unleash our inner creativity and find some new and just-as-effective manner with which to delay starting action. Sometimes you need to just get of your head, get out of your own way, and get down to it. If It Is Important You WIll Find a Way

7. There is no substitute for hard work. – Thomas Edison

We live in a world that plasters us with daily messages promising us short-cuts. Nowhere do you see this more incessantly than in the fitness and wellness market. The promises of Six Minute Abs, losing weight by eating like crap, and so on. We are being marketed solutions that are almost always too good to be true. The path to success in the pool isn’t a pretty one; it’s rife with obstacles, failure and a metric ton of hard work. But it is precisely that it is so laborious and challenging that so few decide to embrace the work required to climb the summit of swimming excellence. Be one of the few. There is No Substitute for Hard Work

8. Procrastination makes easy things hard, hard things harder.

How often have you set yourself an audacious goal, wrote out a plan to achieve it, and then simply not gotten started on it? If you are like most swimmers, probably at least a few times, right? Intentions are no more than wishes until they are acted upon. Don’t let your best intentions go to waste by not taking the first step towards achieving them. No matter what your goal is – crushing your best time, swimming a 10k straight, or winning Olympic gold – whatever it is, start today. Heck, start right now. Not tomorrow, not next week, and certainly not when you “feel like it.” Procrastination Makes Easy Things Hard

9. If you’re going through hell, keep going. – Winston Churchill

There will be tough times. There are bouts in life where we feel in over our heads, sinking in a pool of quick-sand while our ambitions and plans plummet into the depths of the sand next to us, just out of our reach. Brave these moments, for they are not only temporary, but it is precisely these moments that separate champions from B-finalists. It’s not what happens in the pool when you feel great and up for everything, what truly makes an athlete elite is the decision to forge through the tough times and not let anything stand in their way. If You're Going Through Hell Keep Going

10. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. -- Aristotle

I saved this one for last because, well, it’s my favorite. The moment you decide to do everything with excellence is the exact moment that things will turn around. Things might be bumpy at first – change always is – and there will be some moments where you will want to sag back into the comfortable and well-worn sweater that is mediocrity, but nothing will improve your swimming more than adopting this adage. Living with excellence as a habit doesn’t mean being the very best at everything. That is a silly, unrealistic ambition that is a hop, skip and a jump from being blindingly demoralized. Instead, adopting the habit of excellence means that everything you do is to your best. Not perfect, not spotless, but to the limits of your ability. For swimmers – and athletes in general – this means living a life that is consistent with your goals. You cannot realistically commit to being elite – whatever that means in your particular case – and eat McDonalds twice a day, not get regular sleep, go out on the weekends, and so on. Don’t be the swimmer that just talks about their goals, be the athlete who lives and breaths by them. Excellence Is a Habit

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Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

IT AIN’T OFFICIAL UNTIL IT’S OFFICIAL

Those who were there described the race as nothing short of magical. With each turn the crowd, coaches and swimmers could see how far Housman was under the minute-per-100m mark with on the electronic scoreboard above. When Housman touched he had not only passed under the 15 minute barrier, he had thoroughly destroyed it. Those keeping track on stopwatches saw what the timekeepers did, and what the electronic scoreboard should have seen. Housman had swum a brilliant 14:53.59, breaking Salnikov’s vaunted world record. But despite the celebrations – Housman’s coach Ian Findlay vaulted himself into the pool in glee – there was split reaction amongst the officials. The scoreboard had kept running – it didn’t stop when Housman did. The only timed result would be from the handheld watches. World records have to be verified by the electronic scoreboard. Which meant that Housman’s swim was for naught, and that epic swim on that December night would be lost to the annals of history.

THE TALE OF TWO RECOVERIES

For Adelaide the night turned from a massive outpouring of pride and happiness to outright embarrassment. The equipment failure was cited as one of the reasons they believed they lost the bid to the 1998 Commonwealth Games, losing out to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For Housman, he would go on to win gold at the 1990 Commonwealth Games the following year in the 400 and 1500 free. The next year Housman would miss a considerable amount of training due to illness, only to watch the emergence of Kieren Perkins, who would take break Salnikov’s world record. Housman’s final international competition was at the 1996 Atlanta Games, where having missed making the team in the 1500m freestyle behind Perkins and Daniel Kowalski, he swam as an alternate on the 4x200 free relay that placed fourth.]]> 1252 <![CDATA[50m Breaststroke World Record]]> 50m breaststroke world record is monitored and ratified by FINA, the world governing body for competitive swimming. In long course meters the WR has been tracked since 2001 for the men, and since 1996 for women. The 50m breaststroke is not an Olympic event. It is, however, competed at the FINA World Aquatic Championships which is held every two years at varying venues across the globe.

MEN’S 50m BREASTSTROKE WORLD RECORD

The first WR on record for this event was Anthony Robinson of the US, who swam a 27.49 in March of 2001. Ed Moses, also of the US, promptly bested it (27.39) at a time trial two days later at the same pool. Since then the record has only been broken 5 more times, with three of those being Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa. He is also the current holder of the WR, having swim a 26.67 at the FINA World Aquatic Championships in Rome during August of 2009. The short course world record for the men’s 50m breaststroke is also held by Cameron van der Burgh. His time of 25.25 was posted in November of 2009 during the Berlin stop on the FINA World Cup Series tour.

WOMEN’S 50m BREASTSTROKE WORLD RECORD

Another South African features prominently on the women’s side, with Penelope Heyns being the first world record holder fo rthis event when she swam a 30.83 in August of 1999 at the Pan Pacific Championships in Sydney, Australia. Also, similarly to the men, it hasn’t been broken that many times in its existence. Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania swum a 29.48 at the FINA World Aquatic Championships this past summer in Barcelona (right after Yuliya Yefimova of Russia had posted a 29.78, breaking the two year old mark set by Jessica Hardy of the USA). Yulia Yefimova of Russia currently has the WR for short course meters in this event. She swam a 28.71 at the Tokyo stop on the World Cup series in November of 2013. SEE ALSO:

]]> 1256 <![CDATA[100m Breaststroke World Record]]> 100m breaststroke world record is tracked and ratified by the international governing body for the sport of competitive swimming (FINA). The WR for the 100 breast was first ratified for men in 1961, while times going back as far as 1958 are recognized on the women’s side in long course meters. For short course world record in this event, like other SCM world marks, they have been ratified by FINA since the spring of 1991.

MEN’S 100m BREASTSTROKE WORLD RECORDS

Unlike almost every other world record on file that was first set by an American, this one is by a Soviet swimmer, with Leonid Kolesnikov having the first name on record as long course 100m breast WR holder in 1:11.4. He did the time in 1961 in Moscow, only to have Chet Jastremski of the USA beat it a couple months later. Before 1961 was up the mark would be lowered another 6 times before coming to a rest at 1:07.5. American swimming domination shows itself in spurts over the course of the lifespan of this record, with John Hencken doing his part between 1972 and 1976 (where he would break the record three times at the Montreal Olympics). Steve Lundquist would take over from 1980-1984, swimming a 1:01.65 at the Los Angeles Games in 1984. Legendary Brit Adrian Moorhouse would lower and then twice tie the record in 1990 (swimming a 1:01.49 2x). Norbert Rozsa would tie Moorhouse’s time a year later before lowering it a couple times with teammate Karoly Guttler. At the 1996 Games in Atlanta Fred Deburghgraeve would win gold and post a 1:00.60 to inch the WR ever closer to the elusive sub-minute barrier. Roman Sloudnov of Russia would be the first to do it in 2001 swimming 59.97. Currently the world record in the men’s 100m breaststroke long course is Cameron van der Burgh of South Africa. His time of 58.46 was swum at the London Olympics in 2012. Van der Burgh also owns the SCM WR, swimming a ridiculous 55.61 in November of 2009 during the super-suit era.

WOMEN’S 100m BREASTSTROKE WORLD RECORDS

The East Germans make up well over half the record holders in the history of this event. Starting with the first, Karin Beyer, who posted a 1:20.3 in 1958. Followed by teammates Ursula Kuper, Barbara Gobel, Renate Vogel, Cristel Justen, Carola Nitschke, Hannelore Anke, Ute Geweniger, Syliva Gerasch and Silke Horner, the East German women held a strangelhold on the WR for a period of over three decades. Penelope Heyns of South Africa would lower the record by nearly a second and a half during the mid to late 1990’s, all the way down to 1:06.52. The current world record holder for the women’s 100m breaststroke long course is Ruta Meilutyte of Lithuania, who swam a 1:04.35 at the FINA World Aquatic Championships in Barcelona in the summer of 2013. Meilutyte also has the short course world record in the 100m breast, swimming a 1:02.36 in Moscow in the fall of 2013. SEE ALSO:

]]> 1260 <![CDATA[200m Breaststroke World Record ]]> 200m breaststroke world record has been monitored and ratified by FINA since first being recognized in 1908 (with the ladies getting recognized 13 years later in 1921). Numerous records have been voided over the years as changes in technique and race strategy forced FINA to narrow in on what was permissible in the race and what wasn’t. During the 1930’s some breaststrokers began to experiment with a technique that would evolve into what we know today as butterfly, where the arms would leave the water during the recovery. Records set using this technique were erased when butterfly was recognized as its own stroke in 1952. Additionally, in 1956 FINA cracked down on another tactic where swimmers would perform the stroke completely submerged, avoiding the drag that comes with breaking the surface of the water to breathe. Records set by doing this were also erased.

For both sexes the short course world records for the 200 breast have been tracked and ratified as far back as March of 1991.

MEN’S 200m BREASTSTROKE WORLD RECORD

The first WR for the men in the long course pool was set by Frederick Holman of Great Britain. He swam a 3:09.2 in London in 1908. Six years later his countryman Percy Courtman would be the first man to break the 3 minute plane when he cranked out a 2:56.6. The first real dominant name in the history of the record would American Joe Verdeur. From 1946-1950 he would lower the mark six different times, the last being a 2:28.3 in March of ’50. John Hencken, also of the US, would lower the WR 5 times in a two year span, culminating with a 2:18.21 in September 1974. Canadian breaststroke legend Victor Davis would break the WR in August of 1982 (you can see the race footage in the documentary Fast and Furious – it showcased both Davis and fellow Canadian Alex Baumann), and again at the Los Angeles Games in 1984 (2:13.34). Mike Barrowman of the USA and his wave-style technique would displace Davis on the list 5 years later in 1989. Four more times in the very early 1990’s Barrowman would chip away, finishing his WR run with a 2:10.16 at the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. It would be ten years before Barrowman’s record would be beaten, when Kosuke Kitajima of Japan would become the first man to break 2:10, swimming a 2:09.97. Once that happened, breaking it seemed easy (or realistic at least), with five different swimmers breaking the WR (some multiple times each) since then. The current WR for the long course 200m breaststroke for men is held by Akihiro Yamaguchi of Japan. He posted a 2:07.01 in Japan on September 15, 2012. The short course 200m breaststroke world record for me is held by Daniel Gyurta of Hungary, who came so close to breaking the two minute barrier, posting 2:00.67 in December 2009.

WOMEN’S 200m BREASTSTROKE WORLD RECORDS

E. Van Den Bogaert of Belgium is the first woman to hold the 200m breaststroke world record. She did so in 1921, swimming a 3:38.2, before lowering it two more times the next years. The list of record holders varies immensely, with swimmers from Great Britain, all three Germanys (if you count East, West, and unified), the Soviet Union, Canada, the Netherlands, China, Australia, South Africa and of course the United States. The Soviets in particular were dominant in this event in the 60’s and 70’s, with Galina Prozumenshcikova breaking the WR four times between 1964-1966. Three different Soviet swimmers would each hold the title of fastest ever at different points between 1978-1979, with Marina Koshevaia, Lina Kachushite, and Svetlana Varganova lowering the world leading mark below 2:30. Rebecca Soni of the USA would be the first woman to dip below 2:20, when she swam exactly 2:20.00 and then 2:19.59 at the London Olympics in 2012. The current world record holder for the women’s 200m breaststroke in long course meters is Rikke Moller Pedersen of Denmark who joins Soni as the only other woman to break 2:20, posting a 2:19.11 at the FINA World Championships in the summer of 2013. The short course world record in the 200m breaststroke for women is currently held by Yuliya Efimova of Russia. The USC-based swimmer posted a 2:14.39 in Denmark on December 14, 2013. SEE ALSO:

]]> 1268 <![CDATA[Top 5 Core Exercises for Swimmers]]> core exercises for swimmers. While doing an endless number of crunches might make you look good in the mirror, do they give you the strong posture necessary to power through the water? Nope. Instead, the goal behind any core strength program for swimmers should be to develop a strong, rigid posture in the water so that the swimmer can deliver the most propulsion possible. Here are 5 core exercises for swimming that will give you a rock-solid mid-section while also giving you more power and stability in the water--

1. The Plank.

Simple looking in nature, this is probably the best all-around measure for core strength. The variations with which you can perform this exercise are nearly limitless. You can employ numerous different fitness aids to mix it up, including but not limited to – TRX straps, bosu ball, and swiss balls. For our purposes we are going to stick to the old-school, straight plank. How to Do It:

support yourself on forearms and toes. Keep your elbows directly below your shoulders.
squeeze your abdominals and your butt to achieve a straight, powerful spine-line.
Beginners should aim for a 30 second hold. Increase in time as ability allows.
Your mid-section will try to sag towards the floor – don’t allow it! The point of the exercise is to keep your body in a firm line – including your head.
Don’t forget to breathe.

2. Hip Bridges

This one might look very easy, but it is good for developing strength in your hip flexors, hamstrings, as well as your lower abdominals. You’ll find that doing this exercise will also help you build deadlift strength. You can progress to using weights – either on a bar or holding a plate on your pelvis – and also use a swiss ball or a bench as a variation to the floor. How to Do It:

Get on your back, lay your arms down at your side.
Keep your feet flat on the floor and raise your trunk towards the sky.
Stop when you have achieved a straight spine-line. Don’t over-extend.
Hold for a three-count, and slowly descend.

3. Superman

While you may feel more like a beetle who has rolled over and is stuck on his back as opposed to a super-hero, fret not, for this exercise is fantastic for developing scapular stability (i.e. developing and retaining good posture), your glutes and back. How to Do It:

Lay face down on the ground, arms straight above your head.
Tighten your glutes and pull in your belly button.
Lift your left arm while also raising your right leg. Hold for a three-count. Now do the same but with the opposite arm-leg combo.
Don’t drop your arms and legs; you want a controlled movement throughout.

4. V-Sit Kicking

This one is a little more challenging. Depending on where you are currently at you may want to start out with basic flutter kicking on your back. This exercise is tough, as it will challenge your lower back, hip flexors as well as taxing your abs. How to Do it:

Sitting on the ground start fluttering your legs up and down. Focus on making small kicks – as close as possible to your actual kicking motion.
Balance yourself and bring your arms above your head into a streamline position. Your body’s natural inclination will be to roll backwards – using your mid-section stabilize your body so that this doesn’t occur.
Enjoy :)

5. Cable Push-pull

One of my favorites – you will need a cable machine to make this work, or a couple stretch cords. The push pull is great for developing rotational power with your trunk, which is especially helpful for you freestylers and backstrokers out there. How to Do It:

Set up the cables; you can either do one up high and one down low (this more approximates the freestyle action), or position both cables so that they are chest high.
With one hand pull, and the other push. Make sure to focus on the rotation of the trunk, and not using your arms to push/pull the cables.

Here is a video demonstrating the cable push/pull in action: Have any core exercises for swimmers that you would like to share? Post them on our Facebook page and spread the knowledge! [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Here are 10 things you might not have known about Janet Evans--

1. In preparation for the 1992 Barcelona Games, Janet Evans left the Stanford swim team – simultaneously renouncing her scholarship -- when the NCAA imposed weekly training limits on athletes. Evans, who was routinely training upwards of 30+ hours per week, felt that the new rules would limit her training. The rules were put in place in order to give students more time for hitting the books, limiting to in-season practice hours to 20, with a maximum of 4 hours per day, and one mandatory day off per week. 2. In 1989 she won the James E. Sullivan Award, which recognizes the top amateur athlete in the United States. She was also given the honor of being Swimming World Magazine’s Swimmer of the Year (International Female) for the years 1987, 1989, and 1990 (although inexplicably, not 1988 after her unreal performances in Seoul). 3. As far as swimming nicknames go, hers was a little longer than most, and somewhat clunky sounding, yet otherwise utterly befitting of the time period in which it was created: “Miss Perpetual Motion.” 4. Her 400m freestyle world record stood for 18 years. It wasn’t until Laure Manaudou was able to break it in 2006. Similarly, her 800 freestyle record stood for nearly 20 years. The standard of 8:16.22 was not broken until Great Britain’s Rebecca Adlington eclipsed it in winning the race in Beijing in 2008. The only women’s record that has lasted longer was Willy den Ouden, a Dutch 100m freestyler whose mark last from 1936-1956. 5. Evans was the first woman to defend an Olympic and World Championship title in one event. 6. She went a period of over five years where she went undefeated in the 400, 800, and 1500m freestyle. The streak was broken when Germany’s Dagmar Hase out-touched her in the 400 free at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. 7. Evans was given the honor of carried the Olympic torch during the Olympic ceremonies in Atlanta, Georgia in 1996. She handed the torch to boxing legend Muhammad Ali. 8. She won the 400m and 800m freestyle more times at Nationals (or US Open as it is called now) than any other swimmer in the history of the competition. Her final tally? She won both events 12 times each. 9. At the age of 40 Evans made a comeback attempt at the 2012 Olympic Trials after 15 years out of the water. Flying in the face of conventional wisdom when doing so – most comebacks involve a return to shorter, more power-oriented events – Evans stuck to her bread and butter, the 800m freestyle. Here is an interview of her and coach Mark Schubert in the lead-up to Olympic Trials-- [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGOlGT1wv4A[/youtube] 10. At the 2012 Olympic Trials Evans received a long, thunderous standing ovation when she stood up on the blocks before her race. Despite the love from the crowd, she placed 80^th in the 400m freestyle and 53^rd in the 800m freestyle. SEE ALSO:

]]> 1290 <![CDATA[4x100m Freestyle World Record]]> FINA, the world governing body for the sport of competitive swimming since 1908. While the men’s event has been held since the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, prior to that only the 4x200 freestyle was held for the men. On the women’s side the event was first held at the Olympics in 1912. The 4x100m freestyle world record in short course meters has been ratified since 1991.

MEN’S 4x100m FREESTYLE WORLD RECORDS

As mentioned above, the record has been recognised since 1908, but the first swim on record wasn’t until 1937, when Hungary put together a team that swam 4:10.2. A group of Americans including Takashi Hirose, Otto Jaretz, Paul Wolf and Peter Fick would be the first to break the 4 minute barrier in 1938, swum at the Olympics in Berlin, Germany. The record has largely been American-held since then, with quick interruptions by the Japanese, Australians, and the French in the late 50’s and early 60’s. After that it is straight American domination until the year 2000. American legends like Don Schollander, Mark Spitz, Rowdy Gaines, Matt Biondi, Tom Jager, and Gary Hall Jr. all respectively swam for American teams that pushed the record into the low three minutes territory. At the Sydney Games in 2000 the Americans would lose the race for the first time at the Olympic level, and also the world record, when Michael Klim (setting a world record in the 100m freestyle on the lead off leg), Chris Fydler, Ashley Callus and Ian Thorpe would win gold. Four years later it would be the South Africans’ turn, with legendary sprinter Roland Schoeman, Lyndon Ferns, Darian Townsend and Ryk Neethling again displacing the Americans and besting the Aussies mark in a time of 3:13.17. After that the Americans would retake the record under the stewardship of Michael Phelps, who was just coming into his own as a sprint freestyler in 2006 at the Pan Pacs in Victoria (3:12.46). The current world record was set at the Beijing Olympics, in what has to be one of the great swimming moments of all time, when Jason Lezak came back from a seemingly insurmountable lead against a heavily-favoured French team that featured then world record holder in the 100m freestyle Alain Bernard. Lezak, along with Phelps, Cullen Jones, and Garrett Weber-Gale would post a time of 3:08.24, nearly four seconds faster than the previous mark set that morning by their B-squad.

USA	3:08.24
Michael Phelps	47.51
Garrett Weber-Gale	47.02
Cullen Jones	47.65
Jason Lezak	46.06

The short course world record was set the following year (2009) in Manchester, Great Britain, when Nathan Adrian, Matt Grevers, Garrett Weber-Gale and Phelps would swim a 3:03.30

USA	3:03.30
Nathan Adrian	45.08
Matt Grevers	44.68
Garrett Weber-Gale	47.43
Michael Phelps	46.11

WOMEN’S 4x100m FREESTYLE WORLD RECORDS

The American domination on the women’s side is not as thorough as with the men. The first world mark was set in 1912 by a group of ladies from Great Britain, when they posted a 5:52.8 in Stockholm, Sweden. For the next twenty years the Americans would take over, with 5 different groups of women lowering the WR by nearly a minute and a half, with the last in that stretch a 4:38.0 swim in 1932 in Los Angeles by Josephine McKim, Helen Johns, Eleanor Garatti and Helene Madison. In the 1950’s a group of Aussies led by the legendary Dawn Fraser would break the record 4 times in a span of four years, bringing the WR ever closer to the 4 minute mark. In the 1960’s it would again be the Americans, mainly based out of the Santa Clara Swim Club in Santa Clara, California who would get the mark down to 4:01.1. Finally, in 1972, at a competition in Knoxville, Tennessee, Kim Peyton, Sandy Neilson, Jane Barkman and Shirley Babashoff would break the 4 minute milestone for the first time swimming a 3:58.11. A group of East German women would tie that record 12 days later in Munich, and over the course of the next 20 years the record would bounce back and forth between the GDR and USA. On the East German big names like Kornelia Ender, Heikie Friedrich and Kristin Otto, for the Americans names like Dara Torres, Jenny Thompson, Tracy Caulkins, and Shirley Babashoff. The current world record is held by a team from the Netherlands. The mark stands at 3:31.72, which was swum at the FINA World Championships in Rome during the supersuit summer of 2009.

Netherlands	3:31.72
Inge Dekker	53.61
Ranomi Kromowidjojo	52.30
Femke Heemskerk	53.03
Marleen Veldhuis	52.78

The short course world record for the 4x100m freestyle for women is currently held by the Netherlands as well. The time of 3:28.33 was swum on home-turf in Amsterdam on December 19, 2008, and features three of the same women.

Netherlands	3:28.22
Hinkelien Schreuder	52.88
Inge Dekker	52.24
Ranomi Kromowidjojo	52.12
Marleen Veldhuis	50.98

SEE ALSO:

]]> 1295 <![CDATA[4x200m Freestyle World Record]]> 4x200m freestyle world record is recognized and ratified by the international swimming body for the sport of swimming, FINA. For the men this is the longest running relay competed at the Olympic level, with the race first swum at the London Games in 1908 and each subsequent Olympics. On the women’s side this event has only been competed at the Olympics since 1996, where the hometown Americans won over the Germans and Australians. The following is a breakdown of the world record for the 4x200m freestyle, in both SCM and LCM, for men and women.

MEN’S 4x200m FREESTYLE WORLD RECORDS

As discussed earlier, the event is the oldest of the men’s relays at the Olympic level, with the first race in London being won by a team from the host nation, who also posted a world record in doing so – the first on record – in 10:55.6. The Americans are not quite as dominant in the history of this event in terms of world records as either of the 4x100 relays, but they do feature prominently here, with heavyweight swimmers Mark Spitz, Don Schollander, Gary Hall Sr., John Naber, and Matt Biondi swimming on teams that typically would win gold at Olympic competitions while also setting world records. With only two exceptions – one being the boycotted games of 1980 in Moscow, and the other being in Syndey in 2000 – the Americans have dominated this race at the Olympics. Michael Phelps has won three of his 22 Olympic medals as part of a gold medal winning 4x200 squad, most recent of which was in London. He is also part of the world record setting team that posted one of the first sub 7 minute swims in the history of the event when they posted a 6:58.55 in Rome during the FINA World Championships. Here is how the race was broken down by split and swimmer—

USA	6:58.55
Michael Phelps	1:44.49
Ricky Berens	1:44.13
David Walters	1:45.47
Ryan Lochte	1:44.46

The short course world record in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay is currently held by the Russians, who at the 2010 FINA World Short Course Championships in Dubai swam a 6:49.04. Here is how the race was swum—

Russia	6:49.04
Nikita Lobintsev	1:42.10
Danila Izotov	1:42.15
Yevgeny Lagunov	1:42.32
Alex Sukhorukov	1:42.47

WOMEN’S 4x200m FREESTYLE WORLD RECORDS

The world record history on the women’s side is not as far-reaching as the men, with the first world mark on file being swum at the European Championships in 1983 by an East German team that included Kristin Otto. (8:02.27) The East Germans (sans Otto) would be the first to break the 8 minute mark three years later (in 7:59.23) at the FINA World Championships in Madrid, Spain, and pummel it again the following year in 7:55.47. The current world record in long course meters for the 4x200 free is held by the Chinese, who cranked out a 7:42.08 at the FINA World Championships in the summer of 2009. Here is how they split the race—

China	7:42.08
Yang Yu	1:55.47
Zhu Qian Wei	1:55.79
Liu Jing	1:56.09
Pang Jiaying	1:54.73

The short course world record in this event has been ratified since 1993, with the first and most recent holders being from China. The current record was posted in Dubai on the FINA World Cup series in 2010. Here is how the race was done—

China	7:35.94
Chen Qian	1:54.73
Tang Yi	1:53.54
Liu Jing	1:53.59
Zhu Qianwei	1:54.08

SEE ALSO:

]]> 1300 <![CDATA[4x100m Medley Relay World Record]]> FINA, the world governing body for swimming, since 1953. The medley relay comprises of four swimmers, each swimming a specific stroke in a specific order (cannot be altered), starting with the backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and freestyle. Unlike the individual medley, the relay starts with backstroke instead of butterfly. The event has been contested at the Olympic level since the 1960 Games.

MEN’S 4x100m MEDLEY RELAY WORLD RECORDS

The first WR on file is from 1953, with a team of Swedes posting a 4:39.2 in Helsingborg, Sweden. By the end of that first year the record would be broken 5 more times by teams from France and the Soviet Union. In 1960 a squad of Americans would take possession of the record. Frank McKinnery, Chet Jastremski, Mike Troy and Peter Sintz would post a 4:09.2 that would last all of a month before a team of completely different Americans would break it again a month later. Since 1960 the record has only not been held by the USA on two occasions; for a year in 1967-1968 when an East German squad led by Roland Matthes swam 3:56.5, and another year bv a different roster of East Germans in 1970 posted a 3:54.4. After that it has been clear sailing for the Americans. Mark Spitz would swim the butterfly leg of the team in Munich that would win gold and give Spitz his 7^th gold medal and WR in a single games (3:48.16). Legendary American names like Rowdy Gaines, Pablo Morales, David Berkoff, Jeff Rouse, Lenny Krayzelburg, Gary Hall Jr., Matt Biondi, and John Naber litter the record book in this event. They are joined now by other names that are sure to be hoisted into the rafters in the years to come; Aaron Piersol, Jason Lezak, Ian Crocker, and of course, Michael Phelps. The current world record in the men’s LCM 4x100m medley relay was posted at the FINA World Aquatic Championships in July of 2009. Here is how the race was broken down—

USA	3:27.28
Aaron Piersol	52.19
Eric Shanteau	58.57
Michael Phelps	49.72
David Walters	46.80

On the short course side of things, the first world record in this event was held by the Canadians. The team of Mark Tewksbury, John Cleveland, Tom Ponting and Gary Vandermeulen set the time of 3:34.86 at the Canadian Short Course Nationals in February of 1992. Tewksbury’s lead off leg of 52.50 was also a world best in SCM at the time. The current WR in the SCM 4x100m medley relay is held by the Russians, who posted a 3:19.16 at the Vladimir Salnikov International in December of 2009. Here is how the race was done—

Russia	3:19.16
Stanislav Donets	49.63
Sergey Geybel	56.43
Yevgeny Korotyshkin	48.35
Danila Izotov	44.75

WOMEN’S 4x100m MEDLEY RELAY WORLD RECORDS

In the summer of 1953 a group of Hungarian women would be the first to be recognized as the WR holders in this event. Swimming 5:10.8, and then twice lowering it 5:07.8 in the months that followed, they would soon be bested by a team from France, and then the Netherlands before the year was out. In the 60’s and early 70’s the Americans put their mark on the event, breaking it no fewer than 9 different times with a variety of swimmers. The last in that line was done at the Munich Games in Germany in 1972, in a time of 4:20.75. The East Germans would shave over 15 seconds off that mark in the course of the following 12 years, with heavyweight names like Ulrike Richter, Barbara Krause and Birgit Meineke swimming on teams that would also often set WR’s on the lead-off backstroke legs. Jenny Thompson, Anita Nall, Lea Loveless and Crissy Ahmann-Leighton would take the record back in 1992 at the Barcelona Games in a time of 4:02.54. Eight years later Thompson would group with another set of women – Dara Torres, Megan Quann and Barbara Bedford to win gold in Sydney and also dip below the 4 minute barrier for the first time (3:58.30). The current world record in the LCM 4x100m medley relay for women is held by the Americans. They posted a time of 3:52.05 at the London Olympics in 2012. Here is how they split the race—

USA	3:52.05
Missy Franklin	58.50
Rebecca Soni	1:04.82
Dana Vollmer	55.48
Allison Schmitt	53.25

The current short course world record in this event is also held by American women, with some of the same women (Franklin swims freestyle instead of backstroke on this one). Here is how the split the race, which was done at the 2011 Duel in the Pool in Atlanta, Georgia—

USA	3:45.56
Natalia Coughlin	55.97
Rebecca Soni	1:02.91
Dana Vollmer	55.36
Missy Franklin	51.32

SEE ALSO:

]]> 1308 <![CDATA[From the Vault: Van Almsick takes Down China’s Lu Bin at ’94 FINA World Champs]]> labeled racist by a defiant Chinese government. At the 1994 FINA World Championships the Chinese women were absolutely dominant, where they would win 12 of 16 possible gold medals, winning 19 overall, while also setting 5 world records. To consider how much of an improvement this was, and how much of an anamoly this was compared to previous years – the ’94 Worlds total surpassed what the Chinese (men and women) won in terms of medals at the two previous Olympics (Barcelona and Seoul) combined with the most recent Worlds in Perth in 1991. Results post-1994 – when the outrage reached institutional levels – also support the suspicions. In Atlanta the Chinese would win only six medals, and at the Sydney Games in 2000 they would be completely shut out of the medals.

PLACING 9^th IN AN 8 PERSON RACE

With the stage set in ’94, with much of the world rooting for anyone that wasn’t Chinese to win gold, and the emerging Van Almsick favoured to improve on her silver medal performance in the 200m freestyle at the Barcelona Games, Van Almsick committed a cardinal swimming error – coasted in the preliminaries. After the results were tallied, and swimmers seeded, Van Almsick had swum a 2:01.55, placing her 9^th and on the outside looking in. (There were no semi-finals in 1994.) Luckily for Franzi the Germans had placed someone in the final – Dagmar Hase. Hase, no slouch in her own right – she’d win 7 Olympic medals over her career, including gold in the 400 free two years earlier in Barcelona – was better known for the longer freestyle events. For the cost of a luxury holiday for her and her boyfriend Hase was persuaded to scratch out of the final so that the 16 year old Van Almsick could take a swing at the title. With Van Almsick in lane 8, and China’s Lu Bin in lane 5 with swimming legends Claudia Poll of Costa Rica (fastest qualifier in the prelims in lane 4) and Susie O’Neill in the final the stage was set. Van Almsick wouldn’t disappoint.

OUTSIDE SMOKE

If you have a lane, you have a chance. That adage has been spoken on pool decks since the dawn of weekend-long swim competitions, and nowhere will you find a better example of this then this race. Van Almsick took it out in a flurry, with Lu Bin tight on her heels, turning at 27.21 at the 50m freestyle. Lu Bin would come back and nudge ahead at the 100m and 150m marks, but Van Almsick would power home on the last 50 metres, tactically swimming the race perfectly. She would become the first woman to ever break the 1:57 barrier, touching in 1:56.78. The time would beat out fellow German Heike Friedrich’s world mark of 1:57.55 that had stood for 8 years.

AFTER-THOUGHTS

Van Almsick would again break the world record in this event, swimming 1:56.64 at the European Championships in 2002. She would hold the WR in the event for a staggering 13 years.
While she would never win Olympic gold, she is one of the most decorated Olympic swimmers of all time, having won 10 medals overall.
Bin Lu would test positive for steroids the next year. So would 7 other members of the Chinese team that attended the 1994 FINA World Championships.
The announcer in the video says it best, regarding the Chinese -- “we know they have been taking their vitamins.”

Here is video of the final— [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5dUO56THmY[/youtube]]]> 1321 <![CDATA[How to Get Recruited for College Swimming]]> how to get recruited for college swimming. For many high school athletes it’s the dream – getting their post-secondary education paid for while competing for a top-tier university program. Gone will be the days where you had to fundraise to go to meets, car-pool in your buddy's rusty old wagon to get meets, and into the days of luxury transportation (coach bus?), free gear and the chance to compete at the NCAA Championships, one of the fastest competitions on the planet. The reality, of course, is a little more muddled. Here are 8 tips to help clear things up and make your chase towards attaining that dream of getting recruited a reality— 1. Let the NCAA know your intent. Back in my day it was known as the the NCAA clearinghouse (sounds more like a sweepstakes, and for some athletes, it takes on that type of importance…), these days it is referred to as the NCAA Eligibility Center. To declare eligibility head on over and register online here: http://www.eligibilitycenter.org. It costs $70 if you are an American or Canadian student, $120 for other international students. 2. Make sure you are taking the right classes. Seems like a no-brainer, but you would be amazed by how many students believe they can get by on their athletic prowess alone. As per the 2013/2014 NCAA eligibility requirements, here is the bare bones list of courses student-athletes looking to play Div 1 athletes must possess:

Graduate from high school (duh)
Finish 16 core courses within four consecutive academic years:
4 years of English
3 years of math
2 years of natural or physical science
1 supplemental year of English, math, sciences
2 years of social science
4 years of bonus courses from any of the above categories or a foreign language, comparative religion or philosophy.

3. Swim your butt off. Everything else on this list – while important – isn’t as critical as this and school. It’s as simple as this – the faster you swim, the harder you are going to be recruited. 4. Be mindful of your social media presence. We live in a world where our personal lives are splashed across vast social networks. Be attentive to what people will find when they Google of enter your name into Facebook. Having a profile picture that shows how fun and awesome you are is great and fine, but keep in mind that programs aren’t looking to bring on party-animals, they are looking for smart, intelligent and responsible young people. Marketing companies call this type of thing “reputation management.” I call it “Don’t post embarrassing pictures of yourself doing compromising crap on Facebook.” 5. Build a list of schools you have a crush on. Here’s the fun part. Day-dreaming about the awesome schools that you want to attend. Grab a pen, a piece of paper (okay, okay – a tablet will do as well) and let’s get to day-dreaming. Break your list down by—

The dream schools.
The realistic, yet still also quite dreamy schools.
The fall-backs.

There will be overlap between all three, but knowing which schools you want to attend will help you narrow your activities moving forward. Write it out, tape it up to your wall, and have that list visible on those nights where you don’t feel like doing your homework. 6. Check out the schools. Research is a lot easier these days with the whole interweb thing. Beyond the official site for college teams, swim news sites also carry stats, news and results for your prospective schools. The coach’s profile on athletics department websites are almost always fairly thorough as their website is also used as a recruiting and promotional tool for their programs. Looking at the line-up on the current squad can also give you an idea of what their coach will be looking for next year. Let’s say that you are a freestyler. If school A has three senior freestylers not coming back next season you know that program is going to be on the hunt for a new freestyler whose name might just rhyme with yours. Another benefit of ye olde interweb is that it is easy to reach out to former and current swimmers from the school and get the low-down. Building those connections into referrals down the road can help you appear even more attractive to coaches. Approaching them is simple – let them know you are considering going to their alma matter and to see if they have any hints, tips or pointers they’d be willing to share. Sometimes this is a good way to get a peak under the hood of the program, especially the unvarnished parts you don’t see on a brochure or on the website. 7. Visit the school. Official visits are paid for by the institution, including transportation and room and board. Each institution does this step differently, but while you are there take the opportunity to talk to fellow athletes and view the common areas of the campus (student union building, etc) as well as the pool and strength training facilities. 8. Make the call. In your senior year you will get the opportunity to choose the school and program you are going to attend and represent. By now you should have a fair indication of which schools are down to bring you on, which are on the lukewarm side, and which have showed no interest (you’ll show ‘em!). The over-riding component of your decision at this point will probably be the financial package that is being offered. Full ride? Partial ride? While finances are crucial, balancing this with the opportunities the coach and swim team bring. A partial ride might be worth it if you get to train with a top tier program, and vice versa if the swimming isn’t that important and the education is priority 1 through 3. At the end of the day, your decision should be rooted on getting a kick-ass education and setting yourself up for the next stage of your life, whatever that may be. One way to consider your decision is to ask yourself, “If something happens to my swimming career where it ends or I retire before I finish school, is this still an institution that I would want to attend?” [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

#suits at the moment... #gameofthrones and #sportscenter "@ericmacdonald1: @MichaelPhelps What is your favorite tv show?" — Michael Phelps (@MichaelPhelps) August 10, 2013

Phelps plays himself as a client that hot-shot lawyer Harvey Spector (played by Gabrial Macht) could never land. Starring Macht, Patrick J. Adams and Rick Hoffman, the show returns on March 6^th for its fourth season. The superstar swimmer plays himself in the cameo. Here is a screenshot of the swimmer in action with Macht (right) and Abigail Spencer (left), who plays Macht’s love interest—

Michael Phelps will appear on "Suits" on March 6. Here's a screenshot ... pic.twitter.com/HJrw6688El — Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) January 21, 2014

This isn’t the first time that Phelps has done guest spot work. He also played himself in an episode of popular HBO show Entourage, while also hosting NBC’s Saturday Night Live, and on the Golf Channel show, “The Haney Project: Michael Phelps.” Since the 2012 London Games there has been a rash of Olympians appearing on various cable shows, including swmimers Missy Franklin who appeared on Pretty Little Liars (as well as a cut scene from the Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson vehicle “The Internship”), and Ryan Lochte who appeared on 90210.]]> 1340 <![CDATA[Wanna Know What It's Like to Swim on the Collegiate Level?]]> Hannah Freyman from North Carolina State's swim and diving program put together a 9-minute documentary that outlines a typical day of training and schooling at the ACC school. Freyman is a backstroke and freestyle specialist from Peoria, Illinois. Over the course of the 2012-2013 season she won All-ACC honors leading off the 200 yard freestyle relay, while also breaking the school records in the 200 & 400 free relays. She also posted the 2nd fastest 100 yard backstroke in school history (53.48) and was named to the ACC-All Academic Team.

For those of you who are in the midst of the recruiting process, or simply just want to get a peek at the lavish lifestyle that is being a collegiate swimmer (yes, I'm being sarcastic) Freyman's video is a great representation of the college swimming experience. Enjoy: [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

MEN’S 50m BACKSTROKE WORLD RECORDS

The long course record on the men’s side hasn’t changed hands in the 20 years that it has existed. Initally held by American Jeff Rouse, who also held the world record in the 100m backstroke at one time, is the first name on paper, having posted a 25.13 in 1993 at the Robert Burns Invitational in Edinburgh, Scotland. Fellow American Lenny Krayzelburg would be the next to break, also becoming the first to crack the 25 second barrier in a time of 24.99. Liam Tancock, the current world record holder, lowered the mark three times in the span between 2008-2009. Presently the world record is 24.04, a mark that Great Britain’s Tancock swam in the finals at the FINA World Championships in August of 2009 in Rome. The short course mark has seen more action, having been broken 15 times over the same time period as the LC record. The current holder of the SCM mark is Peter Marshall of the United States, in a time of 22.61 swam at the Singapore stop on the FINA World Cup circuit in November 2009.

WOMEN’S 50m BACKSTROKE WORLD RECORDS

Germany’s Sandra Volker was the first to set the world mark on the lady’s side in long course meters in a time of 29.00 back in 1997. She lowered it three more times to 28.25, and then a succession of American, Russian, Australian, Chinese and another German would continue the assault on the world record, with it being broken by 4 different swimmers in the summer of 2009. The current holder is Zhao Jing, who has swum the race .32 seconds faster than any other woman on the planet. The Chinese swimmer posted the time – similar to the men – at the 2009 FINA World Championships in the midst of the polyurethane suit frenzy. On the short course side of things, Germany’s Volker was again the first name in the books, with a 27.27 set at the European Championships in Sheffield, England in 1998. China’s Zhao Jing again makes an appaerance, lowering the mark twice in November of 2009, while also becoming the first woman to swim the race in under 26 seconds (25.82). The current world record holder is Sanja Jovanovic of Croatia, who broke Jing’s record just over a month later at the European Championships in Istanbul, Turkey in a time of 25.70. SEE ALSO:

]]> 1351 <![CDATA[100m Backstroke World Record]]> 100m backstroke world record is overseen and monitored by FINA, the world governing body for the sport of competitive swimming (among other aquatic sports as well including synchro, diving and water polo). Backstroke is unique in that it is the only event that is allowed to be performed on the backside, with the other three strokes being done with the swimmer facing the bottom of the pool.

MEN’S 100m BACKSTROKE WORLD RECORDS

The men’s WR has only been tracked by FINA since 1956, even though backstroke events were competed as far back as the 1900 Olympic Games. The first record holder on file is David Theile of Australia, who swam a 1:02.2 in Melbourne in December of 1956. Over the years since the event has been largely dominated by Americans, with the exception of a 5 year period from 1967-1972 where Roland Matthes of West Germany was absolutely dominant, lowering the world record a stunning 7 times from 58.4 to 56.30 at the Munich Games. From there several legendary names in American swimming would take turns at the record, with John Naber, Rick Carey, David Berkoff (who would instigate changes to how long backstrokers could perform underwater dolphin kicks for), Jeff Rouse, Lenny Krayzelburg, and finally, the current world record holder Aaron Peirsol. Peirsol has broken the mark at six different points, the last time where he reclaimed the WR from Spain’s Aschwin Wildeboer who held it for exactly a week. The current mark for the men’s long course 100m backstroke is 51.94, done in the summer of 1009 in Indianapolis. The short course mark is currently by the USA’s Nick Thoman, in a time of 48.94 performed in December of 2009. Of note is Ryan Lochte on the list of people who have broken the SCM 100m back WR. He was the first swimmer to break 50 seconds in the event, swimming a 49.99 in April 2006 in Shanghai.

WOMEN’S 100m BACKSTROKE WORLD RECORDS

American Cathy Ferguson is the first woman to hold the WR in this event long course. She swam a 1:07.7 at the Tokyo Olympics in 1965. From 1973 to 1984 East Germans would repeatedly lower the mark, with Ulrike Richter, Kornelia Ender and Rica Reinisch all taking turns at it. Richter in particular would best the WR a whopping 8 different times. The legendary Krisztina Egerszegi of Hungary would take ownership in 1991 in a time of 1:00.31. That time would have lasted 11 years if not for the almost certainly tainted swim by China’s He Cihong during the World Championships in Rome during 1994, a meet that was rife with suspicion of state-sanctioned doping by the Chinese. American Natalie Coughlin would be the first woman to break the minute barrier in 2002, breaking it another 4 times, leaving the record at 58.97 at the 2008 Olympic Trials. Two different swimmers would lower it further at the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome, first Russia’s Anastasia Zuyeva in a time of 58.48, and ultimately Gemma Spofforth of Great Britain, whose time of 58.12 is the present world best. In short course meters, Shiho Sakai of Japan destroyed Natalie Coughlin’s world record of 56.51 with first a 56.15, and then a 55.23 in November of 2009. Sakai’s time is presently WR in SCM meters for this event. SEE ALSO:

]]> 1356 <![CDATA[200m Backstroke World Record]]> FINA, the world governing body for the sport of competitive swimming, as well as other aquatic disciplines. The 200 meter backstroke is competed at the Olympics, as well as various 2^nd-tier aquatic competitions such as the FINA World Championships, Commoonwealth Games, Pan Pacific Championships, European Championships, and so on. Backstroke is unique in that it is the only stroke of four in competitive swimming to be performed on the athlete’s backside, unlike the crawl which is done on the athlete’s front, facing the bottom of the pool. It is also the first event to be competed at the Olympic level which wasn’t crawl (freestyle).

MEN’S 200m BACKSTROKE WORLD RECORDS

One of the oldest Olympic events, it was first done at the Games in Paris during August of 1900. The winner was Ernst Hoppenberg of Germany in a time of 2:47, a full 8 seconds faster than silver medalist Karl Ruberl of Austria. The first WR on record is East Germany’s Roland Matthes, who swam a 2:02.82 at the Munich Games in 1972 to win gold. Four years later John Naber of the United States would be the first to break the two minute barrier in this event, swimming a 1:59.19 at the Montreal Games in 1976. That time would stand up for 7 years before Rick Carey would shave a few more tenths off at the Olympic Trials for the US in 1984. After the record was held by the Soviet Union’s Sergei Zabolotnov and Igo Polyansky, Spanish backstroke legend Martin Lopez-Zubero would lower the mark twice in 1991, swimming a 1:57.30 and 1:56.57. Another 8 years would pass before American domination would ensue, with Lenny Krayzelburg, Aaron Piersol, and Ryan Lochte all taking swipes at the WR. Piersol in particular would put his stamp on it 7 different times, being the only swimmer ever to break 1:52 in the event. Piersol’s time of 1:51.92, swum in 2009 at the FINA World Championships is the current world record for men in long course meters. On the short course side of things, many of the same names make appearances. Lopez-Zubero is the first name on record, with a 1:52.51 done in 1991. Piersonl, Lochte and Krayzelburg all appear in the list of swimmers to break the WR, with Lochte in particular being the first to cross the 1:50 barrier when he swam a 1:49.05 in Shanghai in 2009. Since then, however, swimmers Markus Rogan of Austria, George Du Rand of South Africa, and ultimately Arkady Vyatchanin of Russia would all take turns at it, with Vyatchanin’s time of 1:46.11 done at the Berlin stop on the FINA World Cup circuit standing up as the current WR in short course meters.

WOMEN’S 200m BACKSTROKE WORLD RECORDS

The 200m backstroke was swum for the first time on the ladies side in 1968 at the Mexico Games. It was a North American affair on the medal podium, with Lillian Watson (USA) winning in 2:24.88, Elaine Tanner (CAN) in second, and Kaye Hall (USA) placing third. Although not competed at the Games until ’68, the WR mark goes back as far as 1957, with Phillipa Gould of New Zealand being the first name on record in a time of 2:39.9. Satoko Tanaka of Japan would firmly put her name all over the WR starting from 1959 until 1963, during which time she would lower her own world record 10 times, ultimately to 2:28.2. Predictably during the 1970’s a rash of East German swimmers including Ulrike Richter (who features prominently in the list of women 100m backstroke world record breakers), Birgit Treiber, Antje Stille, Rica Rienisch and Cornelia Sirch each breaking the WR. Sirch, in particular, would be the first woman to break 2:10 when she did so at the FINA World Championships in August of 1982 in Ecuador. Hungarian backstroke sensation Krisztina Egerszegi, who would dominate both backstroke events for an extended period of time in the 1990’s, would destroy the WR in 1991 swimming a 2:06.62 (by nearly two full seconds), a time that would last for 17 years. Currently Missy Franklin of the United States of America has the world record for this event, in a time of 2:04.06 that she swam at the London Olympics in 2012. Franklin is also the current world record holder in the short course meters edition of this race. She swam 2:00.03, breaking Japan’s Shiho Sakai’s two-year-old mark of 2:00.18 at the Berlin stop on the FINA World Cup Circuit in 2009. SEE ALSO:

]]> 1361 <![CDATA[50m Butterfly World Record]]> 50m butterfly world record is overseen and ratified by FINA, the world governing body for the sport of competitive swimming. The 50 fly WR is one of the youngest on the books, as it is among the stroke 50’s which have only been tracked since the 1990’s. The 50m butterfly is not an Olympic event. It is, however, competed at swimming’s second biggest and important competition, the FINA World Championships, which is held every two years by various host nations across the planet.

MEN’S 50m BUTTERFLY WORLD RECORDS

Russian butterfly legend Denis Pankratov was the first man to hold the long course 50m fly WR. Done at the Meet of Champions in August of 1996, Pankratov swam a world best time of 23.68, a time that stood until Geoff Huegill of Australia broke it in 2000 in a time of 23.60. Ageless wonder Roland Schoeman of South Africa – who also at one point has owned world records in other events, including being the short course world record holder in the 50m freestyle – would be the first man to break the 23 second barrier in 2005 at the Montreal edition of the FINA World Championships. Four years later, however, in the midst of the polyurethane super-suit era Rafael Munoz of Spain would shave a full half second off Schoeman’s mark swimming an unbelievable 22.43 at Spanish Nationals in April of 2009. The short course mark has seen more action over the years, with the initial WR of 23.55 by Great Britain’s Mark Foster being lowered 15 times since 1995. Pankratov would again put his mark on this race, swimming a 23.35 in February of 1997, while Australians Geoff Huegill and Michael Kilm would both take multiple pulls, with Huegill peaking with a 22.74 at the Berlin stop on the FINA World Cup tour in Berlin in 2002. Ian Crocker is the lone American represetative on the list of former record holders, holding it for about a year with his 22.71. The current SCM is currently held by Steffen Deibler of Germany. He is the first man to break 22 seconds in the event, swimming a crushing 21.80, also at the Berlin stop of the FINA World Cup, but this time 7 years later in 2009.

WOMEN’S 50m BUTTERFLY WORLD RECORD

Legendary Netherlands swimmer Ige de Bruijn was the first WR holder in this event on the woman’s side of things, with a 26.54 set in 1999 at their national championships. She would lower it a couple more times in May of 2000, trading back and forth with Anna-Karin Kammerling of Sweden. Her country-woman Therese Alshammar would take the record in 2007, and has since lowered it to 25.07, which was performed in the semi-finals at – you guessed it – the 2009 FINA World Championships in Rome, Italy. The SCM version of this record dates back a little further, with Amy Van Dyken of the United States the first on the list. She swam a 26.73 back in 1995. Jenny Thompson, a Hall-of-Fame worthy athlete who trained for years at Stanford in California lowered the mark three times between 1997-1998, coming oh-so-close to breaking 26 seconds (26.00 was her fastest). Therese Alshammar of Sweden holds the short course world record as well, set in 2009 in Singapore at a World Cup event. Alshammar’s record time is 24.38. SEE ALSO:

]]> 1367 <![CDATA[100m Butterfly World Record]]> FINA. Records for both men and women have been monitored since 1957 in long course meters. The butterfly is the newest of the stroke disciplines in competitive swimming, and is considered one of the more difficult of the 4, having sprouted sideways out from the breaststroke in the early 1930’s.

MEN’S 100m BUTTERFLY WORLD RECORDS

In it’s first year being tracked, the WR was broken three times, the first world record holder being Gyorgy Tumpek of Hungary. Takashi Ishimoto of Japan would break it five more times over the next year or so. In 1960 Lance Larson of the United States would be the first man to break a minute in the 100 meter distance in a time of 59.0. In the late 60’s and early 70’s the record would be repeatedly and quite decidedly lowered by American swim legend Mark Spitz. He would shave nearly 2 seconds off the record, an amount which would seem invonceivable by today’s speeds and times. The last time he broke it was during his 7 gold medal winning appearance at the Munich Games in 1972. Other notables on the list of past WR breakers includes American Pablo Morales, West German Michael Gross, and Australian Michael Klim. Michael Phelps – the current world record holder – would first break it in July of 2003 in Barcelona, Spain. Fellow American Ian Crocker would break it three more times before Phelps would take it back in 2009. The current mark of 49.82 was set August 1, 2009 at the FINA World Aquatic Championships in Rome, Italy. The short course world record in the 100 meter butterfly was first set by Rusian Denis Pankratov in 1997, and is currently held by compatriot Yevgeny Korotyshkin at the Berlin stop of the FINA World Cup tour in November of 2009.

WOMEN’S 100m BUTTERFLY WORLD RECORD

The long course record on the women’s side has been dominated by swimmers from the US, Netherlands, and East Germany. The first record holder on file was Atie Voobij in a time of 1:10.5, dated back in August 1957. Country-women Ada Kok, and more recently, Inge de Bruin have each held the record on numerous occasions, with the former doing so in the 1960’s, and the latter in the year 2000 where she broke the WR three different times. Predictably, there is a few East Germans that appear on the list of former record holders during the 1970’s, with Rosemarie Kother, Christiane Knacke (first woman under a minute in the event in 1977 swimming a 59.78), Andrea Pollack, and the most familiar of the group, Kornelia Ender who broke the record 5 times. The Americans are also very well represented. In the 50’s and 60’s swimmers such as Nancy Ramey, Susan Doerr, Kathy Ellis, Sharon Stouder and Alice Jones all held the WR at one time or another. Swimming fans will recognize contemporary swimming powerhouses such as Mary T. Meagher and Jenny Thompson. The current world mark is held by American Dana Vollmer who posted it during the London Olympics in 2012. She was also the first woman under 56 seconds in the event, swimming a 55.98. The short course WR, tracked only since 1995, was first held by Angela Kennedy of Australia (58.77). France’s Diane Bui Duyet currently holds it with a 55.05 swam in Istanbul in December 2009. SEE ALSO:

]]> 1371 <![CDATA[200m Butterfly World Record]]> 200m butterfly world record is managed and tracked by FINA, the world governing body for the sport of competitive swimming. The butterfly is the newest of strokes, having sprung up as an offshoot of the breaststroke during the early 1930’s. It is also the first stroke to be swum in the individual medley (yet third in the medley relays), and is also widely considered to be the toughest of the four stroke disciplines. The world record for both men and women in the 200 fly has been followed since the 1950s in long course meters, while short course records did not start becoming ratified until the early to mid 1990’s.

MEN’S 200m BUTTERFLY WORLD RECORDS

Mike Troy of the United States of America is the first man to be recognized as the world record holder in the 200 fly. He broke the record 6 times – and lowered it nearly 7 seconds in the process -- over the course of 1959-1960, ultimately swimming a 2:12.8 in Rome in September of 1960. With the exception of 4 other swimmers, in the 55 years since the world record has belonged to either an Australian or an American. Hans-Joachim Fassnacht of East Germany would hold it for approximately a year in the early 1970’s, while Roger Pyttel of West Germany’s hold on the record would be even more short-lived, having it for less than two months in the summer of 1976. Michael Gross would round out the German presence on the list, breaking it three times during a stretch between 1985-1986. Russian fly legend Denis Pankratov would be the fourth, swimming a 1:55.22 in 1995 that would hold up for 5 years as the world’s fastest ever. Australian Kevin Barry broke the WR 4 different times in the early 1960’s, and fellow Aussie Jon Sieben took it back for the boys down under in 1984 when he swam a 1:57.04 at the Los Angeles Olympics. Americans Mike Bruner, Craig Beardsley, Carl Robie, Gary Hall Sr., Mark Spitz, and more recently Mel Stewart and Tom Malchow all held the WR over the years, but it is Michael Phelps who has dominated the event since 2001. Phelps first broke the record in March of 2001 in 1:54.92. He would chip away at it an unparalleled 7 more times. The current mark was set in Rome at the FINA World Championships in the summer of 2009 in a time of 1:51.51, a 3+ second drop in the span of approximately 8 years. Phelps doesn’t appear anywhere on the short course list, however. The first WR holder on record in the 25m pool is Franck Esposito of France in 1:54.73. Showing the longevity of his career he would again hold the mark ten years later in a time of 1:50.73. The current WR holder for men short course in the 200m fly is South Africa’s Chad le Clos. He twice lowered it in 2013, settling at 1:48.56.

WOMEN’S 200m BUTTERFLY WORLD RECORDS

The first world record holder on file on the women’s side is Nancy Ramey of the United States. She swam a 2:40.5 in June of 1958. Over the course of the next six years five more Americans would lower it, with Becky Collins, Sharon Finneran, Susan Pitt, Kendis Moore and Sharon Stouder would all take turns. In the 1970’s the East Germans and their state-sanctioned doping program took over, with the mark dropping a year per second between 1973 and 1978. Rosemarie Gabriel would be the first, Andrea Pollock would be the last, becoming the first woman to swim the distance under 2:10, when she swam a 2:09.87 on July 4, 1978 in East Berlin, East Germany. American fly legend Mary T. Meagher put her stamp on the event lowering it by nearly four seconds in a span of three years. Her time of 2:05.96 set in 1981 lasted for nearly 20 years, when Susie O’Neill bested it in front of a hometown crowd at the Sydney Games in 2000. The current world record holder in long course meters for the women’s 200m fly is Liu Zige, who swam a 2:01.81 in Jinan, China, in October of 2009. The short course mark was first held by Susie O’Neill, who swam a 2:05.37 in February of 1999. Liu Zige of China also holds the 25m pool version of this WR, swimming 2:00.78 back in November of 2009. SEE ALSO:

]]> 1374 <![CDATA[200m IM World Record]]> 200m IM world record is tracked and ratified by FINA, the world governing body for competitive swimming and aquatic sports. The world records for men and women have been tracked since 1956 (1957 for the women), with records in the 25m pool having been ratified since only 1991. The individual medley, a race where all four strokes – butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and then freestyle – are swum in that specific order has been around since 1952 in it’s current form. Prior to then the butterfly and breaststroke were considered as being the same stroke, meaning that formerly the medey comprised of only three strokes.

MEN’S 200m IM WORLD RECORDS

The long course record in this event has been largely dominated over the years by the Americans. The mark has been lowered 35 times since 1956 by an American man, with the first 15 years of the record being exclusively over-run with American swimmers. The first was George Harrison, who in 1956 swam a 2:30.7 to get the ball rolling. In the subsquent years Frank Brunnell, Gary Heinrich, Lance Larson, Ted Stickles, Dick Roth, Greg Buckingham, Charlie Hickcox and finally Gary Hall Sr. would maintain an star-spangled strangle on the record. Swede Gunnar Lasrsson, Canadians Graham Smith and Alex Baumann, Soviet Aleksandr Sidorenko, Hungary’s Tamas Darnyi (first to break 2 minutes when he swam a 1:59.36 in 1991) and Finland’s Jani Sievinen are the only non-American swimmers on the list. Canada’s Baumann broke it three times during the early 1980’s, culminating in a gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles (2:01.42). As with the 200m butterfly world record, Michael Phelps would put an indelible mark on this event, breaking the record 8 times between 2003 and 2008. The current world record holder is fellow American Ryan Lochte, who most recently swam a 1:54.00 at the FINA World Championships in Shanghai in 2011. Ryan Lochte also holds the short course pool world record in the 200 IM, being the first man to break 1:50 when he swam a 1:49.63 on December 14, 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey.

WOMEN’S 200m IM WORLD RECORDS

Just like the men, Americans heavily populate the list of former (and current) record holders. Initially set by Patty Kempner in 1957 in 2:48.2, fellow Americans Becky Collins, Sylvia Ruuska, Donna de Varona, Lynn Vidali and Claudia Kolb would keep the record on American soil for the first decade. Outside of a brief reign by Shane Gould of Australia in 1972, and Tracy Caulkins of the US in 1978-1980, the record would find a home in East Germany in the 1970’s, with Kornelia Ender leaving the charge. Teammates Ulrike Tauber, Petra Schneider and Ute Geweniger would each break the record, with the former swimming a 2:11.73 in 1981 that would last for over ten years. Currently the world record for the women’s long course 200m IM is Ariana Kukors of the USA. She twice broke it at the FINA World Championships in the summer of 2009. The record stands at 2:06.15. The short course mark is much more recent, with Katinka Hosszu of Hungary shaving nearly a second and a half off Julia Smit’s 4 year old mark of 2:04.60. Hosszu’s swim of 2:03.20 was done at the Eindhoven stop on the FINA World Cup series. SEE ALSO:

400m IM World Record

]]> 1377 <![CDATA[400m IM World Record]]> 400m IM world record is monitored and ratified by FINA, the world governing body for competitive swimming. The event has been tracked since the mid 1950’s for both men and women at the long course level, while short course world records in the 400 IM have been recognized since 1991. The 400m IM combines all four stroke disciplines. In the order of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle the individual medley is competed at the 200 and 400 level at the Olympic Games.

MEN’S 400 IM WORLD RECORDS

The first WR in this event was recognized in 1957, when American Gary Heinrich swam a 5:15.6 in Philadelphia. Since then the record has been largely dominated by Americans, with George Harrison, Dennis Rounsaville, Ted Stickles, Dick Roth, Greg Buckingham and Charlie Hickcox all taking turns at the record over the next decade. Gary Hall Sr. (father of former freestyle champion Gary Hall Jr.) broke the record 5 different times throughout the 1970’s, taking the record down to 4:30.81. The 1980’s would see three different swimming legends each put their stamp on the event. David Wharton of the US, Alex Baumann of Canada and Tamas Darnyi would each win Olympic medals at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles and in Seoul in 1988 swimming this event, while in the case of Baumann and Darnyi, also breaking the world record. Tom Dolan of the United States would break the record twice, once in 1994 and again at the Syndey Games in 2000 (4:11.09), at which point Michael Phelps (as he did with the 200m IM record) would come along and take sole ownership of the WR. He has broken it 8 times between 2002 and 2008, where he swum the fastest time in history with a 4:03.84 at the Beijing Games. The short course world record was first recognized in 1992, when Luca Sacchi of Italy posted a 4:08.77 in Sheffield. Currently Ryan Lochte holds the fastest time ever, having swum 3:55.50 at the Dubai stop of the FINA World Cup series in December 2010.

WOMEN’S 400m IM WORLD RECORDS

The world mark on the women’s side in long course meters was recognized for the first time in 1958, a year later then the guys. Similar to the men, for the first ten years it was held solely by Americans. Syliva Russka was the first (5:46.6), followed by teammates Donna de Varona in 1960, Sharon Finneran in 1962, and then Claudia Kolb would lowered the record four times between 1964 and 1968. As with many of the other women’s world records, the East German women displayed overpowering dominance during the 1970’s in this event. Angela Franke would be the first, swimming a 5:01.10 in 1973. Gudrun Wegner would be the first woman to break the minute barrier later that year – and do so with room to spare – posting a 4:57.51. Ulrike Tauber, Birgit Treiber and Petra Schneider would all register WR’s before the decade was out, with the latter swimming a 4:36.10 at the FINA World Championships in Ecuador in 1982. The current world record holder is Ye Shiwen, who bested Australia’s Stephanie Rice’s mark of 4:29.45 at the London Games when she swam a 4:28.43. The first time a WR was ratified in short course meters was in 1993, when China’s Dai Guohong posted a 4:29.00. The current world record is held by Katinka Hosszu of Hungary. Her time of 4:20.85 was performed at the Berlin stop on the FINA World Cup series in August of 2013. SEE ALSO:

200m IM World Record

]]> 1382 <![CDATA[Club Profile: Toronto Swim Club]]> Toronto Swim Club is a non-profilt sport organization based out of the Greater Toronto, Ontario region. With their main facilities at the University of Toronto, TSC provides swimming instruction ranging from learn-to-swim programs all the way up to swimmers looking to compete on the international level. The Toronto Swim Club has approximately 300 swimmers training under their various groups. They practice at a number of different pools and high schools in the GTA.

TORONTO SWIM CLUB COACHING STAFF

The head coach at TSC is Bill O’Toole, formerly of Markham, Ontario’s Cobra Swim Club. He has been with TSC since the fall of 2013. He started coaching in the early 1980’s with York Swim Club before becoming top coach at the Markham Aquatic Club for a ten year span between 1986-1996. From there he went to Cobra. In O’Toole’s 30 years of coaching he has placed numerous athletes on international squads including to the Olympics, FINA World Champs, and Commonwealth Games. The assistant coach of the national squad is a familiar name to many Canadian swimming fans – Byron MacDonald. Along with Brian Armitage he provided the color commentary at numerous Olympic Games for CBC’s swimming coverage. MacDonald is also head coach of the University of Toronto varsity team, and is also President of the Toronto Swim Club Board of Directors. MacDonald has been involved with the Blues program since 1978, and has coached on multiple international teams, including assistant coach on the team that went to Barcelona in 1992, where one his swimmers medaled. WHY SWIM? Here is a promo video that they produced entitled “Why Swim?” which shows some of their outdoor training during the summer, as well as quick interview snippets with age groupers and national group athletes— http://vimeo.com/73100085 SEE ALSO:

]]> 1386 <![CDATA[Club Profile: Sachem Swim Club]]> SACHEM SWIM CLUB PHILOSOPHY SSC’s purpose is to develop swimmers to the level with which they can compete at USA Swimming sanctioned events, display good sportsmanship, and to embody the team core mission statement of possessing courage and perseverance.

GROUP BREAKDOWN

Like most swim teams, SSC is broken down by level of ability. The Beginner Group is focused on helping children develop the basics of swimming, including swimming two laps of a pool without stopping, while also possessing a legal fly kick, breaststroke stroke, a basic flip turn, and being able to dive off the blocks. The Developmental Group is the baseline group that swims year-round. They must be able to achieve the standards as mentioned above, and within this group the fundamentals of technique and mechanics are heavily emphasized as they create the foundation for the groups above. The Novice and Junior Group s are for new and returning swimmers to build upon the skills previously learned in the Developmental Group. Swimmers are expected to train five times per week, as well as two dry-land sessions. Finally there is the Senior Group. The swimmers train six times weekly, for approximately two hours per session, as well as two dry-land workouts. Athletes in this group are expected to train towards qualifying for state, Junior National, and National-level meets.

SSC LOCATIONS

The club trains out of three different facilities; the Sachem North and Sachem East High School pools, as well as in the outdoor Holtsville pool during the summer months.

SACHEM SWIM CLUB COACHING STAFF

The head coach/senior coach at the Sachem Swim Club is Jeff Ely. He is assisted by Malori Steinhauer, Tobert Todd and Albert Scott, as well as another dozen junior assistant and developmental coaches. Here is a Harlem Shake video that the Sachem swimmers put together in February of 2013, showing that swimmers do it better-- [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COf0cZmIl2c[/youtube] SEE ALSO:

]]> 1390 <![CDATA[10 First-Time Questions to Ask a College Coach]]> you.

Each conversation with prospective coaches will be different. As the speed with which the recruitment process varies from school to school, the questions you ask will rely on what stage of the process you are at. At the end of the day, however, each of the following questions are designed to help you build a clearer picture of whether or not the university program is a good fit for you. Here goes: 1. Does the team have a year-round program? If you’re looking at taking your swimming beyond NCAA’s and beyond, will the program support these goals? 2. What’s the team culture like? Is the team more about having fun, or is it a competitive environment? 3. What is the team’s goal for the season? How high is the program aiming? Is it going to be a rebuilding year for the school or are they charging ahead with a specific goal in mind? 4. Does the coach personalize training or is it a one-size-fits-all approach? You should get a feel for how the coaching staff works with their swimmers in practice; is the team broken up by stroke and discipline during main sets, or is it a one-size-fits-all approach? Certainly something you want to know before you decide to head to swim for a coach for four years. 5. What is the average GPA of the team? If you are into the whole scholastic thing this one is pretty key! This stat will also give you an indication of how much the program is focused on creating well-rounded student athletes, as opposed to just elite swimmers. A good follow-up to this would be to inquire if the team has a full-time academic advisor. 6. How long have you coached here for? Sure, this information will be made available on the bio for the team. But asking also implies interest in knowing whether or not they will be there for the duration of your college swimming career. If the coach has only been there for a season or two, you will need to delve into their previous coaching experience, and if they have been there for an extended period of time, inquire whether they plan on retiring in the next few years (tactfully, obviously). 7. How recent are the fastest times on the top 10 list? Looking at the all-time fastest results is a fantastic way of gauging how well the program is performing under current leadership. Are most of the times from the early 2000’s or 1990’s? While the top 10 doesn’t need to be a straight line of 2013’s, there should be some recent times in there. 8. What is your coaching philosophy? This question is great as it will produce a wide variety of answers. 9. What is the training schedule like? Another obvious question that frequently gets overlooked. When you swim for the same program for years and years you begin to assume that other teams and programs do it the same way. This is not always the case. Asking for a copy of the training schedule can help you get an idea of what your time commitments will be like. 10. What percentage of swimmers graduate from the school in four years? This rate is an indication of how the academic requirements balance with the activities as an athlete. Yes, you want to go to a program where you can swim to the fullest of your potential. But you also want to live up to your potential academically as well. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

At the end of the day, it’s on you to market yourself in the best manner possible to colleges and universities in order to get that scholarship. 2. Your swimming performance will over-shadow any academic shortcomings. This is the most dangerous of the college swimming recruiting myths. Unless you are the next Michael Phelps – at which point you’re better off going pro anyways – a high GPA is critical to getting into the school of your dreams, if only for the fact that a less than stellar GPA can make you ineligible for some scholarships. If you’re grades are continually faltering you’ll soon find that interest from college programs will fade quickly. Think of it from their point-of-view – nobody wants to have to try and motivate or babysit a student that is not interested in maintaining academic eligibility. College programs want a student that is going to rep for four years – not flunk out spectacularly after one semester. (Another key point that will become even more clear towards the end of the article is that there is much more money available in terms of academic scholarship than for strictly athletics.) 3. You should only hit up the dream schools on your list. Visiting with numerous programs is not only a good personal experience, but you will get a better idea of what you want in a college atmosphere. Whether it is an official or an unofficial visit, get out there and see what the various programs have to offer. It can be easy to dismiss a school on paper, but you will never really know how good of a fit it can be for you until you get there and see it for yourself. 4. You need to produce a 45 minute highlight film. Relieve yourself of the need of showing the same race in different speeds, of showing slo-mo sequences, and of over-producing the video. If the video is posted up on YouTube or Vimeo, the coach can rewind, slo-mo and freeze-frame as much as they like. Avoid embracing your inner James Horner and ditch the soundtrack. Keep it short and succinct.

5. You can wait until your senior year to start looking. The recruitment process usually takes over a year, so it’s in your best interest to start looking around and showing intent before your senior year gets started. Putting together a list of prospective schools in your freshman and sophomore years is not uncommon, and having a sizable list allows for options in the event coaches and/or programs drastically change. While there are some limitations on how much contact college coaches can have with recruits, it is best to get the process started no later than during the junior year. 6. Athletic scholarships will cover everything. Big no-no here. Outside of the major funded sports (football and basketball in particular) there is a very finite amount of scholarship dollars available. Many coaches will try to stretch that money out across as many athletes as possible, meaning that there will be out-of-pocket costs at some point. And even if you do get a full ride to the institution of your dreams, there will inevitably be costs and expenses that you'll incur, not limited to extra travel, spending money, and leisure time expenses. (No, Jagermiester isn't covered within a stereotypical Div 1 scholarship.) According to these stats from CollegeSwimming.com, here is a breakdown of how many scholarships are out there—

Just under 1,700 men’s and 3,100 women’s scholarships available. Only 1/3 of those are awarded each season.
With the obvious in-balance it means the odds of getting a scholarship for boys are also proportionally lower – 1 of 48 senior boy swimmers will get a scholarship, while it’s only slightly better for the girls at 1 in 31.
Approximately 1 out of 10 high school senior swimmers will go on to swim in college.
44% of collegiate swimmers compete at the D3 level and therefore receive no athletic scholarship whatsoever.

At the end of the day, you need to swim your butt off, get good grades, and be proactive! [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

THE DISTANCE STAR OF THE 90’S

The Aussie distance legend came from a long line of Australian distance stars. Murray Rose and John Konrads broke the world record in the 1500 free during the 1950’s and 1960’s, Stephen Holland in the 1970’s, and then Glen Housman, who would have broken the world record in the 1500m freestyle in December of 1989 in Adelaide if it weren’t for some faulty timing equipment. His first international meet came at the age of 16 when he qualified for the Aussie squad heading to the Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand in 1990. At that meet he made history becoming only the third person ever to dip under the 15 minute barrier, and until then easily the youngest. A year later Perkins would fire his opening salvo across the bow of international swimming when he took Germany’s Jorg Hoffman right down to the wire in the mile at World Champs. They were well below world record pace for the entire race, with the two swimmers going stroke for stroke. Hoffman would end up just out-touching the younger Perkins by two tenths of a second, Hoffman touching in 14:50.38 and Perkins in 14:50.58. Both athletes would devastate the world record, previously held by the incomparable Vladimir Salnikov of Russia. Perkins would get his chance for payback in 1992 at the Barcelona Olympics. Although billed as a rematch, it wasn’t much of a fight, with Perkins stomping all over Hoffman’s record swimming a 14:43.48 to win gold, while Hoffman would finish 18 seconds behind.

THE DISTANCE WORLD RECORD TRIPLE CROWN

While he would win the 1500m at both the Barcelona Games and the Atlanta Olympics – a swim that deserves its own post as he had a rough year leading up to ’96, barely made the team, and scraped into the final – his crowning meet was the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. In every race he entered he either set a new Games Record or a a new World Record. In the case of the 1500 meter free, he would set two in one race. At 800m Perkins turned at a 7:46.00, setting a new world record. Prior to the race his coach John Carew asked him to go out and break the world mark in the 800 freestyle and subsequently ease off and “swim to win.” Carew wanted him to save the best performance for the FINA World Championships a couple weeks later. After hitting that 800m mark, and feeling the thunderous noise from the crowd, Perkins made the decision to disobey his coach and chase down the 1500m mark as well. [blockquote source="Kieren Perkins"]By the time I got to the 1000-1100m mark I couldn’t feel a thing, my legs were like jelly but I kept it going, I knew I could get there, and you know when I hit the wall at 1500 metres I knew I’d broken it. It was one of the best feelings I’d ever had.[/blockquote] Perkins, who demolished the field that included fellow distance stand-out Daniel Kowalski as well as Glen Housman, would touch in 14:41.66, lowering his own world record by 2 seconds that he set at the Barcelona Olympics two years later. Hindsight would prove Perkins intelligent to have disobeyed Carew’s instructions, as that swim would hold up as his fastest swim ever, even quicker than what he would do in Rome at the World Championships a few weeks later. The time was fast enough to withstand 7 years of challenges by the best the world had to offer until it was finally bested by fellow Australian Grant Hackett in 2001. In Rome, Perkins would destroy the 400 metre world record, swimming a 3:43.80, lowering the previous mark by 1.2 seconds, giving him back the 400m freestyle world record that Yevgeny Sadovi had taken at the Barcelona Games, giving Perkins the distance triple-crown of world records. Below is video coverage of both the Commonwealth Games performance and his Rome 400 free, as well as interview footage with both him and coach John Carew-- (Commonwealth Games coverage starts at 16:35 into the video) [youtube]http://youtu.be/3Bb0EM79OqE?t=16m35s[/youtube]]]> 1403 <![CDATA[The Michael Phelps Diet – The Pasta, the Energy Drinks, and the Myth]]> The Michael Phelps Diet – Fact or Fiction? We tend to build up our heroes and stars into the stuff of myth and legend. Michael Phelps was no different. From lauding his built-for-swimming-physique, to his surreal talent and innate feel for the water, it is easy to forget that most importantly he had an insane work ethic, a level of focus and clarity that few could match, and an unwavering amount of commitment. The Michael Phelps diet legend was just that, legend, according to the swimmer.

12,000 CALORIES PER DAY? NOT SO MUCH.

The New York Post was the first to run a story on Phelps’ reported binge eating, with news outlets from Men’s Health to NBC all taking the story and running with it in the vignettes before and during the Beijing Games. In the article that ran the Post wrote that Phelps would consume 4,000 calories per meal. Here is what the Post ran as Phelps’ diet (which upon reading is ridiculous) – Michael Phelps Diet

In numerous interviews since then Phelps has refuted the calorie bonanza as a myth, as a story that was overblown. In an interview with Ryan Seacrest before the London Games Phelps chuckled at the supposed fact, telling Seacrest – [blockquote]“I never ate that much. It’s all a myth. I’ve never eaten that many calories. I wish! It’s just too much though. It would be impossible.”[/blockquote] Seacrest’s reply is typical of what many people probably felt upon reading the smorgasbord that Phelps allegedly stuffed himself with on a daily basis, while also managing to keep the swimmer figure – six pack and all – [blockquote source="Ryan Seacrest"]“Good, because I was starting to really loathe you, that you could eat all of this.”[/blockquote] His actual diet may have included a lot of pizza and carb-heavy foods in the past, but during his prep for London, where he wasn’t training as much (“only” six days per week) his nutrition improved. Now his day tends to look more along the lines of this: Michael Phelps Diet 2

]]> 1411 <![CDATA[What Will Smith Has to Teach You About Achieving Your Swim Goals]]>

We all are capable of achieving greatness.

The path to success is paved with hard work.

Take your goals and break them down. Take things one day at a time.

Your main contribution in life should be on creating positive change and contributions.

Believing you can achieve big things is paramount.

What we think, we do.

Laser like focus is critical.

If something scares you, attack it.

Guard your dreams.

And a couple of my favorite quotes from the compilation-- [blockquote source="Will Smith"]Being realistic is the most commonly traveled road to mediocrity.[/blockquote] [blockquote source="Will Smith"]Where I excel, is a ridiculous, sickening work ethic.[/blockquote] [blockquote source="Will Smith"]It's very simple. This is what I believe. I am willing to die for it. Period. That simple.[/blockquote] Enjoy-- [youtube]http://youtu.be/2qySNY02wIY[/youtube]]]> 1415 <![CDATA[Kieren Perkins Scrapes Into Finals in Atlanta, Repeats as 1500m Champ]]> world record in the 400m freestyle, 800 freestyle and 1500 freestyle (the latter two in the same race at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria), he fought through illness during the Australian Olympic Trials to qualify for the team headed to Atlanta.

The 1500m free heat swim that summer in Atlanta was painful, both physically and mentally. Perkins struggled mightily, fighting off stomach cramps that made turning a gut-wrenching experience. Mentally he would later admit that he was ready to give it all up. In an interview with the Herald Sun since then, he would explain the mental struggle that took place in the course of the 15 minutes that morning in Georgia – [blockquote source="Kieren Perkins"]By the time I got midway through that heat I had decided I wasn't good enough, if I couldn't win the heat I wasn't going to win the final, and if I couldn't win the final then better not to be there - just to disappear quietly into the sunset and pray people remembered the time before and not remember this one. I decided I didn't want to be in the final and while I didn't give up, I didn't push as hard as I otherwise would have. [/blockquote] Over the next 24 hours Perkins would go through an emotional roller coaster. Where there was once the steely reserve of a champion was now a crippling storm of self-doubt. Perkins was undergoing a crisis of self-confidence while on the biggest stage of his life.

THE CHAMP IS HERE

After the heat swims were completed, the defending champion had squeezed into the final, taking the 8^th and final spot by less than a quarter of a second. Pundits all but wrote him off as a “has been”, claiming that the sun had set on Perkins’ legendary run as world distance king. Once the storm inside his head had a chance to calm itself, Perkins found himself able to regain his focus in the hours before the final, where he would be up against countryman Daniel Kowalski who was now considered the favorite to win gold. Perkins walked out on to the pool deck that night in ATL with a clear head, and a clear focus on swimming as best a race he could, nothing more, nothing less. [blockquote]I realised what I had to do was just go out there and swim the best that I could, and if I do, that everything would be OK. It wouldn’t matter where I came, I would have given my personal best on the day and I could live with that.[/blockquote] From lane eight Perkins swam to win from the very beginning, taking the lead at the outset and never giving it up. Perkins would touch first in 14:56.40, with Kowalski winning the silver. Perkins would be the second Australian of all-time to win an individual event at successive Olympic Games. Dawn Fraser was the first, having won the 100 freestyle in 1956-1960-1964. Perkins would almost match Fraser’s feat 4 years later, when during the Sydney Olympics he would place second behind country-man Grant Hackett in the mile, marking the end of a dominating run by one of the all-time distance greats. Here is video of Perkins race in 1996-- [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPmkYBLHpqw[/youtube]]]> 1419 <![CDATA[Franklin and Cal Women Upset by USC, Bounce Back Against UCLA]]> Missy Franklin would ever lose in a dual meet, but such is the format of collegiate swimming, where a rounded out team is more powerful than any swimming starlet, no matter how high her wattage may be. The University of California Golden bears – who top the power rankings of Division 1 teams – were trounced by the USC Trojans in Los Angeles last weekend, with the hosts taking the Bears to task, winning by over 60 points – 180.5 to 119.5. The Cal women won only 4 of the 16 events. The lady Bears, who went into the away meet undefeated in dual meets so far, were riding the success of having beat Arizona by over 80 points the week before. Missy Franklin had one individual win, and in an event that she very rarely competes in – the 1000 yard freestyle, where she’d win in a season best 9:47.44, while also placing 5^th fastest all time within the women Cal’s ranks of history. The following day the Cal women traveled cross-town to swim against the Bruins at UCLA, where they would atone for the previous day and get back to their winning ways. Liz Pelton would lead the charge, leading a sweep of the 100 yard backstroke (54.24). They would also sweep the 400 IM, and place 1-2 in the 200 medley relay. To close the meet they would win the 200 yard free relay, with the squad of Franklin, Kaylin Bing, Farida Osman and Cindy Tran breaking the 2009 meet record of 1:31.49 by swimming a 1:30.87. Cal would win the dual meet by reversing the score from the previous day, beating UCLA 180-120 in their second to last dual meet of the season. In an interview with the Daily Cal, head women’s coach McKeever had this to say— “Yesterday, I felt we got caught on our heels, and today we were in a much better place, taking care of our own business and doing what we need to do,” McKeever said. “For the most part, I am really pleased with the results.”]]> 1422 <![CDATA[24 Things You Learn Becoming a Competitive Swimmer]]> Ah yes, the trials and tribulations of being a competitive swimmer. At this time of year when the days are short, the tan from your winter training camp has long ago faded, and the glory of summer and the outdoor swimming that it brings feels like it will never come, our motivation can start to sag. We begin to look longingly at the shorter seasons of other sports like basketball or football. As a reminder of why our sport is so special, here are 25 reminders of the things you learn on your way to becoming a kick-butt swimmer-- 1. All you need to swim is a suit and a pair of goggles. Uh, wrong. You need your pullbuoy, kickboard, 4 different sizes of paddles, snorkel, spare goggles, racing suit, drag suit, training suit, flippers, and a garbage-bag sized mesh bag to hold it all in. And then your water bottle, energy drink, post-workout shake and post-workout snack. 2. You won’t always love training, but you’ll always love the results. There will be days when you loathe going to workout, where the last thing you want to do is strap on your suit and bang out another early morning workout, but you will always love the thrill of seeing your hard work pay off in competition. 3. You can deck change faster than Clark Kent in a phone booth. Late for your race? Deck change. Ripped your suit? Deck change. Don’t want to use the locker room with all those grubby public swimmers? Deck change. 4. There really is no better feeling than standing up to anchor a winning relay. Those moments will etch themselves in your memories for life: Standing on the blocks, your brain and stomach exploding with race-time adrenaline while your teammates are going buckwild in the stands. It’s for those moments that we do what we do. 5. There’s hunger pangs, and then there is swimmer hunger pangs. Swimmer’s appetites are legendary, and even though Michael Phelps’ 12,000 calories per day diet was completely overblown, the suggestion that a swimmer could do it was plausible enough that the bogus story was rebroadcast by NBC and other major news sources. 6. That explaining what it is to be a swimmer to your non-swimmer friends is a bit of a lost cause. No, we don’t know Michael Phelps, we don’t swim laps – we swim yards or meters, and yes, you can laugh all you want about the fact we wear a Speedo – we wear it rather happily in the company of fit members of the opposite sex – who are also wearing them. 7. The location of flag poles and pool-side ladders, and awareness of which of your lane mates you need to duck your head and fold your arm when you swim past them. Nothing gets your attention faster than banging your hand against a ladder or a flag pole. Nevermind the moving targets that include paddled-hands, and that dude whose breaststroke kick is so wide he could hit both lane lines on either side at the same time. knuckle destroyer 9000

8. Long term planning. The gap between the beginning of the season and championship season for swimmers can be anywhere from 6-11 months. That is a long time. To keep yourself motivated and jacked up to work hard in the pool 10 times a week takes some intelligent planning. Whether it is short term goal setting, focusing on cycle-specific goals, or best of all – taking things one day at a time, swimmers learn how to plan for the long haul. 9. Even though all we wear is a suit, cap and goggles, swimming is not a cheap sport. Travel, hotels, swim fees all add up, especially considering that swimming is not a 3-4 month season, it features 11 months of travel and competitions to help mom and dad’s pocket get a whole lot lighter in a hurry. 10. Pool deck space at meets is first-come, first-serve. Nothing like a 1500 person swim meet to be held at a tiny 25 yard pool to make you feel like you are apartment hunting in Hong Kong. It’s dog-eat-dog, and in order to find enough space place your bag and towel you need to get there nice and early. Late? Looks like you get to put your gear under the stands. Sweet. 11. The importance of laundry. Nothing wakes you completely quicker than putting on a wet suit the next morning. It’s understandable that after a long PM practice the last thing you want to do is empty the metric ton of swim gear in your bag (see #1, #21), but to be fair, no one should expect to make decisions that involve the future when in a state of sizable carb-deficit. 12. When your shoulders go numb and on auto-pilot. During those epically long sets, after the fifth 1000 yard rep, your arms and shoulders lose feeling, and yet you swim on, as though on auto-pilot. 13. Practice is the time where songs go from so-so to the top of your current playlist. If you walk into practice with a song in your head, by the end of practice you can’t wait to go home and download it. Nothing turns a song from lukewarm to “gotta-have’it!” more effectively than singing the chorus of said song a kajillion times over the course of a workout. Which goes to show, if you wanna maintain your hipster status, avoid the top 40 stations on the way into the pool. 14. The awesomeness that is training in your own lane. Oh, the glory to swim in the rarefied waters of your own lane. 15. On the one day of the week you are allowed to sleep in, you totally will… For about an extra 15 minutes. No matter how exhausted your body is, no matter how hard you trained, when that one morning completely off comes around you get an extra fifteen minutes, and not a minute more. Sigh. 16. The shelf-life on moping is very short. Having a bad swim happens to everyone. False starts, DQ, injuries all happen – but when you’re at a swim meet you don’t have time to dwell in negativity – there are more races to race. 17. You’re part of a huge, tight-knit community. You know how motorcyclists and joggers do that thing where they wave at each other when they pass one another? Well, we’re cooler than that. You can buy a motorcycle, or strap on a pair of running shoes and go for a run. Swimmers forge a bond over thousands and thousands of hours in the pool, of long trips in the back of the parents’ mini-van, of the shared triumph of winning a meet. 18. Choosing a lane to warm up in at a meet is an art. I was generally the last person out of the pool during meet warm-ups. The last 15 minutes and the first 15 minutes are almost always the quietest. It’s that middle, the white creamy part of the Oreo, that is a nightmare. Where every single swimmer at the meet is in the pool at the same time, all doing something completely different. 19. Learn a lot about yourself while staring at that black line for hours on end. Not having the constant distraction that slide over us like an avalanche over the course of the day means that we actually get a few minutes alone with our thoughts. 20. Anti-fog goggles? That’s cute. We understand that underwater music players don’t work for serious swimming, anti-fog goggles are a myth, and that messing with a swimmer’s taper is the quickest way to incur their wrath for life. 21. If you have anything to do after practice, you do it before sitting down. Because there is no chance you are moving for at least an hour soon as your butt hits that couch. 22. You’ll learn the rules of the road long before you ever take a road test. Circle swimming? Check. Passing while shoulder-checking and not bumping into the swimmer next to you? Yup. How about swimming in a lane that is reflective of your speed? You know it. 23. Nothing will get you training faster than knowing a cute member of the opposite is watching. “Is that lifeguard checking me out? Wonder if she knows that I’m holding 30’s on this set. Sick.” 24. You’re way tougher than you ever thought imaginable. Coaches can be cruel. They’ll give you a preview of the next day’s workout, which usually runs along the line of a distance fly or free set. That night you’ll lay in bed tossing and turning, visions of failing shoulders and missed intervals splashing around your brain until you wake up the next morning in a cold sweat, thinking of all the excuses you could use to duck out. Eventually you make it to practice, do the assigned warm-up and start the main set. Whether it was the time you did 10x200 fly, or a 5k for time, whatever it was… You did it. Sure, it hurt, you struggled, but you stuck with it and ultimately kicked that set’s butt. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Here are 5 tips for writing a college recruiting letter that doesn’t suck-- 1. Write it yourself. Your parents or your smarty-pants older sister aren’t trying to get recruited, so put pen to paper yourself. Giving the letter your own voice – obviously without dropping the slang and abbreviating that you’d use with friends and family – gives it a sense of authenticity that coaches don’t see in the boilerplate letters they typically receive. 2. Ditch the thought of writing a “perfect” recruitment letter. Writing can be the worst when we imagine that our first draft has to be absolutely perfect. Just write – nobody is going to see the first couple drafts of the letter anyway. Just bang out one out quickly, leave it alone for the night, and then come back tomorrow with some fresh eyes. 3. Start by explaining why you have chosen this particular school and program. Programs value having student-athletes that genuinely want to be a rep for their program (crazy, right?) so show your interest in the school and the team in the opening paragraph. Things such as the academics, the storied history of the institution, and so on. Next mention the program. Why you would like to swim there, any friends or family that have been an athlete there; you get the idea. Instead of beginning your letter by rattling off a list of your own achievements talk about them and their program, and they will be more open to hearing what you have done.

4. Avoid sending out boilerplate letters. Writing “to whom it may concern” at the outset of the letter signifies that you couldn’t be bothered to look up the appropriate contact. Not a great first impression, wouldn’t you say? Almost every program has a website and staff listing, so there really isn’t any excuse to not be able to find the appropriate person to address the letter to. 5. Use spell-check – and then go over it yourself. (Bonus points if you have someone else read it as well.) Think of your college recruitment letter like a resume, or a cover letter. This letter is representative of you, and you are smart, well-spoken and punctual. Just make sure that your letter reflects this as well by going over the grammar and spelling.

Summary:

Write it yourself.
Just start writing.
Start off by talking about the school and the swim program.
Don’t send boilerplate letters or emails.
Spell-check and grammar-check the letter.

[divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

READY TO DOMINATE THE COMPETITION?

YourSwimBook is a log book and goal setting guide designed specifically for competitive swimmers. It includes a ten month log book, comprehensive goal setting section, monthly evaluations to be filled out with your coach, and more. Learn 8 more reasons why this tool kicks butt now. Join the YourSwimBook weekly newsletter and get motivational tips and more straight to your inbox. Sign up for free here.]]> 1515 <![CDATA[Canadian Trials Set to Kick Off]]> nd. The meet is being used as a selection meet for a the two big meets on the international calendar this summer -- the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland and the Pan Pacific Championships which are being held on the Gold Coast, Australia. Trials will also be the qualification/nomination meet for swimmers looking to make the team for multiple international junior events that are also being held this summer, including the Junior Pan Pacs in Hawaii, and the Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, China. Trials runs from April 2-5 and are being held at the same facility that held the 1994 Commonwealth Games, the appropriately named Commonwealth Pool. The pool also was the site of the 2006 Pan Pacific Championships, and is no stranger to fast swimming, with Kieren Perkins breaking two world records at the the ’94 Games, and Canadian Brian Johns breaking the SCM 400IM world record at the CIS Championships in 2003. The facility is the home of Island Swimming, coached by Randy Bennett, who counts two-time Olympic medalist Ryan Coachrane and Alec Page among his athletes, as well as one of the national centres, the Victoria Academy of Swimming. Among the athletes attending are Olympians Cochrane, Page, Martha McCabe, Audrey Lacroix, as well as Etobicoke Swimming’s Brittany MacLean who broke the NCAA record last week in the 1650 yard freestyle. In all just over 500 athletes from 112 different clubs from across Canada will converge on the west coast for a week of fast swimming. You can find the meet program by clicking here, and also view the psych sheets by clicking here. Some interesting changes to note with the format of this event, namely that there will be no scoring whatsoever to determine team winners, and there are no relays either. The 50m stroke events will be contested as they are on the schedule for both international meets later this year.]]> 1523 <![CDATA[Brenau University Swimming Head Coach Blaire Bachman Shares Recruiting Advice]]> Blaire Bachman, head coach at Brenau University's Swimming & Diving program drops by to share some insight and tips on taking your swimming to the collegiate level. Brenau University's program competes in the NAIA, where this past month they placed 4th nationally, while Bachman also shared NAIA's Women's Coach of the Year award. The Golden Tigers fourth place is noted for being the best in program history. Founded in 1878, Brenau University is located in Gainesville, Georgia. The school has an enrollment of just under 3,000 students and has been recognized by The Princeton Review, US News & World Report and Chronicle of Higher Education . What are the biggest mistakes or assumptions student-athletes make during the recruiting process? A potential assumption that a student-athlete may make is that their decision will be easy, but there are many colleges and universities that could be a great fit both academically and athletically; they just have to do some research and decide what's best for them. These days, coaches are seeing more parent involvement in recruiting, and a mistake that could be made is if the student-athlete doesn't get involved in the process. This is the time when a student-athlete gets to ask the coach the tough questions and investigate if this is the program to carry out their collegiate aspirations. What surprises student-athletes most during their first year? What do you find they are least prepared for, or possibly, are most surprised to see/experience? The first year is a complete shift in lifestyle and a test of independence, as a student-athlete is longer being taken care of by their parents. What I've seen student-athletes struggle with most is time management, as they are used to parents telling them when and where to go at what time. I believe what surprises them most is how busy they become with academic and athletic commitments. What are some non-swimming and non-academic questions that you ask athletes during the recruiting process? I enjoy getting to know the individual, not just the swimmer. Questions like what do you do for fun outside of swimming, asking them about an experience or challenge in life they've had to overcome and how it has helped them develop character, and then also asking where they see themselves in 10 years from now and what would they like to accomplish. What is the most important answer you look from a student-athlete when talking to them for the first time? What I look for is an outgoing individual that gives more than one word answers, and can communicate to me the reason they are looking at the university and also, what their goals are for the next four years. I'm a big believer in goals. What are some “red flags” of prospective student-athletes? A red flag would be if a student-athlete doesn't put as much emphasis and importance on academics when making a decision about a college/university. Ultimately, they are looking to attend school to receive a degree and it is important that they are driven in both respects, to achieve high academic success and athletic achievement. What does your school offer that is unique or special from other institutions? What makes your program and team culture unique from other swim teams? Brenau University is member of the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) and is fortunate to be able to offer student-athletes the degrees of larger universities, but with a smaller and more individualized academic atmosphere. The same goes for our team, we have had the opportunity give athletes from around the world a platform to grow and develop their talents to become the best in the NAIA, while receiving individualized attention from coaches and staff. Being a women's college & program is unique in itself and one we take pride in that! Our team is much like a family, leaning on each other for support and encouragement in achieving individual and team goals. Outside of swimming and academic performance, what most impresses you about a new recruit? What impresses me most is maturity, it is a personality trait that takes life experiences to gain, and if an athlete already possesses that, then she/he will be able to handle the commitment to becoming a collegiate athlete more easily. What is the best piece of advice you could give for someone about to go through the recruiting process? Best advice would be to enjoy the process, get involved, ask questions and ultimately follow your heart when it comes time to make a decision! ]]> 1527 <![CDATA[Augustana College Swimming's Scott Johannsen Shares His Favorite Recruiting Advice]]> Scott Johannsen of Augustana College Swimming & Diving program drops by to share some recruiting tips and insight. He just completed his 6^th season at Augustana. Over the course of the 2013-2014 season the Vikings broke 23 school records, and for the second straight year placing 4^th at the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Championships this past February. Augustana College is a private liberal arts college based out of Rock Island, Illinois, and the Vikings, who compete in Division III, have both a men's and women's swim team. What are the biggest mistakes or assumptions student/athletes make during the recruiting process? I think the biggest mistake made during the recruiting process is not keeping the lines of communications open. When I talk to a recruit the first thing I do is introduce myself and my program. I talk about how I do things at Augustana College. I talk about my training philosophy, the importance I place on the academic side of college and a complete over view of the team make up. I try to give a clear description of what being a part of the Augustana program is all about. The whole time during that initial conversation I keep asking the athlete if they have any questions and I also ask what is important to them, what they want out of swimming in college. It is hopefully a very open conversation. At the end of the conversation, I remind them that this conversation started because I feel they would make a good fit with my program. I have already seen their times and know what they are capable of. I then tell them that the ball is now in their court, if they like what I have told them about the Augustana program, then the more they communicate with me the more I will continue to communicate with them. Communication is as simple as keeping me updated on how their season is going, what meets they have coming up, any questions they have about the school or the swimming program. I will always respond to a recruit. It is when I don’t hear from a recruit that sends a signal to me. If I don’t hear from a recruit that tells me that either the school is not for them or the swimming program doesn’t fit what they are looking for. That is perfectly understandable, however I am not going to continue to call or communicate if there is not genuine interest. My advice, if you are the slightest bit interested in any college program, communicate regularly with the coach or the coaching staff. What surprises student/athletes most during their first year? What do you find they are least prepared for, or possibly, are most surprised to see/experience. I think the biggest adjustment that most freshmen have to make is being treated as an adult. At the college level you are expected to be on time to your scheduled activities. We expect you to be on time to practice, on time to class, where ever you need to be. We also expect you to be prepared. If you have morning practice, I expect you on the deck ready to go when practice starts. I don’t care whether you were up late and are tired. You need to know how to manage your time and get things done so you can get a good night sleep so you can have a productive practice. Mommy and Daddy aren’t here to tell you when to go to bed or when to study. It is all up to you. I find that freshmen are least prepared for the rigors of the academics during their first term on campus. It is not subject matter that is difficult; it is learning what college instructors expect. In high school a good student could usually write a paper the night before it was due. As long as they had a good idea of the subject matter they usually received a good grade. In college the instructors expect you to thoroughly know your subject matter; you are not going to BS your way through a paper in college. What are some non-swimming and non-academic questions that you ask athletes during the recruiting process? During the initial conversation with a student/athlete I always ask them to tell me a little about themselves away from the pool. I already know about their swimming, what they like to do. Sometimes I have to coax it out of them; I want to know about their families, do they participate in other sports, involved in community activities, clubs at school or anything that is important to them. By asking this question I can find out ways to make this athlete feel comfortable about Augustana as a school and as a team. I may know that someone on the team shares those same types of interests, I may know of an organization on campus that is a good fit. Deciding on what college to attend is a big decision, there is more to the college experience than just swimming and class work. College is where you really learn about yourself, knowing that others share your ideas and passion makes for a better overall fit. What is the most important answer you look for from a student/athlete when talking to them for the first time? I don’t listen for any specific answer to any specific question, I listen for passion. I want an athlete that is passionate about swimming and being a student. I want someone who has goals both in the pool and out. I want someone that wants to be the very best they can be and is willing to give the effort that it takes to reach those goals. I want a team player that is willing to work hard and push and be pushed by their teammates. Going to college and swimming in college is a privilege, not a right. You have to enjoy and want to go to the next level. What are some “red flags” of prospective student/athletes? The biggest “red flag” is attitude. I will end a conversation or a relationship quickly if the student/athlete I am talking to comes across that they are too good for my school or program. Don’t get me wrong I like a little cocky attitude, every athlete has a little bit in them. I don’t like arrogance. You have to remember, that as a coach I have researched your times, I know how fast you are. I am talking to you because I feel that you would be a good fit for my program, a good asset for which to continue to build my program. I firmly believe that attitude is a big part of being a competitor; you have to believe in yourself, your training and your abilities. Just make sure your attitude reflects you in a positive image. What make your program and team culture unique from other swim teams? What makes the swimming program at Augustana unique is our pure sprint based philosophy. When I say sprint based I mean completely sprint based. I believe that what you do in practice, you will do in a meet. If you want to swim fast you need to train fast, it is that simple. Here is how a typical season progresses at Augustana College. This year the men’s team reached the 18^th national ranking during the season in division III. The first week of the season we will do nothing but 25’s. We won’t do one single flip turn. We will swim 25’s as hard and fast as we can go; we will do them on a little rest, a lot of rest and everything in between. We will do stroke, kicks, under waters, you name it but it will be as fast as you can go, all out effort. The next week we will move to 50’s with the same type of intensity. We will progress throughout the season adding 25 yards each week to our sets. By the end of the season we are sprinting 500’s on a regular basis. Now if you think about the events in college, there is only one championship event longer than the 500 and that is the 1650. Our milers train right along with our sprinters. At Augustana we train the way we want to race, fast! Sprint training is a season long process; we aim for championships and learn how to swim fast throughout the season. Sprint training is both physical and mental. An athlete has to learn how to sprint when they are tired, how to take a race out fast and have the confidence that they can finish fast as well. We train the way we want to race, HARD & FAST. We live by the motto, Sprint, Die, Repeat. This past year the men’s and women’s teams broke 23 school records, last year 14, the year before 10. I just completed my 6^th season at Augustana and every year the talent levels get better and better. Next year I expect to make a big splash at the national meet. What does your school offer that is unique or special from other institutions? The nice thing I like about Augustana College is that it is a select private liberal arts school. I like the fact that I interact with the faculty on a regular basis and can keep a close eye on my athlete’s academic progress. One area of study that the swimming program seems to attract is those with a biology base, Pre- Medicine, Pre-Veterinary, Pre – Dentistry etc. I know the national average to get into the first two graduate programs of your choice is 46%, at Augustana it is 74%. Swimmers are usually good students with high career goals. It is fun working with them both as a student and as an athlete. Outside of swimming and academic performance, what most impresses you about a new recruit? The recruit that knows what he or she wants out of life impresses me. They know what they want to be when all the swimming and studying is over. I like a recruit that knows what they want and knows that it will take hard work to get there and is willing to put forth the effort. In life, effort is everything; if you want to be a great swimmer, you need to put forth the effort. If you want to be a great student, you need to put forth the effort. If you want a great career, you need to put forth the effort. If you want a great family life, you need to put forth the effort. Nobody is going to hand you anything; if you want it, go out and take it. That impresses me the most. I am more impressed with the average swimmer that works hard than the talented swimmer that is lazy and wastes their talents. In the long run, hard work beats talent, when talent doesn’t work hard. What is the best piece of advice you can give to someone about going through the recruiting process? The best advice I can give is to keep the lines of communication open. Ask questions when you have questions, don’t assume anything. Making the decision where to attend college is a big one, you have to feel comfortable with the coach, the school, the team, everything. Don’t try to impress anyone; the coach has contacted you because you have the swimming talent to be an asset to their program. Be honest in knowing what you want out of your college experience.]]> 1537 <![CDATA[The Legacy of the '94 Commonwealth Games for Canadian Swimming]]> Michael Phelps, and Aaron Piersol gracing the board of records that hangs at the west end of the pool. Six swimming world records also tumbled at that meet, and would have likely been more had the Australians sent a full squad. (In all 8 world records – including Kieren Perkins double at the ’94 Games - have been set at the pool in the past 20 years.) When not being used for high competition meets, the pool serves as training base for Island Swimming, coached by Randy Bennett. Island has a strong history on the Canadian swimming national scene, and in recent years they have been particularly dominant, sending 7 swimmers to the 2012 London Olympics. Showing that the legacy comes in forms other than operating capital and facilities, Ryan Cochrane, two time Canadian Olympic medalist in the 1500m freestyle, remembers being in the stands during the ’94 Games. Cochrane told Swimming Canada recently, “I just remember how big an event it was,” he said. “One of the most interesting things for me as a child was learning all the different sports that were available. Just being able to go to the pool and seeing what a big event it was and all those world class athletes. I have pretty fond memories.” Numerous other high performance clubs utilize the facility, including the National centre squads for diving, synchronized swimming, the University of Victoria varsity team, and Pacific Coast Swimming, another elite club team coached by former Olympian Ron Jacks. Jacks coached open water swimmer Richard Weinberger to a bronze medal in the 10k at the London Games, making both medals that came from swimming in London from Victoria-based athletes. (Weinberger has since moved to the National centre in Vancouver.) As the week of swimming comes to an end tomorrow night, and another generation of swimmers are inspired and motivated from those cruising up and down the hollowed lanes of Saanich Commonwealth Place, it’s great to see how far the facility has come in producing talent, and makes one proud in knowing that even more are to come.]]> 1540 <![CDATA[Katerine Savard Breaks National Record in 100 Fly; Cochrane Cruises Through]]> Katerine Savard of Potn Rouge, Quebec lowered her own national record in the 100m butterfly in a time of 57.27. Savard's swim improved on her own record that she set last summer in the heats at the FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Spain. She led the race from the start, taking off to an early lead. She was nearly exactly on pace at the turn, before bringing it back 5/100's of a second faster. Afterwards Savard said she was pleased at her early-season speed, which bodes well for her heading into the two big meets later this summer, both being held in August. The time she posted was the second fastest in the world so far this year, with only Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden having posted a quicker time in 2014 (56.53). Savard placed 5th in this event at World Championships last summer. Audrey Lacroix, another stalwart in the Canadian female butterfly scene, placed second in 58.69. Her time was fast enough to place her on both teams. On the men's side of things, Ryan Cochrane continued his domination of the freestyle events, winning the 400m freestyle rather handily in a time of 3:47.30. He won convincingly, and a full three seconds under the qualification time set forth by Swimming/Natation Canada. Cochrane was joined by two of his club teammates from Island Swimming on the podium. Jeremy Bagshaw, who is coming off of a successful appearance at NCAA's last week, placed second in 3:51.09. Peter Brothers placed 3rd in 3:54.57. Bagshaw just missed the qualifying time of 3:50.87. Brittany MacLean, who like Bagshaw killed it at NCAA's a couple weeks ago, proved that she could handle the back-to-back meets, winning the 400m freestyle to add to her 200m title from earlier in the meet. She led from the get go, with the Etobicoke Swimming athlete winning by over 4 seconds in 4:06.20. The time places her 5th in the world at the moment, not far behind American Katie Ledecky's 4:04.46. The last night of finals takes place tonight, quickly followed by a full team announcement of all the swimmers who will be attending Commonwealth Games and Pan Pacs later this summer.]]> 1544 <![CDATA[MacLean Demolishes 800 Free National Record in Final Night of Canadian Trials]]> Brittany MacLean continued her week of domination on night 4 of the Canadian Swimming Trials, winning the 800m freestyle in a Canadian record time of 8:24.91. MacLean, who was representing Etobicoke Swimming, bounced off of a massive week of swimming representing the University of Georgia at NCAA Championships to lower the second oldest national record on the women's side. The former record was set by another Brittany, this one with the last name Reimer, back in 2005. MacLean and Edmonton Keyano Swim Club's Tabitha Baumann took the race out from the get-go and were both well under the record at the halfway mark. MacLean thundered through the backhalf, extending her lead on Baumann while also putting more distance between herself and the record set in '05. Her final time of 8:24.91 was a three second shave off of Reimer's mark, and also places her among the top 5 in the world so far this year. Given her rate of improvement it will be very exciting to see what she can do this summer when she has a chance to go head to head with the current world record holder in the event, Katie Ledecky. The 50m freestyle for women saw veteran Victoria Poon (PPO) touch just six one-hundredths above that top-16 standard of 25.23 in 25.29. Poon has already qualified for this summer's meets with her 100m freestyle victory earlier in the meet. Sandrine Mainville was just a sliver back of Poon in 25.30, with Chantal Vanlandeghem claiming 3rd. The men's splash and dash saw Yuri Kisil of Cascade complete the 1-2 sprint freestyle combo, winning in a time of 22.53. It was a best time for Kisil, who had the most entertaining post-race interviews of the competition. Laid back and confidant, Kisil, or the "Intercontinental Ballistic Kisil" as he is known by teammates, looks to be one of the promising young sprint freestylers in what is otherwise a fairly depleted sprint freestyle core in Canada. Kyle Troskot (LASC) overcame a pronounced stutter on the start -- Luke Peddie of UBCD false started next to him, which gave Troskot that momentary of hesitation of "do I go or do I stop" -- to storm back in 22.77 to gain silver. I cannot help but think that he would have been at least a few tenths faster if not for the false start next to him. In the women's 200 IM, Erika Seltenreich-Hodgson (UBCD) posted a best time swimming a 2:12.26, dropping 3/4's of a second on her best which was done two years ago. The time puts her in the top 10 in the world this year. Marni Oldershaw (OAK) placed second in 2:13.72, with Sidney Pickrem in third in 2:13.78. The men's 200 IM saw bright up-and-comer Evan White of Oakville Aquatics destroy the field swimming a 1:59.84, beating the top 16 standard of 1:59.99, and also places him in the top 3 in the world for 2014 so far. Four seconds back were Luke Reilly in 2:03.79 and David Riley in 2:04.19. Hometown swimmer Ryan Cochrane easily cleaned up the 1500m freestyle, winning in 15:01.72 in what was a controlled swim. He swam the race largely solo, which was a marked difference from World Championship Trials in 2013 (in the same pool, as well) where he was pushed by Island Swimming teammates Will Brothers and Eric Hedlin. Brothers picked up silver in 15:15.35, which was outside of the qualifying time of 15:13.98.]]> 1550 <![CDATA[Australians Name 2014 Commonwealth Games Squad]]> James Magnussen and Cate Campbell, Cam McEvoy, breaststroker Christian Sprenger, as well as Dave and Emma McKeon. (Sprint veteran Eamon Sullivan, who won the 50m freestyle after taking a year off from the sport, is a tentative yes; he needs to pass a physical in the upcoming weeks after a 3rd shoulder operation in the less than a year and a half.) The Australians, in their Australian Sports Commission Winning Edge Report which was issued last week, set an objective of winning 53 medals, which high performance director Michael Scott acknowledged would be a tough challenge. He puts emphasis on the fact that much has changed since the disappointing London Games. Scott told the Saturday Morning Herald, "We do now have leaders, stronger leaders who support what we as the head of the team want." The mark of 53, while challenging, is certainly achievable. Four years ago at the the Games held in New Delhi the Aussies cleaned up with 54 medals. The squad of 2014 will have 15 rookies amongst their ranks. Sullivan, along with Sprenger and Sally Hunter are the oldest at the age of 28. Paralympic champion Maddison Elliot is on the other spectrum of age at 15 years old. The opening ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games are July 23rd, with the swimming events beginning on July 24th.]]> 1552 <![CDATA[Return to Form for Eamon Sullivan]]> 1560 <![CDATA[Bob Bowman – Characteristics of Champions (Video)]]> Michael Phelps' long time coach, shares what he believes are the core characteristics of champions, whether in the pool, the field, or the boardroom. In this 18 minute speech given for Chicago Ideas Week, Bowman talks about what it is to be successful. He shares some anecdotes about Phelps, his development from a precocious 12 year old, and the planning process that took Phelps from being an age-grouper to the most successful Olympian of all time. Some of the highlights:

Physical characteristics are not as important as what is going on in the
Champions welcome challenges. A lot of what happens in the course of becoming a successful athlete are associated with failure. What we see on television during a gold-medal winning race is simply the end product of a pile of failures and setbacks.
Champions produce predictable performances in unpredictable circumstances.
Champions practice success on a daily basis on an emotional, physical and mental level. The process is more important than the outcome. The process is controllable, the outcome is largely dependent on what others are doing.
Champions have a dream. They are passionate about what they want. The dream ignites the creative process.
Champions make the correct decisions on a daily basis.
The importance of goal setting. Not only long term goals, but the more immediate, short term goals

Perhaps the quote that sticks out in terms of chasing your goals is— What are you going to do right now? Enjoy: ]]> 1564 <![CDATA[Why Core Strength Will Make You a Faster Swimmer]]> SEE ALSO: Top 5 Core Strength Exercises for Swimmers

Whether we are talking about improving your dolphin kick, your start, or the amount of propulsion generated through your pull, it all originates from one place – the power plant of your body, the core. Movement begins at the core, at the centre, and moves outwards from there. When you rotate side to side while doing freestyle, when you are pulling your heels to your butt during a breaststroke kick; each of these movements uses your core to initiate and execute. The benefits of having a strong core go far beyond the pool, as you will learn briefly. Here are 4 ways that improved core strength will help you perform better in the water (and in life!)— Stability and balance in the water. A strong core gives you greater stability and balance. This occurs because the core acts as a stabilizer to the pelvis and spine. As mentioned previously, any and all movements – and we are talking non-swimming movements as well such as walking, running, and lifting – pass through the centre of your body. Keeps you streamlined. Try streamlining with a loose (unflexed) mid-section. Now do it while sucking in your belly button and engaging your glutes. Feel the difference? You should! Having an engaged mid-section puts you in a rigid streamline. Beyond the pool this means that you will have improved posture, something that most swimmers I know could benefit from. (On a personal note, I suffered from nagging shoulder issues for years. I saw several different physical therapists and chiropractors, who prescribed painful deep tissue massage and various mobility exercises. It wasn’t until a grad student at UVic suggested I simply try to have better posture. Sometimes it literally is the simple answer that is the correct one.) Injury prevention. Nothing ruins a swimmer’s day faster than a sharp pang in one of the shoulder joints. Having a developed core means the body is straight and aligned, reducing the stress on joints and muscles. More power, for longer. The benefit that will most appeal to you is this one. A strong core allows greater power from the outer muscles and limbs, including the arms for the pull, and the legs for your kick. Having increased core strength will come in very helpful for when you become fatigued in your swimming. Keeping the glutes engaged will keep your kick going, and the improved body position will help you keep your stroke together for longer.

About YourSwimBook

Coach Groden has been the head coach at Boston College's swim program - which has both a women and men's squad - since he started the program upon his own graduation in 1972. Since then he has become the most successful coach of any sport at Boston College, with over 600 wins and counting under his belt. He also is in sole possession of most wins by any NCAA swim coach in history. Last month at the ACC Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, the Eagles placed 11th on the strength of their relay teams which all scored. At that same meet Melissa Merwin would set an ACC conference meet record in the 50 yard breaststroke, swimming 30.71 in a time trial. What are the biggest mistakes or assumptions student-athletes make during the recruiting process? With me – it is that it is not all about times. We have no scholarship monies and absolutely no say on Financial Aid. We tell PSA’s that the most important part of the process is their demonstrated interest. What surprises student-athletes most during their first year? What do you find they are least prepared for, or possibly, are most surprised to see/experience? Often frosh get overwhelmed academically. For most it is the first time away from home and they let that “freedom” become a distraction. What is the most important answer you look from a student-athlete when talking to them for the first time? Not really looking for answers – I look for questions. I do not start the process with anyone. All kids I speak with have come to BC. I look for questions that indicate an interest in BC being where they spend their next four years – studying and swimming. What are some “red flags” of prospective student-athletes? Kids whose interest seems to be elsewhere. To many questions about non-swim/non-academic info like Boston, Junior Year abroad, social life, football, etc. Example Jr Yr Abroad. I have five kids this year that went abroad – all five chose programs that did not conflict with the swim season. Four went to New Zealand/Australia since it does not start until March and one chose an Italian semester that also did not start until March. What makes your program and team culture unique from other swim teams? I don’t like to think of it as a unique culture. All programs have requirements and commitments that vary. We run our program as we see fit. I answer all questions to let the interested PSA evaluate what we do – so they can see if it is what they wish to do. What does your school offer that is unique or special from other institutions? Boston College is a great school where you can get a great education in a safe setting with Boston available to you. Unique/different about our program: 1. Five swim workouts a week (out of ten offered so Academics work with swimming) 2. Sunday night practice held in conjunction with a meeting. 3. Wednesdays and Saturdays off 4. Key word in the Off-Season is Off. No practices after ACC’s or during the summer. 5. Kids stay with the program – by choice. No scholarships so they return in the fall because they want to continue to swim for Boston College. 6. Kids improve as much here as they do anywhere. We broke over forty school records the last two seasons. Outside of swimming and academic performance, what most impresses you about a new recruit? That he or she came prepared. I have a very complete and comprehensive website. When that high school junior or senior visits and has an excellent list of questions – prepared to ask – that impresses me. What is the best piece of advice you could give for someone about to go through the recruiting process? I tell this to kids all the time. The Recruiting Process is for you – not for the coach or the school. Keep yourself as the key and understand that your swimming ability is a talent you possess and use it to help you find the right school for you where that talent helps you get admitted. Eighty-five percent of the kids on my teams would not be students at BC if they weren’t swimmers/divers. Despite that they are better students than the average BC student (by comparing the team GPA to the University’s GPA. They understand this and strive to succeed academically along with athletically. ]]> 1579 <![CDATA[Behind the Scenes with Alex Meyer, US Open Water Swimming Champion]]> ]]> 1582 <![CDATA[How to Stop Being a Negative Nelly at the Pool]]> It’s not fair, it’s too hard, so-and-so doesn’t have to do it, why do I? And so on and so forth. This type of behaviour is toxic and counter to producing a positive and productive team atmosphere. Here are five ways to help make the environment you train in more positive, encouraging, and ultimately successful for not only yourself, but your teammates as well-- 1. Stop comparing yourself to other swimmers. This is a competitive sport, after all, so this can be profoundly difficult. We are constantly comparing ourselves to other swimmers, to time standards, to records. Don’t allow others to dictate the way you feel about your swimming. Concentrate on what you can control, and the results will come. Focus exclusively on the performance of others and you’ll find yourself psyching yourself out long before you jump into the pool for warm-up at your next competition. 2. Re-examine the people you are hanging out with. Are the swimmers and friends you surround yourself with professional naysayers? Constantly doubting everything – whether it is the set coach just scrawled on the board, how fast a certain swimmer actually went at a certain meet, or worse, deriding your goals and ambitions in the pool and beyond? It’s time to evaluate whether you want to have that type of influence in your day-to-day like. We like to imagine that we are immune to the influence of others, but this is deluding ourselves. We absorb the negativity from people around us, so do yourself and your swimming a favor and give yourself the best chance to develop and steer clear of those Debbie Downers. 3. Re-frame the way that you talk to yourself. How often do you catch yourself saying, “I can’t do this. I was kidding myself to think I was capable of finishing this set. I don’t have the talent to do it.” That little voice in the back of our head can really get in the way at times, and if left unchecked, can deter you from giving a full effort or pushing past your self-imposed boundaries. 4. Be part of creating a positive atmosphere. Here’s a fun fact for ya – I’m not talking about the swimmer that cheers after each set and repeat, the faux cheeriness tends to illicit that opposite intended effect (see: rage, annoyance). Rather, support your teammates and lane-mates in the midst of challenging sets and workouts. Even a simple “Let’s do this” can be enough to help a teammate that is struggling to finish a set. Be the change and you will reap the rewards ten-fold. 5. Bounce Back like a boss. We all have those awful swims and workouts. Where we expected better from ourselves and came up short on our expectations. Often times it’s something we have little control over; a debatable DQ, an injury, illness, family drama. In the after-math of said swim or crap practice, do what you gotta do to cool off and get back on it. Go mope in the showers for a few minutes. Scream underwater while you warm down. Do what you gotta do to vent out your frustration, reset your emotions and bounce back.]]> 1585 <![CDATA[Ian Thorpe Battling Shoulder Infections]]> SEE ALSO: How to Prevent Swimmer's Shoulder

(Even though Thorpe's agent James Erskine has been telling Australian news sources that Thorpe is not in intensive care, there are numerous sources saying otherwise. Erskine also told the media Thorpe was not in rehab a couple months back, until admitting a couple days later that Thorpe actually was.) The Thorpedo, widely beloved in his home country of Australia, and the most decorated star in Aussie swimming history, was the star of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, where he won the 400m freestyle in world record time, and was also part of the gold medal winning 4x100m freestyle relay that unseated the Americans for the first time in the history of the race. He is one of the few swimmers in the world to truly capitalize on his success in the pool, becoming a spokesman and television personality in subsequent years. He has made a couple ill fated comeback attempts, the most recent in 2012. And whether or not Thorpe was planning on making another run at swimming competitively, the shoulder surgery would indicate that that option is now closed. As Erskine told Aussie media outlet APP, "The shoulder operation was a major operation; he's got as many plates as Barry Sheene [the now deceased world champion motorcycle rider]." ]]> 1588 <![CDATA[The Top 10 Swimming Moments from the London Olympics]]> 1. The Missile Runs into an A-Bomb. Australia’s James Magnussen had been on a roll leading up to the London Games. He was defending world champion in the blue-ribbon event, the 100m freestyle, and his world leading time of 47.10 looked absolutely unbeatable. Bremerton, Washington’s Nathan Adrian would end up having something to say about that, out-touching the Aussie by 1/100^th of a second at the finish, relegating the heavy favourite to second place. 2. Ye Shiwen Turns Heads and Raises Suspicions. The performances of the Chinese women will always be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism after the rampant and systemic doping during the early 1990’s. As a result, when Ye Shiwen, a previously unknown 16 year old not only won the 400m individual medley, but also out-split the men’s winner (Ryan Lochte of the USA) in the final 100m of freestyle, astonishment turned quickly to suspicion of foul play. Shiwen would also win the 200m individual medley, but so far her drug tests administered during the Games have come back negative. 3. Emergence of Ledecky and Franklin. The Olympics often act as launching pads for the careers of swimmers, and nowhere was this more apparent than with two American teenagers, Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky. Franklin would become the darling face of the Games for the US women (popularized in no doubt by the viral lip-sync members of Team USA did to “Call Me Maybe”), winning 4 gold medals (two in WR time) and a bronze medal. Ledecky would later win the 800m freestyle (turning at the 400 mark in a time that would have placed her 5^th in the individual event), in a performance that would tee up her swimming in Barcelona a year later. 4. Lochte vs. Phelps. Truthfully, mainstream swimming fans were probably a little disappointed with the lack of vitriol that this fabricated rivalry produced. In the months leading up to the Games there were endless features on how the hold on Phelps’ throne was in jeopardy, how Phelps was done, and about the intensity of a rivalry that was much friendlier than the vignettes let on. At the Games Phelps would bow to Lochte in the 400IM, with the defending champion placing a disappointing fourth out of lane 8. Phelps would turn things around after that first day (the US men also would lose the 4x100 free relay) to best Lochte in the 200IM. 5. Le Clos Takes the Torch from Phelps. In the men’s 200m butterfly, a race that Michael Phelps had utterly owned for over a decade, a youngster who Phelps himself had inspired to take up the sport, would out-swim the legend and beat him at his own race. South African Chad le Clos would touch third at the 150m mark, before reeling in Phelps and out-touching him by 5 hundredths of a second, stopping Phelps bid to become the first man to win the same individual race at the consectuive Olympics. 6. Van der Bergh admits to cheating (everybody does it!). In the men’s 100m breaststroke Cam Van der Burgh would out swim the field, including Australia’s Christian Sprenger, partly thanks to a series of underwater dolphin kicks the South African swimmer used off the one turn in the race. Van der Burgh quite freely admitted to it afterwards, knowing that FINA wouldn’t disqualify him based on video review. Van der Burgh insisted that he didn’t really get any additional advantage from doing so, as he claimed that “everybody does it.” 7. Phelps Bids Farewell. (For now.) In the final race of the program, the men’s 4x100m medley relay, Phelps would partner up with Matt Grevers, Brendan Hansen and Nathan Adrian to add one last medal to Phelps’ record medal count. As Phelps got up on the medal podium and had his 22^nd Olympic medal draped around his neck, the crowd in London rose and gave Phelps an extended, warm ovation. 8. Adlington carries to hopes of the host nation. Rebecca Adlington, world record holder in the 800m freestyle and also the defending champion in both the 400 and 800 freestyle went into London with a lot on her shoulders. As the only real medal threat for Great Britain in the pool, Adlington would learn how difficult it is to not only repeat, but to do so with the pride of the host nation on her back. She would win the bronze in the 400m free behind Camille Muffat of France, and youngster Katie Ledecky would serve up a preview of her devastating World Championships performance in 2013 when the American teenager would win gold, leaving a disappointed Adlington to collect another bronze. 9. The French win the 50, 200, and 4x100. Two different Frenchman would win two of the sprint freestyle events, with Florent Manaudou, brother of Laure Manaudou who already had Olympic gold in her repertoire, would upset world record holder and world champion Cesar Cielo of Brazil swimming a blazing 21.34. The time makes him the fastest ever in a textile suit. Meanwhile, compatriot Yannick Agnel would utterly dominate the men’s 200m freestyle, destroying the field to take gold in a time of 1:43.14. Agnel would also play a pivotal role in the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, coming back to out-swim Ryan Lochte and the Americans by swimming a ridiculous 46.74, posting the fastest split of the field, and more importantly, winning gold for the French men. 10. Sun Yang Establishes Distance Dominance. After the Australian distance superheroes – Perkins, Kowalski, Hackett – had all hung up their suits, their was no clear consensus on who the next megastar would be in distance swimming. Sun Yang would quickly put that debate to bed, winning the 400m freestyle just outside of Paul Biedermann’s super-suit record from 2009. But it would be the 1500m freestyle where Yang would truly shine. He would shave over three seconds off of Hackett’s 2001 world record of 14:34.56, touching in 14:31.02, and setting himself up to be the first man to break 14:30 at some point.]]> 1592 <![CDATA[A Day in the Life with Canadian Record Holder Savannah King]]> ]]> 1596 <![CDATA[How to Master the Post Race Celebration]]> Great success! High five![/caption] On a personal note, I’ve always been a huge fan of the jump in the pool celebration. Whether it is tossing coach in at the end of a big meet, or doing so as a team after the team points totals are announced. The one that stands out most during my career was back when I was a tween competing at a meet at the Pan Am Pool in Winnipeg. The senior men relay for the Regina Optimist Dolphins had broken the provincial record for the 4x50 medley relay. There was hooting, hollering, and ultimately jumping as the 3 swimmers splashed into the water to join the anchor to celebrate some more in the pool. While joyous, they were also DQ’d for jumping into the pool post-race. Oops. Follow Bottom’s example and practice post-race celebrations the next time you find yourself in the midst of a challenging main set. Here are 8 different post-race celebrations that you can try to get your creative juices flowing-- The I Can’t Believe I Did It (Non-Crying Edition). Nathan Adrian nailed this one at the London Olympics. A big smile, a hand covering your eyes for a moment, and then looking back up at the scoreboard before you tell yourself, “Holy crap, I did it… I actually did it!” If people didn’t love him before, they certainly loved him after his genuine reaction to winning gold. [caption id="attachment_1598" align="alignleft" width="300"]

Waterworks, engage![/caption] The I Can’t Believe I Did It (Crying Edition). Cesar Cielo is known for getting, umm, overly emotional after his races. While some serious thespian skills are required to unleash the water works repeatedly over the course of a practice, there is great dramatic effect to this celebration when applied. The Bird Flip. Duncan Armstrong, in his post-race celebration after the 200m freestyle at the Seoul Olympics mounted a lane rope, and gave the crowd what appeared to be a double middle finger salute. A little crass, but when you come back over the last 50 metres and win Olympic gold over Matt Biondi, who was hyped to be the next Phelps, err, Spitz, in Seoul, you can throw decorum out the window. [caption id="attachment_1600" align="alignleft" width="300"] sun yang 1500m freestyle celebration

Water in my eyes?! The worst![/caption] The Angry Bird. Find a lane rope, prop yourself up on it, and commence flapping your arms up and down against the water, causing a massive splash that lets everyone know that you are, in fact, the man. Sun Yang performed a textbook Angry Bird after his 1500m win in London, where he obliterated the world record by three seconds and nearly became the first man to break 14:30. Bonus points for loud, caveman yelling. The Fist Pump. This one is by far the most common. You can do the quietly satisfied, subtle one-pump, or you can give it a full swing with your arm, to the point that it looks like you may launch it from the socket. Stretch liberally before doing the baseball-pitch fist pump. I’m Number One. Part fist pump, part stoic, a simple raise of the arm, and that lone index finger that proclaims that you are numero uno. If somehow you could stuff a massive foam finger under your block and wield it in your post race party I imagine you would make the late night Sportscenter Top 10. So in other words, worth a try. The Stalin. Stoic to the end, this swimmer looks up at the scoreboard, sees the WR beside their name, and is completely unmoved. No smile, no flapping, just a small nod of the head that signifies mission accomplished. I have always suspected that swimmers who react like this wait until they get back to their hotel room, where they get in the bathtub and perform a 15 minute Angry Bird/Can’t Believe I Did It (Crying Edition) in the company of their gold medal and teddy bear. Or something like that. The Crowd Shout Out. Even if you don’t know anyone in the crowd, pick the best looking member of the opposite sex and give them a point and a smile-- Yeah, you! You know why.]]> 1604 <![CDATA[Georgia Dominates; Cal Women Pick Up the Pieces After Disappointing NCAA Performance]]> BIG TEAM; BIGGER EXPECTATIONS Heading into the 2013-2014 season the Cal women bears were ranked #1, with heavy hitters Franklin, Liz Pelton, Caitlin Leverenz, Rachel Bootsma and seniors Cindy Tran and Steph Au filling out the squad. Pelton is no stranger to high level competition, having competed and medaled at the 2013 FINA World Championships and the 2011 Pan American Games. She was also 2013 NCAA Swimmer of the Year, and secured PAC-12 Freshman of the Year honours. Tran competed last year at the World University Games in Russia, and Au has Olympic experience under her belt.

GEORGIA TAKES THE LEAD EARLY; DOESN’T LOOK BACK

Despite the star-studded line up fielded by Cal, the race for the national title would ultimately never really be a race. The University of Georgia would put on a clinic, repeating as champions that was impressive as it was domination. They took a 50 point lead at the end of the first day, and extended it to 72 points after the second. For her part Franklin showed that she wasn’t invincible (in a yards pool, at least), coming in a tight second in the 500 yard freestyle to Brittany MacLean of Georiga by about a tenth of a second, while also placing 3^rd in the 100 freestyle. Nevertheless, she would win the 200 free in American record fashion, and also anchored the winning 4x200 free relay in a blistering 1:40.08. Afterwards, Franklin was pleased with her race, saying: "I'm absolutely thrilled with that right now. That was an incredible relay to be a part of, there's no better feeling coming in behind as an anchor, to come back and win that one was really great for our team. I think it definitely lifted some spirits." Cal suffered bad luck via a disqualification in the 4x50 medley relay. Their heats time of 1:36.51 would have put them second going into finals, providing for a missed opportunity for points. Bootsma, a favourite to contend for the national title in the 100 backstroke, also failed to advance from the heats and defend her title from last year, adding to a string of disappointments for the lady bears.

GEORGIA’S MACLEAN SEALS THE DEAL

The University of Georgia led handily leading into the final night, with a 72 point lead over Stanford. The timed final of the 1650 free offered a chance for Georgia to put an exclamation point on the meet, and MacLean did not disappoint. Her time of 15:27.84 is the 3^rd fastest ever at the distance, with only Katie Hoff and Katie Ledecky ever having gone quicker. The win for MacLean, which was also an NCAA meet record and also an NCAA record (by eleven seconds), was the fourth time in the past six years that a swimmer from the University of Georgia had won this event. Second place would be her teammate, Amber McDermott in 15:40.27. The final point tally for the women:

Georgia: 528
Stanford: 402.5
Cal: 386
Texas A&M: 336
USC Trojans: 252
Florida: 239
Tennessee: 223
Arizona: 156

]]> 1608 <![CDATA[It's Official - Phelps to Compete at Mesa Grand Prix]]> USA Today on Monday. "I think it'll be great for the sport to have Michael compete again. We really don't have any expectations for what might happen. We just want to have some fun with it and see how it goes." A REVAMPED SCHEDULE For most serious swimming fans, this announcement was a formality. Now the debate moves on to what events Phelps will focus on moving forward. His signature event, the 200m butterfly -- the event that secured him his first Olympic Games appearance in 2000 at the age of 15 -- has been dominated by Chad Le Clos over the past couple of years. It will be interesting to see whether he has interest in retreading old events, or looking at trying his hand out at the short stuff. For now, however, the focus will be on the sprint events as evidenced by Phelps entries in Mesa. Bowman has entered him in both the 100 freestyle and butterfly. "Those are both on the first day, and he'll probably try both of those (preliminaries) in the morning, see how it goes, and maybe do one final if he gets to the finals," Bowman said. "The next day, he's entered (in the 50 free) and will probably do a 50 butterfly. We don't know yet. ENHANCED VISIBILITY OF SWIMMING For essentially everyone involved this is a win-win. Phelps continues to be able to market himself (providing, of course, that he doesn't turn into the declining and aged athlete competing past his prime. But let's be honest, Phelps doesn't strike anyone as such, and is still relatively young), while USA Swimming gets their marquee marketing tool back. Phelps did more to broaden the appeal of swimming than any "Learn to Swim" program or campaign, and the hype and media mayhem that will roll behind him towards Rio (and beyond?) will only serve to expand the popularity of the sport. MESA IS GOING TO GO OFF This meet has turned into the must-see swimming event of the year, with the news of Phelps' return dwarfing coverage of major national championships that are or were recently taking place from Australia to Canada to France. Adding to the hype will be Lochte's first full return to competition. He admitted in Orlando, the last stop on the Arena Grand Prix, that he wasn't fully healed up and prepared after injuring his knee last fall in a freak accident with a fan. The Arena Grand Prix kicks off on April 24th, and runs through until the end of the weekend.]]> 1612 <![CDATA[High Performance Starts and Turns with the AIS]]>

READY TO DOMINATE THE COMPETITION?

]]> 1625 <![CDATA[Just How Jacked Is Katinka Hosszu? This Jacked.]]> world record in the 200m IM was perhaps most impressive, where she dropped 1.4 seconds off of the former world record held by Julia Smith, lowering it a ridiculous 2:03.20. (The World Cup series is held in short course metres.) The most astonishing part of this mark is the FINA points score that the swim tallied - a whipping 1073 points.

Katinka Hosszu - Quick Facts:

Coach: Shane Tusup (also her husband)
Club: Vasas SC (Hungary)
College Team: University of Southern California
Height/Weight: 5'7" (1.7m), 122 pounds (55.5 kg)
Birthdate: May 3, 1989

Here are some images, courtesy of her Facebook page, of just how jacked the Hungarian sensation is--

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

The current world record, held by Cesar Cielo of Brazil, was posted at the FINA World Aquatic Championships in Rome during the summer of 2009, when the sport was engulfed in a state of record setting drunkeness, with nearly 50 world records being demolished at that competition alone. Cielo’s rubber suit time of 46.91has withstood all challengers since then, but Verhaeren says that with Magnussen swimming at “fantastic levels” the record’s days are numbered. Dutch-born Verhaeren, who coached another famous freestyler – Pieter Van den Hoogenband, has been at the helm of the top desk in Aussie swimming since October of 2013 in a year of dropped sponsors, out-of-the-pool inquiries, and a period of sometimes painful reflection in the aftermath of an underwhelming 2012 Olympics performance. Verhaeren told Australia’s ABC that if not for the rubber suits that were prevalent among the world marks set in 2008-2009, Magnussen (as well as Cate Cambell) would already be the respective owners of the 100m free WR. "Cate Campbell and James Magnussen would be world record-holders if we never had those (full-body) swim suits (banned in 2010), so we have virtual world record-holders," Verhaeren said. Campbell, for her part, was undefeated in her best event during the 2013 campaign, and like Magnussen, owns the fastest non-supersuit time among women with a 52.33.]]> 1644 <![CDATA[McEvoy Dashes Magnussen’s Run for the 100m Freestyle World Record]]> SEE ALSO: 100m Freestyle World Record

Magnussen, on the other hand, did not hide his disappointment after the race, eerily reminiscent of the shattered look following his silver medal performance at the London Games where he was out-touched by American Nathan Adrian by 1/100^th of a second despite being heavily favoured to win. He admitted afterwards that he was too preoccupied with trying to break the 100m freestyle world record, instead of beating his country-mate beside him. That record, set by Brazilian Cesar Cielo in Rome at the 2009 FINA World Aquatic Championships, has stood the test of time since then, with Magnussen coming closest prior to the Olympics when he swam a textile best 47.10. However, it seems that when Magnussen is being hyped up to make history he becomes slightly unglued. It happened in 2012 at the Olympics where he lost to Adrian, which combined with the fourth place finish for the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, led to some serious soul-searching for the proud Australian swim program over the course of 2013. It seems to have happened here again, with Magnussen once again pounding out some magical swims, all the way up to the point that it matters most. “I just went about the race the wrong way,” he admitted afterwards. “There’s no big prize for winning a national title. Here I am focusing on time.” Magnussen, despite the second place finish, will have another couple chances to chase that elusive record this summer, with the Commonwealth Games kicking off in a few short months in Glasgow.]]> 1648 <![CDATA[How Tall Do You Have to Be to Hold the 100m Freestyle World Record?]]> SEE ALSO: 100m Freestyle World Record

Below are a list of the past 10 individual world record holders in the men’s 100m freestyle, going as far back as the summer of 1976, when the USA’s Jim Montgomery became the first man to break the 50 second mark in the event, as well as their heights:

NAME	HEIGHT	World Record
Cesar Cielo	6’5 (1.95m)	46.91
Alain Bernard	6’5 (1.95m)	46.94
Eamon Sullivan	6’2 (1.89m)	47.05
Pieter van den Hoogenband	6’4 (1.93m)	47.84
Michael Klim	6’3 (1.91m)	48.18
Alexander Popov	6’6 (1.97m)	48.21
Matt Biondi	6’7 (2.01m)	48.42
Rowdy Gaines	6’1 (1.85m)	49.36
Jonty Skinner	6’5 (1.95m)	49.44
Jim Montgomery	6’3 (1.91m)	49.99
Average	6’4 (1.93m)

On average to be a world record holder in this event you will need to approximately 6’4 inches, and either born in the USA or Australia. However, height is not a predominant indicator of success in this event, as Cameron McEvoy of Australia can attest to. Several months into 2014 he has the fastest time in the world in this event with a 47.65, and he stands “only” 6’1. His countryman, James Magnussen, who has been pegged as the guy to break Cielo's 2009 mark, stands at 6 feet 6 inches. On the women’s side we looked as far back as 1972. The results aren’t entirely fair, as the multiple entries by members of East Germany skew the results with their tainted swims. Ender in particular broke the world record ten consecutive times over a 4 year period from 1972-1976. (Yes, ten times. Ridiculous.) Jingy Le’s swim should also come with an asterisk, as it was set during the early 1990’s when the Chinese women’s allegedly non-state sanctioned doping was running rampant.

NAME	HEIGHT	World Record
Britta Steffen (GER)	5’11 (1.80m)	52.07
Lisbeth Trickett (AUS)	5’7 (1.67m)	52.88
Jodie Henry (AUS)	5’9 (1.76m)	53.52
Inge de Bruijn (NED)	5’10 (1.78m)	53.80
Jingy Le (CHN)	5’10 (1.78m)	54.01
Jenny Thompson (USA)	5’10 (1.78m)	54.48
Kristin Otto (GDR)	6’1 (1.85m)	54.73
Barbara Krause (GDR)	5’11 (1.80m)	54.98
Kornelia Ender (GDR)	5’7 (1.72m)	55.73
Shane Gould (AUS)	5’7 (1.71m)	58.5
Average	5’9 (1.76m)

Current world leader Cate Campbell of Australia stands at 6’1, which is well above the average of 5’9 of the past ten world record holders. Her textile best of 52.33 was posted last year at the FINA World Championships in Barcelona. Campbell has raced under the 53 second mark 7 times now, and it seems like it is only a matter of time before she cracks Steffen’s mark that was done during the supersuit era of 2009.]]> 1653 <![CDATA[Are You Hating on Phelps’ Comeback? If So, Stop.]]> th at the London Games in the 400m IM on the first night of competition it was decided that he was over the hill, past his prime, backseat to a clearly more worthy challenger in Ryan Lochte. (Of course, his 100m fly and 200m IM wins would silent that discussion.)

It’s no surprise that his comeback has been compared to that of another Michael, that being of the Jordan variety. Jordan came back numerous times, after also promising that once he retired the first time that would be it. Jordan also publicly stated that he had no interest in competing as an aged athlete, past his prime where he couldn’t perform at his very best. (It’s no surprise that Phelps statement was similar to Jordan’s initial retirement epitaph; Jordan was Phelps’ hero growing up as a kid in Baltimore.)

THE AGE QUESTION (WHY IS THERE ONE, AGAIN?)

But unlike Jordan, who unretired for the last time in his 40’s, Phelps is only 28 years old. Yes, “only.” According to the youth-obsessed dogma of swimming “experts” this is too old, too over the hill, too out of the game. Bullcrap. Take a look at professional athletes across the major sports who compete well into their 30’s. Of note in particular are sports like football, mixed martial arts and hockey, which outside of the requirements of speed, agility and power, are also rapt with injuries and punishing impacts that are not prevalent in swimming. In other words, the low impact nature of the sport lends itself to swimmers being able to have increased longevity. So despite the trend of swimmers getting older and swimming later, why has swimming been so late to the party? The main reason that swimmers don’t compete into their late 20’s and early 30’s is because the financial backing simply isn’t there. It’s not necessarily a young man or young woman’s sport because swimmers are only proficient at a young age, it is a sport for youth simply because there is no financial incentive for an athlete to swim past their college years. At an age where most people are thinking about buying a home and starting a family, it is understandable that swimmers are eager to forgo the life of being a broke amateur athlete in favour of making money and building a life outside of the pool. For Phelps, he has the rare opportunity to do both; develop a life outside of the pool in terms of building his brand and empire (including expanding his lucrative sponsorship portfolio while also indulging in the benefits of celebrity-dom by guest spotting on his favorite television shows), and competing and training in the sport that he loves.

MOVE ASIDE FOR THE NEXT GENERATION

As for the youngsters, the up-and-comers, who supposedly deserve their chance to shine, the answer is simple: swim faster. After all, that’s what Phelps did. He didn’t ask Tom Malchow, former world record holder in the 200m butterfly to step aside when an upstart Phelps was 15 years old. He earned his chance, and a year later sent Malchow’s WR back into the annals of swimming history. If the young up and comers want to shine, they should have to earn it.

PHELPS IS TO SWIMMING AS TIGER WOODS IS TO GOLF

The reality is this: Phelps coming back has sparked a massive interest in the sport of swimming. The Mesa Grand Prix, the first meet slated for Phelps to compete at, sold out within 24 hours of the announcement. The competition is a second-tier meet on the swimming calendar, but it has suddenly become the must-watch event of 2014 for swimming fans and swimmers alike. The impact has been felt internationally as well. Sportsnet, one of the major sports networks up here in Canada, took a break from the 24-hour, wall-to-wall coverage of the NHL playoffs to let viewers know that the Phelps comeback tour was to kick off in Arizona next week. In a skates-and-sticks obsessed culture that is no small feat, and is a testament to the star wattage that Phelps carries, something that is completely unique to our sport. Lochte made an awkward and stunted attempt at crossing over into the mainstream with his reality show last year, and young stars like Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky have attracted huge attention within the swimming community, but little traction outside of it. Even though Ledecky swam out of her mind last summer in Barcelona, dropping some crazy times in the 400-800-1500 freestyles, it hardly made for international news. Phelps deciding to swim three sprint events, on the other hand, has. For those who bemoan swimming not getting enough attention amongst the plethora of sports, rejoice.

BUT WHAT ABOUT HIS LEGACY?

Most winning Olympian ever. Most dominant swimmer in history. First swimmer to truly cross over into the mainstream. Those facts won’t change. And if anything, Phelps will only add to his medal counts over the next couple years, and more importantly, broaden the reach and appeal of the sport unlike anyone who has come before him. Instead of judging someone else’s choice to compete at the thing he loves (and does amazingly well), sit back, grab a chilling beverage, and enjoy the next chapter in Phelps’ historic career.]]> 1658 <![CDATA[Will Anyone Ever Break the 50m Freestyle World Record?]]> SEE ALSO: 50m Freestyle World Record

If you look at the progression of the men’s WR in the chart below, you’ll notice that there are some major gaps, one ending with the advent of the Czar of sprinting, the other ending with the record-breaking spree that came with the rubber suit era. Gap #1: 1989 – 2000. Jager’s record of 21.81 would last 11 years until Alexander Popov, one the greatest – if not the greatest – sprinter of all time. If not for Popov and the rubber suits, Jager’s time would have lasted well over 20 years. Gap #2: 2000-2008. Popov’s mark would last two Olympiads, until it was broken 5 times by a combination of an Australian and two Frenchmen. Here is the progression in a fancy little glowy chart: chart 1

Conversely, if you look at the progression of the textile world bests from the past few years, there is a slight progression towards the sub 21 mark, although the key word is certainly “slight.” With the exception of a slightly slower 2011, the top men in the world have been maxing out in the mid to low 21.3 range. Here is another fancy little graph, along with the trending line-- chart 2

In an event that is so short it would be silly to expect drastic changes in time without adjustments to swimwear and equipment. So will we see a sub 21 swim sometime soon? If we look solely at the rate of progression in the chart above, that 20-point race will come in approximately 6 years, just in time for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics!]]> 1665 <![CDATA[Cesar Cielo, 50m Freestyle World Record Holder, Shows Off His Dryland Regimen (Video)]]> SEE ALSO: 50m Freestyle World Record

Some of the notable exercises that he performs:

Front and back squats.
Kipling pull-up into a muscle up.
Track starts.
Track start into medicine ball chest pass.
And whatever this is called [0:18]

Notice that with all of the exercises Cielo maintains exceptional form, with a rigid spine-line and engaged core. The exercises nearly universally are designed to give him that explosive thrust that is so vital at the outset of the splash and dash. Enjoy:

READY TO DOMINATE THE COMPETITION?

LONG TIME COACH DEPARTS AMID HEALTH CONCERNS

The reinstatement also comes packing with a coaching change. One of Yang's long term coaches, Zhu Zhigen has resigned due to cited health concerns. Former national coach Zhang Yadong, who was at the helm of the national team during the hosted 2008 Olympics, where they won one gold, three silvers and two bronze, will take on coaching duties for Yang. After leaving his post as top dog with the national swim team he took on a supervising position at the College of Sports in the Zhejiang province.]]> 1683 <![CDATA[What We Learned from The Mesa Grand Prix This Weekend]]> 1686 <![CDATA[Dolphins Come to Aid of Open Water Swimmer Being Trailed By Great White Shark]]> Walker finished the swim in approximately 8 and ½ hours, and the Cook Strait swim was just one of the Ocean’s Seven challenge, which is a collection of 7 open water swims including the English Channel, Catalina Channel and the Strait of Gibraltar. Here is video of the dolphins swimming alongside Walker-- ]]> 1691 <![CDATA[McMaster Swimming Highlights from 2014 Training Camp (Video)]]> ABOUT MCMASTER SWIMMING The McMaster Marauders compete within the OUA conference, which is a part of the broader CIS (the Canadian version of the NCAA). They have been coached by Andrew Cole since 2005, and in the 2013-2014 campaign they had 21 of 25 swimmers attending the CIS Championships score, including a 4th place finish by the men's 4x100m freestyle relay, with all 4 swimmers swimming under 50 seconds. (On a personal note, I swam for a year for the Marauders back in the day. During the 2002-2003 campaign I was a part of the OUA winning men's team. Good times!) Here is the video. Enjoy! ]]> 1695 <![CDATA[5 Tips for Achieving Day-to-Day Excellence in the Pool]]> GOALS FEEL GOOD. THE PROCESS – EH, NOT SO MUCH. Day-dreaming about our goals is the fun part. Easy. Painless. It requires little more than a wandering mind. And for many people, this is where they stop. Dreaming about it. Wishing for it. Fantasizing about achieving something cleanly. The process is a little uglier. Okay, fine - a lot uglier. It’s littered with potholes, U-turns, injuries, illness, and unimagined setbacks. It’s gritty, not pretty, and challenging, but it is absolutely essential. Our goals are safe, predictable and can’t hurt us. The process, on the other hand, requires adaptability, fluidity in planning, periodic reassessments, and the courage to resist abdicating the journey at the sight of difficulty. At some point it becomes necessary to let go of the goal and trust that by focusing your efforts on a daily basis that you will see the results you want. Cut the chord on the goal planning, the dreaming and visualization and invest your time and focus on what is directly in front of you. Here are 5 ways to seize the process: 1. Seek to grow and improve every single day. There are a heap of reasons to love swimming, and here is one of top ones: it provides you an opportunity to challenge yourself and grow every single day. With each session you can set mini goals for yourself, and challenge your personal records and best in clear, tangible ways. Some of these are obvious and can be tracked, measured and sorted in seconds, yards and meters. Others can include breathing patterns, number of underwater dolphin kicks per push-off, time spent doing dryland/stretching, and so on. There is a metric ton of different ways you can seek to improve your swimming on a daily basis, so write them out and start knocking them down one by one. 2. Nail the basics. Putting too much focus on the end result means shifting attention away from the beginning. And for some, that is technique. For others, it is consistent attendance. And for others, it is nutrition. These things are basic in terms of getting you to smash through your personal bests. Take pride in crushing the fundamentals, and give yourself a powerful foundation. (Don’t underestimate the power of nailing the fundamentals. The habit of executing with excellence will soon spread to other areas of your training.) 3. Avoid getting immobilized. As much as we like to think that our path to success and glory is going to be a clean one, this is far from the case. Michael Phelps, in the midst of hard training in the lead up to Beijing, slipped in the cold Ann Arbour, Michigan winter, and broke his hand cushioning the fall. Some swimmers would have let this defeat them, sunk into self-pity and eased off training until healed up. Not Phelps. Each day he spent up to three hours on the stationary bike, and did a near endless amount of kick in the pool (thanks to some well placed water-proofing work on the cast), building up his legs so that when the cast came off his conditioning hadn’t skipped a beat. You don’t always have to understand why things go awry, but you always have a choice in how you respond to it. 4. Does your day-to-day work ethic reflect your dreams? If your goal is to win a gold medal at the Olympics, do the habits and work ethic you exhibit daily reflect this? Take an honest – perhaps sobering – look at the chasm that exists between the athlete you want to be and the athlete you currently are. List the things that you have to do differently. (Attempt to make these actionable items things you can do today, and avoid creating a “to do” list that you will start “someday.”) 5. Make gratitude a daily practice. Yes, grateful. For those long hours staring at that faded black line. Grateful to be getting up before the rest of the world to challenge your body and mind long before the sky turns to light. Grateful to be training with some of your best friends, collectively chasing your individual ideals of swimming excellence. The moment you are grateful for doing what you get to do, is the same moment that you find more joy and pleasure in the task.

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I can’t do this.
If only I felt a little bit better.
I’ll start doing dolphin kicks off my walls tomorrow.
Etcetera, etcetera.

3. Am I making an effort to be mentally tough day in, and day out? It’s unfair to expect yourself to show up on race day and suddenly be a swimmer of iron nerves. Mental toughness is built piece by piece, workout by workout, in the trenches of tough workouts and smart life decisions. Are you skulking out of doing the tough sets? Breathing into the walls when coach isn’t looking? Taking 13.4 pulls into the wall when doing kick? It’s moments like that where you have the opportunity to be mentally gangster, so embrace them. 4. Am I willing to accept criticism? I am talking about constructive criticism here, not the “you stink” type of criticism. Often times swimmers believe that they can get by on their talent and physical prowess alone, and forgo the nitty gritty of honing technique, and of developing a murderous work ethic. Keeping an open mind allows you to reap the benefit of the expertise of those around you. (Obviously, be wary of whose criticism you accept by weighing their knowledge against their experience. Listening to a coach? Yes. Your friend who has never swam in his life? Probably not.) 5. Am I willing to brush off setbacks, learn from them, and bounce back hard? This is where those expanded mental toughness skills will really benefit you. We both know that there will be times where we screw the proverbial pooch. Perhaps you over-estimated your training, or underestimated your conditioning, there are moments in our swimming careers where our performance falls short of our expectations. Instead of sagging your shoulders and moping, ruthlessly look at your performance (your coach can give tremendous assistance in this instance as well) and dissect what you did wrong, and more importantly, what you are going to do to make sure that it never, ever happens again. 6. Am I taking full responsibility for my swimming? Your swimming, your stroke, and the results you earn are yours, so take ownership of it. Don’t look at the person in the next lane when things don’t go your way. The easy thing to do in a situation where you aren’t successful is to look outside your own preparation, your own work ethic, and instead find blame with the lane lines, the competition, the pool temperature, and so on. No one else is going to put the meters in for you, ultimately you are going to be the one that dictates your performance, so take complete ownership of the process, and thereby the results as well.]]> 1715 <![CDATA[Adrian, Ervin and Townsend Headline US Masters Nationals in Santa Clara]]> ABOUT US MASTERS SWIMMING A national organization that oversees masters swimming, USMS is basically the older, grizzled version of USA Swimming. Servicing over 60,000 members nationwide, USMS comprises of around 1,500 clubs and organizations. They publish their own magazine, SWIMMER magazine, and sanction local and national competitions. You can find more information about the competition, including results, psych sheets and information on upcoming events and results by visiting their official website here.]]> 1719 <![CDATA[7 Ways to Think Like a Championship Swimmer]]> 1. The process of chasing big goals excites you. Sure, it is easy to get jazzed up about a big goal. Everyone does that. After all, who doesn't get the warm stomach fuzzies from picturing themselves winning Olympic gold? The titans of the sport recognize that having the big goal is critical, but embracing the journey is even more important. The initial wave of enthusiasm comes when you sit down and write out that big greasy goal on paper. The next jolt of forward momentum shows up when you write out the plan to get you there. 2. Ability to reload after failure. Everyone feels the sting of defeat, what separates those that bounce back to greater heights and those that allow defeat and failure to define them is the speed with which they retask and reload. When you under-perform take the time necessary to figure out where you came up short, and how to make sure it never happens again. Make the necessary adjustments, and retask your efforts. 3. Pivot roadblocks into opportunities. When you get elite you see the silver linings, the opportunities for improvement where others see only strife and difficulty. Injured shoulder? The championship swimmer will use the time out of the water develop incredible leg endurance to improve their kick. Sick? The elite athlete is sitting at home watching tape. There will always be things that happen that are out of our control; this is just the nature of life. As much as we plan, as much as we like to think we have complete control, we only have a fragile grip on our plans. Things you never could have anticipated will pop up and try to knock you off your butt. Illness, injury, or any number of things. These things will happen-- what matters at this point is how you respond. 4. Make realistic, achievable goals. Make no mistake here, I am not saying to create goals that are boring or easy. Reach for the stars. But make sure that you have it within you to make that journey, otherwise you are creating a terrible habit of creating goals you never accomplish. Do this enough times and you begin to doubt the goal setting process altogether. If you’ve had difficulty holding on to your goals in the past it’s possible that it is because they haven’t been realistic enough. Goal setting is a skill – don’t swing for the fences every time. Make short term and medium term goals, knock those down like bowling pins, build that confidence, and build your goals upwards and onwards from there. 5. Use anger and frustration to propel, not destroy or immobilize. The easiest thing to do when things aren’t going your way is to get choked, throws your arms up in frustration and find blame and excuses. Anger is only a wasted emotion if it isn’t used productively. Use that rage as fuel to get you back in the water, to get you refocused on solutions and ways to get better. 6. Understand that excellence is a product of paying attention to the details. Being a kick ass swimmer doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t occur from one fell swoop. Ryan Lochte didn’t wake up one day and have a world-leading IM. That speed and endurance was built up over time, by paying attention to the little things on a daily basis. By showing up. By making being elite habitual. Aristotle nailed it when he said— We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. 7. Champions seek to raise the tide. Excellence in the pool isn't limited to your individual results. It's also reflected within the impact you have on the sport and those that come behind you. No matter how far along you are in your swimming journey, there are those who look up to you, who seek to emulate you. Sharing your knowledge of the sport with youngsters, or helping others in the community discover the sport will remind you of the blank enthusiasm you had for the sport when you first started. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

2. Use Failure as Tackling Fuel You know how Adam Sandler’s chracter in the Water Boy had his tackling fuel? (If you have not seen this movie, please drop what you are doing and invest a couple hours into this movie.) Sandler's character would imagine all of the people that had tormented him, ridiculed him, and stepped on him, and then channel those memories into motivation to sack the living daylights out of the guy on the other side of the line of scrimmage. It worked for Bobby Boucher, and it can work for you. You have your own tackling fuel. It’s the cuts you almost made, the team you should have qualified for, that medal you coulda, woulda, shoulda earned. Use your past mistakes and failures to send you hurtling forwards. Failure should propel and motivate you, not define you. 3. Stop Making Excuses. My goggles filled up with water. My head hurts. The battery in my iPad is dead. The back of my Speedo is see-through. Blah blah blah. Our brains are amazing at certain things, not the least of which is seeking the easiest way to do something. It's simply the way we are wired. We are perpetually looking for the easy way out, and if that means holding on to that "I have a cold" excuse for one extra day so that we can miss an extra morning practice, you know that piece of mush between your ears will hold on to it. 4. Make Excellence Habitual. In a culture where mediocrity is tolerated and even celebrated, making excellence a habit can make you seem out to be a "try hard" or an "eager beaver" or something else that fits nicely into air-quotes. Sure, it sounds exhausting to do everything at your best. But it is nothing like the tiredness and lethargy that comes from perpetually acting at half capacity, and certainly doesn't compare to the consistent dullness and pain of untapped potential and half-baked results.

5. Fully Commit. Yeah, not achieving our goals is scary. But you know what is scarier? Spiders crawling across your face when you are sleeping. (Sorry.) In all seriousness, the only thing that is tangibly worse than failing at trying to achieve your goals is not trying at all. Yeah, we all have commitment issues with our goals. Stop over-thinking them, and start putting in small steps to give them an honest go. Besides, the best part about making a full, 100% exclusive commitment to your goals is that everything suddenly becomes black and white. There is no middle ground anymore, no room for compromise. Your actions are either in pursuit of your goals, or they are holding you back. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

1. You Learn from Failure, Not Victory.

As mentioned moments ago, stinking up the joint is part-and-parcel of the process. Failure is what makes that road to success so bumpy and crooked. The lessons we derive from setbacks aren’t always clear, and they don’t always come to us immediately. But that silver lining will show itself, it’s just a matter of how long you are willing to wait to allow it to blossom. The ways that failure can be the greatest teacher of all are many (and will be expounded on in a future post), and include: the opportunity to reevaluate your overall plan and strategy, zeroing in on your day-to-day execution (a.k.a. consistency), crystallizes what is important, and forces you to focus on the things that you do have control over, versus expending energy in areas that you don’t.

2. Differentiate Between Failure and Outright Defeat.

It’s important to understand the difference between failure and defeat. Like, mega important. The former is a part of the process, something that is instrumental to the overall journey, something that cannot be and should not be withheld or avoided, despite our desire to see none of it. Defeat, on the other hand, is a state where failure becomes permanent. It’s where you throw in the towel completely, allowing the failure to take root and define your future actions as an athlete. These two things, while related, do not need to be synonymous with one another. By taking a kinder view of failure, you begin to see its value to you as a swimmer. Defeat, on the other hand, is for suckas. Take home point here is this: You are never defeated until you give up.

3. Plan for Both Success and Failure.

Understand that for no one, nowhere, has success come easily and cleanly. Nothing worthwhile that has ever been achieved was done without the occasional and sometimes frequent sting that comes with setbacks. For those that kick it at a higher level, they understand that keeping an eye on the things that could derail them is as critical as focusing on the end game. Michael Phelps understood this better than most. He used visualization to envision his races well ahead of time. The ingenious part of what he did was to incorporate doomsday scenarios as well as the “everything goes perfectly” visualizations. He imagined all the things that could go wrong with his race, so that when something inevitably did go wrong – his goggles filled up with water during the final of the 200m butterfly at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 – he’d stay calm and focused. [blockquote source="Jean-Paul Sartre"]Once you hear the details of victory, it is hard to distinguish it from a defeat.[/blockquote]

4. Set Goals for Your Attitude as Well as Your PB’s.

You should always be planning for success. Whether it is a personal best time, setting a world record, or qualifying for the Junior Pan Pac team, striving for awesome results is a necessary and given part of the process. These goals act as a compass for our swimming, and help guide our day-to-day training and activities. As necessary as they are, these result-oriented type of goals also have their limitations. While powerful and guiding, they do little to help us when crap hits the proverbial fan. We’ve all been there -- despite our glorious goals, an unforeseen setback comes along and rocks our world, making us doubt our abilities, our talent, maybe even the process. Here is an easy little hack for navigating through this emotional minefield: Instead of planning solely for results, adjust your goals so that you are also planning for a specific state of mind. Make it a goal to have a bounce back mentality, or to be brave, or to be strong in the face of uncertainty and adversity. By focusing on what you can control (how you’re feeling and reacting), you gain power over the external events that are trying to knock you on your butt. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

How’s Your Goal Setting Technique?

Goal setting is a process and a skill. For most swimmers they set a goal, and that’s it. Goal accomplished. But that’s not how it works. Goal setting doesn’t stop the moment you write out your goal. It is an ongoing and evolving process, where we are continually tweaking what is working, extracting the things that are slowing us down, while taking the time to periodically evaluate on our goal setting plan. Here is a quick and dirty 5-step plan to creating kickass goals for your swimming:

1. Make your swimming goals specific. Real specific.

“I want to swim fast” isn’t really a goal. It’s a very broad objective. Kind of like “I want to be rich” or “I want to have anti-gravity shoes.” We all want to swim fast, but without a clear, tangible target or time it is difficult to fully take aim at it. “Fast” means something different to everyone at any given time – even yourself. Avoid any confusion or ambiguity by deciding on a specific time that leaves no room for doubt or wiggle room.

No: I want to swim fast next summer.

Yes: I want to post a 22.15 in the 50 yard freestyle next summer.

Having a clear, unequivocal target allows you to move on to the next step of the goal setting process, and that is breaking down that goal and creating a plan to achieve it. Think of it this way: leaving yourself with fuzzy, vague goals will make you feel equally fuzzy in terms of direction. Write out a super specific goal, on the other hand, and everything you have to do to achieve it comes into focus.

2. Develop a framework for success.

So now we have our big, awesome and exact goal. Next step is figuring out how the hell we are going to achieve it. Easiest way to do this is to start from the end point, and move backwards, plotting your journey from the end to where you stand at this very moment (or sit). What are the times you will have to post between now and then that will demonstrate visible progress? What are the competitions, times and splits you’ll knock down on the way to your end goal? When you are done that, list the things you will have to do to become that swimmer. Improving your start? Better underwater work? More aerobic work? Making 95% of practices? Actually swimming warm-down regularly? Write out the 5-6 areas where you will have to improve to pull you to your goal. With the outline of where you need to improve, and the plot points of times you have to achieve between now and the end goal date, you should have a good starter blueprint for your goals. (You should also be feeling a little invigorated at this point of the process. It’s one thing to dream big goals, but quite another to actually have a visible and tangible checklist of the things you need to do to achieve it.) This framework will also be critical in another way – it will help keep you focused on the smaller, manageable chunks of your goal. Focusing on that blisteringly fast time way out in the horizon can be demoralizing when you hit a rough spell in your training, with thoughts like “I’ll never get there, I still have so far to go..” creeping into your brain. Keep your eyes on what is front of you instead of getting discouraged by the scope of the work ahead. You don’t climb a flight of stairs ten in one shot; you do it one at a time.

3. Recognize what meaningful action is. Don’t mistake being busy with being productive.

When you put together your blueprint, make sure to differentiate your actions between those that simply keep you busy versus those that actually produce results. Here are some examples of action items that are not action items:

watching swimming videos on YouTube.
buying a new bathing suit.
emptying your swim bag after practice.

Things like this might be necessary, but these are tasks that have to be done anyways, and shouldn’t be on your goal action list. These, on the other hand, should be:

show up to practice 15 minutes early each day.
breath bi-laterally during warm-up and warm-down.
do 200 crunches after each PM practice.
do 5 minutes of vertical kick on Mondays and Wednesdays.

If you are having doubt about whether something you are doing is in column A or column B, ask yourself this: Will this task bring me closer to my goal? Yes or no? Will showing up early to practice and doing extra mobility work help you get to your goal? Yes. Will getting lost in watching swimming-related videos on YouTube help you swim faster? Almost certainly not.

4. Track your progress.

Alrighty then. We have goals, a blueprint, and hopefully an understanding of what meaningful action is at this point. Next up, it is time to commit to tracking your progress in the pool. Tracking your progress has a few important functions:

It will keep you motivated. You know that feeling that accompanies beating a personal best time? The warm and fuzzies in your tummy that burn with pride? Yeah, those bad boys. You can unleash them on the regular simply by tracking your progress. Seeing improvements from week to week will motivate you to keep at it, and help propel you with even more intensity at that goal of yours.
It will tell you when to back off. One of the hardest things in the world is stepping back when you are on a roll. You’ll be kicking ass and taking names every day at practice, but you’ll find that your top speed taps out, that the times you are posting in workouts are not only not at your best, but are actually regressing. Taking the time necessary to deload, and allow the adaptations necessary to take place can be an exercise in will and patience, but it is a requirement in allowing your body to recover and regenerate so that you can come back even stronger. Seeing that you are posting the same times day in and day out is a blaring red flag that it is time to back off, or at the very least to switch things up. Having your results on paper in front of you will give you an accurate indication of whether this is the case.
It will help you create smarter goals. Seeing your progress in front of you, and thereby getting a thorough understanding of how fast you progress will grant you the superhuman ability (granted I used superhuman fairly liberally there) to set goals that are realistic. When I say realistic I don’t mean easy or boring, but rather goals that test the limits of your abilities while also still being attainable. Otherworldly goals, and a lack of understanding of how quickly you can get there, is one of the quickest ways to get discouraged. Tracking your progress gives you this insight to create better, awesomer goals that you are more likely to stick to.

5. Evaluate what is working.

Einstein nailed it over the head, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” The allure of being comfortable leads to many of us to wallow in our habits, even if it means that the habits are not good for us. Breathing every two strokes for thousands of yards on end. Breathing into the walls. Not streamlining when we get tired. That’s where periodic evaluations come into play, to shake us out of our apathy and get the perspective necessary to move forward. Your goal setting skills will always be a work in progress. And this is good! Simply because you set a goal, follow all the tips above and come up short doesn’t make the process faulty. Rather, moments of failure and setbacks provide an opportunity for you to tweak and gain the feedback necessary to do it even better the next time around. When things go awry, sit down (perhaps with your coach and folks as well) and as objectively as possible, discern—

where did you fall short on your expectations?
what were some things that you didn’t anticipate or see coming?
was the goal you set realistic given the effort you put in?
what lessons will you pull from the process to apply next time?

Use the process as a learning tool to optimize your efforts and become even more efficient the next time around. Conversely, if you totally killed it, assess what worked so that you can continue to apply the positive stuff on your next go around--

Was the goal too easy? Can you stretch yourself and make it more difficult next time around?
In what areas did you see the most improvement?
Which aspects of your performance had the biggest impact on your overall result?

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

2. Periodic deloading is not only recommended, it is necessary.

I’ll admit, I am still having a hard time with this. We are so conditioned to be 24 hour athletes, to be all-go, never-quit machines that we push ourselves to the point of burning out. Periodic deloading – and I am not talking about just swimming here, this point relates equally to work, relationships and so on – is always necessary. No matter how good something is for you, there will always be a point where you hit maximum return, and then past that point of peak efficiency is diminishing returns. Sometimes this is the case with swimming, and taking an extra day off to fully rejuvenate -- both physically and mentally -- can be just what you needed.

3. There’s a lesson in there somewhere.

One of the best things you could ever do for yourself, and this will apply to absolutely everything you do in life, from work, school, to relationships, is to learn how to search harder for the silver linings. It will drastically cut down on the mourning period after a crappy swim when you can look at it as a learning experience.

4. Always remember that true success is in the process, not the results.

Frustration often comes when we feel the progress we are making today won’t get us to where we want to be tomorrow. The imagined lack of progression now demoralizes us, and lessens our hope for success later. We are getting ahead of ourselves with this type of thinking. Instead of worrying about the results that may or may not happen, stop fighting the friction of the moment and embrace the moment. When you focus on right now, instead of an imagined result, you loosen up, letting go of the struggle and get back into a state where you can relax and perform.

5. Moments of struggle and pain will get you focusing on changing things up.

Think back to the last time you had a bad swim at a meet; after the initial wave of frustration and moping had passed, and some rage had begun to sink in (or perhaps you skipped right ahead to the anger), what was the first thing that went through your head? I bet it was something like this: “I am going to change XYZ! That’s it, no more XYZ!” In the aftermath of frustration and disappointing results we look for ways to get better. And this is great! Just make sure that your rage and other emotions don't cloud your vision to the point of acting rashly.

6. At the end of the day, you are still doing what you love.

Things could always be worse. Truly. Sure, life isn’t perfect, but at night when you go to sleep, your hair still smelling like chlorine, soaked towel hanging over your bedroom door, and that alarm is primed to go off in mere hours, you’re still getting to do what you are passionate about. And yes, that is worth remembering.

“When you get into a tight place and everything goes against you, till it seems as though you could not hang on a minute longer, never give up then, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” - Harriet Beecher Stowe

]]> 1814 <![CDATA[9 Tips for Smarter Workouts in the Pool]]> Here is what you need to know:

Doing more isn't always better when it comes to training.
Slow it down in order to see where your technique stacks up.
Train the way you compete, so that when race-time comes along you can rely on your good swimming habits.
Form is everything.
Keep a feedback loop open.
Pick out goals for each session in the pool.
Track and measure to leverage the things helping your training.

[divider type="thin"] Swimmers pride themselves on their exceptional work ethic. Training ten times per week, two hours per session, plus dryland, for 11 months of the year would seem like insanity to the participants in other sports. Swimmers wear this workload like a badge of honor. Coaches like Mike Bottom (University of Michigan) and Dave Salo (USC Trojans) have been advocating a lower volume, quality-based approach for years, and this line of thinking has become more and more mainstream in recent years. Simply because we are putting the hours in at the pool doesn't necessarily correspond to good technique and optimal results. If you aren't training tactically, focused on improving your technique, and swimming mindfully, then you are just swimming mindless laps up and down the pool. This might be okay for general fitness purposes, but if you are wanting to take your swimming to the outer reaches of your abilities, than you gotta start practicing a little smarter. Here are 9 tips for unleashing a high-IQ practice the next time you head to the pool--

1. Start by visualizing what you want your perfect race to look like.

What does your goal race look like? What are the components and chunks that will make up the swim you want to unleash at the end of the year? Break your perfect race apart piece by piece, and start attacking each segment one at a time in workout. The surest way to boredom in the pool is to have no purpose, no direction. Getting specific about the areas you want to improve results in a more engaged workout, as it is difficult to be both specific as well as absent minded.

[alert style="yellow"]BONUS: Download this list of workout tips as a lovely little PDF for free. You can use it as a checklist to remind yourself on a daily basis to train smarter and better. Click here to download it now.[/alert]

2. Slow it down.

Training fast is great, but training great with poor form? Not so much. A great way to identify spots in your technique where you can make improvements is to slow it down, take your foot off the gas pedal and swim with slow, careful precision. Feel where the water is slipping from your pull, or where your kick is slowing you down more than speeding you up, or where you are over or under rotating your torso. Super slow swimming acts as a magnifying glass of sorts, exaggerating the errors in your technique, and gives you the feedback to make adjustments. Once you correct the errors, speed things back up.

3. Identify leaks.

Strive to train the way you want to compete. Why is this important? Because the way that we swim come competition time is simply an echo of what we have been doing in training. Knowing this, what will your swimming look like when you get ready for the big race? If you are breathing in and out of the turns in practice, you'll do the same in a race. If you pick your head up at the wall at the end of every repeat, you'll do the same at the end of a race when every little hundredth counts. Train like you race, so that when you race when you train your good habits will take over.

4. Be aware of when form starts to falter.

There will always be a point where you will hit diminishing returns. Never heard of the Law of Diminishing Returns? Here is an example: Your friend tells you a joke. You laugh. One minute later, he tells the joke again. You feign a chuckle. Again, a minute later, he tells the same joke. Crickets. At this point not only has the joke lost its original purpose and punch, but by the third time it has actually induced the opposite intended effect. Instead of laughing, you’re unamused, annoyed. At some point the same thing happens with your training. There is always going to be a point where too much of a good thing become counter-productive. When your focus starts to waver, your technique starts to crumble, then this is your point of diminishing returns, and to continue on does you no good.

5. Start small.

If you are finding yourself being overwhelmed by things to focus on, break it down.Trying to do too much at once, trying to adjust too many areas of your swimming at one time waters down your efforts to the point that you are simply doing a whole bunch of stuff poorly. Instead, summon some patience and work on your swimming, piece by piece. Start with the catch, and work on it until your “perfect” catch is second nature. From there move to the pull, exit of the hand, trunk rotation, and so on. Perform each section perfectly until it becomes hard-wired into habit.

6. Make sure you are getting feedback from your coach.

Is your technique getting better? Are you swimming faster? Are you averaging faster times? Without feedback and results we are flying blind, unsure if what we are doing is helping or hurting. We like to think that we know exactly what our swimming looks like, but often our brains deceive us. What feels like hand entry in front of the shoulder is actually in front of your head, and so on. Get the feedback necessary so that you can improve and tinker with your technique in order to swim as efficiently as possible. (Conversely, if you don't have a coach, and are doing the process solo, consider getting some video analysis done of your stroke.)

7. Have Session-Based Goals.

This is my favorite trick for staying focused over the course of those long sessions in the pool. Before each practice I will choose one thing that I am going to absolutely crush. One day it will be doing perfect turns. Another it will be achieving a specific interval. By consistently setting (and mostly achieving) little, session-based goals a recurring sense of confidence and pride develops from your training. Give it a try for a week and see if it doesn't have you more focused and more confidant in your abilities.

8. Adjust to the fact that more is not better.

The idea that doing less meters or yards produces better results seems mind-blastingly counter-intuitive. After all, our common reaction to when something is faltering – speed, technique – is to more, more, more. Stop looking at the overall number of yards you are doing, and instead track the overall number of quality yards you are doing.

9. Track your workouts.

The benefits of measuring your workouts and tracking your progress are plenty; improved motivation, increased consistency, and of course, a valuable feedback tool to explain habits and help build new ones. Logging your swim workouts can especially show you when you have plateaued and need to take a much needed deload. Ready to unleash awesome all over your workouts? Download this list as a handy PDF that you can use as a daily reminder to make the most of your workouts. Click the big saucy image below and get instant access to this article as a PDF today:

]]> 1830 <![CDATA[Swim Faster by Freaking Out Less—6 Tips for Keeping Your Cool]]> tips for swimmers to keep cool as a cucumber when you step up on the blocks at that big meet-- 1. Focus on you. Comparing yourself to other swimmers and getting bent out of shape over the competition is taking your success, your preparation, and your mental approach out of your hands. Short of putting Tiger Balm in their racing suit there is nothing you can do to alter the path they are on. There are things you can control. How your competition performs later that night at finals after blasting out a massive prelims swim is not one of them. Focus on your preparation, your stroke, your breathing and strive to put yourself in the best position to achieve success and the results will generate themselves. 2. Dismiss the WPO’s. We tend to rush to make everything a catastrophe. If I don’t win this race my swimming career is over. We tend ot get a little over dramatic when it comes to thinking about what’s going to happen, constantly creating worst possible outcomes (WPO’s). Strike down those negative thoughts and trust yourself to be okay. You can do this by thinking aback to other “worst possible outcome” scenarios that came to fruition – but you came through quite fine. We tend to imagine things will go terribly for us, that we will never bounce back, but you should have the personal experience that dictates otherwise. Source that history when you find your brain running away to bad-bad land. 3. Still plagued by WPO’s? Fine. Let them have their day. Want to remove the potency of your WPO’s in a hurry? Write them down. Seriously. Take a piece of paper and a pen and write down in graphic detail the WPO’s. Write out how they will make you feel, what you will do in the aftermath of that bad swim you keep imagining, and how utterly devastated you will feel. A funny thing will happen when you begin to put pen to paper. The WPO’s will begin to seem silly, even ridiculous. Rob them of their power by shining a bright light on them. 4. Choose how you are going to react. This one is my favorite. Getting to choose how you are going to react is the best. Why? Because no matter how helpless you may feel about the result, you will always have control over how you react. While that is easy to say and hope for ahead of time, I find that making an actual checklist of things to do after a bad race can help me stay calm pre-race time, and also speed up the bounce back process. Having a checklist makes the dumping of the negative emotions subjective, nearly an out–of-body experience. It detaches you from the negativity and ensures that you can move on faster. List the 5 things you are going to do after a bad swim: Warm down exactly 500m. Listen to a pre-made pump up list. Read a set of affirmations, and so on. Once the last thing on the list is completed you should be mentally reset and re-focused on the next race. 5. Breathe, bro! When you feel anxiety beginning to rear its head, take a few big, hearty breaths. Deep abdominal breathing is helpful for a couple powerful reasons. Firstly, by thinking and focusing on your breathing your brain is forced to take a breather (pun intended!) from stressing out and getting all worked up thinking about the race at hand. Mindful distraction is good in this case. Secondly, this type of breathing encourages full oxygen exchange, meaning all the blood vessels at the bottom of the lungs – which typically get overlooked when we are taking shallow breaths – are getting oxygenated as well. This results in a decreased heart rate and lowered blood pressure. 6. Your next opportunity is on the horizon. No matter what happens today, tomorrow will come. And with it, a whole new set of opportunities and challenges for you and your swimming. This swim is not a doomsday race; the world will not end if you don’t perform well. The next time you step up on the blocks take a couple deep breaths, get in the moment, and enjoy the process of unleashing all of your hard work!]]> 1834 <![CDATA[Arizona State Swimming's Dryland Training (Video)]]> (* Bob Bowman, Michael Phelps' long time coach has assumed the mantle of the ASU swim and dive program.) Here is the video, enjoy! ]]> 1840 <![CDATA[6 Things to Remember When the Last Thing You Want to Do is Swim]]> 1. Learn to be okay with discomfort. If life provided us with no discomfort, ever, it would be fantastic, wouldn’t it? Umm, nope. No discomfort = nothing worthwhile ever being achieved. If we did what our fleeting heart desired every second of the day we would live lives of bland, uninspiring dullness. The grind is part of the process, a necessary ingredient in your home-made batch of awesome. Accepting it, and realizing that it is simply part of the overall process means that you can stop fighting it, which burns up valuable energy and focus. 2. Commit to 5 minutes. Start small and commit to nothing more at first. How many times have you gone to the pool, tired and achey, stressed out, and stared blankly at the set on the chalkboard with fatigued incredulity. To argue or to express disappointment at the daunting set ahead of you would simply require too much energy. But then you get in the water. Take a few strokes. Than take a few more. The cobwebs start to shake loose, blood starts to flow to your muscles, and you start getting into a rhythm in a few short minutes. Take things a couple minutes at a time, and no more. 3. Let go of your best case scenarios. How often have you psyched yourself out because you felt there was no way you could live up to your desired or best-case result? If the fear of not achieving your best-case scenario was removed, you could focus on the process again, instead of busying yourself fretting over whether or not you are going to achieve the final result you want. This goes back to the previous point of taking things one step at a time; instead of placing focus and energy on results, zero in on only what is in front of you. 4. Stop thinking about your season end goals as one big thing. This is our brain’s default way of thinking; it considers the goal as one, huge step. Thinking this way makes it so massive, so scary, so intimidating that we lock into the most comfortable thing that comes to mind – procrastinating. Your goals are achieved stroke-by-stroke, yard-by-yard, practice-by-practice. If the shadow of your season end goal seems to be never-ending, make a series of smaller, shorter goals. Instead of considering that massive goal time at the end, focus on the steps, one by one. This makes the process something a lot less intimidating, and by amassing a steady and consistent pile of small wins will you chip away at the big goal lurking in the corner. 5. Be mindful of feeling bad about feeling bad. We expect ourselves to feel 100% ready to go, 100% of the time. This isn’t realistic. There are times where you are going to feel out of sorts no matter how much you sleep, how great you eat, or how much you warm-up. Beating yourself up over it won’t help you get back on track, and for many swimmers feeling crappy about feeling crappy compounds the initial problem (this point is the matryoshka doll of mental training skills). Accept that you feel off and give yourself some space mentally. Some days we will feel off, and this is okay. By embracing it, instead of fighting it at every turn – and getting frustrated and discouraged when you can’t get back to 100% soon enough – it slowly dissipates on its own. 6. Adopt a posture of gratitude. This might feel a little contrived at first, but practicing genuine gratitude is one of the greatest additions you can make to your life. Numerous studies have shown that keeping a small gratitude journal (for example, a daily “5 things I am grateful for” checklist) increased long term health and happiness by 10%. By taking some time out of your day to remember what is important to you it helps to bring your energy and brain back into focus, and giving you an extra step the next time you head to the pool.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

How about having the ability to figure out performance leaks so that you can make the most of your practice time?

Do you want to be able to set better goals that will keep you motivated over the long term?

Of course you do. One of the best and under-utilized tools you can unleash on your swimming is keeping a swim log. Yes, the simple act of writing out your workouts can help you do all of the above. For some the idea of writing out their workouts might seem like homework, or just another thing to do at the end of a long day, but elite swimmers recognize the value of having their performance history at their fingertips. Here is the full breakdown for why this very simple tool is a must-add to your swimming weaponry:

1. It will keep you on point.

How many times have you gone to the pool and blindly followed the sets and intervals scrawled out for you on the chalkboard? If you are like most swimmers, you go through each practice merely trying to survive the workout instead of achieving specific objectives. Writing out your workouts (whether it is before if you are training on your own, or afterwards) gives you the blueprint for your workout so that you can go in, wreck house, and get out. Seeing your workouts written out should also give you the opportunity to reflect on the purpose behind specific sets. Understanding the objective underlying certain sets and practices will provide you with task-driven focus. And that means less wasted workouts from low focus and low engagement. [alert style="yellow"]Coaches: We provide up to 25% off for team and group orders. To get a free, custom estimate for you and your club, fill out this quick form.[/alert]

2. You’ll get a big picture view.

As a swimmer you know that what you do the rest of the day carries on into your workout (or at least, you should!). Monitoring things like rest, nutrition and stress levels provide critical feedback and correlation for why some days you simply aren’t feeling it in the water, while other days you are killin’ it. Don’t just stop at writing out your workouts; maximize how you are doing outside of the pool to make the most of time spent in the water.

3. It will keep you motivated during those hard bouts of training.

The swim season is no joke. Between the two-a-days, the training camps, and the week-long competitions the work we put in can be draining both mentally and physically. Having a log book and a record of all of the hard work you have done, how far you have improved, and how far you will continue to improve as long as you stay on track, cannot help but fill you with a metric ton of inspiration. On those days where you feel like giving up sit down with your log book and remember how unbelievably capable and mentally tough you actually are.

4. You will be able to set better goals.

Goal setting is a tricky skill. If we use it and we don’t achieve our goal, we blame ourselves and the process. A swim log forces you to create better and smarter goals because it will give you solid, real-world proof of how fast you can expect to see results. One of the key tenants in high performance goal setting is to make your goals realistic, and without a credible view of how long it will take to make progress you are making goals in the dark.

5. You will be able to monitor progression.

Getting faster as a swimmer is all about, well, getting faster, right? (Duh.) Over the course of the year you will undoubtedly perform several of the same sets repeatedly. Keeping a journal of these results shows you precisely how much you are improving, and even what led to that improvement. If you can see on paper that you are getting faster, you are more likely to stay committed to the program.

6. You will be able to manage your goals.

We both know how important goal setting is. Having goals gives you the motivation to show up on those cold early mornings and they act as a compass to help keep you focused and on track. While many swimmers are easily able to set themselves goals for the season, the swimmers who find themselves at the top of the podium, the ones that excel and are continually improving and killing it in practice, are the ones who consistently set themselves training goals. A log book is the best platform for creating, maintaining, and tracking the training goals that will create the foundation of your success in the pool. Whether the goals are session based, weekly, or monthly, staying on top of your training goals is the surest way to quickly see more progress in the pool.

7. It will keep you accountable.

There will always be those moments in practice where our focus slackens. Remembering that you will have to write out this workout – for better or for worse – can be the nudge you need to your head back in the game. (Another layer of accountability: Sharing your log book with your coach. YourSwimBook includes monthly evaluations specifically designed to be shared with your coach.) Have him or her take a look at your performance so that they can also get a better idea of why you perform great some days, and not-so-great on others. The information that can be gleaned from your feedback from specific workouts will help your coach instruct you better.

8. Provides extensive feedback.

You know those days where you feel unreal in the water? Gliding easily, riding across the water with almost effortless precision? Those moments are nearly surreal, and when pressed for information on why it happened, most swimmers can only shrug and chalk it up to luck or chance. Whenever those amazing workouts happen you should be able to piece together what led to the awesome swimming. Why? So that you can swim like a boss more often. Conversely, when a negative session in the pool happens, piece together the reasons for it. Lack of sleep? Stressed out? Fall off the wagon with your nutritional requirements? Seeing the reasons for a less than stellar performance actually written out on paper is much different than thinking about it.

In Summary

It's easy to overlook the simple things when it comes to swimming faster. A more expensive suit and a fancier pool are great, but it doesn't help you improve the things that matter. Like being consistent... Having training goals that keep you focused... And keeping yourself accountable. When you are ready to take your swimming to the next level, add a swim log to your weaponry.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

YourSwimBook is a log book and goal setting guide designed specifically for competitive swimmers. It includes a ten month log book, comprehensive goal setting section, monthly evaluations to be filled out with your coach, and more. Learn 8 more reasons why this tool kicks butt. Coaches & Teams: Yes, we do custom orders for teams and groups. The more you order, the more you save. For a free custom quote for your club fill out this form. ]]> 1857 <![CDATA[7 Excuses Swimmers Need to Stop Making Now]]> 1. It’s too late. Dude, no. Dara Torres was 45 years old when she competed at the US Olympic Trials in 2012. Yes, 45. Some of you don’t have parents that old yet. She made three different comebacks, nearly making her fourth decade worth of Olympics. Yes, there are some limits. We aren’t going to live to be 1,000 years of age (not yet, anyway), but time will continue to march on whether or not we are chasing our dreams. So why not spend the time we do have chasing the stuff that we love? Additionally, no matter where you are at right now, I promise you that a year from now you will say the exact same thing, and when you do get around to getting started, you will wish you had started earlier. So put that nasty slice of regret to bed and get swammin’. 2. Not enough time. What you mean when this excuse comes around is that you simply don’t have time for the specific thing you need to do to excel. If you would like to rid yourself of this crutch, all you need to do is sign up for this super simple challenge: For the next three days write down how you spend your time. How much time you spend on Facebook, how long it takes you to eat meals, the time logged in front of the television. All those little tasks that outwardly seem to take a couple minutes – but actually take up a cumulative heap – will add up to some serious time. Get stock of how you are spending your time so that you can trim the stuff you don’t need and inject the stuff that will get you to your goals. 3. I’m not feeling motivated. You’re not going to feel 100% motivated all of the time. This is just the way it is. Having to find ways to motivate yourself daily – and the resultant willpower you’d need to unleash all that forced motivation – is difficult, exhausting, and not sustainable over the long term. So how do you smash this excuse? By embracing the full, nearly unholy power of habits. Making excellence habitual removes the need to get motivated. When you think about it, your daily life is a collection of habits. Putting on pants. Brushing your teeth. Eating. These are all habits. Make swimming hard and focused one of these as well. 4. I don’t have enough talent. No matter how supernatural and mysterious talent is made out to be, certain kids aren’t born with more swimming talent than others. No joke. Read that again if you have to, but I am going to emphasize it for you just so that you can wrap your head around it (don’t worry, took me a couple tries the first time I heard it as well) – that fast kid next to you? The one whose parents and coach always say was born with more talent than anyone else? That kid does not have more “talent” than you. Those with “talent” are simply athletes who have practiced smarter, for longer than you. Yes, some are born with more hunger for success than others, while some kids may have genetic gifts such as above average height or massive feet, but more talent? Nope. Put aside the idea of innate talent and focus on execution, of swimming at an excellent level. Once you do this long enough, once you get used to practicing at a high level, others will look at you as well and say, “Jeez, he/she is really talented!” 5. I might fail. So? But in all seriousness, what is the worst that is going to happen if you did fail? Let’s exaggerate this fear a little even. What is the absolute, worstest, most awfulest thing that would happen if you failed? Let me save you the suspense: Not much. There are a couple reasons for this:

We over-exaggerate our future failures. When imagining that failure we get really excited. It’s almost as though we enjoy the process of future-tormenting ourselves. What’s happening is that our brain goes into self-preservation mode by imagining the worst case scenario. I don’t want to have to experience that. Please make sure that we don’t have to go anywhere near that failure. In this instance, our brains are mistaken. It isn’t protecting you, it’s being that overprotective parent, but inside your head.
You are way tougher than you realize. Think back to the last time you stunk up the joint. I mean really stunk up the joint. Maybe even that time you DFL’d at the biggest meet of the year. Did you bounce back after that race? Yes, of course you did. Sure it hurt for a little bit, but you came back. Here is the reality: yes, you will fail again. Yes, it will sting. And yes, you will recover.

6. I don’t know where to start. This one is much simpler to deal with. The reason you feel this way is because the goal is so big, so mind-numbingly awesome, that it is equally daunting. So daunting, in fact, that you have literally no idea where to begin. And as a result, you don’t. Punch this excuse square in the mouth by writing out a plan that starts with your end goal. Work backwards, outlining all of the steps and things you are going to have to improve. It’s important that you don’t go halfway on this, trace your steps all the way back to where you are at now. And the last step? The one that brings your goal right to today’s doorstep? Well, that first step should be something you can start today right now. Not later, not tomorrow, not when you feel like it. Right now. 7. Others say that it can’t be done. This one is my simultaneously my least favorite on this list, because sometimes “others” are people in authority positions, and yet it has also worked to motivate me in the past as I get a profound sense of joy in proving people wrong. There is nothing worse than throwing a wet towel on someone’s dreams. Well, that’s not entirely true. What could make it worse is a supposed authority person being the towel thrower. I won’t deny it, it is very difficult to have a coach, fellow swimmer, or revered authority in the sport tell you that the things you want to achieve are not possible. Neutralize this excuse by adopting a me-against-the-world mentality. My old man used this well with me. As a precocious and sometimes unfocused age grouper I would need the occasional motivational jolt, and my pops, the sneaky guy that he was, recognized that I responded well when being told that so-and-so said that I couldn’t do something. Nothing lit a fire under my arse faster than someone in an authority position – higher the better – saying that I couldn’t do something. Use other people’s doubt and naysaying to fuel and motivate you, for there truly is no better feeling than accomplishing something people said could not be done.]]> 1864 <![CDATA[North Carolina State Swimming's Dryland Program (Video)]]> SEE ALSO: The Top 5 Core Exercises for Swimmers

The video features swimmer Kohl Hurdle and Zina Grogg, and was filmed by head coach Braden Halloway.

ABOUT NORTH CAROLINA STATE SWIMMING

The NC State Wolfpack has been coached by Braden Holloway, who himself is a NC State grad (2001) for the past couple years.

At the 2014 NCAA Championships the Wolfpack men (quite possibly the best team name going) the men's team placed 13th, which was highest among the teams in their conference (the ACC), an improvement on last year's 15th place finish, and their highest since 1979. The women placed 16th, also the highest they have placed in over 30 years. Seven of the NC State women were also recognized with First Team and Honorable Mention All-American honors. ]]> 1872 <![CDATA[Behind the Scenes of the Cal Lady Bears Holiday Training Camp]]> Part 2: ]]> 1883 <![CDATA[5 Reasons Your Swimming Goals Aren't Working]]> 1. You're creating goals that can't be easily tracked or measured. One of the key measures of a correctly formed goal is having specificity. Vagueness creates unwanted wiggle room; by having very clear, indisputable numbers as a target you allow no room for misinterpretation or ambiguity. Some areas of your swimming are very well suited to goal setting. Tangible, measurable things like times and to a lesser extent, placings, are very specific, and lend themselves well to this process. Other aspects of your swimming can be a little more challenging to measure and track. Things like technique, or motivation are difficult to quantify. Having a goal of “improving your technique” is a little vague, although this doesn’t make it something worth striving for. So how can we measure the immeasurable, so that we can take an aim such as “improving technique” and make it something specific? Allotting time to the achievement of the goal would be one way. You could set aside 20 minutes per session, per day to straight technique work. This could include one on one coaching, or getting video of your stroke done so that you can get that instant feedback that helps speed the learning curve. 2. Avoid focusing energy on your long term goals. This may seem counter-intuitive, but in order to achieve those long term goals, you need to put them aside for the time being. Why? They don't instill any urgency. With a massive gap between you and the long term goal there is no requirement for you to act today. Or worse, there is so much to do, such an insurmountable load of work and improvement to be done that the sheer size of it dwarfs and discourages you. Write out your long term goal. And then forget them and focus instead on the day-to-day work. 3. You're setting too many goals. There is such a thing as too much of a good thing, and goal setting ranks among those "good things." By setting a metric ton of different goals you are spreading your energy and focus out into a heap of different directions. Focus instead on a couple simple goals and dump all of your mental and physical energy into seeing those through. It is better to achieve highly in one area than to do mediocre or worse in many. There are only a couple of things that you really need to do at a time to see exceptional progress. Goal setting, as a process, should be used to bring clarity of purpose to your swimming. Having a vague goal (“I want to be a fast swimmer!”) statement turns what may initially appear to be a solid goal into an excruciatingly expansive one where you attempt to do everything and only end up achieving mediocre or negligible results. Keep your goals simple and few, and focus on them diligently. 4. You're setting goals that aren't yours. Your goals are inextricably yours. Or, at least, they had better be. Why do swimmers set goals? Because they are expected to? Or because they are doing so out of a perceived insecurity? That if you are a fast swimmer you’ll get the respect you want, the fame, and the satisfaction of being the best? Or are you doing it because you are legitimately passionate about the sport of swimming and this goal is simply the form that this passion takes? Feeling unhappy with where you are at right now might be the nudge you need to get started on chasing your swimming goals down with focused, unending energy. But don’t count on that unhappiness on being there to motivate you down the road. When you are as passionate about the day to day practices, about improving in every little way as an athlete, about the grind and the process, it ceases to become work. Yes, this type of devotion is not for everyone. And it is for this reason that we see so few faces grace the record books on the international stage. Love your goals, and more specifically, learn to love the process of achieving your goals. Once you became enamored with the process, the results begin to melt into completion, easily and without much thought. 5. You're hanging your happiness or sense of self-worth solely around the accomplishment of your goals. Imagining yourself on the podium at the Olympics or your local state meet having a gold medal draped around your neck is a fantastic daydream that should motivate and inspire you. The chase should not, however, be something that defines or completes you. In other words, you shouldn't be depending on the achievement of your goals -- whose fruition also depends on how your competitors fare as well -- to bring you happiness or an inflated sense of self-worth. If your swimming career is only building up to one big, greasy goal at the end of the line, then you are going to be in for a major, anti-climactic letdown once you achieve it (or don’t). Chase your goals, but don’t defer the sense of self-worth and happiness, and certainly don’t rest your hopes of being “okay” or fixing yourself upon that final goal. Goal setting is most fruitful when an athlete masters the process and takes pleasure and satisfaction in the journey. Swimming should give you so much more than just a fast time or records or medals; it should teach you how to commit to a goal, what makes your productive, give you the opportunity to share your experiences and wisdom with the next generation, and so on. [Want an even more motivational goodness? Subscribe to the YourSwimBook motivational newsletter, where every Wednesday and Sunday I send out exclusive content made just for competitive swimmers that is not available anywhere else. It's free, awesome, and will make you taller. Or something. Sign up by clicking here!]

ABOUT NORTH CAROLINA STATE SWIMMING

The NC State Wolfpack has been coached by Braden Holloway, who himself is a NC State grad (2001) for the past couple years. At the 2014 NCAA Championships the Wolfpack men (quite possibly the best team name going) the men's team placed 13th, which was highest among the teams in their conference (the ACC), an improvement on last year's 15th place finish, and their highest since 1979. The women placed 16th, also the highest they have placed in over 30 years. Seven of the NC State women were also recognized with First Team and Honorable Mention All-American honors. ]]> 1904 <![CDATA[A Day in the Life of Nathan Adrian]]> ]]> 1907 <![CDATA[How to Develop a Legendary Work Ethic for Swimmers]]> Ryan Lochte, despite the lazy surfer boy image he portrays, is one of the most conditioned swimmers in the world. Michael Phelps didn’t take a day off from the pool for nearly 5 years in his preparation for Beijing. We can talk all day long about their physical gifts, but it is their insane work ethic that got them to the upper echelons of the sport. The good news is that having a killer work ethic isn’t limited by genetics. It’s something that you can develop for your own swimming goals. Here are 5 simple swimming tips for developing a legendary work ethic:

1. Success requires hard work. Period.

I’ll admit it. There are still times that I think to myself that achieving what I want won’t require hard work. For a few moments I’ll buy into the hype that I am different, that I am unique, that I will be the one to achieve extraordinary things by wishing for it. This sense of entitlement clears eventually, and the realization that hard work is an integral part of the success equation comes back. First step is accepting that hard work is going to be a critical and necessary ingredient in your warm, delicious stew of success. Bypass the hype machine and understand that nothing worth achieving is done without hard work. Nothing. There's No Escaping It Success Demands Hard Work

There's No Escaping It Success Demands Hard Work

2. Get serious about accepting responsibility for your swimming.

Here is the reality: no one is going to come and succeed for you. Your coach, your parents and your teammates might give you token pieces of motivation on occasion, but ultimately what you get out of your swimming rests on you. No one else is going to put the work in for you. You want improvement, growth and forward momentum with your swimming, and this doesn’t happen by playing the blame game or by making excuses. If you are going to be the one to indulge in the awesome results, you are going to have to be the one to shoulder the work required. No One Else Will Do The Work But You

3. Be about it.

Look, everybody wants big things from their swimming. No one looks in the mirror and thinks, “Hey, I’m going to go to the pool today, swim my brains out for a couple hours, and hope that I place last at state champs next month.” Everybody wants it, and many are willing to talk about it, but few are willing to walk the walk. It’s great to have big plans for your swimming, but without the action to back it up, those goals are just wishful thinking. Stop talking about being the awesome swimmer you want to be and get to it. Be About Being a Successful Swimmer

4. Do what you can with what you have.

Conditions will never be ideal. You won’t always have the best facility, the best training grounds, the best equipment, and so on. Waiting on conditions to be perfect is a never-ending proposition. It’s simply a crutch, a delaying tactic keeping you from making the most of what you have in front of you. On days where you look around and begin thinking about the facilities that others probably have, the advantages others must be enjoying, just think about all those who have succeeded in spite of their training circumstances. No matter what you have, someone out there is making do with worse. What you have is not as important as the work you are willing to do with it. Do What You Can With What You Have

5. Develop action triggers.

There’ll be those moments when we are engaged in the mental back-and-forth over whether or not we should act, whether or not to dump all of our energy into the set at hand. Remove this banter by creating a set of cues, or a trigger for yourself to get yourself “in the zone.” This doesn’t have to be overly simple. I’d suggest combining a physical action with a mantra or quick statement. The key is to leap into action right away so that the trigger becomes hardwired as a kick-starter for hard work. Here are a couple examples:

Clench your fists three times and say to yourself, “Engage!”
Slap your chest and tell yourself, “Go time!”
Jump up and down three times, tap your head, and exclaim, “On my signal, unleash hell!”

You get the idea. The trigger can be as subtle or as extravagant as you want. Simply make sure that you use it and always follow it with action. Use it even when you don’t need it to make the association of the trigger even stronger. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Any time swimming makes one of its few and far between appearances on television, along with it appears the glossy, over produced bios of our sport’s top athletes. The vignettes where we learn more about how the swimmer came up, their family, and how they were always destined to be champions.

What these features generally do not show is the grind. The struggle. The frequent doubt and second-guessing that comes with chasing down greatness. They forget to show that for each of these athletes, all the way up to Michael Phelps, they were subject to the same difficulties that befall the rest of us.

Whatever your goals, here are six common pitfalls that swimmers fall into while chasing their own version of swimming success:

1. Not dreaming big enough.

There are a heap of reasons why so many swimmers don’t dream big enough. People they trust or who are in authority positions have derided their ambitions. They feel that their surroundings (pool, coach, team, etc) aren’t in line with their goals. The paralysing thought of a failure as grand as your ambitions.

Whatever the case may be for you, at the end of the day clear your mind and ask yourself with complete sincerity: Why not you? Why not now?

2. You chronically plan.

You’re a master of goal setting, outlining elaborate, beautifully detailed goals. You go so far as to construct a carefully thought out goal plan, listing all of the things you need to do to achieve said goal. You write out the goal, create a list of affirmations, even go out and buy a log book as well as an app so that you can track, measure and analyze your progress.

You do everything except acting on it. For some that first step is such an overwhelming commitment that it terrifies them from taking it. Combat this by making it small, non-newsworthy, and something you can do with complete immediacy. (No waiting!)

3. You’re dependent on talent for swimming success instead of hard work.

We have all swum against kids who were designated as mega-talents. They appeared to have the sport on a string. The most striking examples of these are the kids who have the early growth spurt in addition to an easy knack for the sport.

Talent and size will only take you so far. Janet Evans, legendary American distance swimmer from the late 1980’s and early 1990’s is a perfect example. A shade over five feet, she had an unconventional stroke, but otherworldly work ethic, routinely crushing 10,000m workouts.

Don’t fall for the trap of believing that talent or genetics will get you to the next level.

4. You are expecting instant results.

I know how frustrating it can be when things don’t fall into place quickly enough or as quickly as you planned they would. It’s all the more infuriating when you did everything properly; your nutrition was spot-on, you attended every practice, you even devoted an extra fifteen minutes after each workout to do bonus core work. And yet, you still aren’t seeing results fast enough.

Your first instinct will be to throw in the towel. After all, the process isn’t working, right? Wrong. The process is working. You are improving; and success in the pool is never an overnight deal. Keep hammering at it, and realize that even though results aren’t piling up as quickly as you’d like, you are still improving.

5. Not trusting the process.

Similar to how we seek instant results, our head starts to cook up all sorts of negative stuff when we view things as not going as anticipated. We imagine that our natural speed has capped out. That we aren’t built to swim fast. That we aren’t deserving to swim at an elite level.

When these thoughts happen we tend to look for a way out, and this generally uncludes switching tack mid-course. Bailing pre-maturely doesn’t allow you the opportunity to allow the process to run its course, which means you will never know whether you would have succeeded had you stayed on track.

Understand that doubt is inevitable in moments of struggle, but don’t allow panic to derail your plan.

6. Comparing yourself to others.

I still do this on occasion, and I want to punch myself in the face each time I do because it’s utterly pointless to compare, measure and stack and serves nothing.

Stop comparing yourself and your swimming to those around you. Your swimming is completely and unequivocally yours. The splits the kid in the lane next to you might seem other worldly, but don’t let them discourage you.

Rather, follow your own path, direct all your energy inwards to improve every facet of your swimming you can, and ignore the sideshow.

]]> 1940 <![CDATA[4 Michael Phelps Videos to Get You Inspired]]> 1."5 Years No Days Off" Anderson Cooper sits down with Phelps and Bob Bowman post-Beijing, where Phelps talks about the 8 golds in Beijing, and also admits that after gold medal number 6 he was completely and utterly wiped. Phelps has another quote in the video that perfectly summarizes his attitude towards competition -- "to be honest, it's not wanting to lose." 2. "How I Stay Motivated." In this video Phelps talks about how he stays focused and motivates himself, especially when he doesn't feel up to it. 3. "Unfiltered; The Michael Phelps and Ian Crocker Story." During the 2000's Ian Crocker and Michael Phelps were the American 1-2 punch in the 100m butterfly. In this 6 minute clip of a documentary produced by Octagon Media, we get behind the scenes access to the biggest swimmer on the planet. 4. "Protect this house." An Under Armour commercial that was produced in the lead up to London. ]]> 1958 <![CDATA[10 Things Successful Swimmers Don't Do]]> 1. They don’t look for the easy way out. Hard work is a rare commodity these days, and given our climate of instant fixes and miracle cures it is no surprise. Every direction you look there is a product or service that promises to alleviate your problem, with no strings and with little to no effort.

Don’t be fooled by this. Anything worth achieving requires hard work. A lot of it. Instead of cringing and grimacing at the sight of the work in front of you, be willing to hack away at it, piece by piece, day by day.

2. They don’t agonize over what others think about them.

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone.”

3. Try don't to chase too many goals at once.

Once we get a little taste of success, of the rewards that come with chasing the pursuit of excellence, we tend to get a little greedy. We start looking outwards for other awesome stuff to achieve, expanding our vision, and at the same time watering down our efforts, and eventually, our results as well. Resist the urge to achieve everything at once, and instead drill down with remarkable focus and intensity on a select number of goals. It’s best to do a couple things exceptionally well then to do numerous at a mediocre level.

4. They don’t allow others to define their success.

Having goals set for you, or creating goals that are designed to please someone else, are destined for failure. (At which point you will not only feel like you have disappointed yourself, but also the other person who somehow managed their way into your plans for success.) Create goals and a vision that is yours. Your goals are the ones that will motivate you beyond the first couple weeks of hard training. During the small dips in motivation, and in the dead of winter when it is freezing outside and the last thing you want to do is go to practice.

5. They don’t focus on what they can’t control.

Ultimately, we can only control so much about the outcome. We can only manage our own performance. Getting caught up in what other swimmers are doing will only distract you from working on the things that matter to your own swimming. When you are standing up on the blocks next to your top competitor you should be quietly confidant because you did everything you could do to prepare. At this point the confidence has overtaken you because the result at this point will write itself.

6. They don’t spend time blaming others or making excuses.

We all experience frustration and disappointment when things do not go as planned. The easy thing to do is to brush off responsibility and lay it at the feet of a variety of excuses. It’s easy to say that the pool wasn’t the right temperature, or that your cap didn’t feel right, or that you simply didn’t feel like it. Elite swimmers don’t spend their time making excuses, or shouldering their performances on others. Instead, these athletes are more than willing to take full accountability for their swimming, both in good times and in bad.

7. They don’t think success happens overnight.

There is no such thing as an overnight success story. There is only the illusion of it. Behind the scenes, long before the gold medal swim they were toiling away, working with patience and determination for their own day to splash on the scene. Being successful equates with being patient and hungry, of understanding that success is found in the process, in showing up everyday and doing their best. The successful swimmer, although eager and starved for success, also knows that achieving big time stuff is a long term process, not something that will happen overnight.

8. They don’t fold when things get rough.

Adversity happens to all of us. What marks the difference between the swimmer on the top of the podium and the one sitting in the stands is a refusal to fold under pressure and difficulty. Every swimmer at some point in the process will get hit by a barrage of setbacks. Getting really sick, a gnarly injury, and so on. What matters is not necessarily what happens, but how you react in the aftermath. Will you bounce back stronger after a shoulder injury? Phelps did after he broke his wrist in the run-up to Beijing. Will you bounce back after getting sick and missing a week of training? Or will you steady on when your coach up and leaves, or you move to a new team?

9. They are willing to find a new path.

The path to success isn’t a sure one. While we can try and plot the steps that it will take to get there, hiccups inevitably arise, and there will even be moments where you progress much faster than you ever thought possible. Elite swimmers know that while their path to success is flexible and up for change, their will to see the path through is not.

10. They learn from their mistakes.

Championship swimmers recognize the inherent value in failure, for it provides a valuable opportunity for feedback and learning – if you’re willing to see it as such. For some swimmers failure is the end. It’s proof that they couldn’t do it, that they don’t deserve it, and that they will never be the amazing swimmer they thought they could be. For the best swimmers in the world (and in your local pool), failure is nothing but a stepping stone, an opportunity to learn what works and what doesn’t, an opportunity to learn and adapt and ultimately, charge forwards smarter and faster. Ready to take your swimming to the next level? Download the full list as a pretty PDF that you can print off and use daily to remind yourself what it takes to swim like a boss. Click on the download link below and I will send along the PDF to you...

]]> 1967 <![CDATA[How to Create a Devastating Plan for Your Swimming Goals]]> here and here), while also underscoring the need to create a flexible, yet durable plan for success. Hopefully by now you have had some experience with setting your own goals for your swimming, but maybe you aren’t seeing the results you want. Setting the goal is the easy and fun part; it’s daydreaming, wishful thinking. Getting down to brass tacks and figuring out how to pull that dream out of the clouds into reality is a little more difficult, and often where people get stuck. Here is a 7-step guide for creating your own bulletproof plan to crush your swimming goals:

1. HAVE A RESOLUTE, CLEAR IDEA OF WHAT YOU WANT.

Keep your main goal as clear and as defined as possible. Don’t leave any room or space for doubt or ambiguity. Goals such as “I want to swim fast” are well-intentioned, but they set you up for failure. Why? Because it’s a subjective goal. “Fast” will mean something completely different for you six months from now. Instead, zero in on a very specific, concrete number: “I want to swim 2:26.43 for the 200m breaststroke at Olympic Trials in 2016.” Boom, now that is a goal! You have a very specific time, as well as a deadline to help push you into action.

2. WORK BACKWARDS.

If the path to our goals is a journey, so far we have only two points: the end (what we want to achieve), and the beginning (where we stand at this very moment). It’s time to fill in the dots between. Do the research and figure out which competitions you will be attending between now and your goal. Make a list of ‘em, and beside the name of each competition, write down the time you will have to swim that will mean you are progressing towards the end result. (Keep in mind that not all of the meets will shave and tapered, so keep in mind that you will almost always be slower at in-season meets.) With this list of meets and goal times we have the roadposts that will signify progress, and give us the shorter term goals to draw aim at.

3. TAKE STOCK OF WHERE YOU STAND RIGHT NOW.

It’s time to get honest with yourself, and to do a little more homework. (Sorry I’m not sorry!) Grab a piece of paper and pen, and on it write down the areas where you need to get better. Try to avoid generalities and make the things you want to improve as specific and measurable as possible. For example, if you know that your kick has to improve, set a goal to drop time on your 200m breast kick time. Don’t write open-ended things such as “improve kick” without having a measuring stick beside it. Aim to have 4-5 high impact components to improve, and no more. Once you get started on a list you’ll need to resist the urge to write out an endless laundry list of things to fix. The fewer the better. Having a massive list will be daunting to the point of not knowing where to start, and more importantly, because your time is limited and your efforts are spread so thin the list will prove discouraging when you only see minor improvements among a couple of items, instead of profound improvements in a few. (Besides, often times when you change one facet of your swimming, it radiates outwards. Improving your kick for example doesn’t just help your propulsion and balance in the water, it will also improve starts and turns as well.)

4. WRITE OUT WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO DO TO DOMINATE THOSE AREAS OF IMPROVEMENT.

Now that we have our hit list of the things we are going to strengthen, it’s time to write out a list of actionable items for each. Here is an example:

Area of Improvement: Improve breast kick

The measuring stick: Kick 200m breaststroke in under 2:55

Actionable Items:

Spend 10 minutes per day working on knee and ankle flexibility.

Doing 10 minutes of vertical breaststroke kick 5x per week.

Get video analysis of kick to check for any spots where propulsion is lost.

The list doesn’t have to be massive here either; generally 1-3 things is sufficient. What matters most here – and what will provide the most exceptional of results – is to execute this list consistently.

5. CREATE LAYERS OF ACCOUNTABILITY & ASSESSMENT

Swimming goals at their best are exceptionally clear cut. Fortunately for swimmers we have a coach and an endless number of variables to measure our progress. Use these so that you can develop a better sense of how quickly you improve (which will also help you set more intelligent goals moving forwards).

Track your workouts and test sets. Doing so will give you feedback inside of training of whether you are progressing, and at what rate. Having this intel will allow you to see whether you are on track or not, and whether you need to heighten or temper expectations.
Share your goals with your coach/parents. Having your coach and support system on board with your ambitions is paramount. Don’t feel that you need to chase your dreams down alone. We all like to think we can do everything and anything on our own, but admittedly, there will be days when you need a push. Letting your coach & family know what your goals are will ensure that they remind you when your motivation and efforts slacken.
Regularly assess. Don’t wait until your next meet to see if you are progressing. Training offers a variety of indices to measure; from flexibility, to kick speed, stroke rate, stroke count, breath count, pull speed, get up swims, and so on.

6. BE FLEXIBLE, BUT DON’T BREAK.

There will be trying times. This I can promise you. There will be moments where you don’t think you are making fast enough progress, where your confidence falls through the floor after a bad couple workouts, or a sudden injury has you sidelined and on the outside looking in. These moments are where you go back to your plan and make the necessary adjustments. The plan for your swimming goals isn’t made of concrete, it’s flexible as long as you are being flexible with the manner with which you continue to chase your goals. Don’t misunderstand flexibility for wiggle room; being malleable with the way you achieve your goals is different from giving up on parts of your plan. It’s about finding a new direction when the old one isn’t working.

7. FIRST STEP ON THE PLAN IS SOMETHING YOU DO TODAY. NOW.

I cannot stress this point enough. Don’t fall into the loop of putting things off until tomorrow, or next week, or when you feel you will be better suited to start down your path. There is no better time than this very moment, so make sure that the first thing on your goal plan is something you can begin immediately. Acting now will get you in the habit of continually moving forward, of seizing the moment regardless of circumstance, and get you into the habit of being habitually active.

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

We expect a flawless performance. With all of that hard work stocked up behind us, a great swim taper, an injury-free shavedown, we expect things to go absolutely perfectly. When things don’t go perfect, when our swimming and meet prep doesn’t go as planned, we get rattled and frustrated. Remember that there will always be a heap of things you cannot control, including the competition, the pool conditions, even the sleeping arrangements. This stuff shouldn’t have any influence on the things you do control, so turn your energy and focus inwards.

Getting caught up in what others think. Again, there are the things that you can control, and the things that you cannot. You have no power over the thoughts and feelings of others, and your big meet of the year is the worst time and place to start trying. Besides, even though we like to think that people are focused on us, the likelihood of them giving us a second-thought is next to nil. Don’t allow your focus and composure to be rattled by what you think (a.k.a. wildly guess) other people may be thinking or saying about you.

Focusing on the negative. Our taper didn’t end spectacularly well. Our stroke didn’t feel that great in warm-up. The test set that you did three weeks ago went disastrously. Focusing on mistakes and dwelling them puts you on the defensive, in a state where you find yourself explaining and rationalizing these errors/performances.

Here are three tips for resetting yourself mentally so that you can get back to performing at your best: 1. You have options. No matter how frustrated or worked up you get, take a breath (or 10 if you have to), and remember that you always have options. We tend to get freaked out when we feel the window of options closing in on us. 2. View the upcoming swim in the context of your long term goals. Getting caught up in the moment is natural. So much has gone into this swim that we put ourselves in a do-or-die mental state. Even if you don’t swim according to your expectations, it’s not the end of the world. Your life will go on, and so will your swimming career. Where does this swim rank on the ladder of your swimming career? Take a moment to appreciate that this swim is just a stepping-stone in a greater journey. 3. Take a breather. I swore by this tactic at big meets. When we are cooped up in the aquatic centre for a full weekend we tend to get a bit stir crazy. All we have on the brain is swimming-swimming-swimming. Whether it is our own performances, watching our teammates, or getting fixated on the competition, we completely envelop ourselves in all aspects of the meet. You’ll notice that after a day or two of this you’ve become fully tense and locked up. Take a breather and go for a walk. Leave the pool, the deck, and the sound of cheers and the starter’s gun and refresh yourself mentally.]]> 1990 <![CDATA[Behind the Scenes of the UIC Flames Dryland Program]]> rd and 4^th place finishes for their men’s and women’s programs respectively at the Horizon League Championships in Cleveland. The Horizon League is a 9-team collegiate athletic conference that competes in the mid-western United States. The group of schools and programs are NCAA Div 1. Some of the highlights from the video, which features the 2011-2012 squad:

Barbell cleans.
Standing shoulder press.
Pull ups. (including some impressive two-tiered pullups
Various stretch cord exercises.
Kettleball swings.
And every athlete’s favorite: burpees!

[As always, make sure that you are using proper form when doing any type of resistance training. I feel I should mention this as there are a couple examples of poor posture and form within the video.] Enjoy: ]]> 1994 <![CDATA[Stanford Swimming's "Beyond the Pool" (Video)]]> ]]> 2099 <![CDATA[6 Ways for Swimmers to Mentally Get Out of Their Own Way]]> Stop looking to others for the answers you already have. Odds are pretty good that you know deep down what you need to do to achieve your goals. You’re aware of the work, the dedication, and the changes that will be necessary to achieve big things. But you hold out up that someone will give you a shortcut or an answer, a way out from doing the hard work. You get hung up on mistakes you have made in the past. We estimate that our future will look like our past. After all, we look to the times we have done in practice to telegraph how we are going to swim at a meet. A successful swimming career is not one that is free of mistakes or failure – but rather, of lessons learned and overcoming those setbacks and hiccups and prevailing. You expect things to go perfectly. When we make a plan for success in the pool, no matter where the goal falls in the scheme of achievement, and things don’t go swimmingly (pun intended!) we tend to view this personally. See, I don’t deserve to swim fast. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to do it. Our shortcomings reinforce the dark, insidious doubts that we have about ourselves that lurk in the back of our minds. The process will never be perfect, and believing so will only lead to disenchantment. Accept the grind, the bumps and bruises that mark the face of a champion. You lose yourself in the outcome, and forget the process. Succeeding in the pool is a much richer experience than just winning a medal at a meet. The things you will learn by focusing on the moment, by showing up every day and devoting your energy and focus to the tasks at hand, those are the things that will make you an elite swimmer. The time that you post on the scoreboard, of the color of the medal, or the record that you smash are all simply by-products of this devotion to the process. You’re focusing on the competition instead of yourself. Being a competitive sport there is that whole thing about having 7 other athletes in the pool when you get up on the blocks. Focusing on their performance however, only ensures that you are neglecting yours. Don’t let what the competition is doing knock you off of your race strategy, your mental preparation, and the way you plan on swimming. You’re allowing naysayers to take up to much of your inner circle. People will always complain. It’s easy. It’s the default setting that many fall into. And as such, it’s all around us. The teammates who scoff at your goals. The coach whose eyebrow goes up when you outline your ambitions. The parents who talk smack. It’s all out there, and it’s a frustrating part of trying to be uniquely successful at something. Don’t allow them the privilege of having influenced your performance. Make today be the day where you only talk good of others, and only accept the same from those around you.]]> 2178 <![CDATA[Nathan Adrian's Prep for US Nationals (Video)]]> ]]> 2199 <![CDATA[Behind the Scenes with Nathan Adrian at US Nationals (Part 2)]]> Also, here is the full race video courtesy of USA Swimming's YouTube channel with commentary of the 50m freestyle from US Nationals. The field was hilariously stacked, including Josh Schneider, Cullen Jones, Anthony Ervin, and of course, Adrian. Ervin would pull of the quasi-upset, winning in 21.5, with Adrian right behind him. ]]> 2227 <![CDATA[3 Tips for a Faster Freestyle]]> 1. Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’. Rotating properly in the water can be a bit of a mystery. Don’t do it enough and you are plowing your shoulders through the water, causing heaps of drag and turbulence. Do it too much and you lose a lot of the power in your pull as it your hand is either forced to cross the center line or your pull is extended straight down the side of your body, which takes the big power making capabilities of your lats and back out of the pulling equation. 2. Align your spin. A very common mistake many competitive swimmers make is rising their head. Some of this is preservation; we are surveying our surroundings so that we don’t run into fellow swimmers or the wall. Contrast standing on the pool deck with a straight posture versus one where you lean your head back, stretching your neck and taking your body out of a neutral position. Imagine a straight line from your head to your butt, zipping along the top of the water. 3. Drive your hands forward. This is another common one amongst even experienced swimmers; when your hand is entering the water you should be driving forward with it. The entry should be an active part of your stroke, and instead of just flopping into the water you should be using the twist and rotation of your torso to punch forwards. This has the added benefit of extending your stroke, and will also help you maintain proper rotation of your upper body.]]> 2238 <![CDATA[3 Tips to Improve Your Distance Per Stroke]]> 1. Counting your strokes is essential. Making a habit of counting your strokes is the first and most essential step. Knowing where you are at, and then setting targets for where you want to be, are imperative. Get into the routine of keeping track of how many strokes you are taking when you at a cruise pace, as well as when you sprinting, where your DPS will go up anywhere between 20%-40%.

2. Ride the horizontal plane.

The effects of drag are hard to see when we are mid-stroke, but their effects are undeniable. Water is nearly 800 times more dense than air, meaning that improving drag reduction is absolutely critical to improving speed. Imagine yourself trying to swim through a tight hole in the water, with your body in a straight line and at the surface of the water. When our head picks up, or our legs begin to sag, we are subjecting our body to a ton of drag, forcing us to pull and kick harder, expending even more energy to blast through the water.

3. Improve your feel of the water.

Another key in improving your DPS is to improve your feel for the water. Having a better catch in the water, and attaining a better feel” for the water where you are catching more of it during your pull will help you to take less strokes. There are a couple different drills that can help you achieve this—

Closed fist swimming. Your forearms are a neglected surface area that helps you generate propulsion. We tend to get caught up with our hands at the expense of forgetting the rest of our arm. Closed fist swimming forces us to use those neglected parts of your arm.

Sculling. Another fantastic method to improve your feel of the water. You can do sculling in all areas of your stroke, from the catch, to the pull, to the exit. You can also do sculling on your front, back, and side, giving you tons of options no matter what your stroke or specialty is.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

2. Be grateful for how far you have already come.

We tend to get caught up a lot on the swimmer that we want to be, and not necessarily think about the swimmer that we are. There will always be something to be thankful for your swimming; from the camaraderie, to the travel, to racing and competition. When your back is up against the wall, and you can still find something to be grateful for than you will know that you have made it.

3. Tough training is a finite opportunity.

When we are in the midst of a long lactate threshold set it’s hard to poke our head above the churning water long enough to see the finish line. Training won’t always be this difficult, and it won’t always demand so much from you. There will come a time when you will look back and either be grateful that you braved the storms (and have the matching confidence in your preparation to prove it), or you will be wishing you had put your head down and stuck it out and reaped the rewards from it.

If you’re going through hell, keep going. Winston Churchill

4. Every swimmer has their own path.

Looking over at the lane next to you and seeing a teammate coasting through a workout, or cheating, or feigning an injury, can be disheartening when that same swimmer beats you in competition. It makes you feel as though no matter how hard you work, or how much you carry on, that some people are just more prone to success than you. As though hard work is pointless. Don’t play the “it’s not fair game” with your competition and teammates. It’s natural to get mad at the world when things don’t fall into place the way you think they should, but getting choked about it and sulking solves nothing. Realize that they have their path, and you have yours.

5. Going through the fire we emerge stronger.

One of the greatest lessons of sport, and of swimming in particular, is learning to face difficulty, to face challenge, to face hardship and still smile and keep plugging along. By embracing the grind and facing up to our fears and the challenges and the training we build a strength that could not be developed otherwise. Use the hard times to grow stronger. A lack of challenge makes us soft, pliable, weak. It is through difficulty and challenge that we rise and grow strong.

6. Make “I will conquer this” your new mantra.

I won’t lie – there will be moments where you absolutely feel like giving up. Where the mental battle between giving up and continuing will be so loud that it is impossible to ignore. Where your lungs are screaming, your muscles ache, and you cannot imagine how you will complete the next rep, let alone the rest of the set. In exactly those moments employ a mantra of your choosing. My two favorites were: “I will not be outworked” and “This set will not beat me.” Keep it simple, employ sparingly for heightened effectiveness, and conquer your training.

Dominate the Competition.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

]]> 2299 <![CDATA[5 Things Michael Phelps Taught Me About Swimming and Success in Life]]> 1. To do extraordinary things you will have to put in extraordinary effort. In an interview that Michael Phelps and his coach Bob Bowman did with 60 Minutes post Beijing, interviewer Anderson Cooper and Bowman talked about the rigorous training demands that Phelps had undergone in the lead up to the 2008 Olympics, where he would ultimately win those storied 8 gold medals—

Bowman: For about 5 years he did not take one day off.

Cooper: Christmas Day?

Bowman: Nope. We trained on Christmas.

Cooper: His birthday?

Bowman: Oh yeah, that’s a given. Twice on his birthday.

The desire not to lose, and the desire to accomplish something that had never been done before in Olympic history were what drove Phelps during those grueling years. “If you want to be the best, you have to do things that others aren’t willing to do,” he said. The road most traveled is exactly that; the one that most journey across, rarely taking a risk, rarely extending themselves beyond their comfort zone, and achieving exactly what everyone else is doing – the typical. To be the best at something is by it’s very definition to be abnormal. To separate yourself from the crowd and become exceptional requires first that you leave your comfort zone and reach out across your self-imposed limitations into the ether of the unknown.

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2. Talent and your past work will only get you so far. After Beijing the inevitable let down happened. He went on a whirlwind tour across the world, doing late night shows, day time shows, appearances for sponsors, and started up his foundation with the $1 million bonus that Speedo gave him for the Beijing heroics. Over the next couple years he would have difficulty motivating himself. He had accomplished so much, and with those 8 golds securely put away he felt a sagging sense of purpose. As a result he began missing practices. And not giving the effort that was required of him when he did show up. So much so that USA Swimming teammate Tyler Clary, who trained with Phelps at Michigan, called him out for having a substandard work ethic. “I saw a real lack of preparation from him,” Clary told a reporter prior to the London Games. “Basically, he was a swimmer that didn’t want to be there.” During the same 60 Minutes interview both Bowman and Phelps readily admit that he was having a hard time keeping interested in the sport after 2008. While London may have been his last hurrah (for now, at least), there was no doubt that the man who showed up in 2012 was not the same as four years earlier. Swimming out of lane 8 he placed outside of the medals in the 400m individual medley on the first night. And then he lost the 200m butterfly to South African upstart Chad le Clos – an event that he had utterly dominated for over a decade. All too often when we achieve some measure of success we relax. We lean back, chill out, and feel that because now that we have made it everything is going to be golden from here on out. In reality, the world will always catch up. There is no permanent position for the best; to stay there requires continuous work and focus. 3. The goal should be bigger than yourself. Phelps’ main goal in the sport was never solely about winning golds at the Olympics. But rather, those Olympic wins were meant to help further his main goal, which was to bring swimming to the masses, to transcend the sport, to prove that swimming didn’t have to be an every-four-years sport. In the years following the Olympics that Phelps competed in the membership of USA Swimming increasingly grew with each Olympiad, until in 2009 the number of registered club swimmers in the United States grew by a whopping 13%. This figure doesn’t include the countless number of swimmers that joined summer leagues, high school teams, and even masters programs across the country and world. Perhaps the most striking of the “Phelps effect” was Chad le Clos, the man that beat him in his best event in London. Le Clos had been inspired to take up swimming because of Phelps. As a 12 year old in South Africa, Le Clos watched Phelps compete at the 2004 Athens Games and decided at that moment to become the best swimmer he could be. Tap into a greater purpose with your swimming and your goals. It can be something as small as volunteering to coach the youngsters on your team, or to further the popularity of the sport by starting a team at your local high school. When we find a deeper purpose to what we are doing we connect further with the sport and our goals, while also finding an additional layer of motivation and inspiration. 4. Failure should drive you, not cripple you. While it’s hard to look at the most decorated athlete in the history of the Olympics and imagine him failing, Phelps has had numerous setbacks over his career. There was the DUI charge, being photographed at a party smoking pot. These have been well documented in the popular media. But what casual sports observers might not know is that there was also the time that he broke his wrist slipping on some ice during an Ann Arbour winter in Michigan. Just 8 months short of the Beijing Games, Phelps was ordered out of the water while his wrist healed. Instead of swimming, Phelps went to work on a stationary bike, logging up to 3 hours per day for the next two weeks until he was cleared to hop back in the pool. Setbacks and failures happen to us all. We tend to imagine that our sports heroes being larger than life and immune to such things, but that is not the case. When asked how he handles failure and setbacks, Phelps says that they are probably more beneficial, for they help to fuel him. “I don’t like to lose. If I fail, I ask myself, “What can I do to make sure that doesn’t happen again?”’ 5. Surround yourself with people who believe in you. In sport, as in life, to be successful requires a group surrounding us that support us, encourage us when we fill with doubt, who help us back on track when we stumble. We tend to lean towards wanting to be completely self-sufficient and independent, but our success is reliant on the people we choose to surround ourselves with. Phelps is no exception. He was 11 years old when Bob Bowman recognized his talents and fierce competitiveness at the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. Bowman encouraged the youngster to dream big, to start setting goals and to make a plan. Over the years the two would stay together, even when Bowman has brought on at Michigan, even after the monumental Olympic success, and even when Phelps walked away from the sport and then decided to make a return. On the home-front things were no different. His mom Debbie was a fixture during the NBC telecasts of his last three Olympics. And for good reason. The single mother raised a family of swimmers, pulling driving duty for Michael and his two older sisters. Driving them back and forth to the pool to two-a-days and weekend meets were among the sacrifices she made to help Phelps chase his dream. Perhaps most importantly, she believed in him. Encouraged him to chase his dreams when most other parents would have quietly sighed and shook their head. She allowed her son to grow. To make his own mistakes. To learn to be responsible and accountable. Success is difficult. There’s no doubt about that. But to do it completely on your own is hilariously challenging. By surrounding yourself with people who believe in you you gain the advantage of having people in your corner, who have your back no matter what the outcome, who believe in you during the times that you even don’t.]]> 2343 <![CDATA[Ready to Get Serious About Crushing Your Swimming Goals? Start Here.]]> Reminder: Have you signed up for our weekly newsletter? Each week you get an email with motivational content designed exclusively for competitive swimmers. Join 5,000+ of your fellow swimmers and coaches getting fired up. It’s free and you can always unsubscribe. Click here to sign up today.

Plan Backwards.

Looking at the swimmer you want to become at the end of the season, hold this athlete up to where you are at today. What separates those two athletes? What will you need to do to cross the bridge between goals and reality? Broadly-speaking, you should know:

What is the target stroke rates and stroke counts you are aiming for?
Break down the race into target splits. Those numbers will be what you chase daily in practice; they should serve as the constant reminder of what you need to be reaching for.
Can your turns be faster? How about your starts? Your underwater work? There are tenths of a second to be found and sliced everywhere, so remember to be thorough about all of the little things you can improve on in the water.
What areas outside of the pool can you see the most improvement? Are they things like your mental outlook and preparation? Consistency in training?
Can you do better to have yourself recovering faster? Things like sleep don’t get the credit they are due, and yet staying on top of your Z’s can be one of the most effective ways to keep your performance at a high level on a consistent basis.

Now Get Specific.

You should have a nice little list of areas where you can make improvements. But it is not enough to want these things, you need to make them actionable. You need to break these mid-sized aspects of your performance into smaller, daily, actionable items.

What will your typical day look like? Now that you have an idea of what it is going to take over the long haul to achieve your goals, what will each day of training entail?
What are your target stroke rates/counts vs. your current stroke rates/counts? You should be aiming for these the next time you are in the pool. Write them down on your kickboard if need be.
If your goal is to improve your consistency in training how are you going to stay on top of this on a daily basis?
If you are trying to get more sleep nightly to recover better and faster, what are you doing to get to bed nice and early regularly?

And so on. Write up what your daily routine and workout schedule will look like so that you have a battle plan you can move forward with starting tomorrow. Not next week, not when you feel like, and certainly not sometime later this season. Start punishing those goals now. Write out what you want to achieve with your swimming. And then write out what you are going to do about it.]]> 2394 <![CDATA[How Tom Shields Developed His Insane Underwater Dolphin Kick]]> SEE ALSO: How to Develop an Awesome Underwater Dolphin Kick

During an interview with the MSS Shields’ shared some of the "secrets" for what had led him to developing such a standout dolphin kick. Shields' admitted that it was largely as a result of making the underwater work habitual. It wasn't necessarily a secret technical tip, or some secret dryland exercise, it was that he had made his underwater work part of his daily swimming.

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The secret to Shields’ massive underwater dolphin kick was simply this: Time spent. From an early age Shields had been dolphin kicks while he was out body-boarding on the shores of Florida and Southern California. More recently, he had watched video of himself underwater so that he could adjust the technical aspects, while also seeking out to improve core flexibility. Shields' advice for those who want to improve their own dolphin kick is to make underwaters part of the practice, starting with the warm-up:

I’ve been doing the same warm-up…every day of my life. For warm-up we'll do 400, 4x100, and 4x50...I’ll do open turns and do 15 [underwater] easy and slow…That’s the secret right there, just doing it in warm up.

He recognizes that there isn’t a secret bullet, a secret exercise or tip that will instantly give you a powerful kick. It's boring, routine, and exactly why most people will never do it.

How to Make Your Dolphin Kicks Part of Your Daily Swimming

Start small. Depending on where you currently are at, doing 15 yards or metres of underwater kicks off of every single wall isn't feasible. Start with 5, 7, or even 10 yards or metres. Alternate 25's. Another way to ease into the hypoxic demand that extended underwaters require is to do 15y/m underwater off every second, or even third or fourth wall. As you acclimatize, increase the frequency. Incorporate it into your speed work. As you progress, start incorporating the underwaters into your main sets. This is where the dividends will really start to pay off, as you perform the kicks at as close to race-pace velocity as possible.

Shields' Underwaters At Work

Here is video of Shields' 200 butterfly win at the 2013 NCAA Div 1 Championships, where he takes the lead off the start with his underwater dolphin kicks and never relinquishes the lead. In this race, Shields would tie Michael Phelps' American record of 1:39.65. Enjoy:

The Next Step

Want to take your dolphin kick to the next level? I put together a comprehensive 3,000+ word guide on improving your underwater dolphin kick. From flexibility, to strength training, to technique (and even some bonus sets), you will learn everything you need to know about how to dolphin kick like a boss. Click on the image below and enter your email address to get instant access to the guide, sets, and a faster underwater dolphin kick!

]]> 2399 <![CDATA[5 Things You Need to Stop Telling Yourself to Be Successful in the Pool]]> “Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are our own fears.” – Rudyard Kipling The reasons that we lie to ourselves are profoundly varied. Sometimes we do it to get ourselves out of having to do the hard work that is required of us in the pool. Other times it is to protect our ego in the case of disappointment. In most cases, these little lies act as roadblocks to the things we want most. Qualifying for a team. Being a more consistent swimmer. Breaking a world record. Whatever your swimming goals are, here are five little lies that we tell ourselves that hold us back from fully punishing our goals in the pool:

1. I am not allowed to fail.

The myth of perfect and blemish-free action is a strong one. It’s hard to say where it originated from, but success is inherently difficult. And that means there will be times where you screw up, times where you get things totally wrong, and moments where you come up so short that you can do little but laugh. Failure is part of the process. Failure is okay. And it is an absolutely essential learning tool that will help coax you down the rocky and bump-strewn path that is your own version of swimming success.

2. I have to do this completely on my own.

Swimming is one of those weird sports where people train as collectively as a team, but when it comes to race time you are standing by yourself on the blocks. As a result, we tend to believe that we need to do everything on our own. As though having a good support system or asking for help somehow waters down what we are trying to accomplish. Surround yourself with knowledgeable, successful and supportive people. Not only will they have your back on those cold and dark mornings when you’d rather punch yourself in the face than roll out of bed, but they should also be an inspiration and a sounding board for you.

3. I don’t deserve success in the pool.

First things first, why ya gotta be so hard on yourself? What makes the next guy or gal so worthy or deserving? Kicking butt in the pool doesn’t need to be limited to ‘other’ swimmers. Russell Wilson, quarterback for the Seattle Seahwaks has lived with doubters and naysayers through every phase of his career. Nowhere was the naysaying stronger than when he was drafted into the NFL, a pick that was lambasted by NFL analysts across the league. 31 teams passed on him before he was finally drafted by Seattle. Looking back on those days, long before he led the Seahwaks to a Superbowl victory earlier this year, he thought back to something his father told him: “I remember my dad asking me one time, and it’s something that has always stuck with me: ‘Why not you, Russ?’ You know, why not me? Why not me in the Super Bowl?”

4. There’s a right moment, and I am waiting for it.

Procrastination at it’s finest, ladies and gentlemen. You imagine an ideal set of circumstances with which you can use to act or really move forward chasing your goals, and you refuse to budge until they have manifested themselves. Here’s the bad news: that “right” moment doesn’t really existed. There are no perfect or ideal circumstances. You won’t always have the best facilities, the best training mates, the best equipment, or even feel absolutely perfect. But here’s the good news: you have right now. You have this moment, and that is all you need.

5. I won’t be able to take not achieving my swimming goals.

This is a natural fear – believing that coming up short will so destroy you, the hurt and embarrassment and overwhelming guilt will completely and utterly ruin you. The reality is that you are waaaay tougher than you realize. Need proof of this? Just take a peek at your own recent history. When was the last time you came up short on a big goal? Got DQ’d at the big meet? Did the proverbial soiling of the bed on a race that you had prepared months on end for? Now, think about how you reacted in the immediate aftermath. Yes, it stung. Probably a lot. But then what? You got over it. And hopefully used the memory of that disappointment as a lesson and as fuel moving forward. In other words, you got this. You’re gonna be okay.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

4. Manage your electronics. It took me until adulthood to understand that I couldn't sleep in the same room as my cell phone. In my half-awake state I’d roll over and catch a glimpse of the red blinking light and be unable to quench my desire to see who had messaged me in the middle of the night. If you are more comfy with the cell in the bedroom than I am, and you are using it as an alarm clock, park it on the other side of the room so that you absolutely have to get up to turn off the horrifyingly loud alarm at 5 in the morning. 5. Wake up at the same time, but go to sleep when you are tired. Your body doesn’t need the exact same amount of sleep each night. There’ll be days when you have two massive workouts and a full day of school and homework and you can barely keep your eyes open past 8pm. You’ll need 8-9+ hours to recover. On other days your schedule will be a little more leisurely, and the snooziness won’t hit you until 10 or 11pm, and you will only need 6-7 hours of sleep. Instead of beating your head and telling yourself that you have to be in bed at an exact time or else (which tends to instigate the sleep-depriving and agonizing “How much sleep will I get tonight if I fall asleep right now?” game) simply get up at the same time each day. Within a few days you will find that you body will let you know when it is time to go to bed instead of you trying to force it to go to bed when it might not be primed to do so. 6. Have a routine for powering down. If getting up at the same time each day isn’t in the cards for you, and you need to be a little more discretionary about when you go to sleep, put together a power-down routine. Put together a simple list of 4-5 things that you always do before bed, so much like Pavlov’s puppies you condition your body to go to sleep after given a specific set of cues or triggers. The cues might include things like: brushing your teeth, reading for 15 minutes, tidying up your room, packing your lunch for the following day, arranging your gear for the morning, and so on. Make the list and follow through with it consistently and soon enough you will be able to tell your body when it is nighty-night time. 7. Make a 2 minute commitment. The big things in life are achieved with tiny, little steps. Sometimes one of those big things in life is getting out of that warm, cozy bed when snow is blowing sideways outside. When you start to feel that tug and whisper of your pillows and blankets telling you that it will be okay if you miss just this one practice, that no one will notice or care, tell that voice that you are going to get up for just a couple minutes. Get up, walk around, eat some food. After a couple minutes 99% of the time the voice of resistance will fade into the back of your brain.]]> 2425 <![CDATA[Will You Make Today's Practice One to Remember?]]> 1. The soiled-the-bed workout. Yup, those ones. The ones that sting, so they last in your memory. Why these workouts are so awful are as varied as we are as swimmers. Maybe our calves and hamstrings cramped up on us right from warm-up (ouch). Or the swimmer who you’ve always dusted had the practice of their life and left you in the dust for a change, simultaneously issuing you a healthy dose of humility. Or maybe our attitude was awful that day from a melange of out-of-the-pool stuff ranging from too little sleep, too much homework, and too much stress. Or maybe we simply couldn’t find our stroke, feigned an injury and got out early. These workouts were so bad, so unbelievably awful that they live on in our own personal hall of shame. 2. The holy-cow-I-can’t-believe-how-fast-I-swam workout. These ones are a whole lot more fun to reminisce on. These are the workouts where you break barriers, come within tenths of breaking a best time, finally beat that guy in the lane next to you on the main set, or led the lane for the first time. Those workouts leave us feeling mighty fantastic about ourselves. We strut out of the pool, red-faced and sweaty still, and yet, we have never been happier or prouder. We sense like our swimming is on the right track, that we are capable of hilariously rad swimming, and that our goals are going to get straight-up punched in the kisser. And that’s it! We rarely think about those middle-of-the-road workouts where we kinda just dial it in, do a mostly good job, and do little that is noteworthy (either good or bad). But consider for a moment how much faster you could progress with your swimming if you could string together a few of those exceptional workouts, instead of just banging them out every so often. Here are a few ways to insure that you are racking up more of the super-sauce workouts and less of the stinkers:

Do something today that you have never done before.

I would imagine that a lot of those great workouts came about as a result of you doing something outside of your comfort zone, something you had never done before. You don’t need to wait around for these types of things to just happen. You can plan for them. With each practice go into it planning on doing something you have never done before. They don’t have to be ground shaking little goals either, they can be as simple as holding a breathing pattern for the entire main set, having perfect turns on every wall, or just hanging out and doing 20 minutes of extra core work after practice. Create little goals, little things you’ve never done before, and the confidence you will create and the progress you will make will stun ya.

Design circumstances that allow for exceptional radness.

Think back to all of those workouts that went really well. What were some of the common circumstances that led you to swim so well? Was it your attitude? Did you have a really good sleep the night before? Did you get supremely amped up by blasting some ruggedly thuggish music just prior to getting into the pool? Think back to those great practices and try to draw some of the common habits and patterns.

No matter what you do, do it well.

There will be days when you simply don’t feel like training hard. Your energy is zapped, everything and everyone is annoying you, and no matter how hard you seem to try you can’t get into the swing of things in the pool. Your first instinct will be to say, “Screw it. I’ll bounce back tomorrow.” And while that is a mildly laudable sentiment to have (it is better than saying “That’s it, I quit!”) you still have today. You still have an opportunity to improve. Feeling tired and banged up? Focus on swimming with perfect technique. Feeling unmotivated and distracted? Count your strokes and try to do one less per 25. You don’t need to swim a best time every day in practice to progress or make a practice worthwhile. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Vanderpool-Wallace won a bronze medal at the 2007 Pan American Games as part of the women's 4x100m medley relay. She is also a graduate of Florida-based swim school powerhouse The Bolles School, and is also the daughter of Bahamas' politician Vincent Vanderpool-Wallace. Here is the video, which follows her through the course of a day of training on the Auburn campus. Enjoy: ]]> 2434 <![CDATA[3 Simple Tips for Having a Killer Attitude in the Pool]]> [alert style="grey"]Breaking News Announcement: Have you signed up for my weekly newsletter? Each week you get an email with motivational content designed exclusively for competitive swimmers. Join 6,000+ of your fellow swimmers and coaches getting fired up. It’s free and you can always unsubscribe. Click here to sign up today.[/alert]

Here are 3 simple strategies for developing a better attitude at the pool this year so that you can make the most of those tough workouts (and ideally also put a whopping on your best times!): Be willing to try before you convince yourself that you can’t do something. How many times has a fairly ridiculous set been scrawled up on the whiteboard, leading your shoulders to shrug, your lungs to sigh, and your brain to start searching for the first excuse it can get its eager little hands on? If your coach was anything like any of mine probably quite a few times. Admitting defeat before the battle is a little premature isn’t it? In those moments decide to reserve judgement and to try the first little bit of the set. And then a little more. And soon enough you are halfway done, and coming home feeling invigorated and pumped because you are doing what minutes ago you doubted you could. So the next time that tough set gets posted, hold off judgement until you actually get in, and like, swim the set. Motivation comes from acting – not from thinking about what lies ahead. Many of us are under the impression that we require motivation or inspiration to act. That we cannot go ahead and give our full and undivided effort unless we are fired up, amped, or whatever you want to call it. But if you are sitting around, waiting for that bolt of excitement to overcome you, you’re going to be waiting around for a very long time indeed. Here’s a fun fact that you might not have known: Motivation is caused by action. Yup, read that again. Slowly and out loud if you have to. Once you get started on that big terrifying set, you start to feel motivated because you are doing something. The next time you feel an overwhelming lack of motivation, act. How we think feeds into how we feel. Our thoughts (and the stuff that we say aloud) drive the way that we feel. If we are thinking and putting words to our negative thoughts – “I’ll never be able to do this set!” –than the workout is already pooched. You are going to pump that negative energy into the way you feel in the water, which will reinforce your thoughts, launching you into this awful loop that just keeps layering negativity all up in your noodle. If you decide to be positive minded – “I am going to complete this set!” or “I am going to punch this set in the face!” – those positive emotions drive positive feelings, allowing you to swim with determination. ]]> 2441 <![CDATA[Want to Be Ruthlessly Committed to Your Swimming This Season? Start Here.]]> "At the moment of commitment the world conspires to assist you." -Goethe Wanna know what the biggest indicator of success in the pool is? It isn’t genetics. It’s not the coach you have, or the facilities you train at. Although all of those things do play a factor in the overall arc of your swimming career, the most potent symptom of championships swimming is having a single-minded, unflagging commitment to your goals. The big C-word is scary for a lot of people, as it’s inferred that by committing to something you are giving up a whole lot of something else. Being committed means limiting your options, declining yourself the ability to be a never-ending window shopper of goals and achievements. And in a way, this is true. Commitment means investing your energy and attention into a singular goal, and yes, this means that sacrifices will be made along the way. This is unavoidable, however, as achieving anything worthwhile is inevitably accompanied by a corresponding measure of sacrifice. There are countless examples of swimmers in the past who adopted this stubborn, steadfast commitment to their goals and continued in the face of ridicule and adversity.

[alert style="grey"]Breaking News Announcement: Have you signed up for my weekly newsletter? Each week you get an email with motivational content designed exclusively for competitive swimmers. Join 6,000+ of your fellow swimmers and coaches getting fired up. It’s free and you can always unsubscribe. Click here to sign up today.[/alert]

Vladimir Salnikov in 1988 winning the 1500m freestyle at the Seoul Olympics at the age of a then-ancient age of 28 after initially being passed over by the Russian swimming federation. Dara Torres, who at the age of 41 returned to competitive swimming to win three silver medals at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Jason Lezak, also in Beijing, came back against the second fastest man ever in the event Alain Bernard to win the 4x100m freestyle relay, launching Phelps’ bid to win those 8 historic gold medals. This seemingly superhuman trait is already within you. It’s not something that only a gifted few possess, but rather, something you not only already have, but something you can further develop. Just think back to the last time you got really serious about accomplishing something. No matter what anybody said or did to dissuade you, you would not be stopped. There simply was no alternative. Now imagine if you could unleash and wield that fierce, unstoppable sense of drive and commitment at will. Consider for a moment how a lot of the typical things that hang up swimmers – insufficient training time, lack of resources, low confidance – are violently brushed to the side when you adopt this mindset. It doesn’t matter what obstacles are in the way. Big, small, whatever – they simply don’t matter. You won’t be stopped. Here are a few guidelines to help you recognize and fully embrace that inner drive so that you can use it at will:

1. Figure out if this is really what you want.

Sit down with your goals for a few moments. Think about why it is important to you (and it should be emphasized that it should be important to you – not your coach, parents or anyone else), and what it will mean to you to accomplish it. Having a clear and fundamental understanding of the “why” will help you stay clear-minded about maintaining an unwavering direction.

2. Go all in.

We tend to look up at our idols in the sport and imagine that they had it all sorted out long ago. That they made a plan, and that they executed it with smooth perfection. No hiccups, no self-doubts, no struggles. Not only is this ideal creating unrealistic expectations for our own journey, it is also completely false. The chief problem with this presumption is that we expect to have it all figured out before we ever lift a finger. And when we feel like we don’t, we shy away from going all in. You can’t make a half-way commitment to a supremely rad goal. You’ll forever only ever give half an effort. In other words, you must commit yourself fully to the goal before you start. Not knowing exactly how things will unfold is not an excuse for inaction. The path to your goal – and even the goal itself – will change. Your commitment to it should not.

3. Renew your commitment regularly.

Your commitment levels are fluid, not static. You don’t sit down and say “I’m committed to my goals” one day and then expect to have a full-blooded resolve for an indeterminate amount of time. A common mistake that swimmers make is to make the commitment at the beginning of their journey, and expect it to take them the rest of the way. This is wrong. You need to feed your commitment on the regular to keep it fully charged. Some simple ways to do this is to regularly review and track your performances in the pool. Keep yourself accountable with your coach and parents. And setting smaller, short term goals that will keep you focused on the steps required to achieve your over-arching objective.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

1. Sleep More.

Yes, finally! Guilt-free sleep ins. In fact, if you want to not only recover more quickly, but also swim faster, this is the easiest way to do so. Research done at Stanford with the men’s and women’s swim teams showed that after 6 weeks of an extra 1-2 hours of sleep per night swimmers improved in terms of reaction time, flat out speed, and even turn quickness.(15m sprint times were an average of half a second faster. That's a lot.) Finding those hours can be challenging for the student-athlete, with your time being pulled in a thousand different directions with assignments, studying, training, and what passes for a social life, but with a little time management and implementing some basic sleep strategies you can certainly find that extra 1-2 hours of sleep per night.

2. Forget ice.

In my younger days I – like nearly every other swimmer on the planet – used ice regularly to calm the rabid inflammation that was occurring inside my shoulder. Little did I know that while the ice helped to numb the pain within my shoulder, it was doing little to heal the overuse injury. Recent research has shown that ice actually slows down the body’s natural inflammatory response while also reducing muscle and nerve activity in the iced area.

Yes, it actually prolonged inflammation and has even been shown to make injuries worse by not allowing the body to flush out waste products in the inflamed area.

3. Fuel up properly.

For us two-a-day swimmers staying on top of your nutrition is critical. Have a protein-carbohydrate combo ready post-practice to jump start glycogen recovery, especially after your AM workout. You’ve probably been told that you need to chow something down within 30 minutes to 2 hours of completing your workout, but research has shown that this is only really important if you are training again within an 8 hour window (which for most swimmers is entirely possible).

4. Hydrate!

We have all been told a kajillion times that we need to drink lots of water. Why? Because we want to avoid becoming dehydrated. But what does that really mean, and does it make a difference if we aren’t hydrated after our practice? Apparently it does – water serves to flush toxins and kick-starts the muscle recovery program your body has in place. For especially intense days of training combine your water intake with an electrolyte-based beverage (electrolytes are important because they help to regulate bodily fluids, with sodium and chloride in particular which take care of muscle & nerve function and blood pressure).

FAQ: How much water should I be drinking after my workouts? For every pound lost drink 16-24 ounces.

5. Assault soreness and knots with a foam roller and a lacrosse ball.

For those of us who don’t have a masseuse on 24/7 stand-by, employ the 1-2 punch of a foam roller and a lacrosse ball to work out soreness and knots. Using a foam roller in particular will improve circulation and promote blood flow to targeted areas, which will help to flush out any waste products that are hanging out in your muscles. Another great reason to use these bad boys is to knead out knots you have in your swim-centric muscles. Those knots limit mobility and can increase the likelihood of overuse injuries, so keep on top of them and keep your shoulders and hips loosey-goosey. Swimmers should especially be hitting their lats, upper back (use the lacrosse ball to get into your scaps), and pecs.

About YourSwimBook

4. Give other swimmers space. Unless the pool is completely brimming with swimmers – as is typical at a meet with one pool and 1,500+ swimmers – give the other swimmers in your lane a generous amount of space. As with pushing off right before someone turns, don’t swim on the heels of other swimmers. 5. Check for the direction of the circle before jumping in. I cannot count how many times swimmers have jumped in and started swimming against the posted circle directions. It causes log jams and confusion when people swim against the flow of traffic. 6. Don’t split the lane unless agreed to. If there are two swimmers in a lane often times they will split it, with one swimmer taking a side. This is something that should be decided between the two swimmers – don’t jump in and assume the other swimmer will automatically understand what you mean to do. 7. Rest in the corners. Between reps and sets it’s normal to want to catch your breath, and reset yourself mentally for the next round of swimming. Rest in the corners of the lane, as close to the wall or lane rope as possible so that other swimmers can turn unobstructed. If you decide to chill out in the middle of the lane don’t be surprised if you get flip-turned on. 8. Choose a lane according to your speed, not your ego. Yes, we all want to think that we are the fastest swimmer in the pool. This, sadly, isn’t always the case. Choose a lane that matches up with how quickly (or slowly) you are planning on swimming. In other words, the lane in which the swimmers are the least likely to impede your swimming, and vice versa. 9. Tap and pass. When moving past slower moving swimmers in your lane, tap them once on the foot and speed up to pass them. If you are about to be passed, do not speed up. Stay to the side and allow the faster moving swimmer to cruise past you. Passing down the middle of the lane when it is busy is dangerous and runs the risks of head on collisions, so make the transaction as smooth as possible whether you are passing or being passed. 10. Bring your own stuff. This seems like an obvious one, but bring your own equipment to the lane. Using the gear that belongs to other swimmers is not only bad etiquette in the pool, but a bad policy to have in life. The pull-buoys or paddles that other swimmers have will be adjusted to fit them specifically, so bring your own equipment.

About YourSwimBook

2. Swimmer’s body.

You don’t hear too many other sports with this type of title: Football body, soccer body, or cricket body. The V-shaped back and shoulders is especially unique to swimmers. With that broad back comes boulder-shaped shoulders, and of course the countless number of laps and hours putting in work in the water gives us those lovely abdominals. If there is one thing our vanity has to be thankful for this year, it's our swimmer's body.

3. It allows you to complete superhuman feats of eating.

With the vast swaths of laps that we cut through, the hours upon hours of staring at the black line, and apparently exercising in cold water prevents the release of certain appetite-suppressing hormones, we can eat. A lot. Our friends never cease to be amazed, and our parents never cease to be exasperated at the grocery bill.

4. The quietness of an empty pool.

Man, there is nothing better than getting into a quiet pool when the world outside is stressing you out. The pool will always be a refuge from the stress of school and work, of relationship drama, of the pressures and annoyances of day-to-day life. For a few moments when you slip into the water the world and your problems fade away, leaving just you and the pool.

5. No matter what pool you go to, it is home away from home.

No matter what facility you go to, on whichever corner of the globe, the moment you climb into the familiar feeling of a suit and goggles, and then hop into a chlorinated container of water, you can’t help but feel like you are home.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

2. A personal favorite. As someone who swam in a dark pool for much of my childhood, this was also the way that we typically viewed the pace clocks. 0e9694655f4c2aea7ec369450afbc1a1

3. For those who like to dangerously by scarfing down a big meal right before hopping into the water for a healthy round of anaerobic work. tumblr_mx5634cpHS1rujh0jo1_1280

4. Yum, yum! meme-tears-swimmer

5. Perhaps the only thing worse than slapping hands with a teammate is giving one of the pool-side ladders a surprise high-five. knuckle destroyer 9000

6. That is one way to win the race. Can't DQ what you can't see.

7. Amen. mom-brought-nutella1

8. We've all been there -- toes barely graze the wall on the turn, but you still make it back in time to catch a breath and the interval. tumblr_lytzdciyW41roj7ffo1_400

9. Otherwise known as the Warm-Up Hustler.

10. I have been guilty of this one on far too many occasions. Nothing like starting a set and not knowing what you are supposed to be doing. swim-meme

11. We are absolutely not the shyest athletes on the planet. dfbce1b1422f534c2147f4bd11f750a1b91dc4984ce4dfe24fa15b1cd825fd3a

12. As a young age grouper an older swimmer told me that at night they kept sharks in the deep end of the pool. This was literally my nightmare. hCBD26DCD

13. Butterfly isn't for everyone. Hard enough to do it quickly, let alone slowly. tumblr_m0uo6auXyn1rraezwo1_400

14. Our typical swim meet. 1378296_724804177534822_100934731_n

15. We all knew (or sometimes were) that swimmer that would suddenly disappear when it came time to put in work. 1c616340489ffc225504b25de1cc5b2db3fd3dc04057d991081c78460a4d1680

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16. Yup. 44404_565867376761837_2009449966_n

17. Swimcest is real. Even if it isn't successful. tumblr_mkt9an4dNt1rujh0jo1_1280

18. That moment of suspense and horror when coach throws up a huge bracket around a massive set. 43432

19. Swimcest Part 2. If there was ever motivation to train and swim faster, it is the fairer sex: b90ef45c98a9996eea764ad2b2a42653

20. The 7th circle of hell is reserved for the swimmer who drinks out of my water bottle and shanks my kickboard. 2044

21. We're swimmers. Sometimes it is the most profoundly simple things that please us. 5fef33db6de876d22940c3d46fcdb552

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Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

One thing I feel should be pointed out, however, is that we don't see his fast stroke, or his race-speed stroke, which is far less "catch-up" and more "kayak." Nearly all sprinters swim with a shoulder-driven freestyle which is characterized by a windmill type of stroke where both arms are in direct opposite position of each other in order to maintain velocity. Nevertheless, we get a great glimpse at how high his elbow recovery is, the nearly vertical angle his ankles take when he is kicking for propulsion, and also how he maintains a flat body position and head facing down to minimize drag. Video 1: Hand entry, and high elbow catch. Video 2: Freestyle Kick Video 3: Breathing Video 4: Body Position

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

Here is here your guide to developing a powerhouse underwater fly kick.

It’s hard to forget the first time you see a really powerful underwater dolphin kick. When done at top speed, it brings us a step closer to our ocean-bound kin, a seemingly perfect symbiosis of power and grace. For a few moments, as we snap through the water, we leave land and become something utterly different. As a scrawny 8-year old in the summer of 1988 I spent every morning and late afternoon cross-legged in front of my parents television as swimmers from across the world swam for glory at the Seoul Olympics. Names like Matt Biondi, Michael Gross, Janet Evans, and Kristina Egerzegyi became firmly implanted in my mind. In the following years I would always try to emulate my heroes of ‘88. Biondi’s powerful and effortless distance per stroke. Gross’ stoicness behind the blocks. Evans’ never-ending battery life in the pool. But it was a 5’8” backstroker that left the greatest impression. In the final of the 100m backstroke the USA’s David Berkoff and Japan’s Daichi Suzuki would swim nearly half of the final underwater, with Berkoff in particular, doing something that became widely known as the Berkoff Blastoff, staying under for the first 35 metres of the race. It was like nothing I had ever seen. The underwater footage provided a tantalizing glimpse into the undulating raw power. It was graceful, it was potent, and it was fast. At practice I would try my hardest to replicate the feats I had seen on TV. And while my Berkoff impersonation probably looked more like a thrashing salmon in its death throes than the animal for which the kick is named, I was hooked.

THE DOLPHIN KICK GOES MAINSTREAM

In the 1990’s it was the butterfly that became the stroke de jour for the underwater dolphin kick, with Russia’s Denis Pankratov and the United States’ Misty Hyman mastering it in differing styles. Pankratov would soar underwater like Superman, hands separated in what was almost a sculling motion, defying the logic of the time (and present) of maintaining a perfect streamline. Hyman, on the other hand, would do her underwater work on her side, with both using their unconventional styles to not only break world numerous world records in the butterfly events, but also bring submarine dolphin kicking back to the forefront of the swimming consciousness. After all, until then, the dolphin kick was largely a fringe thing. Something you had or you didn’t. Something reserved for the outliers in the sport, who were assumed to have freakish flexibility and iron lungs that allowed them to perform the extended feats of sub-surface piloting. But then the 2000’s, with Ian Thorpe and his smooth, pulsating breakouts, and more notably, Michael Phelps and his insane walls, happened, and something very quickly became apparent... If you wanted to be elite at any level that you’d have to attain some level of competency in the underwater dolphin arts.

Now, having a solid underwater dolphin kick is a prerequisite for swimmers of every stroke. It’s become as essential as having a good dive, solid turns, and good swimming technique. The importance of it becomes especially apparent with swimmers who compete primarily in short course meters and yards. During the late 80’s and 90’s, because it was such a fringe aspect to swimming and because it was fairly difficult to teach, it wasn’t widely taught. As a young age grouper I knew having an underwater dolphin kick would be not only like, super awesome, but it would make me look like a total superstar in the water. But where to start? Imitation is one thing, but understanding the mechanics and physical traits necessary to power the kick efficiently and quickly are altogether another. So that’s where this little guide is going to come in handy for you. This guide is meaty; it comes in weighing at a solid 3,718 words, but it is action packed with things you can start doing today to improve your kick and is fairly comprehensive. Everything in this guide is designed to be actionable and immediately implementable. The guide covers published research on underwater fly kick (science!), as well as tips from biomechanists, high performance consultants, Olympic gold medalists, strength and conditioning specialists, and one of the most successful coaches on the planet. Sounds good? Alright, let’s dive right on in.

BREAKING IT DOWN

Within this guide to developing a hilariously powerful underwater dolphin kick, we are going to touch on 4 areas that all go hand in hand:

Technique: Rethinking how you kick for max propulsion and minimal drag. Rapid kick + small profile in the water = faaaaaast.
Mobility/Flexibility: A bigger range of motion is, like, awesome.
Ankle strength: Push-ups for your ankles!
Training: How to make your underwater work routine.

[alert style="yellow"] At the end of this guide I will also give you a couple bonus sets and a handy checklist summarizing all of the important stuff that you can download for free as a PDF. Print it out and take with you to the pool every day to keep yourself on top of achieving that killer dolphin kick. (Short on time? You can download it right here now.) [/alert]

LET’S GET TECHNICAL

Alrighty, before we get into the other stuff, it is important to make sure that we have the fundamentals put together. After all, doing hours upon hours of fly kick is only as effective as the technique we use while doing it. Here are 6 technical considerations to remember about your UDK:

1. Early Vertical Ankle

A big ah-ha moment a lot of swimmers have is when they understand that they shouldn’t be just kicking up and down, but that they should be kicking backwards. When you stop and think about how propulsion actually works, that you want to be pushing the water behind you and not just up and down, it makes you rethink the way you are kicking. In the same way that we aim to have an early vertical forearm (EVF) with our catch, strive to have an early vertical ankle (EVA) with your kick. This is where having exceptional ankle mobility comes into play. A more flexible ankle is able to pull further back and "catch" more water."

Remember: the feet are the only things creating propulsion when you are kicking. Your thighs, knees and hips are driving them, but it is your feet that actually are solely responsible for moving you through the water.

2. Kick like a Ferrari, not a Mack Truck

When you push off or dive into the water, you are going at the fastest speed you will ever attain in the water. At no point will you ever swim faster. (Maybe one day…) Most swimmers equate massive dolphin kicks with maximum propulsion. And while you may feel like you are getting a huge amount of torque, you are actually slowing yourself down by creating an inordinate amount of drag. Strapping on a pair of fins exaggerates this effect so that swimmers actually notice it. Do a 25m doing small, whip-like kicks for time. And then do a 25 doing the biggest, most powerful dolphin kicks you can possibly do. With the wide kicks you will find that although you can drop a ton of torque into the kick the drag you are kicking up (pun intended!) is negating the extra thrust. For a fast underwater dolphin kick, kick fast and kick small.

Remember: Your underwater dolphin kicking isn’t about generating speed—it’s about holding on to the speed you generate off the start and turns for as long as you can. Think of a Ferrari cutting through the water versus a big Mack Truck.

3. Use your core/hips. (Not your knees!)

A shocking number of swimmers kick only from their knees. Not only does this tend to create a lot of drag – with their knees pumping up and down like the cranks on a locomotive – but it is also wildly inefficient. When we kick from our knees we leave out the white-hot engine that is our core. Think of your midsection as the power plant to your kick. Your whip-like kick starts from a braced core (suck in your belly button and squeeze your butt-butt), and undulates to the very tips of your toes. A simple way to visualize the role that your core plays is to think of your body as a whip. Your core is the handle, where all the power comes from, with the tail of the whip being your quick-snapping feet and toes. Mel Stewart, the 1992 Olympic champion in the 200m butterfly, recognized the power that was held in the core area long before core work became a buzz word in fitness circles and on pool decks. Stewart took his cue from David Berkoff, who had a core that was built of steel, working relentlessly on developing a strong mid-section. In the run-up to his gold medal performance in Barcelona, Stewart hammered his core. In the Olympic champion’s own words, to get that vaunted mega-kick, “make your athlete engine, your core, a nitro powered monster.”

Remember: Picture a whip when you are kicking-- the handle is your core, the tail of the whip your feet.

4. Kick in front of you.

When setting up your kick, remember that the extension of the kick should be completed in front of your body. Russell Mark, a USA Swimming National Team High Performance Consultant, former competitive swimmer with a background in aerospace engineering (literally a space scientist!), has done a fair amount of research on the underwater dolphin kick. His two key focus points for developing a more powerful kick include:

Bend your knees so that the kick takes place in front of the body.
Follow through with your toes in front of the body too.

The following image shows what Mark means when he says that: underwater dolphin kick toes in front

Notice that in all three cases that the swimmers' respective kicks complete the down (or up, in the case of the backstroker) kick well in front of their body. Doing so allows the swimmer to use the strength and power of their quadriceps in delivering the kick. Remember: the execution and follow through of the kick should take place in front of your body.

5. Mind your toe speed, and no breaks between up and down.

Dolphin kicking, especially as you become more proficient with it, should be done quickly. Your toes and ankles should snap up and down quickly. When you watch the elite sprinters off the starts and walls they snap their feet up and down so quickly it melts into a bubbly blur. All too often I watch swimmers pause at the top of the kick for a brief moment, as though resetting themselves. Or pausing at the bottom to glide through their kick. Ryan Atkinson, a biomechanist at the Canadian Sport Institute Ontario (B. Sc and M. Sc.), a strength training specialist and coach (CSCS and NSCA) and former competitive swimmer, backs this up.

“Maximize toe speed in up and down kick phases,” Atkinson said. “Work on minimizing the transition time between up and down phases.”

Remember: You want a seamless transition between the up and down phases of your kick, and you want your toes to move like they are running late.

6. Be a two-directional kicker.

Using your upkick takes concentration and work, especially if you have never used it before. Although the upkick serves as a set-up motion for the downkick, it can also serve as a means for creating propulsion. Gary Hall Sr., two-time Olympic medalist (and flag bearer at his second Games) and founder of the legendary Race Club, has worked with his fair share of sprinters over the years. From his son Gary Hall Jr., to Nathan Adrian, Roland Schoeman, Mark Foster, and butterfly ace Mike Cavic, Hall has coached some powerhouse swimmers over the years. We asked him to chime in on what he thought young swimmers could most improve when it came to their underwater fly kick:

"With respect to improving underwater dolphin kick, without writing a dissertation and with respect to biomechanics, I have found that the two most important elements missing in most swimmers are the tendency to kick from the knees, rather than undulate from the hips, and the absence of a forceful up kick."

A favorite of Hall's drills to help improve the balance is to perform the dolphin kick while on your side, which forces you to use the upkick.

Remember: the upkick isn't just for setting up your next big dolphin kick, it can also be used to generate a little more propulsion through the water.

To summarize what you should focus on in terms of technique:

For a brief moment your feet and toes should be curled up toward the sky – this is the “catch” of the kick.
Wider the kick = the more drag! Think small, fast, and powerful.
The whipping motion, which provides a heap of power, starts from your core and hips. Not your knees. Use the mental cue of Indiana Jones brandishing his whip.
Your kick should take place in front of you.
Kick fast and through the transition between up-down phases.
Kick up as well as down.

LET’S GET FLEXIBLE

Unsurprisingly, most swimmers have mediocre ankle flexibility. There are a couple reasons for this... The first is that we believe that because we have naturally inflexible ankles that we are predestined to always have them. And secondly, as swimmers we are so transfixed on our shoulders – and rightly so – that we often neglect other parts of our body that need some of that stretching TLC as well. Just how critical a factor does ankle flexibility play? In a study done of a group of NCAA Div 1 women swimmers, in tandem with a group of recreational swimmers, found that ankle flexibility was directly related to kicking speed. More importantly, the study found that there was no correlation between how vertical jump power, or even body size when it came to fast kicking, something that should come as a comfort to those swimmers that aren’t 6’5” and built like a power forward for the Chicago Bulls. Olympic fly champion Stewart backs this up. “Something that always gave my dolphin kick an edge was ankle flexibility. I stretched my ankles every day, before practice, at home watching TV. If you saw me out on a Saturday night, and I was standing there talking to friends, eventually you’d see me curl my foot over and stretch my ankles. I did it nonstop.”

“Ankle flexibility is the secret weapon of elites with a great dolphin kick.” – Mel Stewart

Here is my five point plan for getting loosey-goosey feet:

Lacrosse ball to bottom of foot. Either standing or sitting, depending on how tight the muscle and fascia are, take a lacrosse ball and place your body weight on it. Apply enough pressure so that it is uncomfortably comfortable, but not overtly painful. Doing this will also have the bizarre, yet awesomely nice, effect of improving your hamstring flexibility as well. Spend 2-4 minutes on each foot, rolling from the bottom of the toes to the heel, to the edges of side of the foot. (If you’ve never done this before start with a tennis ball.)
Foam roll calf. If you have access to a foam roller – you should, I swear by mine – use it to roll out your calves. Roll up and down the full length of the calf muscle, making sure to get both sides of the calf muscle. Hit it for about 45 seconds a side, spending an extra few moments on any sticky or tender spots.
Ankle rotations. As a swimmer you are no doubt comfortable with arm and leg swings. Over the years we have built up a repertoire of arm swings that help loosen up our shoulders, back and chest. Now you can add ankle rotations to the list. Using your big toe as a pointer, do 15-20 circles with your foot in each direction. You can add ankle rotations to your foam rolling if you are pressed for time as well.
Wall lean stretch. This is a classic stretch, and one that you have have mistaken for being an exclusively calf-stretching posture. Facing a wall, plant your foot so that your toes are pointing upwards, heel on the ground, and lean forward.
Ankle rollers. The money maker. I never really liked this stretch because for years I had blockage in my left ankle that made it somewhat painful. However, there is no disputing how effective it is. Sit on your ankles, and slowly rock backwards until your knees come off of the ground. Hold for 1-2 minutes. You will notice sizable improvements after doing this for as little as a week or two.

LANCE ANKLE STRONG

How many times have you actually thought about your ankle strength? Unless you are rolling your ankles every time you go for a job or play basketball or walk down the sidewalk probably next to never. After all, we don’t often think of the ankles as something that we need to strengthen. You don’t often hear athletes saying that they are going to the gym so that they can wail on their biceps, lats, and dorsal flexors. But as it turns out, a recent study done on competitive swimmers showed that not only did ankle flexibility play a role in the velocity that competitive swimmers were able to achieve with their dolphin kick, but that ankle strength also played a significant role in how fast the swimmers were able to kick. Instead of strapping some dumbbells to your little ankles, just pull out a trusty rubber band and belt out this 4-way ankle strengthening routine that will not only help you kick faster and stronger, but also make it less likely you bail like Bambi on ice the next time you go trail running:

Plantar Flexion. Take a stretch cord, wrap it around the top of your foot, and sitting in the classic hamstring stretch position point your toes. Do 15-20 reps on each side.
Dorsi Flexion. Attach the stretch cord on a door frame or something stable, and now you will pull the top of your foot towards you. Do 15-20 reps on each side.
Inversion. Wrap the band around your foot, and with resistance, twist your foot inwards. Do 15-20 reps on each side.
Eversion. Similar to the inversion, but now you are going to rotate your foot outwards. Do 15-20 reps on each side.

Putting It All Together

Alrighty then.. We’ve talked about improving technique, flexibility, and strength. Now, to put it all together. It’s time to put this knowledge to work and actually implement it into your training. Here are three ways to make the transition from guppy to killer whale a little more straightforward:

1. Make it a fixture of your training.

In a previous post I shared with you some of Tom Shields’ wisdom for how to develop a killer underwater dolphin kick. What it boiled down to was that he simply made it part of his swimming, from warm-up, to the main sets, to warm-down. Shields developed a thunderous underwater dolphin kick by making it a regular fixture of his training, not something that he only worked on at specific points of his workout. If you are starting from a place where doing a couple dolphin kicks off each wall is challenging, start small. Do it off every second wall during warm-up and warm-down. Don’t beat yourself up if you aren’t starting off by doing 10 kicks off each wall—we all have to start somewhere.

2. Breath control during swimming = Breath control during underwaters.

A common problem that arises is swimmers cannot hold their breath long enough off the walls (or more commonly, are under the impression they cannot). An easy way to fix this is through breath-control during regular swimming. Just from personal experience I found that when I was doing breath-control work (breathing every 4-5 strokes) I had very little difficulty doling out 4-5 dolphin kicks off each wall. Contrasted with when I was breathing every 1-3 strokes I found myself stretching to get 3-dolphin kicks off each wall. You kill a few birds with one stone by breathing a little less—you train your body to be able to handle oxygen deprivation, learn to teach your lungs not to freak out when holding your breath, and …

3. Vertical kick.

I love vertical kicking. Nope, I lied. I don’t love it. But I do love the results that I get with it. You can do high powered underwater dolphin kicks for longer, while also stressing both the down and up-sweep of the kick. There is an endless variety of difficulty and resistance that can be applied as well: use fins, hold a weight over your head, weight belt, do explosive dolphin kicks off the bottom, while also doing it in a streamline or not. Tack on an extra 5-10 minutes of vertical kick at the end of your workouts and you will quickly see dividends of this relatively small investment in your underwaters.

In Closing

I would like to give a big thank you to the following for taking the time to share their expertise and experience to enrich this guide:

Mel Stewart – Olympic gold medalist and co-founder of SwimSwam.
Russell Mark – USA Swimming high performance consultant. You can catch up with Russell on Twitter here.
Ryan Atkinson – Canadian Sport Institute Ontario biomechanist and strength training specialist. Follow Ryan on Twitter here.
Gary Hall Sr. – two-time Olympic medalist, flag bearer, and founder of the Race Club. Learn more about the Race Club and their swim camps and services by clicking here.

Ready to take your dolphin kicking to the next level?

You can download this post as a handy checklist (yes, for free), as well as a couple BONUS sets that are specifically designed to help you improve your UDK. Click on the image below and enter your email address to get instant access to the checklist, sets, and a faster underwater dolphin kick!

]]> 2587 <![CDATA[16 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Train Your Butt Off (When You’d Rather Do Anything Else)]]> subscriber of my newsletter asking me what to do when all motivation is lost, and the last thing they want to do is go to the pool and swim. In this guide to motivating the demotivated swimmer I talk about 16 different strategies and techniques that not only have worked for me and other swimmers I have worked with in the past, but some of them are backed by research and space science. Consider it your battle plan for the next time apathy and low levels of motivation strike. And here we go!

1. Keep a log of personal records.

Everybody has best times, but not everybody keeps track of their PB's for kick 100’s, pull 50’s, and their off-stroke distances. Keeping a little record of these, err, records is a fun way to challenge yourself on a daily basis, and give yourself that powerful and rewarding sensation of having done something you have never done before.

[alert style="grey"]Bonus: You can download this full list for later, including 3 more bonus strategies that you can use to stay motivated anytime you need it. Download the PDF with 3 bonus strategies by clicking here.[/alert]

2. Strategically use rage and anger.

Love this one, simply because I have used it for as long as I can remember, knowing that I can always use it as a little pick-me-up if need be. It could be thinking about that ex-boyfriend or girlfriend. Or that swim at nationals where you were out-touched by that swimmer on the cross-town team that you absolutely can’t stand. While living life as an angry dude or dudette is a recipe for an awful life, when you strategically use your anger and past experiences they can be extremely powerful. Don’t just take my word for it, even science says so. Researchers in the United Kingdom performed a study where they found that when fired up people tended to not only exert the most energy when working out, but would also do it for longer than those who were chill and calm. Things you can do to get yourself amped up include angry music, revisiting those regrettable and painful swims from your past, or simply visualizing someone you don’t like (see “The Waterboy” starring Adam Sandler if you need additional help with this technique). I love this technique because it is unnatural to suppress emotion. We live in a time where we are expected to be Zen-like, calm and poised all the time. Once in a while though, it’s nice to let some of that pent-up rage go while also getting something accomplished. Whammy.

3. Use the thought of regret.

Guilt is a powerful thing. It is one of those feelings that feel like a stain on your shirt; no matter how much time passes or how many times you try to wash it out it’s always there. Remind yourself that you have one opportunity in this life to do something amazing with your swimming, and every workout or main set you miss is an opportunity you can’t get back.

4. Don't Break the Chain.

Most people would never think of Jerry Seinfeld as someone who would be a source of powerful life advice, but for someone who has been so successful for so long, it’s not so hard to believe. Seinfeld's strategy for success? Do something every day. For him, it was as simple as printing out a calendar, and then every day that he worked on his stand-up, he would draw a big “X” through the day. As the chain of X’s became longer, the more he obviously got done, but the harder it was for him to break the streak. Every day doesn’t need to be a 5k for time, but what are you going to do today to improve yourself?

5. Have a Pre-Workout Routine.

Another one of my absolute favorite tools for getting my butt to the pool. There will always be those days where the last thing you want to do is head down to the aquatic complex and bang out a 6,000 meter workout. A pre-workout routine is used as a launch sequence of sorts, that once you start it, going to the pool and working out becomes inevitable. The pre-workout routine is powerful because it is super sneaky—starting the little routine is really easy, and not intimidating. Not nearly as intimidating as walking out onto the pool deck, anyways. So what should you include in your own pre-workout routine? For me it’s doing some arm swings at home (or the office, whatever the case may be) to get some blood flowing, ingesting my pre-workout snack (banana and a shake, every time), and listening to some aggressively loud music on my iPod. And that’s it. I’ve been doing this long enough that once I do these things my body automatically perks up, knowing that battle is coming.

6. Rate your workouts on a daily basis.

An easy little mental trick to help encourage you to swim better mid-workout is to rate your workouts after you have completed them. Either in your log book, a simple notebook or even a spreadsheet, write down the date of your workout and assign it a simple rating. You can use the ranking scale of academia with A’s, B’s, and the loathed F. You can get more specific by using percentage points: 100%, 83%, 16% (ouch!). What I liked to use was a simple rating out of 10. The nagging feeling that I would have to go home later that night and write out a 5 when I was capable of banging out a solid 7 or 8 was often enough to provide the little jolt to get my training session back on track. (And no, I never scored a 10. The highest I have ever rated a workout was a 9.5. The ten is my white buffalo.) Download the PDF with 3 bonus strategies by clicking here

7. Do one thing today you have never done before.

There are fewer things that inspire confidence like expanding your limits, by doing something that never in the history of your swimming you’ve ever completed. Sometimes it comes in the form of beating a personal best time in practice, others it is doing a set that you never thought you’d ever be able to do (10x200 butterfly long course was one such set for yours truly). That something you have never done doesn’t need to be a PB or a ridiculous fly set either. Never done five minutes of vertical kicking before? Do it. Never done a full 400m holding a stroke count of 15 per lap? Do it. Turn those days your motivation is sagging into days where limits are broken, and new horizons are chased.

8. Design your environment for excellence.

You’ve surely heard that we are products of our environment. While there is obviously a fair amount of choice still involved, it is difficult to dispute that our environment doesn’t have a fair amount of influence on our actions and behaviors. Does your environment support your goals in swimming? Are you making it easier or tougher on yourself to make the decisions that will result in positive and forward-moving progress with your goals (and by extension-- motivation)? For example:

If you find yourself staying up late watching television when you should be resting up for morning workout, hide the remote and unplug the television.
If you are eating junk food over the course of the day, pre-pack a healthy lunch the night before.
If you are hanging out with people that encourage you to make poor decisions with your time and lifestyle, seek out friends who are more in line with your goals and aspirations.

By making it more difficult for you to engage in the stuff that is holding you back and demotivating you, you make the path to success, the path with the things that will push you towards your goals, the default option.

9. Imagine the feelings you’ll have after an awesome workout.

The awesomeness we feel after a successful workout is no joke. Sure you may be exhausted, red-faced, and in a state of carb-deficit to the point that you could feint, but the endorphins and BDHT (a protein that is released into our brains when our body is stressed; it is what makes you feel clear-headed and focused after a great workout) leave you feeling mighty fine. In those moments of struggle during a tough set, or in the minutes before that workout you are ruing, for a few seconds feel the pride and satisfaction that you will experience as a result of a killer workout.

10. Do something. Anything.

Okay, for this one I can see the reluctance. If you don’t feel motivated, how can you possibly want to do anything? Well, I am going to tell you something you already know, even if it is only intuitively—action itself, no matter how large or small, is just as big a motivating factor as anything on this list. How do I know that you already know this? Let’s take a trip down memory lane together. Think back to the last time you had to do a workout which you truly did not want to do. Probably didn’t have to think back too far on that one, did we? Anyways, despite your reluctance you got into the water and plowed ahead in spite of how you were feeling, and after a little while started getting into the workout to the point that you are surprised with yourself for having been so skittish beforehand. Plunging ahead and acting is a powerful tonic for not feeling motivated. Most swimmers will wait for motivation to come and strike them before they act. More often than not, it is the other way around. You act, do something, and then you grow to be motivated. But of a trip, am I right? The key is to making the first step so small that it is impossible to say no to it. Here’s an example of how I have convinced myself to go workout (and ultimately have a good session):

I’ll just drive to the pool. No promises after that.
I’ll get changed into my swim gear and do the dryland warm-up. If I don’t feel like swimming still I will leave.
I'll do the first couple reps on the main set, just to see how I feel.

The tiny commitments are easier to digest and far less intimidating than telling yourself, “You have to go the pool. You have to do your warm-up. You have to have the best workout of your life.” When you let it sort of happen, moment by moment, it allows you to open yourself to becoming motivated.

11. Get in touch with your goals.

Goal setting for swimmers is important, especially if you have plans to achieve elite-level stuff. Having your long term goals nearby, written down, and loosely planned out gives you that added layer of purpose each day when you go to the pool. But what happens when that isn’t enough to motivate you anymore? When you have your big goals, but they don’t push you like they used to? That when you think of them, you are more likely to sit back and think, “Yeah, well, obviously I didn’t really want to achieve that goal because look at how unmotivated I am right now”? In those moments we have become separated and unglued from the meaning and purpose that our goals have for us. Sit down with a piece of paper, and write your goal out on big block letters at the top. Underneath write out why you want to achieve this goal, and more importantly (and most powerfully), list out how achieving that goal will make you feel. The feelings you will experience when you touch the wall, the elation and satisfaction of knowing that your hard work came to pass, and that you were able to crush countless obstacles en route to your goal.

12. Pick one thing to focus on today.

Believe it or not, there is such a thing as having too many goals. The problem with having a heap of things you want to accomplish is that you spread your energy in a hundred different directions, failing to put meaningful focus and effort onto any one goal. Dial it back, and simplify. Pick just one thing to focus on today. Simplifying and reducing the number of things you are fixating your energies on gives you a measure of control again (which in itself should get you going again), but when we go all in on one aspect of our training we begin to master it. And you and I both know that when we get better at something we feel pretty flippin’ good about ourselves.

13. Have a plan for those low motivation days.

Here is a great way to get proactive, anticipating those lowly days and having a plan in advance to deal with it. Build a low motivation checklist. 5 things you will do when you feel the motivation sag to the point that it makes you lose focus in the pool, lose desire to attend training sessions, and completely forget about your over-arching goals and dreams. They don’t need to be massive things, in fact, the smaller and more digestible they are, the more likely you are to do them. Things like watch an inspirational YouTube video. Go for a walk with the parents and discuss goals. Choose a reward for a successful session of training. And so on. Write out your little list, and keep it in a desk drawer for the next time you are having an off day mentally. Think of it as your emergency parachute, your plan B, your contingency plan, for those not-so-rad days.

14. Change things up.

Sometimes simply making a couple small adjustments to your usual routine can shake you out of the apathetic slump. It can be as simple as changing lanes (sometimes it is nice to get a break from your lanemates), to overhauling the way you warm up, even to which stroke you do during the main set. Trying new things adds variety and spontaneity to your otherwise humdrum routine (for some it’s humdrum, for others it is what makes them successful) and will help keep you mentally engaged in what you are doing. You can adopt this mindset within your training as well. Choose to focus on an off-stroke today, or make today the day you try six-beat kicking for an entire workout. When my freestyle and backstroke were just not clicking, and I was getting frustrated I would hop into the breaststroker’s lane and vicariously live the life of a breaststroker for a session.

15. Remember that the dips are natural.

Think back to the beginning of the year when you were riding high on ambition and your fresh new goals. With a clean slate, and a roster of new goals to accomplish this season, you were feeling mighty awesome about yourself and your swimming. Optimism abounded, and you felt like the world was yours for the taking. But after a few weeks the novelty wore off, and that awesomeness began to fade, and one day you catch yourself demotivated, uninterested, and bored with the prospect of going to the pool. It’s in those moments that some athletes begin to take the drop in motivation personally. It’s hard to watch an athlete take a dip in motivation personally. To the point that because they don’t feel 100% into it that they should just scrub the entire workout. This type of all-or-nothing thinking turns one bad workout into a streak of them really quickly. They cannot imagine why they feel so off, and berate themselves mentally for feeling as such. "See, obviously you don’t want this that bad." The train of nasty thoughts that start plowing through our minds at these moments can be paralyzing and heavily defeating. Instead of dumping all this negativity on yourself, take a step back and remind yourself that this is part of the process. Part of the struggle. Part of the journey. It’s okay to feel this way, and not only is it kinda natural, but it will happen again at some point in the future.

16. Use self-talk.

Whether you know it or not, you are already using self-talk with just about everything you do in life. From congratulating yourself on completing a homework assignment, a tough set, or even the chores, to berating yourself when you bomb a test, miss a workout, or sleep in past your alarm. Self-talk affects our moods (“See, I knew I couldn’t do it!” results in you feeling down on yourself, whereas, “See, I knew I could kill that set!” will make you feel uplifted and encouraged) and feelings, which drives our actions. T he reality is that you are already using it, so why not put this tool to use for some good in the water? The way that our brain intertwines with our bodies may never be fully understood, but there is no doubt that there is some powerful stuff we can do with our noodles to improve performance in the pool. One such way is to use positive and encouraging self-talk in the moments where we are struggling or lacking in motivation. According to research done at the University of Kent (that’s in England for you geography nuts) where 24 active particpants were asked to rie a stationary bike to the point of failure. Those who incorporated various forms of positive self-talk (“I got this!” and “Feeling good!” were two) were able to pedal for longer than those who didn’t. Perhaps most notably, the riders who used the mantras reported the ride felt easier, meaning perceived exertion had gone down even though actual exertion and effort had remained the same. When that big workout is looming over the horizon and the last thing you want to do is strap on a soggy Speedo, unleash a couple positive mantras on yourself for as long as it takes to get you warmed up and in the pool.

Fired Up Yet?

Join the YourSwimBook motivational newsletter and you will get blog updates as well as exclusive motivational content made just for competitive swimmers every Sunday. As a little extra for signing up, download a checklist version of this article in PDF that also includes 3 bonus strategies for getting yourself motivated. Click on the image below and enter your email for instant access:

]]> 2606 <![CDATA[16 Ways to Train Your Butt Off Download Link]]> 16 Ways to Motivate Yourself to Train Your Butt Off]]> 2609 <![CDATA[10 Motivational Swimming Quotes to Get You Fired Up]]> ten motivational quotes for swimmers to help get your day rolling. Whether you need a little jolt to get you going for morning workout, or wanna keep the momentum going after a big practice, there is a little something for everyone with these images and quotes designed just for swimmers.

[alert style="yellow"]Reminder: Want awesome motivational content designed just for swimmers delivered to your inbox? Click and join the YourSwimBook mailing list, where you will get blog updates (only the awesome ones -- promise!), as well as exclusive motivational content that speaks to you, the awesome competitive swimmer, every Sunday. After last week's email one subscriber wrote, "You are honestly amazing! Thank you so much!" Hey, I'll take it![/alert] 1. Willing is not enough. We must do. - Bruce Lee. Willing is Not Enough, We Must Do 2. If you're going through hell, keep going. - Winston Churchill 3. You have to expect things from yourself before you can do them. Post 3 4. Make each day your masterpiece. - John Wooden 5. Excellence is the gradual result of always striving to do better. 6. Win if you can, lose if you must, but never quit.

Win If You Can, Lose if You Must, But Never Quit

. 7. What to do with a mistake: Recognize it. Learn from it. Forget about it.

8. It's not whether you get knocked down. It's whether you get back up. Post 8

9. Never give up! Failure and rejection are the first steps to succeeding.

10. A champion is someone who gets up when they shouldn't. A Champion Gets Up When They Shouldn't

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Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

When I look back on all my injuries and rehabs that I went through, I wish I could have approached them differently. I was always trying to get back in shape too fast and not being fully considerate of the healing process post surgery. As long as I felt good I was pushing myself to the limit as I always did when I was healthy. As I reflect back on it now, I realize that I needed to be more careful and thorough in my rehab process, give time for the injury to heal properly especially after surgery, and build the strength back slowly.

Despite the reconstructive surgery, by the fall of 2003 Krayzelburg continued to feel pains and aches in his shoulders, with not only the tendon in his shoulder still torn, but the shoulder capsule itself was loose, which was not helping the healing process, and if anything, probably even causing further damage. With Olympic Trials not even 8 months away, the decision was made to train through it. In order to do so, he had to alter his approach in the water:

The decision was pretty simple, train with the injured shoulder for the next 8 months and give it my best shot at Olympic Trials. To preserve the shoulder and avoid doing more damage to it, I had to adjust my training. For the next three months I did not use my left arm while training. I did mostly kicking and swimming with one arm. I also spent a lot of time on the stationary bike trying to keep my endurance up, because of my limited ability in the water.

Perhaps most notably, Krayzelburg never lost sight of the goal, and remained focused and optimistic. I cannot count how many times I have seen athletes fall to the wayside when injuries force them to adjust or alter their preperation. Being flexible with your training, and finding the positive out of a bad situation is key, and Krayzelburg was committed to doing both:

Although my situation was pretty bleak, together with my coach we found ways to still get the most out of our training sessions and look to improve in other aspects of my preparation. Limited to kicking only, I set a goal for myself in training sessions to keep up with my teammates while they were swimming. Of course I could only do it for so long, but I knew giving myself this challenge I would become a better kicker, and make something positive out of a bleak situation.

At the Olympic Trials Krayzelburg passed on the 200, instead choosing to focus all of his efforts and preparation for the 100m backstroke. He would place 2^nd behind Aaron Peirsol, who he was training with under Dave Salo at the time, and punched his ticket for Athens. At the 2004 Olympics he would come 0.02 short of a silver, 0.01 short of a bronze in the 100m backstroke final, unable to repeat at Olympic champion. He would, however, add gold as a result of his participation on the US men’s 4x100m medley relay, giving him 4 Olympic gold medals over the course of his career.]]> 2631 <![CDATA[Dave Salo’s Advice for Dealing With a Helicopter Parent]]> Helicopter parent: Although well-meaning, this is a parent who is hyper-present and over-involved with their child’s performance, named as such for being known to “hover.” For these parents, the advice and desire to stamp their thoughts and beliefs onto the training program comes from a good place. The parent wants what is best for their child athlete. Which is completely understandable. Dave Salo, head coach of the powerhouse University of Southern California Trojans, offered advice for coaches who are facing a predicament of butting heads with a parent who believes that they have all of the answers for their child’s swimming success. Salo, who coached Irvine Novaquatics before USC – a position he held since 1990, while also retaining a general manager position with the club – has coached a long line of Olympians and Olympic medalists. At the 2000 Olympic Games he sent Amanda Beard, Jason Lezak, Aaron Peirsol, Gabrielle Rose and Staciana Stitts to Sydney, where they collected a total of 5 medals. Most recently, at the 2012 Olympics in London he sent another five Americans, including Jessica Hardy, Ricky Berens and Rebecca Soni, while also helping sprint star Katinka Hosszu and distance standout Ous Mellouli on their path to representing their birth countries of Tunisia. Outside of his impressive Olympic pedigree, Salo is also a Ph. D recipient in exercise physiology (something that will come up soon enough), and is the author of SprintSalo, a must-read for anyone serious about learning more about training fast to race fast. In an interview he gave with American Swimming, the magazine of ASCA (American Swim Coaches Association), Salo opened up a bit to talk about how he plans his workouts, or rather, doesn’t. His workouts, although there is a general sense of what needs to be accomplished, are rarely written down, and conceived on the fly:

The way I operate, just so you understand, as I said this earlier is that I don’t write my workouts down. I have a sense of what I want to do. I kind of gauge my team and where we need to go and what it looks like. I come in with an idea of certain things that I want to accomplish in a workout and it just comes off my head. The coaches will come in and ask, what are we going to do? I say, I don’t know, just tighten up the seat belt and let’s go.

For parents who may have used to have been swimmers, and swam back in the “good old days” where the norm was pounding out yardage until your arms fell off, it can be easy to see that Salo’s approach might be disconcerting. Salo admits that after leaving Irvine for USC he figured that the so-called “helicopter parents” would decrease, especially going from a team that regularly has 400+ swimmers to a university program with more mature student-athletes that number in the dozens. While still in the club environment, Salo would set the tone of the meetings with these parents quickly:

Imagine this. You are sitting down with a parent who is complaining about what you are doing. They say well, “Coach Salo, I just do not agree with you.” You say, “Umm, it is Doctor Salo.” I did that once and the parent just melted. You want to be a successful club coach get, a Ph.D or an MD or just JD…It really can set the tone for parent meetings.

When that fails, and the parent is continuing to impede in the coaching and trying to drive the program and instruction for the swimmer, the only recourse left, is to cut the cord:

Beware. When a parent comes in with a Power Point presentation, it is time to move that parents away. So how do you deal with helicopter parents? You just tell them the honest truth. It’s okay to say, “Look, our program is not for you.” What I have been telling my coaches at Irvine is I want them to interview families that want to join the team. If you feel they shouldn’t be on our team with our values, you need to tell them to move on.

]]> 2636 <![CDATA[Behind the Scenes with Dara Torres' Training]]> th Olympiad. Her first Olympics was the 1984 Los Angeles Games, 24 years prior, where she earned a gold medal swimming as part of the women’s 4x100m freestyle, a squad that also included American swimming legends Nancy Hogshead and Mary Wayte. During the 1980’s she trained with legendary coach Mark Schubert – who also coached Janet Evans during the 1980’s and during her own comeback in 2011-2012 – at Mission Viejo. After ’84 she went on to win a couple more medals at Seoul Olympics, and getting another gold medal in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. Torres retired from the sport following the 1992 Olympics, but made a comeback in time to qualify for the 2000 Sydney Games, where she would have her best Olympic performance to date, winning 5 medals, including bronze medals in three individual events (50 free, 100 free, and 100 butterfly, which she tied with fellow legendary American sprinter Jenny Thompson). Although she was easily the oldest team member at the spry old age of 33 years, she won more medals than any other swimmer the U.S. sent to Sydney. In 2008, Torres made her last successful run at qualifying for the Olympics, making the squad that went to Beijing. She would not only become the first woman in the history of the Games to compete beyond the age of 40, but she would anchor the silver-medal winning 4x100 free relay, swim the fastest 100m freestyle split in history in the 4x100m medley (52.27), and also win silver in the 50m freestyle in American record time, just 1/100^th of a second behind Germany’s Britta Steffen. In the following three videos, produced by the Chocolate Milk collective, we get a glimpse into the day to day life of an elite swimmer. Torres, unlike many of her contemporaries, has the added challenge of caring for her young daughter on top of her training duties. Enjoy! PART 1 PART 2 PART 3 ]]> 2648 <![CDATA[Why Swimming Will Never Be a Major Sport (And How We Can Change That)]]>

Approximately 80% of parents “don’t consider continuing in the sport of swimming for their child after swim lessons.” To say that this is a huge market that is ripe for graduating from lessons to club is an understatement. To even get an additional few percentage points would be a massive influx of new kids at the grass roots level.

A surprising fact about swimmers who quit: 86% of swimmers who leave the sport continue to do so in a recreational context afterwards. As Farrell says, it appears to be the experience, and not the sport.

The team aspect of swimming isn’t readily apparent for outsiders. Only 16% of non-swimmer parents view swimming as a team endeavor.

Swimming has a high entry barrier. Body issues, the bathing suits, the embarrassment of not knowing where you fit in at the beginning, are all strong reasons that hold new participants to the sport back.

Non-swimmer parents see dollar signs when they hear about swimming. A year long competitive schedule, travel (especially if you are in a small town!) and lots of meets can add up quickly. In particular with small town clubs, there is a huge cost involved once you get to a competitive level. Summer leagues are one thing, but if you are swimming year round, things get progressively more expensive the better you get. (But really, is this much different than most sports?)

The briefs are a problem. A whopping 97% of non-swimmer parents are not comfortable with their sons wearing briefs. (The disapproval sinks to 70% when jammers are involved.) Not too surprising here; I cannot count how many times I was chided (and still am on occasion) by non-swimmer friends for wearing a Speedo. There is a distinct stigma about the swimming brief that is hard to shake among non-swimmer parents and youths.

Watch the full video below. (It’s a quick 30ish minutes; Farrell is an engaging presenter, it will fly by.) ]]> 2666 <![CDATA[7 Harsh Realities of Being Great in the Pool]]> Here is what you need to know:

You gotta be a little delusional to want to excel at the highest levels of the sport.
You gotta love it. If you aren’t passionate about what you are doing, no bueno. (And on top of that, it needs to be the right kind of passion.)
You need to be willing to do what others are too scared, or unwilling to do.
You should be constantly striving for progression and improvement, no matter how small.
You have to be willing to accept discomfort as essential.
Excuses are also no bueno.

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1. You will have to train through and around injuries.

Injuries are going to happen in the pool. Well, not necessarily in the pool, but as a result of spending an ungodly amount of hours in it. Whether it is a chronic shoulder injury, slipping on ice and spraining your wrist like Phelps did a few months before the 2008 Olympic Trials, or hurting yourself lifting in the gym, injuries and illness will happen no matter how well we take care of ourselves over the span of a season. It's just part of the deal when we are continually pushing and prodding our bodies to limits not seen before. For most athletes, when injury or illness strikes they will completely take the foot off of the pedal. Consider also not just the time missed in training, but the time it takes to get re-acclimatized to the water, as well as the psychological effect of feeling like you have been left behind. That feeling like you have to completely halt all forward progress when you get injured is a natural feeling. In fear of further hurting yourself you completely cease and desist all physical activity, and when this is done multiple times over the course of the year it adds up to a sizable training block. More importantly, adopting the mindset of finding a way around your injuries means that when setbacks happen in competition – you sprain your pinky finger in a crowded meet warm-up, etcetera – than you are better suited to adapt and adjust. There will be injuries and circumstances that you cannot train through – broken femur or broken back comes to mind, but for everything else, if there is always something you can be doing in favor of your goals.

2. You have to be willing to go above and beyond.

Are you willing to do more than the next swimmer to achieve greatness? (There is no shame in saying no. And saying yes carries with the burden that you have to be consistently and adamantly willing to stretch and prod what you consider possible.) Here is the point blank truth: if you want to achieve the same or similar results as everyone else, do exactly what everyone else is doing. This doesn’t mean that you should go looking for a shortcut or a silver bullet solution, this is just a way of shirking away from the work necessary. [alert style="yellow"]Bonus::Want to save this article for later for handy reference? You can get it immediately as a lovely little PDF which you can use as reminder that to excel you gotta grind like nobody's business. Click here to download this as a handy PDF.[/alert]You not only have to do what everyone else is doing, but do it better and more often. There are countless areas where you can go above and beyond that doesn’t require swimming more laps. Being all over your pre and post workout nutritional requirements. Planning your day sufficiently in advance so that you aren’t up all night cramming, sacrificing another night of sleep. And so on.

3. You have to find progression anywhere you can find it.

The best are always on the lookout for ways to improve. They know that ultimate success in the pool comes not as the result of one giant sweeping action, but of the steady piling up of small gains and victories. Even if you aren’t feeling as crisp and as smooth in the water, perform your swimming with the best technique you can imagine. Becoming insanely successful in the pool means you have one eye on your current performance with the other on what is next and what you have to do to achieve it.

4. You must be willing to push through the pain.

There is no doubt about it, becoming an insanely fast athlete in the pool will mean that you need to be able to absorb lots of punishment, but more importantly, become incredibly mentally resilient. There will be times where you are feeling cripplng amounts of doubt – “will I ever be able to actually do this?” – and times where you feel as though you haven’t made enough progress – “how will I ever achieve my goals if this is where I am at right now?” Being able to push through those immobilizing thoughts will teach you the value of being able to recognize the thoughts that serve to hold you back and need to be violently thrown aside. Physically, well, if you have gotten to this point you fully well know the challenge that comes with being an athlete. Of pulling two-a-days (plus dryland) over the holidays, of swimming to the point that you feel sick to your stomach, walking out of the pool in a daze, wondering how on Earth you will possibly be able to make it back to the pool the following morning for another kick at the can. When you not only accept that this is the price that must be paid for greatness, but get to a point where you eagerly await making that deposit every day, than you will be on a straight-shot towards great things in the pool.

5. You’ve got to be a little delusional.

Every step of the way people will tell you that it cannot be done. That it won’t be done. And that you cannot do it. It’s hard enough battling the demons in our minds that ply us with negative self-talk and doubt, but to have others – some in authoritative positions like coaches or elite swimmers even – tell you that your dream is a fantasy can be a difficult pill to swallow. The greats channel that stuff, the naysaying, the doubters and haters into fuel, into a tappable reserve of rage and motivation that can be used whenever they feel their commitment or focus wavering or slipping. At the end of the day, doing something great is not natural. It goes against almost every instinct in your body that wants you to play it safe, to fit into the mould, to not stand out amongst your peers. It rails against the natural tendencies of mediocrity and the herd-mentality. It means listening to your heart of hearts above the opinions of others, of stubbornly and doggedly pursuing your goals and ambitions long after others have quit. Becoming a hilariously fast swimmer is a goal that not a lot of people will fully understand. There is very limited fame and riches. You aren’t going to become a spokesperson for Nike, Under Armour and Gatorade—it’s just you and the black line, and for the slightly delusional, that is more than enough.

6. You have got to love it.

If you don’t love the idea of pushing yourself to the limit on a daily basis, of hurtling yourself towards the outer reaches of what is possible with your swimming, of doing the grind and of making the sacrifices, than you might as well stop now. In a post I recently did for SwimSwam I discussed the difference between obsessive and harmonious passion. Obsessive swimmers train because they have to; their whole identity rides on it, they lack balance in their lives, and they do it to protect their ego. Swimmers who are passionate in a harmonious sense derive intrinsic pleasure from working their butts off; the process -- and not just the thought of the results -- is enjoyable to them. If you don’t love what you are doing, the tough love advice is to give it up now and save yourself the inevitable burn-out that awaits you down the road. Achieving greatness in the pool requires so much from you in terms of sacrifice, your energy – both physical and mental – to patience, discipline and so on, that unless you find the journey (and not just the results) rewarding and satisfying, than the sacrifices will be too great.

7. Get rid of your excuses. Now.

There will always be excuses knocking at the door. Too tired. Too sore. Not tall enough. Not enough time. Not enough resources. Blah blah blah. Once you accept that all of these things are excuses, and you are willing to accept responsibility for your swimming 100%, than you will instantly be on the right path to achieving the big things you want in the pool. Shedding the habit of making excuses for why you shouldn’t act will give you complete power and autonomy over your swimming (which is a surprisingly liberating feeling once you accept it).

IN CLOSING

Yes, elite swimming is not for everyone. It's not even for most. It's reserved for a select few who are willing to brave against every instinct in their body to push themselves beyond what they and others consider possible. Will you be one of the few? Download this list as a handy little checklist that you can take with you and remind yourself on a daily basis how to excel in the pool. Enter your email below to get your hands on the exclusive PDF now:

]]> 2668 <![CDATA[7 Harsh Realities PDF File]]> 7 Harsh Realities of Being Great in the Pool]]> 2739 1. They don’t look for the easy way out. Hard work is a rare commodity these days, and given our climate of instant fixes and miracle cures it is no surprise. Every direction you look there is a product or service that promises to alleviate your problem, with no strings and with little to no effort. Don’t be fooled by this. Anything worth achieving requires hard work. A lot of it. Instead of cringing and grimacing at the sight of the work in front of you, be willing to hack away at it, piece by piece, day by day. 2. They don’t agonize over what others think about them.

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everyone.”

No doubt. The moment you decide to do something special with your swimming people will begin telling you whether you can do it. Whether you can’t. Whether you are capable. Some opinions may be based in authority (coaches, fellow swimmers), while others are from people who quite frankly don’t know what they are talking about. At the end of the day, learn to trust yourself. If you believe that it is possible, than that is literally all that matters. [alert style="yellow"]Reminder: You can download this full list for free as a glorious PDF that you can print out and use for daily reference. Click here to download it now and remind yourself what it takes to swim like a certified badass.[/alert] 3. Try don't to chase too many goals at once. Once we get a little taste of success, of the rewards that come with chasing the pursuit of excellence, we tend to get a little greedy. We start looking outwards for other awesome stuff to achieve, expanding our vision, and at the same time watering down our efforts, and eventually, our results as well. Resist the urge to achieve everything at once, and instead drill down with remarkable focus and intensity on a select number of goals. It’s best to do a couple things exceptionally well then to do numerous at a mediocre level. 4. They don’t allow others to define their success. Having goals set for you, or creating goals that are designed to please someone else, are destined for failure. (At which point you will not only feel like you have disappointed yourself, but also the other person who somehow managed their way into your plans for success.) Create goals and a vision that is yours. Your goals are the ones that will motivate you beyond the first couple weeks of hard training. During the small dips in motivation, and in the dead of winter when it is freezing outside and the last thing you want to do is go to practice. 5. They don’t focus on what they can’t control. Ultimately, we can only control so much about the outcome. We can only manage our own performance. Getting caught up in what other swimmers are doing will only distract you from working on the things that matter to your own swimming. When you are standing up on the blocks next to your top competitor you should be quietly confidant because you did everything you could do to prepare. At this point the confidence has overtaken you because the result at this point will write itself. 6. They don’t spend time blaming others or making excuses. We all experience frustration and disappointment when things do not go as planned. The easy thing to do is to brush off responsibility and lay it at the feet of a variety of excuses. It’s easy to say that the pool wasn’t the right temperature, or that your cap didn’t feel right, or that you simply didn’t feel like it. Elite swimmers don’t spend their time making excuses, or shouldering their performances on others. Instead, these athletes are more than willing to take full accountability for their swimming, both in good times and in bad. 7. They don’t think success happens overnight. There is no such thing as an overnight success story. There is only the illusion of it. Behind the scenes, long before the gold medal swim they were toiling away, working with patience and determination for their own day to splash on the scene. Being successful equates with being patient and hungry, of understanding that success is found in the process, in showing up everyday and doing their best. The successful swimmer, although eager and starved for success, also knows that achieving big time stuff is a long term process, not something that will happen overnight. 8. They don’t fold when things get rough. Adversity happens to all of us. What marks the difference between the swimmer on the top of the podium and the one sitting in the stands is a refusal to fold under pressure and difficulty. Every swimmer at some point in the process will get hit by a barrage of setbacks. Getting really sick, a gnarly injury, and so on. What matters is not necessarily what happens, but how you react in the aftermath. Will you bounce back stronger after a shoulder injury? Phelps did after he broke his wrist in the run-up to Beijing. Will you bounce back after getting sick and missing a week of training? Or will you steady on when your coach up and leaves, or you move to a new team? 9. They are willing to find a new path. The path to success isn’t a sure one. While we can try and plot the steps that it will take to get there, hiccups inevitably arise, and there will even be moments where you progress much faster than you ever thought possible. Elite swimmers know that while their path to success is flexible and up for change, their will to see the path through is not. 10. They learn from their mistakes. Championship swimmers recognize the inherent value in failure, for it provides a valuable opportunity for feedback and learning – if you’re willing to see it as such. For some swimmers failure is the end. It’s proof that they couldn’t do it, that they don’t deserve it, and that they will never be the amazing swimmer they thought they could be. For the best swimmers in the world (and in your local pool), failure is nothing but a stepping stone, an opportunity to learn what works and what doesn’t, an opportunity to learn and adapt and ultimately, charge forwards smarter and faster. [Want more motivational goodness? Join thousands of your fellow swimmers getting fired up and chasing after their goals by joining the YourSwimBook newsletter. Every Sunday you'll receive an email chock-full of awesome. No big deal! Sign up free below today!]]]> 2838 <![CDATA[10 Misconceptions About Fast Swimmers]]> Here is what you need to know:

Top swimmers make it look easy, but in reality the path is littered with struggle.
We tend to view fast swimming as this complicated thing. It’s not.
There is an allusion that fast swimming means that training, competition and life must go perfectly.
Working hard isn’t enough. One must work intelligently as well.
In the age of me-me-me, fast swimmers need to be selfish and cut-throat. Not true.
Success doesn’t exist in a vacuum. There is a support system that holds up the elite swimmer.
Elite swimmers might all seem to have a common recipe for success, but it’s as unique as they are.

[divider type="thin"] Gulp. I stood up on the blocks and stared quietly down the lane. In my peripheral I could see the swimmer in the lane next to me, a towering 6’2” boy who we shall name Ryan swinging his arms. His hands loudly slapped his back, and then back-and-forth they went again, so big they would have blocked out the sun. As we waited on the blocks, with a few cheers and whistles going up from the stands, I thought back to how we had been the same height the previous spring. Now he had a solid 6 inches on me, and muscle to go with it. When the starter’s gun went off we dove into the water, and he surged out to a half body length lead out of the breakout, I felt my little 13 year old chest deflate. Despite all of the hard work over the course of the fall and early winter, the race was already lost. By the 50m mark I was looking at his ankles, by the 100m we were passing each other at the flags, and by the time I touched he had his goggles off and was hanging off the lane rope waving at his parents who shrieked and jumped up and down, video camera in hand. I spent the rest of the night nearly inconsolable. I had easily trounced Ryan over the course of us being 10, 11, and 12 years old, but now that he had a wispy little moustache, muscles, and some good old fashioned height I was getting devastated in the water. I knew that I worked harder than him—his slacker skills had approached legend status—and the even more infuriating part was the he knew that as well. The handshake seemed to say as much, with a look and a shrug that telegraphed that he knew he was sailing along on size. As I sat in the car on the way home, the snow blowing sideways outside, I couldn’t help but feel like all those early mornings had been for nothing.

That no matter how much I dedicated myself to improving that the Ryan’s of the world, who seemingly without trying cornered the market on winning, would always have the upper hand. My parents, ever supportive, told me that it was okay, that I would grow at some point as well, and that Ryan, with his loose commitment to the sport would see his advantage dissipate in the face of a superior work ethic and attitude. Sulking, I shook my head and stared off into the night. After all, what can you really tell a 13 year old in that moment to make them feel better? [divider type="thin"] 1. It’s challenging so it must be complicated. Because it is so rare, we expect success at the highest levels to be extraordinarily complicated. We imagine that the only way someone could swim so fast is by some miracle technique, some crazy unorthodox training schedule, or more increasingly, a miracle supplement (both legal and not-so-much). I imagine that this is why we are so drawn to the shortcuts and the promises of limit-busting gear and supplements. Finally, the advertisements tell us, we have the tools to outsmart what it takes to be elite, to outflank and out-gadget it. As a result, we begin to lean on them, to the point that we begin to neglect the things that truly matter. Like technique. Showing up every day. Doing it a little more and doing it a little better than the next guy or gal. When it comes down to it, performing well in the pool is that simple. Easy? Rarely. But simple? Almost always. 2. They did it alone. Relying on the innate talent and physical gifts you are provided with is one thing. To succeed in a sport that requires constant feedback, the emotional support of friends and family, as well as the financial resources that comes with being an amateur athlete is another. Some athletes believe that if they rely on the assistance of others over the course of their journey it somehow cheapens the end result. Success doesn’t happen in a vacuum, there will be those who affect your journey. Your parents, teammates, and of course your coaches will all play a big role in how far you take your swimming. 3. There is no room for mistakes. We tend to avoid friction at all costs. And a certain amount of friction is counter-productive to our goals. To fail every set would be pointless. But to fail every so often in order to stimulate growth is essential. Don’t assume that the elite swimmers that surround you always make every set, or don’t miss the occasional workout, or don’t get down on themselves when things aren’t going as smoothly as they would like. There will be strife, there will be challenges, and there will be times where you outright screw up. Understand that messing up and falling short is a vital part of the process, and will provide you a far better lesson than succeeding every step of the way. 4. Once you get to a specific level, you are set. We tend to imagine that once we achieve a specific level of success that we have “made it.” In some respects, staying at the top is more challenging than the ascent. Now that you have hit the top, a sense of complacency creeps in, added to the big red target that you now have hanging off your shoulders. Michael Phelps learned this in the years after Beijing. Coming off of the sky-high triumph of the ’08 Olympics the Baltimore Bullet found his motivation and commitment to the sport wavering. Coasting along on his talent and the work he had done pre-Beijing his grip on the international stage began to weaken. In London he would still perform well, just not to the atmospheric standards that we had come to expect from the greatest swimmer of all time. He would lose the 200m butterfly, his signature event, while also placing out of the medals in the 400m individual medley on the opening night of swimming events. Once you are at the top the work doesn’t stop. 5. It doesn’t matter who we surround ourselves with. We tend to fall in line with the people that we surround ourselves with. If the swimmers in our lane are leaving a couple seconds early, it doesn’t take us long to start doing so as well. If the swimmers in our group are chronically late, than we don’t see it as a big deal to show up tardy as well. Achieving big things in the pool is hard enough. Trying to chase down those big goals while the athletes around you toil in mediocrity is even tougher. 6. Hard work solves everything. Hard work doesn’t make you a fast swimmer, hard, intelligent work does. Getting in and thrashing around at full throttle for 4,000 yards with horrible technique will certainly burn a whole heap of calories, but it won’t make you a faster swimmer. Fast swimmers not only train their butt off in the water, but they do it with purpose, and they do it tactically. This means being disciplined to maintain good technical form even when you exhausted at the end of a set. It means focusing on their turns and breakouts even during sets that don’t require full effort. 7. Success unraveled exactly the way they thought it would. Swimming is a journey, a long one at that. Even over the course of one season a lot can change. Your training situation may unexpectedly be uprooted, you might hit a surprise—but not altogether unwelcome!—growth spurt, or find one of your off-strokes developing at an unforeseen rate. As a result, the goals we set for ourselves at the beginning of the year often come with a shorter than anticipated expiry date. And this isn’t a bad thing. Our goals should be as fluid and open to change as we are. Growth is difficult to come by with rigidity, and to be able to adapt is a skill that will serve you just as well in life as it will in the pool. Being adaptable means that you welcome the new opportunities that open themselves along the way. It signifies that you are more willing to brave the bumps and unexpected turns in the road. 8. The best swimmers are naturals, they can just wing it. We all had that kid on our team who showed up late every day to practice, didn’t complete the sets properly, goofed off, and then when it came to meet time, thoroughly destroyed us. (Ahem, Ryan.) The despair that results from this can be overwhelming—you trained your butt off, did everything correctly, and still this swimmer beat you like a rented mule when it mattered most. The truly good swimmers don’t rely on their talent, or luck, or being in the right place at the right time, they seize the talent and abilities handed to them and make the most out of them, using them instead of depending on them. 9. You have to be cut-throat and egotistical to succeed in the pool. Successful swimmers are among the most generous with their time. You see them at camps working with youngsters, and at the top echelon of swimming superstars are exceedingly generous with their time. Ryan Lochte, despite what one may think about his choice of tooth apparel during the London Games, and his attempt at becoming a reality television star, refuses to deny fans an autograph. As a youngster he was brushed aside by one of his swimming idols, and with that memory seared into his mind vowed to never turn away youngsters seeking an autograph. Additionally, the top athletes in the world don’t tie their accomplishments to the losses of others. To win against an opponent is never as satisfying as overcoming a competitor who is at the top of their abilities. They understand that the value of their victory is tied to the veracity of the competition. 10. You have to develop at a specific rate, by a specific point, to be successful. Comparison is the mother of all ways to completely discourage yourself. If no two people are alike, than how is it fair to compare yourself up against a swimmer whose path, physical dimensions and innate skills are completely different than those you possess? One of my favorite swimmers from the 1990’s was Bill Pilczuk. Not because he achieved a whopping sense of success—he book-ended winning gold at world championships in 1998 in the 50m free by just missing qualifying for the 1996 and 2000 US Olympic teams—but because he took his own path. Coming out of high school he was offered zilch in terms of scholarships, had to pay his way while walking on to Auburn, and then didn’t achieve “success” until he was 26 years old at the Perth worlds. His path, far from the typical age group prodigy to NCAA stand-out to international contender, is a powerful reminder that our swimming careers, our expedition towards the summit of our abilities, are wildly different. At the end of the day you need to be comfortable in knowing that your own journey is going to be completely and uniquely yours. That is what I would have told my 13-year old self that night.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

The big issue for me was whether he was going to keep his 'feel' for the water. I knew he had the background. I knew he had the technique. If he was rested I knew he could swim fast. Then it was all about keeping his head together. I just assured him, OK, we're in taper. You're going to be resting anyway. You may as well be resting like that.

Best notes that he does his training cycles as 3.5 weeks on, half a week off with Magnussen…

If we're in a longer, more aerobic cycle with three-and-a-half weeks on and a half-week off. If it's a more intense cycle we'll go three and one "off" where we come back to maybe 60 per cent of everything…. Front of the cycle is faster stuff, back of the cycle is more back-end (of the race pace).

In one of the more interesting tidbits, and something I suspect many coaches will take away, is that at the beginning of each mini 4-week cycle Best had Magnussen focus on being fast. How fast? Race speed fast. As the cycle progresses the goal is to maintain and load that race speed. In the words of Best, “Find the race speed and then load it. Load the **** out of it.” Best recognizes the need for an athlete to be calm and in the correct state of mind before a race in order to execute the plan…

When you're angry all the blood goes to your hands and feet because you've got to fight. When you're afraid, blood goes to your legs because you've got to run. It goes away from your brain. But if you're composed or if you're happy, blood flows to your brain. If you're not emotionally distracted you've got to be in a better state to be more intelligent to execute the way you want to execute. And that's what we do going into meets, more than we do talking about everything they've got to do during a race because they know what they have to do. They know how to do it. They're racers.

Best notes that with Magnussen it wasn’t about making his top-end speed quicker, the goal is trying to make his “easy” race speed easier. With Magnussen having always been a strong finisher in his races, the temptation has always been to sacrifice his strength “in order to develop his weakness” by focusing too heavy on the front end.

We just do a lot of practice at race speed and make him faster at race speed, so his easy speed is faster. Not his fast speed is faster. His easy speed had to get faster. We do a lot of easy-speed work , rather than top-end speed. A lot of coaches were saying you're got to get his top-end speed up. But that's not the way he swims. He doesn't even swim with a top-end speed stroke. It's almost a 200m-type timing. We did a lot of work to make that better and he's now now a second faster than he was at Trials last year down the first 50m. But his stroke rate and his stroke count are the same.

The top swimmers, the ones who are able to push through the pain and struggle to get themselves to the podium understand that it is by becoming comfortable—or at least familiar—with the grind and pain…

You've got to be able to 'go'. Your brain cannot be telling you, 'holy ****. This is the first time I've done this. I better shut down and go into protection mode.' The competitor needs to know, I've done this before. I know it hurts, but I've done it before. It's familiar. I am not going to shut down because this isn't familiar. It's about familiarity as much as anything we do.

On why swimmers should avoid doing crunches…

Sit-ups develop the wrong set of abs for me. I think we need to develop the abs a little deeper and abs that twist us rather than abs that hold us. We do a lot of twisting, between the shoulders and the hips. The torque we develop - we call it a coil - between the shoulders and the hips develops that chain of power. We can't do straight situps because that will sit us forward and we can't be sitting forward like that in the water because bananas don't swim quick.

]]> 2897 <![CDATA[The 7 Curses of Being a Talented Swimmer]]> It’s too bad, she is a really talented swimmer…

What a waste of an amazing talent…

He’s so talented, no wonder he goes so fast…

If you have spent longer than ten minutes on deck at a swim meet you have heard a coach or parent say a variation of the above statements. The lamenting is surprisingly common, so much so that it cannot help but make you wonder why so many talented swimmers never achieve the trajectory that is expected of them. Sure, laziness, apathy and a lack of interest are common reasons for why swimmers don’t realize the potential they hold. But perhaps there is a little more to this. The reality is that we don’t understand why some kids are gifted, while others are not. We like to think that we have the answers—play classical music while they are still in the womb, use high grade organic “brain fuel” baby food, hire the best coaches and use the best facilities. But in the argument between nature vs. nurture (a.k.a. the 10,000 hour rule), there is no clear winner for the time being. All great athletes are a mixture of both, just how much it balances out is hard to say. The odd thing about talent is that when we heap the “you’re so talented” praise on an athlete, it tends to have the opposite effect of what we intend. Here are 7 curses of being a talented athlete, as well as some research to back it all up: Talent has high, often ridiculous, expectations. It expects to never screw up. It expects that things will go perfectly every time it wades out into the water. Talent doesn’t like to ask for help. Talent expects to be able to do things on its own. After all, what is the point of being gifted if you need help or assistance? Talent relies on itself. Talent feeds on praise, and when given enough of it expects it to simply be there whenever competition comes around. By leaning on their talent and avoiding things they can control, like their mental toughness, swimmers leave things up to fate (or rather, the competition). Talent expects to be used. When you are recognized at being talented, the assumption immediately becomes that you have taken responsibility for this innate ability, and now you owe it to yourself (and others, it sometimes feels like) to see it through. Talent isn’t earned. As a result, it can become to feel more like a burden. Something heaped upon an athlete who didn’t necessarily ask for it. The swimmer realizes that “talent” isn’t them, it isn’t something they requested, and the praise it receives has nothing to do with anything they have done. It’s the talent that did the hard work, the swimmer was just along for the ride. Talent very quickly becomes expectation. “If only” they applied themselves in the pool he or she child would swim faster. With talent comes a series of expectations and bars that are supposed to be achieved. With talented athletes you start to hear the inevitable comparisons—“Oh, he’s the next Michael Phelps” or “She’s just as talented as Missy Franklin.” Talent gets mixed up with self-identity. Our society rewards those who are impressive. And because the talented swimmer possesses something rare and admirable it is easy for them to sink into feeling as though they are the sum of these performances. They come to identify themselves as this talent—“I’m a fantastic swimmer and that is it.”

What the Research Says

Carol Dweck, known for her work with closed vs. open mindsets (something I will be getting into in future posts), studied a group of fifth graders in which the students took 3 different tests. The second test was specifically made to be next to impossible so that each child failed. Afterwards half the students were praised for their effort, while half were praised for their intelligence.The students were then administered the third test. The result? Those who were praised for their effort performed 30% higher than the first test. More tellingly, those who were praised for their intelligence did 20% worse. Outside of the fact that they performed worse, those who were marked as being innately intelligent also displayed less persistance and enjoyed the task less. It’s not much of a stretch to imagine the same thing happening with a swimmer who is touted as being talented and gifted.

In Summary

Focus on the things the athlete can control. Avoid praising athletes on their innate abilities (“Way to go, you’re tall!”) and instead focus on the things that they can influence, like their effort and commitment.

About YourSwimBook

Curious to know if you have what it takes to achieve mind-swirling success? Here is your 5-step program to finding out.

1. Determine the cost.

In the immortal words of Snoop Dogg (or B.B. King if your musical tastes are a little more, ahem, aged), “you gotta pay the cost to be the boss”. What will you have to pay to achieve greatness? Podium-topping success comes with an equitable amount of sacrifice. The idea that we can have our cake and eat it too is sold to us via advertising (“Swim faster with no effort!”), but if you want to achieve something awesome in the pool you’ll have to earn it. (“You mean I actually have to work hard for this?”) Daydreaming about success is fun, and therein lies a common problem—those fantasies can feel so real, so tantalizingly close that when confronted with the harsh reality that an obscene amount of work and time is required to make them come to pass that we recoil in disgust. (“Eww, two-a-days? No, thanks.”) Are you willing to do what is necessary? It’s okay to say no—there are an endless number of reasons to say so. But if you…

Plan on being on the blocks the next time the Olympics come around.
Wanna go to a Div 1 school and get your education paid for.
Want to be the best dolphin kicker on the team.
Plan on breaking a minute for the 100 freestyle for the first time.

…then you need to determine what it is going to cost. There is no shortcut, and no getting around this fact. If you ask any elite athlete if they were able to sandbag their way to excellence, they will laugh. What is the cost for you to be great? [alert style="yellow"]Reminder: Want awesome motivational content designed just for swimmers delivered to your inbox? Click and join the YourSwimBook mailing list, where you will get blog updates (only the awesome ones -- promise!), as well as exclusive motivational content that speaks to you, the awesome competitive swimmer, every Sunday.[/alert]

2. Ride the momentum all the way down the mountain.

If you check out the big success stories of our sport you’ll see they always start out modestly. Phelps was just a big eared kid from Baltimore with way too much energy on his hands. Lochte was a full-time goof off as a kid, consistently attracting the ire of his coach (also his father). Making a modest or small start is the surest way to build the mother of all components of success—momentum. To build yourself up into an unstoppable mass of achievement, smashing through the steps and goals en route to that monster of a goal requires you starting small. I know, I know—our first instinct is to hammer down, to make big and life-bursting change. But this “big-switch” type of thinking isn’t sustainable, and almost inevitably leads to burn-out or failure. (If you are one of the very few people who can make wholesale changes overnight and make it stick, I am truly envious.) The purpose of measured change isn’t necessarily to inflict progress, but rather lay the foundation of self-belief. Although small, these steps provide a glowing example that you accomplish the things you set out to do. Only when you realize this via the proof of you actually doing what you say you will do (versus claiming that you will or can do something) can you begin to set your sights a little larger. The consistent application of little wins will always trump the flash-in-the-pan jolts that come with the occasional big win, so do not underestimate the value of them. Will you embrace the concept of little wins to build up the momentum to send you crashing towards greatness?

3. Create a schedule, not a deadline.

It’s easy to ignore the importance of the day-to-day grind in favor of the lustre and shine that comes with fantasizing about our goals of greatness. Talking and dreaming about our goals is fun, actually living them—not so much. Having a goal is a crucial step, but it is an empty one without a plan to get there. And even here most swimmers fall short—they will describe what they need to do (“Faster turns!” or “Better breakouts!”) but not outline what they are going to do. What are the systems, habits and routines that you will have to put in place to achieve greatness? Let’s say that you intend on smashing your personal best time and breaking the state record. To do so you’ve determined that you need to improve your kick. Knowing this, what will you do on a daily basis to get there? What are the things you will inject into your practices in and out of the pool to achieve this objective? Will you…

Spend an extra 10-15 minutes after PM practices doing vertical kick?
Focus on banging out perfect breakouts in practice from warm-up to warm-down?
Do bonus hamstring and hip stretches at home on Tuesday-Saturday nights?
Run stairs on your own for 35 minutes at the stadium on Saturday and Sundays?

What will your schedule look like for you to earn greatness?

4. Be a little crazy.

Nobody chases unrealistic goals. Okay, I shouldn’t say nobody. Very few do. The “crazy” goals are in rarer waters, meaning that there are fewer people chasing after them. (More room for you.) Most swimmers will content themselves to chase after safe, mediocre and “easily” achievable goals. Why do we do succumb to the pull of mediocrity? Perhaps because it’s what we have come to believe is to be expected. For a great deal of us it’s about staying comfortable, staying within the familiar confines of our own lane lines. Greatness is not a normal act. It’s weird. It sticks out, and it is sure to get you some looks. It flies in the face of the mental lock-step that we fall into when surrounded by people who tell us how it is and how it will be. In the words of author Jack Kerouac— “Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The trouble makers. The round heads in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules and they have no respect for the status quo…The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.” Are you just crazy enough to believe that greatness is something within you?

5. Be a little stubborn.

Okay, so you have your crazy goal. A determination to earn it. And maybe you have a schedule to achieve it mapped out. Assuming you are ready to rock and roll, you will next encounter resistance. Somebody, somewhere, at some point, if your goal is lofty enough, will tell you it won’t happen. It might come from a teammate, or worse, a parent or coach. Resistance comes in various forms. Dismissal of your goals as too ambitious for your abilities, the negative influence of those you surround yourself with (“Oh it’s just one morning workout, what’s the big deal?”), to outright jealousy and blockage. A curious symptom of those who are jealous of what you are doing is that they now don’t have the feeling of superiority over you. Isn’t that a weird thing? Because you choose to do something great, it makes them feel lesser than they like, leading them to hate on what you are doing. (“I couldn’t do it so why should they?”) At the end of the day, if you know in your heart that greatness is upon you, will you be stubborn enough to see past those who doubt you?

In Summary

There is nothing inherently wrong with simply doing your time when it comes to your swimming career. For many the friendships, competition and travel are all they aspire to in their years of circling the black line. But if you are ready to take it further, to extend yourself over and over again to the point of breaking, to take your talent and abilities for a sky-screaming rip, than it leads me to ask—will you be great?

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

Head Positioning

A very common mistake that even experienced swimmers make is to keep their heads up. This is largely due to safety reasons—you want to see what is ahead of you! Even after 20+ years of swimming I still pick my head up at the local lap pool when swimming freestyle, if only to see if there are any wayward lap swimmers swimming the wrong direction during open swim. (And all too often, there are.) Best discusses how it is our default to look ahead, whether we are on land or in the water—

Proper body position is key to freestyle swimming. Yet our instinct works against us. As land animals we spend most of our life looking where we’re going so we don’t run into things. In the water, we compensate for lack of balance and orientation by looking forward. We may feel more secure about approaching threats such as walls, other swimmers and rogue kick boards, but it doesn’t help get us down the pool efficiently.

Poor head positioning causes poor body positioning

The problem with swimming with our heads up, looking forward, is that it begins to negatively effect our body positioning in the water, causing more resistance where there doesn’t need to be any.

If your eyes are too far forward, your head is too high. You’re fighting an uphill battle with the rest of your body. While you’re busy getting a better look at oncoming traffic, your body has gone south. And that’s not all. You’ll be using more fuel on keeping yourself afloat rather than propelling yourself to the other end. Whether it be 10 laps or 100, overcoming the extra drag and expending more force to stay buoyant will raise your heart rate, tighten your neck, shoulders and back and slow you down in the process.

Drag, drag, drag

The best swimmers in the world understand that it is not about swimming harder or faster, but that it is just as much about swimming with less resistance. Keeping a slim profile in the water is just as valuable (if not more so) than all of the speed and power in the world. The problem, perhaps, is that feeling drag is not as intuitive as scaling the poundage on a weight machine. You can see the progress you make in the gym, or the times on the scoreboard, you cannot always see or feel the differences in drag in the pool. Regardless, Best reminds us that technique cannot substitute for more a more efficient profile in the water—

The best swimming mechanics cannot defeat the physics of increased drag – public enemy number one for Olympian and recreational swimmers alike. So whether you’re training to take down the competition or just going head to head with the pace clock, swim with your eyes down and slightly forward.

]]> 2922 <![CDATA[How NOT to Pace Your 200 Butterfly (Video)]]> And then, you have the butterfly. No matter where you are at in terms of your swimming career, or what your favorite event is, the 200 butterfly will always instill a certain amount of fear in you. One of my coaches called the event “the Man Maker” when I was a young boy, and to be frank, I was pleased to be doing my distance freestyle work on my own rather then swimming with the butterfly group. (On top of the difficulty of the stroke, they hit each other during practice way more than the rest of us combined.)

Anyways. Below is a video from a tri-meet that was held between Harvard, Yale and Princeton during January of 2011. This is one of the great fears of the competitive swimmer. That their conditioning and stroke will fail them thoroughly and completely at the end of a race.

Keep your eye on the brave young man in lane 3. Edit: In case you were wondering who the brave swimmer was, it was Princeton's Charley Wang. After taking it out in a 51.52, he brought it back in a 35.3 on that last 50. He wasn't the only one to take it out like a wild man that day, his teammate David Reid split a 54.99 at the 100 and came home in a 34.4 on the last 50. Big ups to Braden from SwimSwam for the tip!

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Known for his ultra competitiveness and willingness to find motivation in just about anything, Phelps has used his losses in the past to propel him towards greater achievements in the pool. This abhorrence towards losing is a quality that we all share, and not just reserved for the G.O.A.T. and other top swimmers. You too can harness this weird little tendency that we all have to avoid losing. Whether you realize it or not, we are wired to hate to lose.

After all… Ever notice that when you go on a hot streak—whether it is making X number of morning workouts in a row or consistently crushing the main set—that breaking the streak becomes more of a disappointment than the actual bad workout or set that caused it? This is something called loss aversion in action. It’s a bias in decision making where at the end of the day we lean towards avoid losing compared to striving for wins. And it is something that is surprisingly common:

When years of PGA golf results were analyzed—2.5 million putts in total, researchers at Wharton discovered that pro golfers—the top performers in the game—would consistently play conservatively when they had the opportunity to come in under par. The risk of getting a bogey weighed more on the mind of even the most elite golfers, including Tiger Woods, than the thrill of a birdie.
When grocery shoppers in the D.C. area were imposed a 5 cent tax on plastic bags the amount of disposal bags used was cut by a substantial amount. On the other hand, when another group of shoppers were offered a 5 cent bonus to use a reusable bag the incentive had no impact on behavior.

In both cases, the pull of not wanting to lose was greater than the push of wanting to gain. So how can we use this concept to swim more consistently, and ultimately, faster? Here are a couple ideas:

1. A jar full of jelly beans (or dollars).

A coach of mine at the beginning of every season would tell us that we each had a big jar full of metaphorical jelly beans. (I’ll have peanut butter M&M’s in my jar please and thank you.) Each time you missed a practice you would have to pull out one jelly bean. It provided a visual representation for us—that we only had a certain amount of days and practices allotted to make the improvements necessary to achieve our season-end goals. Whenever a swimmer missed a workout our coach would remind him or her—“pull a jelly bean out!” You can use this yourself with an actual jar of jelly beans, or even by penalizing yourself a dollar amount each time you miss a session.

2. The Seinfeld productivity trick.

Jerry Seinfeld, yes, the Jerry Seinfeld, told an aspiring comedian the secret to being a better comic. Each month he’d print out a simple, no-frills one month calendar, and for each day that he did a set number of work on his comedy he would write out a big “X” across that date on the calendar. Once a few days in a row were crossed in, and those few days turned into weeks, he’d find it harder and harder to “break the chain.” You can do the same thing with your swimming. Print out a small calendar and for each day that you attend your workouts, cross it out with a big, colorful pen. Once that chain starts to grow, you will discover that the thought of breaking it will motivate you to show up every day and avoid shattering the streak and having to start over.

Getting Lost in the Externals

Even though we aren’t all chasing down an international podium, Jones’ experience probably feels familiar. From getting psyched out by the crowds and noise, to overly focusing on the competition, to over analyzing every aspect of how we feel getting behind the blocks, the experience is all too common. So what we can do corral the anxiety and pressure that surges up as we stand up to race? And what can we do to keep ourselves focused on our own performance instead of that of our competitors during the race?

Create an Anchor

One way to stay calm and relaxed is to create a set of cues for your race. Before your next big race sit down for a few minutes and write out the various aspects of your race and how you’re going to execute them. With each stage of your race attach how you want to perform and feel. Identify the scenarios where you are most likely to get flustered (or where you have struggled to keep focus in the past) and put together some cue statements to fall back on so that you stick to your race plan. (To anticipate a question: No, you shouldn’t base your cue statements on what anyone else is doing. For example, “Be one body length ahead of the field,” is not a helpful cue statement.) Here are a few examples:

If you know that you are going to be tense and over-excited at the beginning of a race, string together a couple cue words like, “Long and strong” or “Fast and smooth!” to help you stay relaxed.
If you typically catch yourself getting too jacked up behind the blocks, use a couple lines such as, “This is supposed to be fun!” and “This is what we do!” to help you stay calm and loose.
When that last 50 comes along, and your legs and lungs are burning, and the swimmer in the lane next to you is roping you in, use statements such as, “It’s go time!” amd “I will not be outworked!” to help you power through.

Best Practices

Here are a couple tips in designing your own set of anchors: Make your cue statements simple. Complicated and long doesn’t mean better. The more simple your statements, the more you can focus on it. Consider “loosey goosey” versus “stay long and relaxed and remember to breath deeply and keep calm.” Keep it simple. Describe a feeling. Instead of thinking to yourself, “swim super fast with perfect technique” during your first 25m, use a couple keywords like, “relaxed speed” or “easy fast.” You shouldn’t have to think about the technical components of your swimming when it comes to race time (that is what is practice is for).

In Closing

Cue statements can act as a powerful anchor to stop your mind from running wild on you. They’ll ground those stress-inducing and confidence sapping thoughts and keep you dialed in on your performance and executing the game plan you have for your own race. The next time you have a big meet coming up take a few moments and write out a small series of cue statements that you will use before and during your big race so that you swim with more focus, more confidence, and more awesome. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Those moments where you feel yourself hurtling along the surface of the water faster than you’ve ever done before is hard to describe, and although only momentary, makes all that hard training utterly and completely worth it. But why should you have to wait until competition time to experience what it is like to swim at ultra rad speeds? While we might perform a fair amount of swimming at close to race pace, we rarely ever get as fast in practice as we do at a meet in something like the 50m freestyle. As a result, some of the mechanics feel a little awkward when we dive into the water and unleash some of that white-hot velocity. Most notably, I find that swimmers have a hard time with clean breakouts, breathing at high speed, and turns. The swimming itself will go great but these critical parts of the race feel awfully unfamiliar because we aren’t used to them. These tips are all about getting you used to the stuff that will happen in your race, so that you won’t find yourself getting thrown off your game plan or getting blindsided. (As a natural and lifelong freestyler the title of the post included “freestyle” sprinting. These tips can be used for the other 3 strokes as well.)

1. Deep water breakouts.

Experienced swimmers and coaches know that working on their dives is a season long endeavor, not just something you do in the days and weeks before a big meet. The dive and breakout should be worked on consistently so that when it comes to race time there are no surprises. I remember training for a couple months and getting so used to the more shallow breakouts that come with pushing off the wall that I felt myself scrambling to add a couple dolphin kicks off my dive because of the added depth. Short of adding a heap of dives to your workout (and not all pools are blessed with the official blocks with the foot chock, while others don’t have starting blocks at all), one way to acclimatize yourself to the deeper breakouts that happen with diving is to simply sink deeper when you push off. This works particularly well in pools that have a deep end, where you can sink down 5-8 feet and then push off fast at a depth more akin to what you would hit when diving in.

2. Breathing at speed.

For those swimmers who consider themselves “meet” swimmers—they swim unthinkably faster at meets than training would suggest—this can be a bit of an issue. Not used to the big waves they are creating, the first time they take a breath they find themselves trying to inhale a big breath through a wall of water. Remedy this by breathing at speed. Using fins is one option, and so is some good old rubber tubing pulled by a teammate or coach. Breathe as you would during your race so that you get used to ducking your mouth above that wall of water to draw oxygen in.

3. Turns at speed.

Last summer in the 100m freestyle at the Phillips 66 Summer National Championships in Irvine the greatest swimmer in the history of the sport performed what was altogether an age grouper mistake. In the final of the 100m freestyle—alongside fellow Olympians Nathan Adrian, Anthony Ervin and Ryan Lochte, Michael Phelps charged into the 50m wall, looking to have a monstrous back half and make ground on the early sprinters. Instead, he misjudged the wall, pushing off with the tips of his toes. Without the momentum from the turn and his strong dolphin kick and breakout he was left in the dust, placing second to last. Not having done very many turns at race pace (or having done any turn work at the pool in order to get used to his surroundings) Phelps found himself in the uncharacteristic position of being unfamiliar with turning at high speed. What can we learn from Phelps' gaffe? Being comfortable turning at speed is critical, especially in those high pressure moments. Here are a few ways that you can get used to swimming and turning like a boss:

Dive from the side of the pool about 7-8 meters away from the wall, and sprint into the wall and execute what is essentially a race pace turn.
A favorite set of mine is to do a set of 50’s (in a short course pool, obviously) and to sprint the middle 25m. So you would cruse 12.5m, build up to a sprint and do a turn at full speed, explode off the wall to the 12.5m mark and then cruise the remainder of the 50.

Using fins is another option, although I have always found it difficult to get a good plant and push off while wearing Zoomers or fins.

In Summary

So there you have it, three simple ways that you can get used to performing at high speed in practice so that there aren't any surprises when it matters most. Give one of them a try at your next practice and let me know how it goes.

Like this article?

Join 9,000+ swimmers and coaches who read my motivational newsletter each Sunday. Click here to join.]]> 2985 <![CDATA[Swim Like Popov: 5 Lessons from Alex the Great]]> when Russia’s Alexander Popov laid waste to the American men, winning both the 50m and 100m freestyles, announcing a change of the guard that would last for an unbelievable 10+ years. The following year Popov, a former backstroker who’d been coaxed into giving freestyle a try, moved down under, following lifelong coach Gennadi Touretski in his new position at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra. There the pair would work for a decade, cementing one of the strongest legacies in swimming history. Popov was originally designed to be a counter for Biondi in the relays. The Russians at the time had a solid front three, but no matter what kind of advantage they garnered, Biondi, nicknamed the California Condor, would sweep in and erase it. As it turned out, Popov would become more than challenger, but successor. (Perhaps not surprisingly, Touretski also used Biondi’s smooth, efficient freestyle as a blueprint for Popov’s stroke. Talk about the student becoming the master.) Touretski, who was a bit of a wild card outside of the pool, helped mold Popov into one of the most efficient swimmers to ever grace the water. Here is how they did it:

1. Swim with perfect technique, or not at all.

Much has been made about Popov’s high yardage, as though using it as an excuse to bombard swimmers with endless meters. But while it appeared as though he was swimming effortlessly (a.k.a easily), those long swims were used to drill in that smooth, near-flawless technique Popov would become known for. In other words, they were very purpose-drive yards. He would hone this technique over yardage that would seem preposterous for most sprinters these days, swimming as much as 80-100km over the course of a week. No matter what pace he swam, however, between him and Touretski they were adamant that every meter be covered with flawless technique.

2. The fastest swimmer is the one who slows down the least.

In our rush to swim harder, stronger and better we ignore perhaps the most fundamental truth in swimming fast—the one who swims quickest is simply the one who loses the least amount of velocity going into the wall. Understanding this, Popov was very conscious of his arm and hand placement while in practice, always seeking to be as efficient as possible. At the end of the race, when everyone is feeling gassed it isn't necessarily the fittest swimmer that will get to the wall first, but the one who is swimming most efficiently.

3. Drag increases exponentially the faster you go.

To further beat on the efficiency and drag drum it is critical to understand that the faster you go, the greater drag acts to slow you down. During his long and steady swims, Popov would play around with his stroke and technique, looking for areas where his hand might be slipping, or where he could pick up just an extra fraction of drag reduction. He understood that you had to be able to find the drag in your swimming at slow speeds, before you maxed out the speed. Dial in your stroke and technique at slower speeds and slowly ramp up the speed so that you continue to enjoy the effects of minimal resistance at top end velocity.

4. Be ready to race.

One of Touretski’s approaches for readying the big Popov for the important international meets on the calendar was to have him race. A lot. On average, in the years following Barcelona Popov was getting about 100 races in per year. (Essentially two races a week.) The repeated efforts gave Popov the experience necessary to be ready for whatever when it came to race time, something that is very apparent given how thoroughly and consistently he dominated the international sprint scene for nearly a full decade. By getting the starts in he worked on his starts, turns and race-pace swimming in race-like conditions so that he wouldn’t have to get ready, he would simply be ready.

5. Crush the competition.

Although Popov wasn’t a chest-thumping guerrilla behind the blocks, instead preferring the stoic, Iceman approach, there is no denying the guy had a killer instinct. Mental toughness and unwavering confidence, particularly in the Alpha-male, testosterone-fueled sprint events is a must, and Popov had it in spades. After Biondi left the sport, another American rose to take his place—Gary Hall Jr. There was no love lost between the two, with Hall placing second behind Popov in Atlanta in 1996 in the 50 and 100m freestyles. The following year the two engaged in a rather heated exchange through the media, with Popov saying of Hall and his father, two-time Olympic medalist Gary Hall Sr., “His father was never an Olympic champion, and he never will be either. It's a family of losers." Well, then! Popov was even more merciless when it came to describing how he viewed up and comers:

“If I see any (challengers), I have to swim faster and make them feel sick. If they have a little potential, you must get on top of them and kill that enthusiasm right away so they will lose their interest in swimming.”

Photo: Marco Chiesa

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He may as well have been talking about the ready room at a major international competition. At least 8—sometimes as many as 32 in the case of relays—highly tuned athletes bunched in a small room together for up to 30 minutes before the biggest race of their lives. Tense? Certainly. Hostile? You betcha. Amy Van Dyken, the most successful athlete of the ’96 Atlanta Games, laughed when recalling the atmosphere of the ready room, coining it, “the white-padded room.” In Van Dyken’s case, she took mental warfare to the next level, glaring at world record holder Le Jingy for 30 minutes prior to the final of the 50m freestyle in Atlanta. A fiery, glowering stare at the Chinese favorite to win. "I knew that I could physically not beat her, but mentally I could. I pulled out all the stops. I glared at her so hard. I stared and kept staring," said Van Dyken, who would win by three one-hundredths of a second. The legendary Mark Spitz, the original Phelps, was not immune to playing mental games on the competition either.

During his 1972 run in Munich, where he would win 7 gold medals, he feigned being sore and injury in the ready room prior, having his coach Sherm Chavoor tag along and massage his “injured” shoulders while Spitz feigned a grimace. “My competitors would stare at us with their mouths open,” Spitz would recall in later years. Victor Davis, a fiery Canadian who at one point held the world record in the 100m and 200m breaststrokes during the 1980's would splash water all over himself in the moments before a race, often simultaneously dousing swimmers in the lanes next to him. For the coup de grace, however, he would throw some water in his mouth and spit it into the competitor’s lane next to him. For Davis, this intensity wasn’t an act. In what turned out to be one of the more controversial (and I hesitate to use the word) moments in Canadian swimming Davis kicked a plastic chair across the pool deck at the Commonwealth Games. In front of the Queen. Oh, the horror! (But seriously, the media made a big deal out of this.) Mental warfare on the pool deck is nothing new. For as long as there have been elite swimmers there have been mind games. Don Schollander, recognized as an 18-year old that all swimmers at the top level were nearly identical in talent and training. What set them apart was the mental toughness they had at crunch time, and the ability to psych out the competition before the race. In one such event, highlighted in his auto-biography Deep Water, Schollander was in the ready room before the 100m freestyle semi-final at the 1964 Games. One of his competitors, France’s Alain Gottvalles had been doing some talking, boasting he could crush a bottle of wine and smoke like a chimney on a daily basis and still be the fastest swimmer on the planet. Gottvalles, just a month earlier, had established the standing world record at 52.9. Schollander saw past the bravado and recognized that Gottvalles was nervous. He got closer and closer to him in the ready room until he was standing over him. Gottvalles shifted down the bench. Schollander followed. When Gottvalles got up to escape to the bathroom, Schollander followed and stood behind him. The implication was crystal clear—Gottvalles would be unable to escape the wrath and fury of Schollander. The following evening Schollander would handily win the 100m freestyle in an Olympic record time of 53.4. Gottvalles, despite his swagger in the run-up to the Games, placed outside of the medals in fifth. Schollander, meanwhile, would go on to win 4 gold medals at those games, becoming the first swimmer in history, and only the second athlete to do so. The ready room antics aren’t always just limited to stare-downs and mental combat. Sometimes it even gets physical. At the 2011 world championships Australia’s Alicia Coutts had a ready room incident that set the bar pretty low for what some athletes are willing to do to get that critical mental edge. According to Coutts a European rival (who she wouldn’t name in subsequent interviews) elbowed her in the head a couple times while they waited to march out on deck for the final of the 100m freestyle. To add insult to attempted injury, the offending swimmer then turned and spat on the ground at Coutts feet as they walked up the stairs to the pool deck in Shanghai. The reserved Coutts, who was understandably shocked at the aggressiveness of her competition, took it in stride. “She obviously thought I was a threat,” Coutts said afterwards. “She felt she needed to put me off.”]]> 3018 <![CDATA[Go Hard or Go Home: Remembering Victor Davis]]> In 1986 at Edinburgh, when Victor Davis beat Adrian Moorhouse—considered the favorite— Davis qsa quoted saying that he knew the pace must have been slow down the second half of the race “because Moorhouse was still with me.” Moorhouse, who was a fantastic foil to Davis’ outward and lack of filter, was sitting right next to him on the interview podium. Later in the meet Moorhouse would take Davis down in the 200m breaststroke, the event Davis was the world record holder—and recycled Davis’ quote in order to let him know that Moorhouse was no joke:. Victor Davis 2

HIS LEGACY Davis’ shadow continues to loom large on the collective consciousness of Canadian swimming. He was a larger than life presence in real life, and this intensity and has reached the point of legendary status. In a country whose sporting landscape is dominated year-round by hockey, it makes it even more remarkable that 20 years after his passing that the CBC (the national public network in Canada) would produce a biopic film of Victor. Davis continues to live on both literally and physically. His heart, liver and kidneys were donated for… Canadian swimmers that have come up over the past twenty years no doubt have heard about the Victor Davis Memorial Fund at some point. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics 13 of the swimmers representing Canada were recipients of the fund. Swimmers including Annamay Pierse (who broke the world record in the 200m breaststroke), Brent Hayden (world champion and London bronze medalist in the 100m freestyle) and Ryan Cochrane (two-time Olympic medalist in the 1500m freestyle) are two noteworthy recipients. As for Davis, he continues to be remembered fondly by swimmers in Canada—even if one wonders if the memory is fading like all things tend to do—perhaps best with the words he used as his personal motto—“Go big, or go home.”]]> 3023 <![CDATA[Behind the Scenes with Ryan Cochrane (Video)]]> Saanich Commonwealth Games Pool, where the 1994 Commonwealth Games and 2006 Pan Pacific Championships were held. (This is the same pool that Kieren Perkins demolished the 800m and 1500m freestyle world records in 1994.) In this short video we get a glimpse into the daily life of Cochrane, Canada's premier distance swimmer and one of the most consistent swimmers on the planet in the mile. From the characteristically rainy drive to the pool (it's the Pacific Northwest, after all), race pace work in the AM, to his dryland routine that includes pilates and weight lifting, we get a behind-the-scenes view of Cochrane as he readies himself for his London performance. For Cochrane, who won bronze in Beijing in the mile, the goal was to drop another ten seconds to swim the performance he believed himself capable of. While he would go a best time in London in 14:39.63, he would place second behind China's Sun Yang (who just last year failed a doping test.) Here is the video, produced by the Canadian Olympic Committee, titled "The Contender." Enjoy: ]]> 3027 <![CDATA[If It's Greatness You Want Stop Asking for Permission]]> ]]> 3031 <![CDATA[Catching Up with Natalie Coughlin (Video)]]> "There is no off-season. It's a struggle." Coughlin still trains at Cal with two other swimmers who are at the top of their own game-- Nathan Adrian and Anthony Ervin, forming perhaps the most elite training group in the world.

"She has a very intense competitive drive." -- Nathan Adrian.

In this video we get a glimpse into some of the training that she undergoes on a daily basis at Cal both in the pool and the weight room. (And even on the beach.) "I love training," Coughlin tellingly says. Enjoy! ]]> 3036 <![CDATA[10 Tools for Swimmers to Manage Self-Doubt]]> When we look at our idols standing on the blocks they loom larger than life. Both in stature, but also in terms of mental fortitude. We imagine they possess unimaginable levels of self-belief, never prone to the bouts of self-doubt that are all too common in our own lives.

In reality this is not the case. Elite swimmers suffer from the same pangs of self-doubt as the rest of us—they have simply chosen to fight back. Disguised as reason, self-doubt lurks in the dark corners of our minds, whispering to us that we aren’t capable of pushing on, that our efforts are in vain, and that the hard work will be for naught. Here are 10 different ways to beat back the voices of self-doubt the next time you walk out on deck:

1. Acknowledge it.

Understand that a bit of doubt is natural anytime you are venturing off into something new, foreign, and that will require the testing of your perceived limits. When that doubt sticks its greasy face in the door, simply give it a glance—“Oh, hey buddy. You again!” Acknowledging it for what it is, simply a natural part of the process, can help to weaken its attempt to railroad you.

2. Don't get upset that you are starting from where you are starting.

Better late than never. How common an expression, and how true. How often have you looked back on your swimming and thought to yourself—"If only I had started back then? How much further along would I be?" Well, guess what—it doesn’t matter. What does, however, is that you do start now. Uncertainty in the form of "once I know how do to XYZ I can start chasing my goals" helps to fuel doubt and provides for some fantastic procrastination material:

I'll start showing up to all my morning workouts when I figure out how to get better sleep.
Once I have my technique absolutely perfect than I will give my all on every main set.

If you don’t commit now, don’t start chasing down your goals with the time you have, know this: you will look back at some point in the future—and just like you did earlier—wish you had started now.

3. If doubt is being fueled by perfectionism, lower the bar.

We have gone over the need to chase being good or great as opposed to seeking the impossible gold standard of perfection before. Recognize whether the bar you have set for yourself requires perfection (meaning that it is attainable). If that is what is fueling your doubt—and this might sound somewhat counter-intuitive—lower the bar to good or great. Perfectionism is really good at creating hyper-unrealistic expectations, creating a fertile situation for self-doubt to grow.

4. Release yourself from the situation.

I have found in my own experience that the voices of doubt grows larger the more focused and contained you make yourself on a specific goal. While this type of laser-like concentration is good in spurts, thinking of nothing but your goal, or continuing to hammer away at a specific exercise with no improvement, or going to practice and continually showing a negative return on your work, calls out for a deload. Take a nap, take the day off, get some nature in (you know, that outside thingy), do whatever it takes to clear your mind of whatever it is that is overwhelming you. With even a little bit of a break you can return with a clear mind.

5. Take your eyes off the long goal.

Those big, season-ending goals are one of the things that help us shake the sheets off those cold, hilariously early mornings. They are what drives us to get to bed early on the weekends, to push through those seemingly impossible main sets, and to push through when every cell in our body is screaming for us to stop. But they can also be a source of staggering doubt. With the goal being so far in the horizon its impossible to know precisely, for absolute certain, that we are on track to achieving it. Alleviate this by zeroing in on the day to day goals, the weekly goals, the things you have control over right now and here.

6. Let it go.

Wanting to control every aspect of your swimming is natural. It’s common to question every set, whether you could have done it better or with more effort. Falling into a loop of over-analyzing everything to death, of second-guessing everything you do in the pool is not only exhausting, really exhausting, but will promote more self-doubt than you will know what to do with. Should I have done this? Why didn’t I do that? Once it is done, learn the lesson, stop questioning it, and move on.

7. Remember your "why".

Sometimes we get so caught in the “how” of our swimming goals we forget what drove us to create them in the first place. Getting water-logged with statements like “how will I ever train hard enough to accomplish my goals?” or “how will I ever survive this training camp?” will plant the seeds of doubt as you scramble to hypothesize answers that very often aren’t grounded in reality. Getting in touch with the “why” of our swimming, what drives us to swim for endless hours in the pool (love of the sport, a desire to swim faster than you ever have, and so on), brave those early mornings and spend weekends soggy and uncomfortably sitting on metal bleachers. By remembering the stuff that you love about the sport and your swimming goals you can distract yourself from the incessant “how’s” that fester.

8. Keep a little list of the times you out-performed your doubts.

No matter how far along you are in your swimming career, there are moments you can look on with exceptional pride. Those times in the pool where you went above and beyond your expectations, surpassing not only the expectations of others, but most importantly—your own. On those days where you find yourself burdened with doubt, where you feel like the water won’t stop pouring in, and that there is no way you can take another step forward, write out a list of the times that you did persevere. They will act as a powerful counter on the days where you are feeling overwhelmed with doubt, offering positive proof that you are a whole lot more capable than your doubt gives you credit for.

9. Argue with your doubt by doing something.

One of my favorite methods for dealing with those pangs of doubt is flat-out action. It’s rare that doubt overwhelms me when I am in the midst of doing something in support of my goals. It is the quiet periods between practices, the minutes in bed where it’s just me and a darkened ceiling, when the doubts creep in. Action is as surefire a tonic to remedy doubt, as it not only gets you out of your own head, but most importantly, action is proof, while doubt is just conjecture. You can even play the self-doubt against yourself to deflect pressure and expectations: “Well, I doubt that I can do this, but I am going to give it a try anyway and if I fail, so what?”

10. At the end of the day, people don’t care as much as you think they do.

Swimmers often build up these huge expectations, and then feel overwhelming doubt because they feel people will think less of them if they don’t rise to the occasion. Guess what? At the end of the day nobody really cares. Everyone has their own lives, their own problems, their own swimming to deal with. And before you feel like this might be insulting or that people should care about how you do, consider that knowing nobody is going to give your swimming more than a passing thought frees you up to chase your goals with no regard to what others might think.]]> 3101 The fifth stroke. Phelps’ secret weapon. The equalizer. These are just some of the things the underwater dolphin kick has been known as over the years.

Here is here your guide to developing a powerhouse underwater fly kick.

THE DOLPHIN KICK GOES MAINSTREAM

Now, having a solid underwater dolphin kick is a prerequisite for swimmers of every stroke. It’s become as essential as having a good dive, solid turns, and good swimming technique. The importance of it becomes especially apparent with swimmers who compete primarily in short course meters and yards. During the late 80’s and 90’s, because it was such a fringe aspect to swimming and because it was fairly difficult to teach, it wasn’t widely taught. As a young age grouper I knew having an underwater dolphin kick would be not only like, super awesome, but it would make me look like a total badass in the water. But where to start? Imitation is one thing, but understanding the mechanics and physical traits necessary to power the kick efficiently and quickly are altogether another. So that’s where this little guide is going to come in handy for you. This guide is meaty; it comes in weighing at a solid 3,004 words, but it is action packed with things you can start doing today to improve your kick and is fairly comprehensive. Everything in this guide is designed to be actionable and immediately implementable. The guide covers published research on underwater fly kick (science!), as well as tips from biomechanists, high performance consultants, Olympic gold medalists, strength and conditioning specialists, and one of the most successful coaches on the planet. Sounds good? Alright, let’s dive right on in.

BREAKING IT DOWN

Within this guide to developing a hilariously powerful underwater dolphin kick, we are going to touch on 4 areas that all go hand in hand:

Technique: Rethinking how you kick for max propulsion and minimal drag. Rapid kick + small profile in the water = faaaaaast.
Mobility/Flexibility: A bigger range of motion is, like, awesome.
Ankle strength: Push-ups for your ankles!
Training: How to make your underwater work routine.

At the end of this guide I will also give you a couple bonus sets and a handy checklist summarizing all of the important stuff that you can download for free as a PDF. Print it out and take with you to the pool every day to keep yourself on top of achieving that killer dolphin kick. (Short on time? You can download it right here now.)

LET’S GET TECHNICAL

1. Early Vertical Ankle

2. Kick like a Ferrari, not a Mack Truck

Magnitude When you push off or dive into the water, you are going at the fastest speed you will ever attain in the water. At no point will you ever swim faster. (Maybe one day…) Most swimmers equate massive dolphin kicks with maximum propulsion. And while you may feel like you are getting a huge amount of torque, you are actually slowing yourself down by creating an inordinate amount of drag. Strapping on a pair of fins exaggerates this effect so that swimmers actually notice it. Do a 25m doing small, whip-like kicks for time. And then do a 25 doing the biggest, most powerful dolphin kicks you can possibly do. With the wide kicks you will find that although you can drop a ton of torque into the kick the drag you are kicking up (pun intended!) is negating the extra thrust. Kick fast, kick small. (Tweet this)

3. Use your core/hips. (Not your knees!)

4. Kick in front of you.

Bend your knees so that the kick takes place in front of the body.
Follow through with your toes in front of the body too.

The following image shows what Mark means when he says that: underwater dolphin kick toes in front

5. Mind your toe speed, and no breaks between up and down.

“Maximize toe speed in up and down kick phases,” Atkinson said. “Work on minimizing the transition time between up and down phases.”

Remember: You want a seamless transition between the up and down phases of your kick, and you want your toes to move like they are running late.

6. Be a two-directional kicker.

"With respect to improving underwater dolphin kick, without writing a dissertation and with respect to biomechanics, I have found that the two most important elements missing in most swimmers are the tendency to kick from the knees, rather than undulate from the hips, and the absence of a forceful up kick."

A favorite of Hall's drills to help improve the balance is to perform the dolphin kick while on your side, which forces you to use the upkick.

Remember: the upkick isn't just for setting up your next big dolphin kick, it can also be used to generate a little more propulsion through the water.

To summarize what you should focus on in terms of technique:

For a brief moment your feet and toes should be curled up toward the sky – this is the “catch” of the kick.
Wider the kick = the more drag! Think small, fast, and powerful.
The whipping motion, which provides a heap of power, starts from your core and hips. Not your knees. Use the mental cue of Indiana Jones brandishing his whip.
Your kick should take place in front of you.
Kick fast and through the transition between up-down phases.
Kick up as well as down.

LET’S GET FLEXIBLE

“Ankle flexibility is the secret weapon of elites with a great dolphin kick.” – Mel Stewart

Here is my five point plan for getting loosey-goosey feet:

Lacrosse ball to bottom of foot. Either standing or sitting, depending on how tight the muscle and fascia are, take a lacrosse ball and place your body weight on it. Apply enough pressure so that it is uncomfortably comfortable, but not overtly painful. Doing this will also have the bizarre, yet awesomely nice, effect of improving your hamstring flexibility as well. Spend 2-4 minutes on each foot, rolling from the bottom of the toes to the heel, to the edges of side of the foot. (If you’ve never done this before start with a tennis ball.)
Foam roll calf. If you have access to a foam roller – you should, I swear by mine – use it to roll out your calves. Roll up and down the full length of the calf muscle, making sure to get both sides of the calf muscle. Hit it for about 45 seconds a side, spending an extra few moments on any sticky or tender spots.
Ankle rotations. As a swimmer you are no doubt comfortable with arm and leg swings. Over the years we have built up a repertoire of arm swings that help loosen up our shoulders, back and chest. Now you can add ankle rotations to the list. Using your big toe as a pointer, do 15-20 circles with your foot in each direction. You can add ankle rotations to your foam rolling if you are pressed for time as well.
Wall lean stretch. This is a classic stretch, and one that you have have mistaken for being an exclusively calf-stretching posture. Facing a wall, plant your foot so that your toes are pointing upwards, heel on the ground, and lean forward.
Ankle rollers. The money maker. I never really liked this stretch because for years I had blockage in my left ankle that made it somewhat painful. However, there is no disputing how effective it is. Sit on your ankles, and slowly rock backwards until your knees come off of the ground. Hold for 1-2 minutes. You will notice sizable improvements after doing this for as little as a week or two.

LANCE ANKLE STRONG

Plantar Flexion. Take a stretch cord, wrap it around the top of your foot, and sitting in the classic hamstring stretch position point your toes. Do 15-20 reps on each side.
Dorsi Flexion. Attach the stretch cord on a door frame or something stable, and now you will pull the top of your foot towards you. Do 15-20 reps on each side.
Inversion. Wrap the band around your foot, and with resistance, twist your foot inwards. Do 15-20 reps on each side.
Eversion. Similar to the inversion, but now you are going to rotate your foot outwards. Do 15-20 reps on each side.

Putting It All Together

1. Make it a fixture of your training.

2. Breath control during swimming = Breath control during underwaters.

3. Vertical kick.

In Closing

I would like to give a big thank you to the following for taking the time to share their expertise and experience to enrich this guide:

Mel Stewart – Olympic gold medalist and co-founder of SwimSwam.
Russell Mark – USA Swimming high performance consultant. You can catch up with Russell on Twitter here.
Ryan Atkinson – Canadian Sport Institute Ontario biomechanist and strength training specialist. Follow Ryan on Twitter here.
Gary Hall Sr. – two-time Olympic medalist, flag bearer, and founder of the Race Club. Learn more about the Race Club and their swim camps and services by clicking here.

Ready to take your dolphin kicking to the next level?

]]> 3114 <![CDATA[Michael Phelps Underwater Dolphin Kick Training (Video)]]> It's no secret that Michael Phelps has a ridiculous underwater dolphin kick.

He used it with great effectiveness in not only butterfly events, but also in the freestyle and medley events to dominate the world swimming scene for the better part of a decade. The 200 meter freestyle, in particular, provides a startling example of how advantageous his underwater dolphin kick was. When Australia's Ian Thorpe set the world record for the event swimming a 1:44.06 at the 2001 Fukuoka World Championships, the mark was thought to be unbreakable. But, along came the Baltimore Bullet with his 10-13 meter breakouts, swimming to a 1:43.86 before a stunned crowd in Melbourne at the 2007 World Champs. [alert style="yellow"]SEE ALSO: How to Develop an Awesome Underwater Dolphin Kick[/alert] "Michael is going 13 meters underwater instead of five," Bowman told the Washington Post back in 2008 in the lead-up to the Beijing Games. "That was what he did that Thorpe didn't. Free swimming over 200 meters Thorpe would win handily." Being a butterflier Phelps was always working on his underwater work, but it wasn't until he started incorporating a rigorous vertical kicking regimen into his program between the 2004 Games (where on his final 50 in the 200 be barely broke 10 meters) and the 2008 Games, where he continued to accelerate away from the field off the final turn.

"For me," Phelps said. "Some of the most effective work in the pool comes with vertical kicking and underwater kicking. It's painful, but effective."

In the following video we get a chance to see some of this vertical kick training in action, with Phelps using a weight belt. From the pool deck Coach Bowman instructs his pupil to--

"Keep your abs tight."
"Have quick foot speed."

From watching the video, where Phelps also does some push-offs from the bottom of the pool into an explosive kick, launching himself out of the water, we get a glimpse of his technique, with Phelps extending and completing his kick in front of his body.

The video is voiced-over in Japanese, and also shows Japanese swimmer Hisayoshi Sato trying to emulate Phelps work. Here is the video, enjoy!

Wanna Take Your Underwater Fly Kick to the Next Level?

Download my epic "How to Develop an Awesome Underwater Fly Kick" Guide as a handy checklist (yes, for free), as well as a couple BONUS sets that are specifically designed to help you improve your UDK. Click on the image below and enter your email address to get instant access to the checklist, sets, and a faster underwater dolphin kick!

]]> 3119 <![CDATA[Missy Franklin’s Coach Todd Schmitz on Creating Elite Backstrokers]]> One of the dominating stories of the London Olympics in 2012 was a tall 17 year old from Colorado named Missy Franklin.

With her now-trademark smile and loosey-goosey attitude (exemplified in USA Swimming's "Call Me Maybe" video that went viral prior to the Games), the young backstroker was the breakout star of the meet, winning two individual gold medals in the backstroke events—including a world record in the 200m distance—and another 3 medals in the relays with her American teammates. A year later she would make her dominance on the international swimming scene complete by winning 6 gold medals at the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona. She would again sweep the 100-200 backstrokes, the 200m freestyle, and figure prominently on all three gold medal winning relay winning teams (Her performance was perhaps only surpassed by teammate Katie Ledecky, who pummeled the world records in the 800 and 1500m freestyles, and very nearly the 400m event as well.) After Franklin’s London performance her longtime club coach Todd Schmitz of the Colorado Stars was asked by FINA to share some of the knowledge and experience accumulated from working with one of the fastest swimmers on the planet at one of their coaches clinics. Here are some of the highlights of the presentation, as well as a couple of the workouts that Franklin performed ---

While many elite teams and national organizations send their teams to Colorado Springs to the USOC to train at altitude, Franklin has had the benefit of training at about the same altitude since she was 7 years old.
Schmitz and Franklin worked together for over a decade, starting in 2002.
During the school year she only trained long course once per week (Sunday mornings), which should be a comfort to those swimmers who train exclusively in short course facilities.
A majority of her training was done in a 25-yard pool during the school year (September-May).
During the school year she trained 8 per week, during the summer 9 times per week with weekends off. Average workout length for a two hour session in the pool was 6300 yards.
Dryland was also done between 2 to 3 times per week and was managed by a personal trainer. Sessions “focused on swimming movements, core strength and explosiveness.”

[alert style="yellow"]SEE ALSO: Top 5 Core Exercises for Swimmers[/alert]

The emphasis during training was on long warm-ups to have the athlete prepared for the quality work.
There was an emphasis on keeping Franklin and the other swimmers in the group focused and engaged. That meant picking practice-specific things to concentrate on (walls, turns, high elbow, etc).
A focus on the FUNdamentals!
Schmitz’s and Franklin’s favorite backstroke drills included:

9 kick/6 kick/3 kick roll
L drill
False lift drill
Water bottle drill
Pencil kick
Human stroke

Here are a couple of the practices that Schmitz included in the presentation as well: missy franklin workout 1

]]> 3171 <![CDATA[3 Quick Questions to Better Habits in the Pool]]> “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle Excellence in the pool, whatever that may mean for you, requires not only focus on improving technique, on showing up and consistently working hard, but in installing these behaviors and actions as habits. When doing the little day-to-day things at a high level in and out of the pool becomes habitual, there is no limit to what you can achieve in the water. Each weekend after your week of training has completed, sit down and ask yourself the following 3 quick questions. Not only will they give you a chance to go over the week that was, they will help you capitalize on where you are doing well in your training, while also highlighting areas you can improve moving forward. (Cause hey, improving is kind of the best.)

1. Did I achieve the habits and goals that I set out for myself this week?

Be honest with yourself. Keeping a log book or a simple calendar can help you keep track of when and where your habits are sticking, and when they are coming unglued. Acknowledging the reality of your training habits is the first step in trying to improve them.

2. What are the things I can do to make my goals and habits easier?

Developing good, strong habits take time. And they also require you making them as easy as possible to achieve. Sometimes all it takes to make those habits stick is to remove some of the barriers that are currently holding you from implementing them. If you are having trouble getting to bed early, create an environment to make falling asleep as easy as possible. (So no phone in bed, or caffeine at night, and so on.) If your nutrition choices tends to take a plunge in the middle of the day at school pre-pack healthy snacks. Habits are hard enough, each week strive to make it a little easier for you to lock them in.

3. If I stumbled, was it because I tried to do too much, too fast?

Scaling your new, awesome habits is critical to being successful with them. The desire to make big change overnight is appealing, but almost always ends poorly because we get overwhelmed trying to do too much. If your new habit is to do 8-dolphin kicks off of every single wall, and you are currently only doing 1-2, you know that sustaining that kind of overnight improvement is going to be tough. Ramp it up to 3-4 dolphin kicks, and once that becomes a piece of cake, level up to 5-6 kicks per wall, and so on. Give the following questions a try for a few weeks and let me know how it goes!]]> 3201 <![CDATA[12 Things a Non-Swimmer Should Never Say to a Swimmer]]> 1. It’s just a race. No it isn’t. It’s life or death, bruh. Okay, fine, every race isn’t going to be the anchor leg of the 4x100 at the Olympics, but you better believe that is what we dream about when we are lying in bed at night and what we pretend it to be when we get up on the blocks. 2. You’re getting up at 5am to workout? It’s still dark out, even for most of the summer, and here we are, schlepping our bag out the door and back to the pool. In later years we will be grateful that we learned how to get up before the rest of the world to work out, but for now we feel a little annoyed that our friends have the option of sleeping for another few hours while we shake off the yawns with a casual 5k. 3. Isn’t swimming boring? Isn’t walking boring? How about watching TV? Sure, swimming looks like we are just putting our heads down and plodding mindlessly back and forth for hours on end, but there is a whole lot more to the sport than just getting your laps in. Getting to train and race with your best friends is many things, but boring is not one of them. 4. Are you going to win your meet? While this question might make sense in some circumstances, it typically doesn’t. One swimmer doesn’t win a whole meet (even though it would be pretty cool if that were the case). While your high point award might mean that you scored highest amongst the swimmers in your age group, you didn’t win the whole meet per se. 5. Don’t you hate not having a social life? I have a social life—it just happens to revolve around going to swim meets with my friends and kicking butt. All. The. Time. 6. Isn’t it unhealthy to swim so much? Swimming promotes healthy lungs, heart and muscles. It provides a hilarious cardio workout while also building strength. It’s even been shown to help your brain stay healthy. I think we’ll just keep "rolling the dice" on this one. 7. Can’t you just miss this one workout? Wanna know how I know we are friends? That you actually have my best interests at heart. This question tells me that this is not the case. 8. I could do what you do if I had the time. That’s adorable. 9. So you can eat whatever you want then, right? The impression might be that our hilarious appetites gives us free reign on what we put in our mouths, but that is (sadly) not the case. We recognize—most of the time, at least—that what we load up on provides the fuel for our swimming engines. This doesn’t mean that we can just eat McD’s and pizza all day long, as much as we would love that were the case. 10. Are you fast? Faster than you? Yes. Faster than Michael Phelps? No. Regardless of where we fall on the scale of swimming high-speededness between the complete noob and the Greatest of All Time it’s safe to assume that a simple “yes” will be enough for this non-swimmer. If they have to ask then a detailed answer will make little to no sense to them. 11. Do you actually have fun? On the surface anything that requires dedication and a nearly absurd amount of hard work does not look like fun. The sport isn’t for the feint of heart. But, as most swimmers know, working hard to get better at something is fun. Doing it with a bunch of people you love is fun. And getting up on the blocks and swimming faster than ever before is really fun. 12. Is swimming even a real sport? To which can be said… ]]> 3257 <![CDATA[11 Things to Remember When Taper Starts]]> In theory, tapering should be fairly straightforward for swimmers.

You come down in mileage, up the quality efforts a little bit here and there, fine tune the technical aspects of your training, and then smash your personal best times at the big goal meet. In my own experience, as well as the countless swimmers I have spoken to over the years, tapering is just a trying period as the holiday training camp and hell week. Although the physiological workload comes down, it becomes a daily mental battle working through a reduction in yards and escalation of expectation. After all, during taper we come to think that our bodies should be primed. That we should feel fantastic in the water. And that everything in and out of the pool has to be perfect otherwise our expectations for the big meet go into a violent free fall. The next time you start getting rested up for the big meet, here are 11 things to remember so that you can keep the taper blues in check:

1. The way your body responds to rest isn’t always completely clear.

Sometimes you will feel rested and ready to rock a couple days into the taper. Other times it will be literally the day before the meet that the swimming taper and rest has caught up to you and applied itself. Trusting the process is difficult when the proof or results aren’t immediately apparent. During the taper is when you are making all of the physiological consolidations of months and months of training-- it won't happen overnight, nor will it happen after a couple days.

2. Don’t look elsewhere to compensate for a lack of activity.

When the rest kicks in you feel on top of the world. With all of the surplus energy it is natural to look elsewhere for an outlet to dump in. Feeling like a million bucks before a particular competition back in the day I thought it would be a great idea to duck into the gym and lift some weights real quickly. The only problem? Hadn’t lifted in months, and I didn’t bother stretching, leaving me with a strained bicep tendon a couple days out of the big meet. Real S-M-R-T.

3. Use your competition gear in practice.

Try the brand new suit, expensive new goggles, cap and ear plugs in practice before you go to the meet. Practice is the time to play around and try new things, not the moments before the big race.

4. Do some dress rehearsals.

One way to do this is to walk up and down the pool deck at the speed you plan on swimming. This will give you a physical sense of the speed you want to hit without having to throw down a full blown effort a couple days out from the meet. Mental rehearsals are another great way to prepare for the meet. Visualize your race, the way you are going to get ready beforehand, how you feel in the water, and how awesome it will feel when you hit the wall and destroy that best time.

5. Taper means rest, but not complete rest.

You’ve already put in a ton of work, don’t let it go to waste by completely arresting all of your training in the two weeks leading up to the big meet. Taper is a time for your body to recover, yes, but it is also a time where you fine tune the details of your swimming. I have seen swimmers self-taper by passing on workouts in order to better rest themselves, only leaving themselves feeling sluggish by the time the meet came around.

6. Starts and turns.

Odds are good that you have now begun to think about these aspects of your swimming again. (In reality, you should be working on these bad boys year round, not just when you are in the final days before a competition.) Doing turns at speed means you will avoid making the same mistake Michael Phelps made at US Nationals in the summer of 2014 when he missed the wall turning in the 100m freestyle final. Diving from the side of the pool 7-8 meters out from the wall and sprinting in and turning is a great way to work on executing turns at race speed.

7. Avoid the urge to become a Google doctor.

It’s funny—when we are in the middle of a ridiculous bout of training our body will be littered with soreness and aches. But the moment we get into the taper phase of training we expect everything to feel perfect. A soreness or ache will be dissected, over-analyzed, and Google’d. (Google is the worst way to figure out what is wrong with you. No matter what the symptom you will always fixate on the absolute worst possible diagnosis.) Some taper soreness is actually quite natural, particularly with those fast twitch muscle fibers that are now being fully maxed out during high quality reps in the pool.

8. Now is not the time to experiment with a new technique.

One of my favorite quotes that exemplifies this is from Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly, “You don’t rise to the occasion, you sink to the level of your preparation.” If you want to change to a straight arm freestyle recovery because you saw some fast swimmers do it on YouTube, by all means do so, after the big meet. When in competition you want to be able to turn off your mind and race in the moment instead of focusing on the technical aspects of your swimming. Getting technical is for practice.

9. Swim faster by sleeping more.

Just because we are cutting back the meters and yards in the pool doesn’t mean that we should be staying up all night with that newfound energy. You should be just as focused on getting a ton of sleep each night to maximize recovery during the taper or fine-tuning period as you are during hard training. The effects of even an extra hour of sleep a night have been shown to improve performance drastically, so don’t underestimate the benefits of spending that quality time with your pillow. In terms of performance aids, this is as easy as it gets.

10. Don’t freak out, this taper thing works.

No matter how stressed or anxious you are getting in the days leading up to the meet, remember that tapering works. Comprehensive research has shown that most athletes can expect a 2-3% improvement in performance as a result of tapering (with some experiencing as high as a 6% boost—a.k.a. the “meet” swimmer). If this is your first taper, take a breath and remember that the nervousness and second doubting is practically part of the process. And for those who are going through their umpteenth taper, you already know that it works, so sit back and rest up and enjoy the fruits of your hard work!

11. We all respond slightly differently.

There are a myriad of factors that go into how we respond to the taper phase. A two-a-day extra lean distance swimmer is going to have a different reaction to coming down in training than a one-a-day muscled-out sprinter. It’s understandable that you are going to want to look over in the lane next to you at practice and compare yourself to your teammates, but your taper response is unique to your training background, your event, your physiology, and all of the out of the water conditions that differentiate.]]> 3361 <![CDATA[How to Survive Team Travel]]> via the YourSwimBook newsletter, and very frequently I find that a lot of the questions overlap and touch on the same themes. Which made me realize that if some of you are struggling with the things you are writing in about, there is a larger silent majority that are as well. In response to this, we are putting together a little column on YourSwimBook.com called #AskYourSwimBook. It’s simple: send me your questions, and I will answer ‘em. The first question comes from Jessica L., who wonders about something that many swimmers struggle with over the course of their careers in the pool: how to perform optimally despite being far from home.

[alert style="grey"]I was wondering why is team travel so hard at swim meets (sleeping in hotels, etc) and how can I make it easier for me so that I can still swim fast on the road? -- Jessica L.[/alert]

Swimmers understand how much of a commitment the sport is. The long hours of training, the investment of thousands of sessions in the pool in the hopes of seeing a drop of a second or two come race-time, and of course, the reason we hone our skills in the water… The swim meet. For those of us who live far from the bustling metropolis’ of swimming, this means road trips, hotels, and long weekends spent in unfamiliar aquatic centers sometimes very, very far from home. So how can we make sure that all that hard work doesn’t go to waste on account of crappy hotel beds, unfamiliar foods that leave us feeling sluggish, and foreign waters? Here are 4 ideas:

1. Pack Accordingly.

This might seem obvious, but it bears noting nonetheless. Having your gear for the meet packed ahead of time, with spares of the important stuff, means you don’t have to run around an unfamiliar town or city to find a racing suit or new goggles. Double up on the mission-critical stuff: goggles, caps, suit. Pack snacks. Having food on hand that you typically eat at home with you will help keep some of that routine and familiarity while on the road.

2. Get a Lay of the Land.

If you are not big into surprises, and are the kind of swimmer that squirms at the thought of having to surround yourself in uncomfortable new situations, do some pre-meet recon. Ideally if you are going away for a full weekend of swimming out-of-town you will get a chance to preview the pool before competition kicks off. If you can, the night before the meet begins jump in and swim a few laps. Try out the starting blocks. Walk through the locker rooms. Where the water fountain is. Where you will park your gear and loosen up before warm-up.

3. Optimize your hotel experience.

One of my favorite parts of traveling to meets as a kid was getting billeted with a host family. Often we were paired up with families who had kids that matched our age, meaning that we (usually) made some new friends, while getting to sleep in real beds and eat homemade meals. Getting billetted (and returning the favor when their club came to town) also had the under-appreciated effect of bringing the swimming community together as a whole closer. As we got older, and the billet model faded (although I would hope that this model is still going strong in some parts of the swimming community), we stayed more and more often in hotels. Whether it was splitting a room with a half dozen swimmers, sharing a bed with a teammate who kept us awake all night snoring and twitching, or trying to sleep with the iron frame of the pull out couch jabbing into your back, we have all had less than great hotel experiences. While you cannot always control the firmness of the bed, or the snoriness of your roommate, there are some things you can do to make the hotel experience a little more comfortable. After all, being rested and able to recuperate between your races is critical, especially over the course of a full weekend of swimming. Here are a few easy ways to optimize your hotel experience:

Pack your pillow. Seems silly, but something as simple as your own pillow from home can give you that feeling of being in your own bed that can help you doze off easier. If you have a stuffed animal you sleep with (no judgement from me) pack the little fella as well.

Keep the same routine you have at home. Each night before you go to bed you typically perform a ritual of sorts, even if it is not completely conscious. You brush your teeth, throw your clothes in the hamper, read in bed for a few minutes, and then kill the lights. Replicate this ritual while you are on the road as well.

Bring some of your usual snacks along. While meals and snacks should be provided or arranged for you on the road (I am talking mostly to you age groupers), have some snacks packed for the gaps between meals and for after your races. Some almonds, fruit, granola bars, etc. are easy ways to keep you satiated between meals, while also providing a taste of home.

White noise. While this isn’t always possible as you are likely to be bunked up with teammates, having a little fan in the corner of the room can be helpful to drown out the noise of the city outside, or the noisy couple down the hall. Conversely, if white noise isn’t an option, and you know that you are going to have a chainsaw sleeping in your hotel room, pack some ear plugs.

Have dedicated rest and relaxation rooms between sessions. After each preliminaries sessions there was always a group of swimmers who didn’t qualify for finals that night, meaning that they wouldn’t be bedding down between sessions. Have rooms specifically for the athletes who need to shut it down for a nap between sessions so that they can get the rest they need.

4. Let go of expectations.

My last piece of advice to you Jessica is to let go of expectations. This might seem counter-intuitive, particularly given that I spent the last 3 points essentially describing how to better control what will be largely uncontrollable circumstances. After all… You can’t control how the competition will perform. Or how crowded the warm up pool will be. But you can control the way you react to these circumstances. You can choose to get stressed out, distracted, and thrown off. Or you can choose to to focus your energy and attention inwards. Open yourself up to the good and the bad, accept the circumstances that come your way, knowing that you have done all you can to prepare for your competition, completed the work, put in the miles, and now it is simply time to let it all go and swim fast. Forget controlling every aspect of your surroundings, take a deep breath, and enjoy the moment, my dudette.

Got a question about swimming you would like answered?

You can either sign up for our weekly motivational newsletter and get in touch with me there (it’s free—you can sign up here), or send me your question via Twitter (@yourswimbook). ]]> 3369 <![CDATA[How Do I Improve My Flutter Kick?]]> For today’s #AskYourSwimBook I am fielding a question from Matt R. who writes in with a problem that is common to many pull-centric swimmers: what is the best way to improve the flutter kick so that you can swim faster?

[alert style="grey"]My name is Matt, and every day at practice the sets I look forward most to are the ones where we get to do pull. I can go nearly as fast doing pull as swim and usually end up leading the lane as a result. When it comes to kicking, on the other hand, I immediately find myself at the back of the lane. What is the fastest way to improve my flutter kick? Matt R. [/alert]

I recently put together a large guide on how to improve your underwater dolphin kick that covers a lot of the same ground we are going to get into here, so I’ll summarize the main points from the guide as it relates to flutter kick, while also try to emphasize just how important a fast freestyle kick truly is. The first thing I should point out is that the goal in having a faster flutter kick is to improve your overall swimming, not just to become a good kicker. After all, to swim fast freestyle you have to possess a nearly unfathomably fast kick. Alexander Popov, two-time Olympic champion in both the 50m and 100m freestyles could kick 50m long course in 27 seconds. Cesar Cielo, world record holder in the 50 and 100m freestyle can kick the same length in 30 seconds. Other top sprinters including Americans Nathan Adrian and Jimmy Feigen have made it clear that to swim fast you need to put in work on your legs. Even if you are not a sprint swimmer, athletes like Katie Ledecky are showing that you need to have some serious wheels in the lower body to compete at an elite level.

Despite this, it seems many swimmers (and even coaches) don’t emphasize lower body work in the pool. Sure, a bunch of kick sets might get scrawled up at the beginning of the season for aerobic work, but this typically tapers off as the season unwinds. Your legs, being those big trunks of muscle that they are, need to be in hilarious shape in order to develop the type of propulsion and stability necessary for high speed swimming. Gary Hall Sr. of the Race Club puts it best when he writes--

Most coaches and swimmers do not understand nor appreciate how important the swimming kick speed is to the overall swim speed. Nor do they work the legs enough in practice. The legs really don’t get a recovery period during the race and they are moving at 3 times (or arguably 6 times, if one considers the upkick) the rate of the arms. The legs are essentially working constantly, kicking in both directions. The arms get a few important tenths of a second of recovery on each cycle. Relative to the arms, the legs must be much fitter in order to sustain their fast motion throughout the race. Gary Hall Sr., "Swimming Kick Speed Determines Baseline Swim Speed."

Benefits of a Improving Your Flutter Kick

1. Propulsion. The immediate goal of developing a faster flutter kick is as simple as wanting to go faster. The faster you can kick, the faster you can swim. It's as simple as that. 2. A strong kick gives you killer body position in the water. Beyond propulsion, kicking—particularly for sprinters—helps the speed-seeking swimmer maintain a high body position in the water. While we are still a ways away from sprint swimmers completely hydro-planing across the water, that is the goal. Strong legs in particular also come in handy towards the end of races, where your muscles are failing left and right, with your stroke disintegrating with each passing meter. Having the endurance in your lower body is essential to keeping your body position in the most efficient and powerful position possible.

How to Improve Your Flutter Kick in a Hurry

So now that we understand why having a strong flutter kick is important, what can we do to improve our flutter kick? Here are my top three suggestions: 1. Improve ankle flexibility. Having flexible ankles means that you can catch more water with your foot, and achieve an EVA (early vertical ankle) that will allow you to push more water backwards. (Yes, you should be pushing water backwards, not down with your kick.) The easiest way to improve ankle flexibility is by incorporating ankle rockers into your dryland/stretching regimen. Here is how to do it:

Sit on the back of your ankles.
Lean back like Fat Joe, lifting your knees off the ground. You'll feel the stretch pretty quickly in your feet, especially if you have relatively inflexible ankles.
Hold for 1-2 minutes. Repeat a couple times.

2. Kick Mindfully. When doing kick sets you should be mindful of the movements of your legs, of driving from your hips, of cracking your ankles like a whip. Mindless kicking is fun for aerobic endurance I suppose, but you want to be efficient as well, and this comes by being mindful of your kicking technique. All too often at the pool I watch swimmers pay careful attention to the placement of their hands in the catch and pull, but when it comes to kick they thrash their legs back and forth with little thought to what they are doing. 3. Kick more. A lot more. How much kick are you actually doing in your workouts? (And no, dragging your legs around doing a 1-beat kick doesn't count.) Add in extra 15-20 minutes of varied work on the kick board. If short on pool space crank out some vertical kicking. Do high intensity kicking, long low intensity kicking. Keep it fresh, keep it fun, keep it challenging, and kick yourself to faster swimming.

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Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

1. Greatness is a choice.

Many of us are under the impression that greatness is something that is bestowed upon us. And while talent does play an undeniable role, how far you get both in life and in the pool will rely much more on your tenacity and willingness to be great. Choosing greatness seems like a no-brainer—after all, who wouldn’t want to dunk themselves in the pool of greatness on a daily basis? But how many will actually make the decision day in and day out to be great? Will you?

2. You can tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry. (Abraham Lincoln)

When we sit back and actually look at the things we get worked up over it might make us feel a little foolish. Some of the common things that make us angry: Getting cut off in traffic. That friend who doesn’t text back in a remotely timely manner. A piece of technology that fails us. Some of the common things that makes great swimmers angry: Wasting an opportunity to train. Not giving a full effort at practice. Knowing they could have done more. We choose the things we get angry about. Will you choose to be angry about the inconveniences of life, or the fundamentals of your swimming?

3. Greatness is not a result. It’s a state of being.

In dreaming of our goals we think about a concrete result. A gold medal. A best time. A world record. But what the truly great swimmers understand is that while it is important to have those lofty ambitions, what is more important is priding themselves on being the type of athlete who develops the scaffolding, the systems, the routines, the day-to-day habits and rituals that will eventually produce those results. That is where greatness is inherently found. In the seemingly boring routine of showing up every day. Of making good life decisions when no one is watching. Greatness isn’t something you achieve, it is something you become.

4. Greatness needs great challenges.

The idea of perfect and frictionless progress is an appetizing one. When we think and dream about success we consider in these broad and simple manner: My goal + hard work = I win! But what really happens, what needs to happen, is the hard stuff. The setbacks. The failures. The friction. The grind. Whatever else you want to call it. The moments that will test you, that will push you to the brink of giving up. Make no mistake, you need these moments of strife. Why? Because they are precisely what will separate you from the rest who crave the exact same thing.

5. True greatness consists in being great in little things. (Charles Simmons)

Greatness doesn’t manifest itself in a moment. It’s not developed by a single race, or an individual snippet of time. It is honed, groomed and carefully and laboriously assembled over a long period of time. Piece by piece. Yard by yard. It is the sum of a thousand small victories, of a million little moments where an athlete could have said yes to a night out, but said no, or could have rolled over when their alarm clock went off, but didn’t, or could have left practice early, but did the hard and lonely extra work. A gold medal might make someone great, for that fleeting moment is the only piece of insight we have had into a champion’s journey. We don’t see the two-a-days, the lonely extra sessions when everyone else has gone home, or the countless small steps.

6. Greatness is a road leading towards the unknown. (Charles de Gaulle)

Greatness, by its very definition, is uncharted. It’s somewhere you have never been, something you have never done. It’s out there somewhere in the dark, and to get there you will have to step off the ledge. You will have to step into the unknown, where there are no guarantees, no iron-clad assurances of success. To chase and attain greatness you will have to do things you have never done before, with no guarantee that you will achieve the results you so badly crave. This in itself is enough to prevent most people from ever making an honest effort. These are the swimmers that are constantly seeking validation, asking if they are capable, asking if they have a shot, all the while not fully investing themselves in giving themselves the opportunity to find out.

7. Greatness requires a certain degree of madness.

To be great is not normal. It is weird. It is rare. And if anything, it is wholly abnormal. To do something you have never done before, that nobody else has done before, requires a certain amount of stubborness and a rageful self-belief in your mission that for most will seem mad. Escaping the mental lockstep of what is normal, the patterns and expectations of what is supposed to be conventional requires you to be a little mad, a little crazy, and a little stubborn. ]]> 3390 <![CDATA[Greatness Requires Being Uncomfortable]]> 3392 <![CDATA[My Favorite Sets for Developing Flutter Kick Thunder-Speed]]> who was struggling with how to improve his flutter kick. In the days that followed I got a bunch of emails asking for sets to help improve your flutter kick. I have always been a decent kicker, with a kick that is disproportionately fast compared to my swimming. Part of that is because from an early age I always identified myself as a strong kicker, so I always enjoyed whenever coach scrawled up sets that were kick-centric on the board. I perform variations of the following two sets on a nearly daily basis, with the goal being of working down towards being able to kick a :30 second 50m kick. (Last time I did a 50 blast for time I posted a :33, so I am working my way there.)

SET #1

This is probably my favorite set to do. (Except for the world-famous and universally appreciated 2 x 5min hot tub.) It's great especially at the beginning of a training cycle when you are laying a nice, thick aerobic base, and also in the midst of hard training when you give your shoulders a break from the intense stuff. 30x50 free kick w. flutter board @:55 as—

25m fast, 25m cruise. Target: 45 seconds or faster.
Every 5^th one all out. Target: 37 seconds or faster.

The variations you can do on this set are endless. Take a little more rest to get even more speed on those 25's fast, strap some fins on for the last couple rounds, and play around with the intervals.

SET #2

To really build up the power in your legs, while also helping improve your ankle flexibility, strap on some fins and a corner in the deep end. sets to improve your flutter kick

The best part about this set? No matter how busy the pool is you can always grab yourself a corner of the lane. This is a favorite of mine to do when the "fast" lane at the local Y is overflowing with swimmers and I need to kill some time while also getting some work in.

Although it only takes about 5 minutes at the intervals listed below, it can be taxing (for me, at least). Feel free to play around with the reps and intervals while also adding resistance and the awesomest of form. With fins: 10x:30 as-- :15 seconds as fast as possible, :15 seconds off.

Focus on generating power in both directions.
Maintain a straight body line, while kicking in front of you.
Start with your wrists out of the water. Graduate up to having your body in a perfect streamline. (And no, having your arms looking like you are holding a beach ball over your head is not a streamline.)
20lb brick optional when available. (Lifeguards always be misplacing it!)

my favorite sets for a fast flutter kick

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Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Rankings.

One of my favorite things in the world as a kid was the bi-monthly SWIM magazine (later known as SwimNews). Before the days of the internet (you know, that interconnected series of tubes), the way age groupers in Canada measured themselves up against the competition was via the TAG rankings that were contained in the back to this magazine, lovingly and laboriously compiled by the late great Nick Thierry. In it the top 25 age groupers would be broken down by event and age. You could see, plain as numbers and letters, where you held up against the best in the country. To say that it was an endlessly motivating tool is a bit of an understatement. Nevermind that the magazine showed up so late that the rankings were often out-of-date by the time you received them, it was nevertheless massively motivating to see your name in print.

How can you do the same with your own swimmers? Record and rank attendance. Or have your swimmers rank their effort in practice (averaged out with what you think they did), and keep a running record. Record in-practice best times. Best times don’t have to be limited to the events performed in competition. 500 kick for time, or 25 underwater dolphin kick for time, and so on. (Take this a level further by recording stroke count as well.)

Emphasize Excellent Routines.

Swimming is a results based sport. We dream incessantly about achieving big things at our season-end meets, of crushing that personal best timem, and of achieving a specific placing. An emphasis on day-to-day excellence, in taking pride in doing the small things right, is what leads to the big things being done right. After all, swimmers don’t show up on race day and suddenly perform with full marks after sandbagging through their workouts, showing up late, not completing the dryland properly, and so on. Excellence doesn’t show up on race day, it reveals itself in the details and the grind.

Touch Base With Their Goals.

Every swimmer, regardless of ability, has goals they want to see through. Whether it is just learning how to do a 200 fly without dying something fierce, making a specific cut, or pursuing the sport at its highest levels, each athlete has something they want to achieve in the water. With the sometimes unending duration of a swim season touching base with an athlete’s goals only once—typically at the beginning of the season—isn’t enough. Consider setting up weekly check-ins where you have a 2-minute sit down with the athlete to review progress, see where they are at (mentally as well as physically), and what they need to focus on moving forward. Give them purpose and direction, and they will provide intensity and engagement.

About YourSwimBook

The common thread with the aforementioned scenarios is that our brain is trying to justify not leaving our perceived zone of comfort, even if keeping us where we are is detrimental to our long term growth and ambitions. We are wired poorly to be pushed out of our comfort zone, and this is why we feel resistance when we try to plod forward into new or unfamiliar territory. Understanding this, you can place better context around the following excuses when they rear their heads the next time you are prepping to make moves: 3 excuses swimmers use to sabotage their training

3 excuses swimmers use to sabotage their training

I can’t do this.

For me the physical representation of this excuse is a swimmer crossing their arms defiantly, a furrowed brow, sporting a mild temper tantrum. They have shut themselves off to the idea that they can accomplish something difficult before even trying, denying themselves the opportunity to challenge and stretch their skills and abilities. Is it because you think it’s too hard? You’ve done hard things before, so why is this any different? Is it because no one else has done it before? There are an endless number of firsts in the course of swimming and human history, so why not you?

First I need to XYZ.

This one of the more clever ways we use to manipulate our way out of doing the “right” thing with respect to our training. We are down to do what is necessary, but first we need to make sure that our training circumstances are perfect…or that we are completely and utterly motivated…or that we get all the TV watching out of the way so that we can totally focus…and so on. This is a first class, grade-A delaying tactic. And the reason it works so well is that it is relatively guilt free. After all, your intent is still to accomplish your goal, but first you need to remove this thing that is in front of you. You see it all the time with people who are trying to eat better. (I’ll just eat all this junk food that is left in the house, and then I will start eating better.) Or people who want to exercise more. (I’ll start working out more when I have better supplements.) Or swimmers who want to fully commit to making all of their workouts. (I’ll make 100% of workouts once I have my license and can drive to the pool.) Very rarely do you absolutely need to do something before you commit yourself to something. The only “first” should be starting, of doing the thing that needs doing.

I’m fearful that I won’t be successful.

This one I can appreciate a little more. It is terrifying to think about giving your swimming your all, your complete and utter devotion, time and energy, and then coming up short. Of not making the Olympics. Of not crushing your best time. Of not making that cut. Of not achieving greatness, whatever that may entail for you. This fear exists on the thesis that you won’t be able to recover from such a defeat. That it will be such a crushing blow to your ego, sense of self, to your very identity that it will be impossible to recover from. The pain will be so deep, so cutting that you will never be the same. Experience should tell you otherwise. Look back into your inventory of moments where things didn’t go so well. Where you were hurt, down-trodden and disappointed. Did you bounce back then? Yes. Sure, the pain was there, and it was visceral. But it certainly wasn’t debilitating, nor was it permanent. In fact, looking back at some of those moments now you might be surprised at how resilient you were in the face of defeat and disappointment. When the fear begins to well up, and the excuses and delaying tactics rise up, remember that they are largely constructs of your own brain, and that they are rarely grounded in reality.]]> 3424 <![CDATA[Show Your Work: Why You Should Be Tracking Your Workouts in the Pool]]>

Swimmers who say they want to be more consistent in practice, but don’t track how many workouts they are actually attending.

Swimmers who claim that they want to have a more efficient stroke, but don’t count the strokes they take per lap.

Swimmers who say that they want to swim a particular time, but don’t monitor how fast they are swimming in workouts to gauge progress.

Swimmers who say that they want to eat healthier, but don’t write out what and how much they are eating.

Look: This isn’t a case to journal and monitor every last little thing in your training. You don’t need to write out the number of steps you take on a daily basis, or the precise caloric intake of your diet, or the stroke count of every single lap of swimming you do. (But hey, if that is what works for you, than all the power to you.) On the other hand… You definitely should be noting the couple of things in your swimming that will make the most profound impact on whether or not you achieve your goals. If you’re serious about making substantial and profound improvement in your swimming, and you are going through the motions of your training, not bothering to stop and see what is working, and what is not, than you are leaving a lot of precious information and motivation on the table. After all, if you are truly down to improve a facet of your swimming, you oughta be measuring it. So sit back, think about the 1-2 things that will have the biggest amount of impact on your training, and starting logging it. Not tomorrow... Not next week... But at today’s practice. And when you are ready, join a heap of former and current Olympians, national champions, and top level Division 1 teams that are using YourSwimBook to log their workouts.

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[alert style="grey"]There are days where the last thing I want to do is train. I simply can’t gather up the willpower to train as hard as I know I should. Why are there those days that I have no willpower to do the right things for my training, and then other days I have willpower to spare? Jenni W. [/alert]

Why does our willpower desert us? Why does it only show up sometimes, and then others it is nowhere to be seen? And more importantly, what are the conditions for willpower to grow wildly so that we can never ever go without it and achieve all the crazy-awesome things we want to accomplish in the pool? how do i develop more willpower to train hard(1)

how do i develop more willpower to train hard(1)

There are lots of times where our willpower saves us... We are able to say no to that last cookie. We are able to turn off Netflix before the next episode of one of our favorite television shows automatically starts. We put our phone away for the night even though we are anticipating a return text. Then there are times when that willpower is nowhere to be found... When we are fading hard at the end of a set and our technique is falling apart like a two dollar sweater. When it is 11:45pm and you know you should be in bed sleeping for an early AM call but you can’t pry yourself from the TV. When it is an hour before practice and the last thing you want to do is show up early and complete a missed dryland. There are a couple different reasons your willpower is inconsistent…

A lack of sleep and rest can play a bigger factor than you realize.

While your muscles can run on low sleep with minimal impairment or loss of peak function (for up to 4 days on 2.5 hours of rest according to this research), all it takes is one night of low sleep to affect you mentally. You know what I am talking about: One bad night of sleep and you are a cranky little swimmer for the rest of the day. (I am mega guilty of this.) Battling tiredness is exhausting, and requires extra energy over the course of the day. And even though you might be able to swim at a peak level, your psychomotor function is significantly impaired (Sinnerton & Reilly, 1992), leading to increased tension, depression and an increased level of perceived effort. (In other words, doing the times you would normally do feels extra difficult.) Being tired also leads to poorer decision making. You might know this as the “ah, screw it” reaction—when all you can think about is how tired you are the last thing you want to focus on is doing the right things for your training. All you wanna do is survive the day and get back to your pillow. So get your Z’s. Not only will they make you less of a cranky pants, and give you the ability to swim like gangbusters, but you will be able to make better decisions.

You are not making the things you want to achieve in the pool habitual.

Habits, habits, habits. If you have been even just a casual visitor to my articles you know that I live and breathe habits. (Bing, bang, bing-bang, bong.) Good workout habits are the closest thing we have to putting ourselves on auto-pilot, of creating a powerful override switch that bypasses the need to be motivate, or to summon willpower. They dictate the important parts of our training for us so that we don’t need to get mentally jacked up to will ourselves past difficult and trying moments in our lives and our training. For example:

If you create the habit of going to be every night at 11pm no matter what, you don’t need to convince yourself to turn off the TV. You just do it.
If you create the habit of showing up an hour early before practice to do extra core and mobility work you don’t need to work yourself up to do it. You just show up early.

Habits have the funny effect of removing the need to use willpower and motivation altogether. Which means that you can use that leftover willpower for other things in your life, like choosing not to go back for seconds after you dummy a large bag of butter-soaked popcorn at the movie theatre. (And no, I am totally not describing myself in this scenario…ahem.)

Putting it all together

Don’t underestimate the power of the 1-2 punch of good sleeping habits and, err, good habits. Sure, they might not be the latest and greatest in physiology hacks, but they are proven, reliable, and things that you can implement into your swimming starting today. (Yes, today. Not tomorrow.)

Got a swimming question you’d like answered?

Send in your question via our newsletter (if you aren’t a subscriber here’s the deal: it’s free, you get two motivational emails a week, and it’s kinda sorta awesome), or hit us up on Twitter @yourswimbook.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

Motivation is not a prerequisite to doing what you need to do. It’s easy to talk ourselves of doing the right thing as a result of motivation. Somewhere along the way we figured that we had to be motivated to do something. Habit, will and dedication weren’t enough—we had to be jacked up as well. And if we weren’t, then obviously we don’t truly want it. Motivation is for amateurs. Amateurs sit around and wish for motivation to show up. To guide their effort. To support and push them when they are tired and sore. They complain that they aren’t motivated, do little to actively find it, and hinge their effort on whether they are feeling inspired that day or not. Pros go to work, regardless of whether they are hit by an extra spark of inspiration or motivation that day. They know that there is work to be done, and motivated or not, it is going to get done. Period. End of story. (Or rather… End of story. And then… Period. Okay, that works a little better.) The work required for generating killer results in the pool isn’t inherently fun. It’s rewarding in many ways, but at many points it is anything but pleasurable or fun. It means braving all of those early mornings, maintaining technique and mental focus when your muscles and lungs and brain want to fold, of doing the right stuff when no one is around to pat you on the shoulder and say, “Good job!” When you are starting out on the path towards something hot and awesome everything is a whole lot easier. You have energy to spare, getting to the pool on time is a cinch, and maxing out your time in the water is a breeze. And not only is the in-the-pool stuff easy—easy might not be the word—but it easier because you have the wind behind your back from all that initial excitement and buzz. something funny happens

There is a lot of gratification and motivation that comes with showing up every day and doing the work. But that motivation isn’t something you should rely on. On days where you are tired and sore it will nowhere to be seen. But that shouldn’t be the thing to dissuade you from putting on a whooping down at the local aquatic center that day. After all… When you show up consistently. Streamline your life outside the pool for success in it… Then something kinda funny starts to happen… Motivation starts to build upon the results of your hard work. You stop having to seek outwards for it. The more consistent you are in the pool, the better you are going to feel about your swimming. The harder you work, the more you are going to value your investment of time and sweat equity and continue to hammer on. Action drives motivation. Not the other way around.

About YourSwimBook

A drop of volume and sessions in the weeks leading up to the meet.
Doing broken swims.
Focusing on starts and turns.
More high intensity work.

The video includes a teenage Mark Spitz, in high school at the time, training under the tutelage of Haines long before his exploits in Munich in 1972. [caption id="attachment_3473" align="alignleft" width="191"] George Haines swimming

Haines, poolside eternally.[/caption] Haines is a certified legend in the sport, and helmed the Santa Clara program for the first 23 years of its existence from 1950 when he founded it, to 1973 before moving on to UCLA and later Stanford. But it was his time in Santa Clara for which he will be remembered most. He sent 7 of his own swimmers to the 1960 Olympics in Tokyo (where he would also coach the US team), including Don Schollander, who won 4 gold medals and broke 3 world records. In all while at SCSC he would send 26 swimmers to the Olympics. Today you can find a bronze statue of the famed coach next to the pool at the Santa Clara Swim Center. Here is the video, enjoy, and if you like it, feel free to share! ]]> 3486 <![CDATA[15 Things All Swimmers Know]]> 1. When coach says that we can wear fins and paddles for the main set... hulk smash

2. When someone in your lane keeps touching your toes but refuses to pass you... when someone keeps touching your toes but won't pass you

3. When coach says that it's "starts and turns" day at practice... starts and turns day

4. The difference between a great dive and a bad dive are just a few degrees… how to not dive

5. There is nothing quite like getting a lane all to yourself... own lane

6. That it will take a natural disaster for coach to cancel practice... coach won't cancel practice

7. That the most decorated athlete in the history of the Olympic Games is a skinny swimmer from Baltimore... michael phelps swimming

8. While we may have different backgrounds, goals, and events, our fears in the pool are universally the same... swimming fail

9. We are unafraid to show a little skin... ryan lochte

10. Even though we have trained in the vicinity of the synchro team on occasion over the years we still don’t completely understand what is going on over there with all the spoon banging and costumes… synchro

11. Even our ideas of romance and love involve the water... 12. We like to think that our swimming is usually done as beautifully and gracefully as this… swimming gracefully

13. The satisfaction that comes from nailing your swimming taper just right... taper time

14. Crushing that best time...

15. And the best feeling of all, swimming faster than you ever thought imaginable: phelps saiyan

About YourSwimBook

One look at the whiteboard at most practices and the unknowing passerby could easily mistake one of our workouts for a Fourier equation. [caption id="attachment_3521" align="aligncenter" width="640"] does swimming make you smarter warm up

Any questions?[/caption] On top of the avalanche of brackets, shorthand and staggered intervals that litters the workout, there is also the constant mental processing we are doing over the course of our practice. Mid-swim we are usually counting strokes, counting fly kicks off the wall, breathing patterns, while also keeping an eye on the pace clock and determining how fast we went out, versus how fast we need to get back. All of that race-splitting, counting, dividing, and extended bouts of focus required over the course of long workouts can’t not make us smarter, right? While the evidence for more experienced swimmers is still left to anecdotal and gut feeling, research done on younger swimmers showed that toddlers who get into learn to swim programs earlier than their peers do see significant improvements in motor skill development. A three year study based out of Australia that followed some 7,000 five and unders from Australia, New Zealand and the United States showed that children who began swimming lessons earlier were more advanced in motor skills—sometimes as far ahead as two years advanced of where “normal” kids ranked and physical milestones.

As well as achieving physical milestones faster, children also scored significantly better in visual-motor skills such as cutting paper, colouring in and drawing lines and shapes, and many mathematically-related tasks. Their oral expression was also better as well as in the general areas of literacy and numeracy.

It goes without saying that these types of skills are massively important and valuable as these youngsters shift into school. Additionally, it showed that there were significant differences between the swimmer group and the non-swimmer that was indifferent to the family’s socioeconomic status. Legendary Australian swim coach Laurie Lawrence, who coached Olympians Duncan Armstrong, Tracey Wickham and Jon Sieben, has been passionate about advocating swimming’s benefits for the overall health of young people:

“It’s been a dream of mine for a long, long time to prove that children who start lessons early, it builds their social, emotional, physical and intellectual capital. They’re smarter, they’re better coordinated, all those things.”

The Takeaway for Clubs

For a sport that has a hard time differentiating itself from the major sports (football, etc. in the US, hockey in Canada), this is an easy sell for local swimming clubs that are looking to swell the grassroots level of the organization. Touting this research as proof that kids can get a head start in life via swimming lessons is an easy way to promote the benefits of the sport to the local community. With major swimming organizations-- particularly USA Swimming with it's #funnestsport campaign-- touting the joyous benefits of the sport, they should also remind parents that it can also be the #smartestsport.

About YourSwimBook

Sometimes. And I suspect I am not alone here. Doesn’t matter if it is school, swimming, or even relationships. I tend to hover at one end of the spectrum or the other; it’s either complete disinterest, or I am utterly obsessed. (Yes, I know, balance is important…I’ve come to accept that after 30+ years that this is the way I operate best. Doesn’t mean it should or could work for you—the way that we perform optimally varies from person to person. It’s taken me a long time to realize that this is the way that works best in my case.) The problem I always had with going all-in on something was that there was always a reason not to…

The facility I am training isn’t good enough.
I’m not making enough money at work.
If only I could learn a little more about technique first…

And on and on. But once I was able to get past the delaying tactics and get to a place where I was in an “all-out” state of mind, where nothing could make me change course… It is over. That’s how certain I am about my commitment. Sure, the outcome might be in doubt, after all, there is only so much I can control about the final result. But everything between now and then, the process, the day-to-day grind, that is not in doubt. I know that I got that one down and flat like a whole wheat blueberry pancake. Does this mean you have to be 24/7 obsessed about swimming? No. Not even close. Not only is it not sustainable, but it’s the fastest and one of the more destructive routes to burn-out and frustration. But if you want to be successful in the pool, you do need to level up your focus and effort from the level of interest to fully committed (a.k.a. "all out). when you are ready to go all out

Interest vs. Commitment

When it comes to being successful in swimming—whatever “success” means in your specific case—do you find yourself committed to that success, or more so interested by the thought of it? Here is what I mean:

An interested swimmer works hard when it suits them. A committed swimmer works hard at every opportunity.
An interested swimmer dreams and talks about the cool stuff they’d like to do in the water. A committed swimmer puts immediate action to the things they want to do.
An interested swimmer listens to their coach when given instruction. A committed swimmer applies the instruction practice and practice.
An interested swimmer doesn’t have a hard time finding an excuse for not doing what is necessary. A committed swimmer doesn’t have a hard time finding a way through to doing what they need to do.
An interested swimmer loves the idea of being successful. A committed swimmer loves the process of becoming successful.

If you are holding back from going all-out and all-in with your swimming, I invite you to ask yourself why. What is it that is keeping you from going all-out in the pool? If you are waiting for the right circumstances—like I mistakenly did so many times growing up—than I have some rather lame news… You’re going to be waiting a very, very long time. The only way to get moving, to hurtle yourself down the path towards the bright, shiny things you want to achieve in the pool, is to look past the self-inflicted reasons for why today isn’t a good enough day to go all-out. Our time in the pool (and on this planet) is short. Don’t be afraid to give it the all out effort it deserves.

About YourSwimBook

Right now. After all, we live in a culture of instant results. The world is getting faster and faster. We expect our media at our fingertips. We expect miracle supplements to work el magic. And we expect hacks and tricks to be able to sneak us past the hard work line-up. But a little talked about aspect of elite swimming requires the opposite… The ability to sit back, and be patient. Point in case… In 1980, Russia’s Vladimir Salnikov was the 1500m freestyle Olympic champion. Sort of. The gold was nice. And the world record was nice too—with his 14:58 he was the first man to ever break 15 minutes. And being able to slip under what was at that time an unbreakable barrier in front of a home crowd in Moscow was surely satisfying. But there was something very noticeable missing from that Olympic performance… The Western world. Most notably the American team. In 1980 the Russians and the West were not exactly on speaking terms. Full blown frenemies, one might say. With the Cold War quietly raging, the Americans (and many other Western countries) boycotted the 1980 Games to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. For Salnikov, it was a hollow win. [caption id="attachment_3544" align="aligncenter" width="736"] vlad salnikov 2

The man... The legend...The patience.[/caption] He wanted to win the Olympics when the whole world was there. So he continued training. Kept at it. Continued plotting and planning for Olympic gold. In 1984 the Soviets, and 14 other Eastern Bloc countries followed up the ’80 boycott with one of their own, refusing to send their athletes to the Los Angeles Olympics. Again, Salnikov would not get his chance to compete against the best in the world. So what did he do? He continued training. Kept at it. In the years between ’84 and ’88 the iron grip that Salnikov had on the mile began to loosen. At the 1986 world championships he placed outside of the medals. In 1987 at the European championships he didn’t even advance to the final. If not for a last minute intervention by the Soviet sports ministry Salnikov would have been left off the team heading to Seoul entirely. After going unbeaten in the event for nearly 10 years, and at age 28-- well past what was considered at the time to be his prime—Salnikov was considered washed up. patience to achieve your goals quote

But he kept at it. Kept going. At the Seoul Olympics, Salnikov would hang with the field until the 700m mark, at which point he began to surge ahead. With the crowd at his back, the “Monster of the Waves” (that was his nickname—how awesome and intimidating is that!) powered on, touching first in 15:00.40. Finally, after 8 years of waiting and training, of being doubted, of being “washed up”… Salnikov had finally won his gold medal with the whole world present. That night when he walked into the cafeteria in the Olympic village all of the athletes stood up and gave him a standing ovation. Athletes of every country, from every sport, they all rose to honor the incredible patience and grit of the legendary Russian swimmer. Salnikov had the ability to not only stay at the top of the game in the most taxing race on the Olympic swimming program, but he had the patience to wait out the years of boycotts and doubt. Will you have the ability to play the long game? To see beyond the current struggle in order to gain a greater victory?

About YourSwimBook

The swimmer who gets out to go to the bathroom just as the main set is about to start.
The swimmer who rides your feet and toes the entire duration of the rep/set/workout.
The swimmer who sprints through warm-up.

And so on. Justus represented his home nation at the 2014 Commonwealth Games last summer in Glasgow, Scotland, where he won a bronze and silver medal as part of S.A.'s 4x100 and 4x200 freestyle relay teams. Recognize any of the swimmers in the video below?

About YourSwimBook

1. The underwater dolphin kick and breakout can make up as much as 30% of your race.

You don’t need to be a space scientist to understand how vital your push offs and breakouts are in a short course format, whether it is meters or yards. When you consider that in a short course race up to 30% of your race can be done performing UDK it becomes apparent many races are being won off the walls and under the water. why you should be working your underwater fly kick

why you should be working your underwater fly kick

Even for more taxing races such as the 200m butterfly or the 400IM we are seeing swimmers break out further and further out, and even the top sprinters in the world-- Cesar Cielo, Manaudou, and Roland Schoeman to name a few-- kick out to the maximum distance allowed in the fastest event on the Olympic program, the 50m freestyle.

2. Your breakouts are the moments you are going fastest in the water.

Here is an interesting way to think about your swimming: when you are diving or pushing off, you are going the fastest you ever will in the water. From the time you push off until your next wall you are slowing down, doing everything you can to maintain that precious speed that comes from diving or exploding off the walls. Having a powerful underwater dolphin kick means holding onto that precious velocity just a little bit longer, and when our races come down to precious hundredths or tenths of a second every little bit of speed matters.

3. It can help make up for a less than awesome swim speed.

Michael Phelps and his killer underwater dolphin kick was a prime example of this – his underwater dolphin kicking and 12-13m breakouts made it possible for him to break Ian Thorpe’s 200m freestyle world record in 2007, a mark that was considered unbeatable at the time. Phelps’ coach, Bob Bowman, acknowledged as much, admitting that if it came down to straight swimming speed Thorpe would have had Phelps beat. Having a powerful UDK can help close the gap with a weak or slower above-water swimming speed.

4. It’ll help improve your overall leg fitness.

Most swimmers drag their legs behind them like a tugboat tows a barge. Every once in a while you might get a kick here and there, but for the most part, they dangle back there doing little more than perform a one-beat kick that acts more for stability and balance than propulsion. Doing consistent bouts of work on your UDK will transfer well into your flutter kick (and your fly kick while doing butterfly, obviously), so don’t discount it as a tool to improve your overall swimming kick speed.

5. It teaches you the importance of reducing drag.

One of my favorite things to do is strap on fins and go full blown ballistic under the water. Even with the fins on you can really hammer down on the kick and pick up some serious velocity. But you quickly realize something that applies across everything else you do in the water: you might be able to get a lot of power with those big, sweeping kicks, but you are also stirring up a whole lot of drag. Quick, fast and narrow kicking with low drag will always win the battle against big, hammer-down movements. Transfer this focus on reducing drag to the rest of your swimming, and you will find yourself swimming more efficiently than ever.

The Next Step

]]> 3591 <![CDATA[Get Your Reps In]]> Pop quiz: What does Vin Diesel’s character in the movie Knockaround Guys have to do with your success in the pool? Answer: Everything! Let me explain… For those of you who haven’t seen Knockaround Guys, or who don’t really remember the movie (it did come out in 2001, after all), it revolves around a group of young mobsters who go out to Montana to recover some lost money. In the course of trying to track down the moola, the four New York mobsters end up at a hole-in-the-wall bar, where Vin Diesel’s character, Taylor Reese—the muscle of the group, comes nose-to-nose with the town’s local tough guy, Brucker. get your reps in

Here is how the exchange went from there:

Taylor: Five hundred.

Brucker (spits chew at Taylor’s feet): Five hundred what, dirtbag?

Taylor: Five hundred fights. That’s the number I figured when I was a kid. 5 hundred street fights and you could consider yourself a legitimate tough guy. You need them for experience to develop leather skin, so I got started. Along the way you forget about being tough and all that, it stops being the point. You look past the silliness of it all but then you realize that’s what you are.

And what happens next? knockaroundguys_photos_1505

Vin Diesel’s character kicks the dude’s butt all over the place. (It’s Vin Diesel, of course that would happen.) So why am I telling you about this? There is a very important takeaway from this scene that you can directly apply to your swimming. (Or anything else you want to achieve for that matter...) To get good at anything, whether it is punching dudes in the face or crushing your best times, you need to get your reps in. Period. You can read about the best way to swim fast, watch swimming technique videos on YouTube until your data goes broke, but without getting your hands dirty and doing the thing, you will never become that thing. Vin Diesel’s character understood that in order to be the toughest guy on the block he would have to get into 500 street fights. He would have to get his reps in. This is no different for you and the things you want to achieve in the pool. After all…

If you want to be the fastest kicker in the pool you will have to do the reps of extra kick work.
If you want to be the swimmer that finishes every race like a boss you will have to do the reps of showing up every time the main set is scrawled up on the board.
If you want to be the swimmer who is in crazy shape you will have to do the reps of showing up to morning workouts.

Will you get your reps in?

Will you show up and be the toughest and fastest swimmer in the pool? Will you do what is necessary to be great, whatever greatness means in your case? [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

On top of being the undisputed champ in the 200 fly, earlier that week in Sydney she had also won the 200m freestyle, further catapulting the home nation’s hopes of butterfly gold. In the final that night O’Neill qualified first, with countrywoman Petria Thomas above her lane 5. With all eyes on the Aussies—the thundering ovation O’Neill received when introduced left no doubt to who the sell out crowd was backing—it was easy to overlook the smiling American in lane 6.

Misty Hyman Goes Ballistic

To understand just how radical Hyman’s kick was is to understand how underwater kicking was regarded at that time. Even then, in the year 2000, the underwater dolphin kick was viewed as an aberration, the black sheep, a skill that was poorly understood and rarely implemented in training.

While most swimmers nowadays accept that the UDK is part-and-parcel with every event from the 50m splash-and-dash to the distance events, back then it wasn’t. Even in the butterfly events. misty hyman underwater fly kick 2

Hyman had been a practitioner of the extended underwater dolphin kicking since 1993, emulating some of the other top butterfliers in the world, including Mel Stewart and Denis Pankratov. Inspired by an article in Scientific American that showed fish could used spinning eddies to increase the velocity they attained under the water, Hyman’s coach Bob Gillette at the Arizona Desert Fox Swim Team applied this to Hyman’s dolphin kick and had her turn on her side. It didn’t come without difficulty, however, taking her about a year to get used to kicking on her side, especially trying to maintain a straight line as there was no black line to stare at as a point of reference. To build up the powerful legs required to maintain the power and velocity—particularly for the grueling 200m long course distance—Hyman worked relentlessly doing underwater work with and without a monofin. In defending the emphasis on the underwater kick, Hyman explained herself well:

I'm not six feet tall, and for me to compete, I have to do it the best way for me. Skill and innovation were what got me to this level. My coach and I developed this and we're not breaking any rules. In fact, lots of people are doing the underwater. I think it would be a shame if they changed the rule (to limit the distance of the underwater kick) but if they did I would just have to change my training.

In the winter of 1996 Hyman put her powerhouse legs to work, dropping nearly half a second off of the world record in the 100m butterfly (SCM) in Sainte-Foy, Quebec, using her trademark kick. Despite this performance, there weren’t many who were expecting Hyman to dethrone the reigning Queen of the butterfly that September in Australia. Especially not in Sydney. Especially not in a long course pool, where the effect of Hyman’s superior underwaters would be halved compared to the short course pool. And especially not in the taxing distance of the 200m butterfly.

September 20, 2000

When the finalists left the block that night Hyman was the slowest to react. Despite this, she kicked out to nearly 15m and popped up in a slight lead with Thomas in 5. Off the 50m wall Hyman gained a half body length lead on Thomas, and nearly a body length on O’Neill. Even though Hyman didn’t kick out the full 15m on subsequent walls, including the third turn, where she pumped out 7-8 kicks—which was good enough to push her out to around 12m—it still contrasted sharply against O’Neill who surfaced at 5m and breathed off her first stroke.

It was clear to see that any dent that O’Neill tried to make in between walls was quickly negated by Hyman’s powerful breakouts. With O’Neill charging hard on the last 50m, Hyman didn’t relent, surfing into the wall in a time of 2:05.88, just 7/100’s off of O’Neill’s world record mark, but good enough to shave over a second off the former world record holder’s (Meagher) mark of 2:06.90. For Hyman, who had battled the naysaying that comes with being viewed as a one-trick pony, and who had overcome the implementation of the 15m limit to how far swimmers could perform the kick underwater, the victory was nothing short of overwhelming. The surprise, shock and joy that envelops her face as she realizes that she has won is a welcome surprise when most athletes would prefer to thump their chest or react with stoic blandness. As she would recount after the race,

I've played it over so many times in my head, but I never thought it would come true.

Here is the race video from Sydney:

The Next Step

]]> 3605 <![CDATA[Are You Ready for Greatness?]]> Hello, my chlorinated homeslice:

Gonna keep this Wednesday email short, succinct, and totally free range.

There will be moments over the course of the long haul of a season where you find your commitment wavering.

Where the shortcuts begin to look extra enticing. When rolling over and ignoring that morning alarm becomes easy to the point of normal.

While experiencing these dips is common, staying the course and achieving greatness isn’t.

Greatness, in the most fundamental sense, is abnormal.

It's weird.

It requires an abnormal amount of effort, dedication and commitment.

To do something you have never done before, that nobody else has done before, requires a certain amount of stubborness and a rageful self-belief in your mission that for most will seem mad.

Escaping the mental lockstep of what is normal, the patterns and expectations of what is supposed to be conventional requires you to be a little mad, a little crazy, and a little stubborn.

Greatness is a choice.

Many of us are under the impression that greatness is something that is bestowed upon us.

And while talent does play an undeniable role, how far you get both in life and in the pool will rely much more on your tenacity and willingness to be great.

Choosing greatness seems like a no brainer—after all, who wouldn’t want to dunk themselves in the pool of greatness on a daily basis?

But how many will actually make the decision day in and day out to be great?

Will you?

Greatness is one part learning, nine parts doing.

Reading and learning about what it takes to be great is easy.

It might even be considered fun.

And it is definitely safe.

Don't confuse learning about what it takes to be great with making concrete and meaningful action. One has the illusion of progress, while the other is progress.

When you are ready to be great...

And to up your game in the pool...

And max out your talents and skills...

You know where to go to take the next step.

See ya at the pool,

Olivier

P.S. Want a simple reminder to stay great in the pool every day? Then check out our exclusive "Unleash Greatness" poster. It is exclusive to YourSwimBook.com, and was designed for the elite-minded swimmer.

]]> 3609 <![CDATA[5 Things Every Swimmer Fears]]> other swimmers) and forgetting to knot up the drawstrings. The fact is that these five things are all things that scare the bejeesus out of your local neighborhood swimmer. 5 Things All Swimmers Fear

It’s what we have nightmares about at night. It’s what we think about when our brain races to find the WPO (worst possible outcome), and when they do come to pass, they send us scrambling into full blown panic mode. Here are five universal fears that every swimmer dreads:

1. False start.

You’ve trained your heart and soul out for this all important race. You get up on the blocks, and for whatever reason the starter takes 18 light years between “take your marks” and setting off the starter’s pistol. Anticipating the gun to go off, your body rocks forwards just enough that you can’t hold yourself back. While you hit the water—bonus style points if your hands remain locked on the blocks while your body somersaults end-over-end into the pool—the starter is asking the other swimmers in the field to stand up. Aaaaaand you’re disqualified. [caption id="attachment_3610" align="alignleft" width="280"] ian thorpe false start

Oopsie...[/caption] Ian Thorpe experienced this at the 2004 Australian Olympic Trials, false starting in his best event, the 400m freestyle, showing that losing focus for even a moment on the blocks can happen to even the fastest swimmers on the planet. (He would be reinstated after teammate Craig Stevens stepped down so that Thorpey could swim the race in Athens.)

2. “Is that my heat up on the blocks?”

Swim meets are a beehive of activity for many swimmers. You get to see friends who you haven’t seen since the last meet, and the combination of swimming taper energy and gaps of time between events means that it can be easy to lose track of time. Looking up from the stands and seeing your competitors on the blocks, the gap in the field where you should be, has sent many a swimmer careening down the pool deck, simultaneously disrobing while panic-strapping on a cap and googles.

3. Equipment malfunction.

The list of nightmares doesn’t end when you get up on the blocks and make it into the water without false starting. Michael Phelps dealt with the more common of the equipment failures—LGS (leaky goggle syndrome) during the 200m butterfly at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. He survived that bout of equipment malfunction by leaning on his stroke rate, knowing exactly how many strokes he would have to do before hitting the wall. If leaky goggles are scary, than a suit ripping as we are diving off the blocks is downright petrifying. Sure, us swimmers are a little more comfortable with our bodies than the standard person. But, hey, those are our privates, y’know? (I had a teammate back in the day whose suit came clean off upon diving in for his race. Did he stop? Nope. He completed the 200IM—think about what that means for just a second, but no longer than that—earning himself instant legendary status and the nickname “Bucky.”) Bonus points if you can manage the triple salchow, the great white buffalo, of equipment failures: leaky goggles, ripped cap and a torn swimsuit.

4. Those mystery clumps in the water.

Swimmers need to be a little ignorant. We know that other people in the pool are undoubtedly peeing—some feel free to broadcast their activities with pride—blowing their nose, and so on. If we sat down and really thought about what goes into our pool on a daily basis we’d rethink the whole competitive swimmer thang. Instead, we block it out. But every once in a while something hurtles out of the deep and strings itself across our fingers, or worse yet, plants our face. Whether it is a big clump of someone’s hair, mucus, or possibly worst case—a combination of both—those moments shatter the illusions we have built up for ourselves that our pool is an oasis for cleanliness and hygiene. Gross.

5. Leaving early on the relay take-over.

You know you have made it as a swimmer when you can represent your country on the grandest of stages. The pride and satisfaction that comes with knowing you are the best that your country has to offer, and that you are repping your flag is impossible to describe. At the 2013 FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Kevin Cordes was set to swim the breaststroke leg of a very fast American team that included Nathan Adrian, Matt Grevers and Ryan Lochte. As the backstrokin’ Grevers came smashing into the wall, Cordes, who was coming off a devastatingly fast NCAA campaign, took off just 0.04 one hundredths of a second early. The DQ negated Adrian’s unbelievable anchor leg of 46.69, and the American’s gold medal effort. Getting disqualified in an individual event is bad enough, but when it also costs your friends and teammates a shot at gold it hurts twice as bad. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Working hard in the pool means you are better prepared to swim faster when the next big meet comes around.

Working hard develops a mental toughness that can only be developed through experience and facing adversity.

Working hard in the pool consistently over stretches of time will make you more fit, more fast and more better looking than the competition.

But in a culture of “I want it right noooow” what are the immediate benefits of hard work? Why should we commit to having an old-school work ethic if it is, in fact, old school? Why can’t we just be new school and train “smarter”? (Hint: it’s because if you want to swim really, really fast you need to train hard and smart. Despite what the interwebs and glossed out advertisements might tell you, there is no outsmarting hard work done intelligently.) That being said, here are a few of the more immediate upsides you experience when you work your butt off at practice:

1. Hard work puts you in rarefied air.

It’s rewarding to accomplish something that few others have done. I can remember a few test sets back in the day where swimmers in my lane and group began to fade away, one-by-one, dropping off and dropping out. The fewer swimmers remained still clinging on, the more inspired to continue I became. The solitary nature of hard work and going further than everyone else is self-propelling. And because not everyone was able to continue, it showed that not everyone was willing to do it, which made it have value. It was something we could look back on with pride and enormous satisfaction because we went above and beyond what is typical or normal.

2. Hard work gives you a feeling of control.

There are some fairly critical things we don’t have control over in the water. How fast the swimmer in the lane next to us swims, for one. Which leaves us with the things we do have control over. We can decide to put in a legit effort at practice, or we can decide not to. We can decide to focus on our technique, even when our body is dying of exhaustion of fatigue at the end of a long session of training, or we can decide not to. Working hard gives you a sense of control that frees you from worrying about what others are doing in preparation to compete. When you know you have done the work, you can step up on the blocks knowing you have done all you can to swim at the peak of your abilities. choose to work hard

3. Working hard in the pool makes us identify with the sport much more.

When you work hard at completing something you gain a sense of identification and ownership with that thing. You know the feeling: the first time you do a 200 fly and don’t completely die. Swimming a distance event and finding an extra surge of energy on the back half. Here is a more complete example: There is that one test set or workout you never look forward to doing.You know, that one set that seems to just have your number no matter what you throw at it. You always struggle with it, never go as fast as you’d like, and as a result don’t give it a top-notch effort. But then, one day you figure, “Screw this set,” and put your head down and smash through. You do well, leave it all in the pool.You might not dominate it, heck, maybe you just survived it. But walking away from practice that day you probably experienced a weird set of emotions: A respect and appreciation for the set because it pushed you to new heights. And an identification with it that you didn't have before. Because you had to work hard at it, and you gave it an honest effort, it becomes a part of you, which erodes a lot of the trepidation you have of the set. It’s the same feeling as mastering a new skill. When something requires our best efforts we identify with it, and it becomes a part of us, something we can hang our hat on.

Will You Work Hard Today?

Later today when coach is writing up the workout on the whiteboard, and you feel yourself wanting to cower away, to hide in the shadows of your potential, remember these three simple reasons for giving today’s session everything you have. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

General Recruiting Information & Guides

How to Get Recruited for College Swimming. For many high school athletes it’s the dream – getting their post-secondary education paid for while competing for a top-tier university program. Gone will be the days where you had to fundraise to go to meets, car-pool in your buddy’s rusty old wagon to get to meets, and into the days of luxury transportation (coach bus?), free gear and the chance to compete at the NCAA Championships, one of the fastest competitions on the planet. The reality, of course, is a little more muddled.

6 Common College Recruiting Myths. There are a heap of college swimming recruiting myths floating out there. From having your entire education + spending money being paid for, to the number of scholarships out there, to the very act of how you should go about getting one.

10 First Time Questions to Ask a College Coach. The following is a list of questions to ask your prospective college swim coach. Getting as thorough a picture as possible of what the team atmosphere and the coach’s philosophy is before you commit to a school for four years is understandably critical.

How to Write a Solid College Recruitment Letter. We have all felt the horror of staring at an empty word processing document, the cursor slowly blinking, quietly judging as we sink deeper into a paralyzing case of writer’s block. When it comes to writing a college recruitment letter, the pressure and expectations rise ten-fold.

Recruiting Advice from College Coaches

In a recurring series on YourSwimBook.com we have been reaching out to college coaches for their advice and tips on how to be recruited. Here are a few from coaches who stopped by to share their experience:

Petra Martin, Head Coach of Bowling Green Swimming, Discusses Common Recruiting Mistakes. Petra Martin, head coach of the women’s swim team at Bowling Green State University, a Division I program based out of Bowling Green, Ohio, drops by to answer a few quick questions on the recruiting process.

Brenau University Swimming Head Coach Blaire Bachman Shares Recruiting Advice. Blaire Bachman, head coach at Brenau University’s Swimming & Diving program drops by to share some insight and tips on taking your swimming to the collegiate level. Brenau University’s program competes in the NAIA, where this past month they placed 4th nationally, while Bachman also shared NAIA’s Women’s Coach of the Year award.

Boston College Swimming’s Head Coach Tom Groden Discusses Recruiting. Boston College Swimming’s head coach Tom Groden shares some recruiting and planning advice for prospective student athletes (PSA) looking to extend their swimming career into their college years.

Brandeis University’s Mike Kotch Shares Recruiting Advice for Swimmers. Mike Kotch, head coach of the Brandeis University swim program drops by to share some recruiting advice for swimmers looking to taking their swimming prowess from high school to the collegiate level. Coach Kotch has been with the Brandeis University Judges (how cool of a team name is that?) since 2011.

The College Swimming Lifestyle

Not too sure what to expect from your college swimming career? Here are a selection of videos that go "behind the scenes" with a select number of programs across the United States:

Wanna Know What It’s Like to Swim on the Collegiate Level? Hannah Freyman from North Carolina State’s swim and diving program put together a 9-minute documentary that outlines a typical day of training and schooling at the ACC school.

Stanford Swimming's "Beyond the Pool." Stanford Swimming has a long, proud history. Jenny Thompson, Janet Evans, Misty Hyman and Summer Sanders all swam for the Cardinal and went on to the Olympics.

Behind the Scenes of the UIC Flames Dryland Program. In this video we get a behind the scenes look at the UIC Flames dryland training regimen. The UIC Flames are the athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Harvard Swimming Shows Off Their Dryland Training (Video) Harvard might be better known for its academic traditions, but the Crimson have a fine swimming heritage as well. David Berkoff, multi-Olympic gold medalist and former world record holder in the 100m backstroke went to school and trained here during the late 1980’s.

Behind the Scenes of the Cal Lady Bears Holiday Training Camp Over the holiday break between 2013 and 2014 the top ranked University of California-Berkeley Bears traveled to Hawaii to train for a couple weeks in the Aloha State. Below are two videos showing the lady bears, who are coached by Teri McKeever, both at play and at work.

Arizona State Swimming’s Dryland Training (Video) Anyone that has been lucky enough to swim at the collegiate level in the United States understands how world class their facilities are, particularly among the NCAA Division 1 schools.

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Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

When Your Training Habits Suck - 5 Reasons You Aren't Swimming Faster

In other words, are you doing the things on a day-to-day basis that give credence to the high expectations you have for your swimming? Or are you hoping that you can get by with marginal training habits on genetics, talent and entitlement alone? After all, if you have the following sucky training habits you are leaving a whole lot of untapped potential go to waste:

1. You aren’t pushing yourself.

Yes, you shouldn’t be gassed to the point that are you are bed-ridden after each workout, and nor should you push your body to the point of utter failure each time out. But you certainly want to feel like you did something over the course of the time spent in the pool. If you aren’t pushing yourself, if you aren’t stretching your limits in the pool repeatedly than it’s easy to see why you aren’t improving as fast as you’d like. The surest way to insure progress in the pool is to monitor your workouts to be certain that you are continually pushing yourself to new heights. Whether it is adding an extra rep to a tough set, adding a couple underwater dolphin kicks to each of your walls, or striving to beat your best 200m kick time, don’t be afraid to reach a little bit further each time you jump into the pool. don't be afraid to reach a little further

don't be afraid to reach a little further

2. You aren’t paying attention in the water.

It would be hard to find a swimmer who doesn’t do this at least somewhat regularly—you’ll be swimming along, and you’ll catch yourself drifting off mentally. Maybe you are thinking about the big test at school tomorrow, or the argument you had with your parents that day, but whatever it is, you’ve lost mental focus. Some swimmers go through the motions of their whole practice like this, never really focusing on their technique, making sure that their turns are tight and breakouts fast, just chugging along, putting the meters in and counting down the laps until workout is done. How can you remedy this? Simple as this: be in the moment. When you are training, train. When you are at home watching TV, watch TV. Whatever it is you are doing at that particular moment, give it your full and undivided attention. In the pool the fastest way to stay focused is to dial in on a couple technical aspects of your swimming. Count your strokes each lap. Make the pace clock your BFF and try to maintain a specific split per 50. Aim to breakout to 10m off each wall. be in the moment train

3. You aren’t doing enough to recover between practices.

While it might seem counter-intuitive, there are times where exactly what you need is rest and recovery. After all, if our bodies didn’t require the time to rebuild and recover we could just swim for 24 hours a day until we grew gills. Serious swimmers understand how critical recovery is, because what they do between practices affects how they train moving forward. Compare the difference of swimming a tough workout on a full night of rest, properly fueled and hydrated, compared to a practice done after a lacklustre sleep, ridiculous food choices and lots of soda pop. (And no, I don’t wanna hear about that time you stayed up all night eating pizza and chugging root beer and swam a best time the next day. Because you only would have swum faster if you hadn’t treated your body like an amusement ride.)

4. Your stroke falls apart the moment you get tired.

It’s easy to have fantastic intentions before each practice—“I’m gonna give my best effort on every rep! Do perfect turns on every wall!”—but the moment we begin to face adversity in practice it becomes much more challenging to keep it all together. Our streamline starts to go, the breathing pattern becomes too hard to maintain, our flutter kick from from 6 beat to 1-beat, and our plan to keep our high elbow recovery strong goes out the window. Why is it important to swim well when you are fatigued in practice? Because the way you train is the way you race.

When you are on the last lap of that 200 yard freestyle and your lungs and muscles are burning, your body will lean on the habits that you have developed over months and months of practice. Say it together now... The way I train is the way I race.

5. You aren’t consistent in training.

You probably know them well…

There’s the Sammy Save Up.
There’s the swimmer who shows up and swims out of her mind once a week, and then either doesn’t show up or floats through the rest of the workouts.
The swimmer who goes all-out when it doesn’t matter (warm-up, warm-down).
The swimmer who picks and chooses the sets they want to train fast.

And so on. The common thread between these swimmers is that they aren’t consistent enough to expect sizable improvement the next time a competition comes around. They figure that by picking and choosing when they work hard, instead of taking advantage of the full assortment of opportunities to improve presented before them that they are somehow gaming the system. It’s unrealistic to expect full time results with a part time effort, so embrace that consistency, that “boring” foundation of excellence, is what will get you to your goals in the pool. Be Consistent in the Pool

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Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

6 Bad Swim Practice Habits You Should Break Now

Why are good habits in practice so critical?

The way we train is a startlingly accurate representation of how we compete. The way you perform your turns when you are exhausted or unfocused at practice is similar to the way you will execute them when they are exhausted at the end of a race. Long before you ever get up on the blocks to compete you are building your race. Piece by piece, day by day through the grind of two-a-days and 5,000m sessions you are instilling the habits that your body will rely on when you compete.

1. Lazy turns.

Slow rotation, poor foot placement, loose tuck, and on and on. It makes me laugh a little when I hear swimmers say that they want to take time out of practice to work specifically on their turns, when over the course of a 4,000 yard practice they have a chance to do up to 160 of them. How many of those turns are being done with intent? Done with a tight tuck? Or with their feet exploding off the wall? Or are done turning at the appropriate length from the wall? Drive Into Your Turns With Speed and Purpose

Drive Into Your Turns With Speed and Purpose

Swimmers shouldn’t be of the mind that they need to have specialized turn time to work on them, but that they should be taking advantage of the opportunities already being presented to them to make their turns as fast and as awesome as possible. (Side note: not only should you be doing quality turns, but you should also be doing turns at race-like speed to acclimatize yourself for competition. This is something covered in “3 Sneaky Training Tips for a Faster Sprint Freestyle.”)

2. Beach-ball streamlines.

Here’s a fun fact: when you push off the wall (or dive into the water), that is the highest velocity you will attain in the water. At no point over the course of the rest of the lap will you be going any faster. When you understand this, it might make you rethink performing those streamlines where it looks like you are trying to hold a beach ball over your head. Yes, it requires some focus and discipline—especially towards the end of workout when you are exhausted both physically and mentally—but the easiest way to maintain speed off your walls is a tight streamline and breakout. At No Point Are You Swimming Faster Than When You Come Off the Wall

At No Point Are You Swimming Faster Than When You Come Off the Wall

3. Letting technique get sloppy.

Whether it is a weak-side elbow dropping in freestyle, or a breaststroke kick not fully finishing, sloppy technique infects our swimming at the first turn of inattention. Good technique takes time, patience and repetition to develop and build, so don’t throw away that hard work by letting bad technique habits creep into your swimming. Alex Popov was famous for swimming long, easy-looking distances with a technique that was no different from that you would see when he was winning back-to-back Olympic golds in the 50m and 100m freestyles. Remind yourself to maintain proper technique with some simple cues (“High elbow! Attack with the shoulders! Hips up!”) that will remind you to maintain excellent technique in the water.

4. Pulling into the wall on kick sets.

As someone who has traditionally enjoyed doing kick sets, I still find myself fighting the 3-pull urge that happens when I approach the walls. (Especially when I am tired...) Sure, it might give you that little bit extra of speed heading into the wall (skewing your actual kick results), but typically when you pull you are cheating by giving your legs a nice little rest. Done once or twice over the course of a kick set might not seem like a big deal, but when you add that up over the course of a swim season you are looking at a lot of kicking meters being thrown out the window.

5. Picking your head up at the finish.

At the Beijing Olympics it wasn’t the French and their 4x100m freestyle relay that had the closest chance to disrupt Michael Phelps’ quest for 8 golds. It was Serbia’s Milorad (Mike) Cavic in the 100m butterfly. Phelps would win in a time of 50.58, out-touching Cavic by 1/100^th of a second. The finish was so close that observers in the facility swore that Cavic had touched first, and the tightness of the race prompted the Serbian delegation to file protest. [caption id="attachment_3672" align="aligncenter" width="640"] phelps cavic beijing 2008

Phelps: left, Cavic: right.[/caption] The finishing order would stand, and Phelps, in looking at the race later that year with Anderson Cooper of 60 Minutes would reflect,

“He’s (Cavic) picking his head up before he is finishing…It’s acting as a speed bump…That’s the difference in the race.”

If you look in the still frame above from the race video you can clearly see Phelps charging in with his head down, while Cavic (on the right), picks his head up into the wall. Yes, we aren’t all swimming for gold at the Olympics, but when races come down to those photo-finishes you want to be the swimmer that finishes. Put your head down and finish like a boss.

6. Gliding into the wall at finish.

Similarly to the point above, gliding into the finish 3-5m from the wall at the end of a rep is a poor precedent to set in practice. You see it all the time with swimmers, content to work hard for 90% of the rep, and glide into the wall like they are Matt Biondi in the ’88 Seoul Olympics. When the flags or black T appear in your field of vision it should prompt you to attack the wall, not merely glide into it. Don't Glide Into the Wall Attack It

Will You Practice Better?

Practice is a place where you prepare for racing. So why not start practicing like you want to race? With intent, focus, and a desire to attack your swimming instead of just cruisin' through it. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Coach Baker has been coaching at a high level since the 1990's, and has placed numerous athletes on international teams of all stripes, including the Olympics and World Championships (where one of his charges won an individual bronze medal in the women's 200m breaststroke in 1997). At the most recent Canadian Olympic Trials OAK sent nearly 30 athletes to the meet, while also capturing a Canadian Age Group Championship title that summer, while also placing second amongst clubs at Canadian Summer Nationals. On the back of these achievements Baker was awarded national club coach of the year honors for 2012. Here are the four kick-centric sets, including some of the times posted by one of his current swimmers, Evan White (who swam a 1:59 200IM LCM last summer at the Canadian Swimming Trials to win his first senior national championship). As you can see from the results that White throws down on the final set, in order to swim fast you must have a fast kick.

Alex Popov had a lightning fast kick (:27 seconds for a 50 long course), and other sprinters from Nathan Adrian, Cesar Cielo and more have all extolled the necessity of having a thunderous kick powering your swimming. Here are the sets:

SET #1

2-3 rounds of--

300 shoe kick [25m using only weak leg, 75m both legs focusing on distance per kick] + [Using weight belt (10% of swimmer's body weight)]
100 kick w. fins distance per kick
1x50 kick for time

SET #2

2 rounds of--

5min wall kick with shoes
8x50 @1:30 best average kick
8x25 @:40 with fins alternating-- Odds reps: underwater FAST, Even reps: kick blast!
10-20 streamlined wall jumps high fast after every round

SET #3

2 rounds of--

300 quiet kick (No bubbles, no splash)
8x25 @:45 Beaver kick fast (no board, streamline with head up) Add weight belt when good enough.
1x50 as-- 25m swim fast, 25 underwater fast

SET #4

24x100 @1:40 (this interval was used for SCM)

100's broken down as: 50 swim at specified pace, 50 kick within +10/+8/+6
Evan White did this set backstroke and worked his way down to a :28 for the first 50m swim, and then :30 for the 50m kick during his prep for the 1:59 200IM last year.

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Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Will You Do The Work That Separates Good From Great

You’re willing to commit yourself.

Keeping one foot in, and one foot out is the safe way to go about your goals. By never fully investing yourself you avoid the risk of being disappointed if you don’t succeed. Instead, you are left with the false comfort of… “I could have achieved such-and-such if I had really wanted to.” Is that much better than giving your all and then coming up short? Of course not. You’ll never know what you are capable of until you make a legit effort at trying to achieve some sweet stuff. You Will Never Know What You Are Capable Of Until You Commit

You Will Never Know What You Are Capable Of Until You Commit

You stop dreaming and you start doing.

Thinking about greatness is fun. Heck, it’s addicting. Sitting around planning, learning, endlessly strategizing might feel like you are making progress in a tangible way, but you aren’t until you are doing something. Make no mistake, if you want to make an impact in the sport of swimming, whatever that means for you, you will need to be in a constant state of doing. Of moving forward… Of putting action to your dreams… Of not only having goals, but of living them day in and day out. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Subtraction is the simplest manner to be more efficient, more awesome, and ultimately, more better looking. (Not totally sure on that last one, but let’s just say that’s the case for argument’s sake...) If you want to break down success to it’s most simple, most basic form, here is what it looks like: Performance = potential – interferences Now, this looks deceptively simple, and I think that is the problem people have with it.

“But…but…what about talent? What about technique? What about how I bend my arms during my recovery? Blah blah blah.”

Our first instinct when we want to accomplish big ole things in the pool is to look for the big swings. The big change.

I’m going to swim an extra 10,000 meters per week!
I am going to do a million push ups this month!
I am going to do butterfly for every set, including warm down, for the rest of my life!
I’m going to do all of the things!

It is natural to look for things to be bigger and more pimped out in order for us to perceive it as better for us. We puff out our chests, make the proclamation that we are gonna do it better, bigger and extra bigger than everybody else. But instead of thinking about what to add to your current training regimen, take the counter-intuitive approach and think about this…

What Can You Eliminate From Your Training That Would Give It a Boost

What can you eliminate from your training or from your life right now that would give your training a boost? Writing up a big, greasy “to do” list is easy, and often leads us to frustration because adding habits is hard. Really hard. But manipulating the ones you already have, well, that is a whole lot easier. What are the things you are doing right now that are hamstringing your success?

Are you pulling in the last 5m of every wall during kick sets?
Are you sitting in bed browsing your social media feeds when you should be sleeping?
Are you pulling on the lane rope during backstroke sets?

Here be a little exercise to try out… Write up a “to don’t” list and tape that bad boy to your kickboard. To your fridge. To your sister. (Okay, maybe don’t do that...) Having a “to don’t” list creates a set of boundaries that you train within...

No pulling into the wall on kick sets.
No social media after 8pm.
No pulling on the lane rope during backstroke.
No taping things to my sister's head.

And, from personal experience, I have found that they are easier to abide by than tacking on extra work. After all, sometimes it is just easier not to do something. A little something for you to think about the next time you hop in the pool. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

1. “Would so-and-so please report to the marshaling area?”

Swim meets are a cacophony of excitement. Between the roar of the crowds, seeing friends you haven’t seen for a while, or succumbing to a swimmer nap mid-session, it can be easy to see how some swimmers can lose track of time. My particular weakness was playing basketball between events. At the Mel Zajac Jr. meet especially there would be a session long game of Bump going on at the outdoor hoop by the warm-down pool. It was a steady rotation of swimmers coming out of their races and playing until the last possible moment before having to go up for their next race.

2. “When are you up?”

It’s hard to not to get neurotic about missing your race when you consider all of that hard work and training you have put into swimming fast. (Not too mention the shaving, or for the ladies, not shaving for so long.) Some swimmers will guesstimate how much time they have until they race by hedging on teammates swimming a couple heats before them. When they see said teammates go up they know it is time to get prepped to swim.

3. “What heat is this?”

Often said with a variable amount of panic, when you hear a swimmer say this it is safe to assume that their back has stiffened, eyes widened, with hands grasping tightly on their cap and goggles. Bonus points if they ask this question—while standing below, near, or within grasping distance of the scoreboard displaying the event, heat, previous heat’s times, meet sponsor, and more.

4. “We have a disqualification in the last heat.”

Perhaps you hoped that the official didn’t notice your sloppy two hand touch. Or the 16 underwater fly kicks in your breaststroke pullout. Or the fact that you were already breaking out off your dive when the starter’s pistol went off. Either way, you hoped that by sneaking out the side of the pool quickly, and making a bee-line to the locker room before the official could break the bad news to your face that it would somehow wouldn’t count. Erroneous!

5. “We need one more timer before we can start.”

There are so many cogs in the wheel that makes a swim meet go around. You have a couple officials in the timers booth working an electronic system that looks like it could launch a shuttle into space. A series of volunteers officiating from all angles of the pool. And yet, this all comes to a grinding halt when that one timer doesn’t show. It’s at this precise moment that the non-swimming brother or sister in the stands is volunteered (conscripted) into service. Lucky! All It Takes is One Timer Not to Show Up

All It Takes is One Timer Not to Show Up

6. “Did you hear me cheering?”

The kaleidoscope of cheers, whistles, and outright screaming that takes place during a hotly contested race can be difficult to pierce for even the most accomplished whistle-blaster. When swimmers have each one another's backs at race time they need to make sure that their teammate knows they were cheering for them (otherwise it doesn’t count!). As a swimmer themselves, they should realize that while the noise is appreciated, it’s pretty hard to make out much.

7. “What d’ya go?”

It’s always an interesting experience in the warm down pool after a race where multiple heats worth of swimmers are all angling for the same few spots in finals. Swimmers from opposing teams who have never spoken will suddenly think nothing of asking their competitors what they went.

8. “You guys rest for this meet?”

Swimming is just as much a sport of gamesmanship as any other.Often times it comes not to the swimmer is best prepared physically, but the one who has better mastered the psychological aspect to the sport. From the antics in the ready room, to the attempts at psyching out the competition behind the blocks, swimmers are always looking for an edge up, even if that edge is simply knowing how prepared the competition is.

9. “I don’t know why my coach entered me in this.”

Want to see a swimmer squirm? Put them in one of their off events. Doesn’t matter if it’s a sprinter doing a distance event, or a distance swimmer doing a sprint event (not so bad this way around), but there are often moments of confusion when a swimmer sees that they have been enlisted, err, entered into an event they a) haven’t ever raced before, or b) are doubtful they can complete it. Whether it is a 200 fly, 400IM or the mile, swimmers doing an off event under the guise of coach trying to instill some mental toughness will issue their doubts when their 200 flyer teammate gives them a perplexed "what are you doing here?" look behind the blocks.

10. “Good swim.”

The only two words any swimmer really wants to hear. (Okay, you’re right—“Great swim.”) While the reward of having a good swim is satisfaction enough, it is always great to hear these words, whether they are from your coach, teammates, or even just your non-swimming little brother who is timing. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

The Race Club. @TheRaceClub

Gary Hall Sr. and The Race Club have a roster, past and present, that is a bit ludicrous. Milorad (Mike) Cavic, Anthony Ervin, Nathan Adrian, Roland Schoeman, George Bovell, Fernando Scherer, Mark Foster, Duje Draganja and more have all trained at one point or another with Gary Hall Sr. at The Race Club (who is also an Olympian, as well as his son Gary Jr.).

Using Velocity Meter, we measure propulsion & drag forces of a swimmer in each stroke http://t.co/4ytsu0o0M9 pic.twitter.com/xDmuYybbCe

— The Race Club (@theraceclub) June 8, 2015

Bridge Athletic. @BridgeAthletic

Nick Folker used to be the strength and conditioning dude at Cal, where he worked with Anthony Ervin, Natalie Coughlin, Roland Schoeman and some American freestyler named Nathan Adrian. He left Cal last year to start Bridge Athletic, a dryland programming app designed specifically for swimmers (I have been using it since November of 2014 and me likey). They share a ton of content on their blog via Twitter on nutrition, recovery, and of course, swim-specific strength conditioning!

3 Exercises to Help You Avoid Injury in High-Risk Areas | BridgeAthletic http://t.co/DNeRbBRsjX #AthleticPerformance pic.twitter.com/Y132Yig56h — BridgeAthletic (@BridgeAthletic) January 15, 2015

Dave Salo. @SprintSalo

Sure, there are lots of coaches who are active on Twitter. Mike Bottom, Bob Bowman and a host of others. But Coach Salo gets a special nod because he posts tons of pictures of sets and workouts that he is doing with his athletes at the University of Southern California.

Morning set for Trojan swim club pic.twitter.com/hAkt9Bbyra — Dave Salo (@Sprintsalo) December 23, 2014

Brett Hawke. @BrettHawke

Auburn University has long been a powerhouse collegiate and pro team, with current head coach Brett Hawke taking the helm of the program in 2009. Hawke is a former Olympian, having competed at the 2000 and 2004 Olympics for Australia before transitioning into one of the top sprint coaches in the world. Like Salo, Hawke posts the periodic workout, which provides a fascinating glance into how sprint training is done at the highest levels of the sport.

Today's sprint workout. 4 rounds. Love hearing about how hard they work when I'm out of town. @AuburnSwimming pic.twitter.com/D14XwR5WkQ — Brett Hawke (@BrettHawke) May 2, 2015

Swimming Science @SwimScience

If you've spent any amount of time Googling science-backed research you have almost undoubtedly stumbled upon Dr. John Mullen's writing. The guy is a writing machine. He swam at Purdue University, got his doctorate at USC, and is now a physical therapist, certified strength coach based out of Santa Clara, California.

Dryland Mistake: Band Bent-Over Row: http://t.co/lzhUkjDCqU @alphill4305 @SwimmerStrength @kkrirsh pic.twitter.com/VrgzZjN76s
— Swimming Science (@swimmingscience) June 11, 2015

YourSwimBook @yourswimbook

Like I how I snuck that in there? If you haven't followed us on Twitter yet, do so. You'll get a fair dose of sarcasm, swimming-related humor, motivational quotes, and of course, a way for us to banter.

Part time results in the pool come with part time efforts: http://t.co/J3jjT5VK6g pic.twitter.com/xOw203Uec5 — YourSwimBook.com (@YourSwimBook) June 19, 2015

[divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

]]> 3785 <![CDATA[5 Tricks for a Faster Swim Start]]> you want to carry a shocking amount of speed into the water, through your breakout, and explode up into the swimming portion of the race. For many races, particularly of the shorter variety, much of the outcome is decided on those brief moments when swimmers are exploding off of the blocks. Here are 5 simple ways to improve your starts: 5 Tricks for a Faster Swim Start

1. Time the starter’s gun in the races leading up to yours.

While waiting for your race, simulate the start you want on dry land. When the starter says “take your marks” crouch over into a start position and explode up into the air with your arms above your head when the beep/pistol/fog horn goes off. This not only helps you anticipate how long the starter will keep you in the ready position, but the explosiveness of the act will prime your body’s fast twitch fibers for the real thing.

2. Hula hoop your way to cleaner entries.

When exploding off the blocks you want to dive crisply and cleanly into the water, into a tight circle. Think of a 10m diver, slipping into the water with barely a splash, the entry clean and tight. It can be easy to visualize doing it, but in order to make sure that you are entering in a tight hole throw a hula hoop in the water (have a teammate hold it in place) and work on diving crisply through it.

3. Elbows should be pointed back, not out.

Our legs get all the attention during the start, and deservedly so, but too often swimmers neglect the pulling motion and velocity that can be generated by pulling forward on the blocks. In order to get the most of the pulling action on the blocks you want to have your elbows pointed backwards, and not outwards (to the side). When our elbows are pointed outwards we leak power to the sides, when we should be focusing on pulling ourselves exclusively forward off the block.

4. Toe crunch your way to a better foot grip.

When we are standing up on the blocks, and our toes are curled downwards around the lip of the block, our toes are gripping it in a manner that is atypical from how we usually use them. Think about it—when else are we trying to grip something with our toes? This can lead to shaky foot grips on the block, and a loss of torque with our front foot, leaving us relying almost exclusively on our back leg and arms to power us off the block. Here is a very simple exercise that you can do anywhere, anytime to improve the “grip strength” of your toes so that you can use your toes to grip the block more powerfully—and launch yourself off with more velocity: Lay your toes flat out, and curl them towards your heel. Visualize yourself pulling the floor or carpet back towards and under you. Exceedingly simple, and you can do this anytime. Bang out a few sets of 20 per day, and you’ll find your toes are better able to clasp onto the block.

5. Wrap your thumbs under the block.

The fastest way for most swimmers to improve their start is simply to focus on pulling more with their arms on the block. In order to get the most of your arm pull wrap your thumbs around the block in order to get the most from the pulling motion. Too often you’ll see swimmers have their thumbs above the block, when in fact they should be wrapped under the block. Doing so gives the athlete more surface area on the bottom side of the block, and more surface area means a more powerful pull. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Does Dryland Improve Sprint Swimming Speed

THE STUDY

A group of 21 athletes who range in ability from regional to national level were separated into three groups, with their performance being evaluated prior to the beginning of the study, 6 weeks in, and again after the study was complete. In addition to their normal swimming training, the swimmers were divided as follows for the duration of the 12 week study: Group 1 (the strength group) engaged in a strength training regimen over the course of the study. The strength training program included a variety of barbell lifts, including squats, presses, pull-ups, and plyometric jumps with reps being no higher than 6 per set. The load on the barbells was increased incrementally every 3 weeks. Group 2 (the resisted and assisted sprint group) used stretch cords or rubber tubing in the water to either generate resistance (swimming away from where the stretch cord is anchored), or to speed-assist the swimmer (swimming at above-swimming speed towards the anchored cord). Group 3 (the control group) did the usual swim training, in addition to supplemental aerobic work on a stationary bike.

Key Takeaways:

After 6 weeks no marked difference was found between the three groups.
After 12 weeks there were significant increases in the strength of elbow flexors (biceps) and extensors (triceps) in both the strength and cord groups. More importantly, there were also “significant” increases in swimming velocity.
The cord group experienced in increase in stroke rate, which is something that should be of note to sprint swimmers who have difficulty getting a high enough stroke rate during their splash-and-dash events. This is most likely thanks in part to the assisted sprint work, where swimmers are able to maintain stroke length while also increasing stroke rate. Conversely, when facing additional resistance the swimmers suffered a decrease in both stroke rate and stroke length. That being said, resistance training with cords has been shown to increase performance across all three sprint freestyle events (50, 100 and 200) by an average of about 2.3% over a 10-week cycle of usage, (Toussaint & Vervoorn, 1990) so using the cords in both directions have been shown to be advantageous for sprint training.
There were no significant differences in training outcomes between men and women. All three groups had a similar proportion of each.

Here is a breakdown of how much the groups improved:

Strength training group: 2.8% ±2.5
Resist/Assist Cords group: 2.3%±1.3
The control group: 0.9%±1.2

In Summary

Perhaps what is most notable in the case of this study (in the author’s opinion at least) is how long it took for improvements to manifest themselves in the case of the strength training and the cord groups. Which just goes to show that dryland is a longer term solution for swimming faster, not something you can just apply for a couple weeks and hope to have some sort of miracle effect. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

His explosive start and underwater dolphin kick into a devastating breakout landed him on the top of the podium at the NCAA Division 1 championships last year, as well as winning him a handful of Pac-12 titles. To dominate on the NCAA level is one thing, but Tandy showed that he will be a force to be reckoned with in the long pool as well. At the recent Santa Clara Grand Prix, Tandy, swimming next to 100m freestyle Olympic champ Nathan Adrian, let his start do the talking when he exploded off the blocks and emerged visibly ahead of a field that was utterly and completely stacked. You had 2000 Olympic champ in the event Anthony Ervin, Brazilian Bruno Fratus (who trains out of Auburn and at this point in 2015 has posted the world’s third fastest time in the event clocking a 21.74 at the Maria Lenk Trophy), the Russian lightening bolt Vlad Morozov (2^nd in the world so far), Brazil’s Marcello Chierighini, and another speedy Russian, Nikita Lobintsev.

SEE ALSO: 5 Tricks for a Better Swim Start

Even though the field would reel him in, with Tandy placing fourth in a time of 22.28, you can’t help but feel awed at the sheer power he demonstrates over the first 25m of the race. Tandy, who stands at 6’3 popped up and significantly ahead of Adrian, who has one of the most powerful starts in the business. Not too mention that Adrian has a 3-4 inch height advantage on the Wildcat, who is originally from South Africa. Off the start you notice a couple things with Tandy:

He pulls back slightly on the blocks, giving him some of the "slingshot" effect when he uses his arms to pull powerfully off the starting block.
He gets a crazy amount of distance off the blocks.
He uses the “flying mongoose” technique of bringing your arms around the side when aligning the body into a streamline for entry.
He goes very deep on the entry. So deep that he disappears under the lane line.
And he kicks all the way out to 15m (something that is not uncommon at the elite level, with the defending Olympic champ in the event and now short course world record holder in the event Florent Manaudou of France dolphin kicking all the way out the maximum distance allowed).

Here is the race video from the Santa Clara Grand Prix:

Tandy's Start at the NCAA Level

Here is also another video from the Pac 12 championships, which Tandy won the 50 yard freestyle in a time of 18.80. In a similar situation is the above video, Tandy explodes out to an early lead with a dominant start/breakout and turn. Tandy is in lane 4: [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Often, it’s simply the athlete who stuck it out a little bit longer, who was able to sustain the hard work, who refused to give up. After all: Out-smarting hard work is an illusion. The idea that we can out-smart the process of having to work hard for something we really want is a popular one. It’s why we are constantly on the search for a sneaky new training technique that we can “hack” that will sneak us around having to struggle and periodically fail in the pool on our way to success. Don't Give Up

You can’t outsmart hard work.

The reality is this: The swimmers who are doing really well in the pool aren’t just working hard. They are also working smart. For this reason, don’t give up. It will always be hard to be optimistic in the face of difficulty. You know that swimmer in your lane that complains non stop, that is sure that life has it out for them, and feels simply that everything is just sooo not fair? Yeah, that swimmer. We’ve all trained with these athletes, and even though they don’t realize it, they are sucking the optimism and passion out of the room faster than they could possibly imagine. To be optimistic, to have faith in your abilities, to choose to see past the struggle right before you is hard. It’s not easy. And it’s not for everybody. For this reason, don’t give up.

Regret will always be worse than the struggle.

I get it… It’s frustrating not seeing the progress that you so badly crave happen fast enough. I’ve been there. Heaps of times. (And still.) You want success from the work you have put in, from all the yards and meters you have patiently and deliberately put in, and you want it now. Only it doesn’t happen as fast as you would like. Regret Will Always Be More Painful Than the Struggle

Regret Will Always Be More Painful Than the Struggle

But if it is something you really want, something you are unendingly passionate about… Than it deserves your full and complete effort. Yes, waiting for the rewards of your hard work is trying. Especially on days where you feel like you are stuck in place, or even sliding backwards. But the regret of not giving it your full effort will hurt much more than the frustration of not seeing enough progress. For this reason, don’t give up. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Staying motivated over the course of a long swimming season can be a challenge.

Between the two-a-days, the long weeks of training and the grind of the season it can be tough to stay focused on your goals. Look: Whether it is crushing your best times, making a cut, or breaking a state record elite swimmers understand the importance of staying motivated. That’s exactly where this 5-pack of motivational swimming posters comes in. Designed by swimmers for swimmers, they are designed specifically for elite swimming.

To keep you grinding long after that first initial wave of motivation and inspiration has passed…
To help you stay fired up and focused on doing the things on a daily basis that will help you achieve your goals…
And to propel you closer to achieving your goals in the pool, whether it is making your first state cut or winning gold in Rio in 2016.

Before we go any further, you should know that these posters are big (24" by 36") and printed on high quality, full glossy paper. In other words, they are big, shiny and shockingly good looking. Alrighty.... Let’s take a closer look at them now: (Click on any image for a higher resolution view of it. Will open in new window. They are high res, so give them a couple moments to load up.)

1. Unleash Greatness.

Whatever greatness in the pool means for you, whether it is making your first sectionals or provincials cut, this poster will remind you to unleash your inner greatness every single day. As mentioned above it is produced on glossy, high quality paper, and comes in at 2 feet by 3 feet, which means it can not only remind you to be great, but also cover up any unfortunate holes or otherwise unsightly portions of your wall. "Be not afraid of greatness." -- William Shakespeare

2. I Only Fear Not Trying.

It's shocking how many swimmers are more afraid of the hardship of the journey than of the regret they would face if they don't try at all. Don't be that swimmer. Be the athlete who gives it their all, and who can walk away from the pool knowing that they gave it their absolute best, and can do so without regrets or fear. "In the end, we only regret the chances we didn't take."

3. Challenges Are the Doorways to Excellence.

How often have you stopped cold after a setback? Or been demoralized by a defeat? If you are like me, more than a couple times. This poster is designed to remind you that all too often success is just on the other side of the struggle and grind. In other words, if you want excellence, you gotta be willing to punch through a few challenges on the way. "We don't grow when things are easy. We grow when we face challenges."

4. Dream Bigger.

It can be hard to create big goals when we are surrounded by small-minded friends, family, and swimmers. For every athlete that accomplished something worthwhile there was someone who told them it couldn't be done. That they should think smaller, and dream smaller. This is your reminder to think big. To dream big. And to act big. "...with hard work, with belief, with confidence and trust in yourself and those around you, there are no limits." --Michael Phelps

5. Decide What You Want.

The most freeing moment is making a firm and unwavering decision to after a goal. To have the end goal specified, a plan to get there, and the determination to see it through. After all, it all begins with a decision. Once made, everything else seems to fall into place. This poster is designed to remind you to live up to your decision on a daily basis. "Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen." --Ralph Waldo Emerson

Feeling Fired Up Yet?

Alright, alright, you might be saying. I'll take 'em and I will take 'em right now so check me out! But for those of you who aren't convinced... Or aren't sure... Here are some frequently asked questions I get about these bad boys...

Some Things You Should Know Before Clicking on the Order Button…

The posters retail for $29 a piece. Buying them individually would cost $145. But because you are a math wizard you save yourself $29 (20%) off the retail price by purchasing them together for a total of $116.
Shipping takes 4-6 business days for domestic (US & Canada) orders. 5-7 days for international orders. For domestic orders you will receive a tracking number when your posters are shipped out.
Shipping costs $7 for domestic orders, $12 for international and space station orders.
The posters are 100% guaranteed. Not happy? Send em back and I will refund you immediately. No questions asked.
The posters are rolled up in heavy duty, mostly bullet proof tubes. Which means you receive them nice and rolled up. We tried folding them, but let’s be honest, creases are for pants. Not posters.
Payment options are pretty simple. We use PayPal as a third-party payment processor. They accept all major credit cards as well, so you don’t need to have an account with them to use them.
By purchasing all five you are saving more than just 20%, but because you are paying a flat $7 (or $12) rate for shipping you are also saving an additional $28 (or $60) in shipping costs versus purchasing all five of them individually.

Ready to Get Fired Up and Swim Out of Your Mind?

Click below and let's get started on getting you your posters today...

[To order these posters individually visit our online shop by clicking here.]

]]> 3871 <![CDATA[Looking Back: The Top Moments of 20 Years of the FINA World Championships (Part 1)]]> With the XVI FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia, just around the corner, I figured this would be as good a time as any to look back at the last couple decades of world championship meets.

In anticipation of some of the comments I should remind readers that “top moments” is a bit of a muddled term here; some of these swims were noted not because they were celebrated, but because they were the stories of the meet. So both the celebrated moments, and the notorious ones as well. And off we go, la-la-la-la, swimming merrily down memory lane…

Rome, Italy - 1994

In the same way that the East Germans bulldozed everyone in their way through the 1970’s and 1980’s the Chinese women, riding a wave of suspicion earned by those who had been around to see the GDR domination of previous decades, ran the table in the women’s events in Rome that summer. [caption id="attachment_3873" align="alignleft" width="195"] Le Jingy; Baby got back.

Le Jingy (CHN); Baby got back.[/caption] Led by Le Jingy’s rabid 50m freestyle performance, where she would win by over half a second, the Chinese women dominated the podium in every stroke except for the breast. In the relays the Chinese were so far ahead that silver would be at least 4 seconds off—in all three races. The exceptions? Janet Evans would win the 800m freestyle. Samantha Riley of Australia would capture both breaststroke titles, with a world record in the 100. (Riley would have her own little doping controversy the following year when her coach, Scott Volker, claimed to have thought to have given her pill for a headache, but which actually contained a bad-bad substance.) And after placing 9th in heats and then essentially having her teammate Sandra Volker paid off to scratch, Germany’s Franziska Van Almsick had one of the swims of the meet, breaking the 200m freestyle world record in a time of 1:56.78. There was some fast swimming on the men’s side, albeit with less controversy. Alex Popov continued his streak of domination of the men’s sprint events, while Kieren Perkins did the distance double (no 800’s at this meet at this point), doing the 400m free in WR time (3:43.80). Tom Dolan of the USA would break the other 400m world record (individual medley), while Finland’s Jani Sievinen would also break the 200m IM world record.

Perth, Australia - 1998

Much like Rome four years earlier, these world championships were bookmarked with controversy. Yay! After a lackluster performance in Atlanta where they only won 6 medals, all eyes were on the Chinese women. Suspicion had turned to outright calls for organized suspension. In a manner of speaking, they didn’t disappoint. When going through a routine customs check enough human growth hormone (HGH) was found in one of their swimmer’s bags to fuel the entire team for the duration of the meet. Despite the trafficking-type of volume, the athlete, Yuan Yuan, and her coach, were the only ones kicked out of the meet. Other pre-competition testing revealed triamterine (a masking agent) in four other Chinese swimmers, who were given 2-year suspensions, along with 3-month suspensions for their 3 coaches. Once the swimming actually got going there were some fresh faces on the podium. The Australians made the most of home field advantage, giving the Americans a run on the overall medal count (24-20), although the US would double up in the gold medal column. Michael Klim led the charge for the hometown team, having a massive meet in taking home 7 medals. He would go bronze-silver-gold in the 50-100-200 freestyles, in addition to another individual gold in the 100 butterfly, and two relay golds and a relay silver. The Perth worlds were the coming out party (pun not intended) for a 15 year old Ian Thorpe. With size 17-feet the young man from Sydney dubbed “Thorpedo” would become at the time the youngest male world champion ever in winning the 400m freestyle. While countryman Klim cleaned up all the hardware, and “Thorpey” captivated a nation, almost lost was Grant Hackett, who had assumed the mantle of distance king, winning the mile by 10 seconds ahead of Emiliano Brembilla and Daniel Kowalski, who by now was probably getting pretty frustrated being generally ranked the 2^nd fastest distance swimmer in the world, but also the 2^nd fastest Australian distance swimmer. With the Chinese women in a diminished role there was a ton of different countries getting medals on the women’s side. 10 years after her silver medal winning performance in Seoul, Costa Rica’s Claudia Poll would win the 200 free. Hungary’s Agnes Kovacs would win the 200 breaststroke. Other countries winning medals were Canada (including Lauren Van Oosten, who I was training with at the time in a dusty old pool in Nanaimo), Ukraine, Netherlands, Japan, Slovakia, and the French. While 8 championship records were set in Perth, no world records were broken. (Oh, and that Bill Pilczuk guy surprised the heck out of everybody by blasting off the blocks and defeating the immortal Alex Popov in the 50m freestyle.)

Fukuoka, Japan - 2001

For the 9^th FINA World Championships we venture to Fukuoka, Japan for a world championships that was controversy free*! The Australian momentum from a successful Olympics in Sydney carried on here, with the team from down under taking the gold medal count (13 to 9 for the Americans), although they trailed by 7 in the overall medal count (19-26). 2001 would also be the first time that the 800 free for men, 1500 for women, and the stroke 50’s were introduced to the meet. If Perth had been the coming out party for Ian Thorpe, than Fukuoka would be a full blown rager. He’d win 6 gold medals, along with four world records and two championship records. On the first night he would throw down a devastating 3:40.17 in the 400m freestyle (he’d break it again next year, a mark that would stand until Biedermann’s rubberized swim in 2009) and also anchor the Aussie 4x100 freestyle relay, again unseating the Americans like they had in Sydney. (The US would be disqualified, anyway.) Of note during the relay was Pieter Van den Hoogenband of the Netherlands, who posted a very unpedestrian 47.02, which at that point was the fastest split in history. Over the course of the meet Thorpe would also win the 200 in WR time (1:44.06), the 800 free (7:39.16). While Thorpe’s performance was legendary, swim of the meet would have to go to his teammate, Grant Hackett. Although Hackett would place in both 400-800 freestyles, he would utterly destroy the field in the mile, in the process dropping a full 7 seconds off of Kieren Perkins world record. (Just how far ahead of the field was he? Over 24 seconds.) Although outdone in the “sweet molasses that was fast!” category, the American men still had some solid performances, even if two of their relays got disqualified. Anthony Ervin, fresh off of his Olympic gold medal in the 50m free, would not only win the splash and dash, but also win the 100 freestyle bettering a 13-year old American record. (Sorry, Mr. Biondi!) It would be Ervin's last international meet before coming back 10 years later. There was also that Michael Phelps kid (maybe you’ve heard of him), who at the age of 16 was already in the process of lowering his own 200 butterfly world record, touching first in 1:54.58. While there were no world records for the ladies, there were still some fast performances. The Aussie women shined in the relays, winning 2 of 3. Sort of. Had they not gotten disqualified for their second win in the 4x200 freestyle relay (they jumped into the pool after they touched first in celebration—oops!) the Aussies would have taken 5 of 6 relays. Inge de Bruijn dominated the two freestyle sprints, winning both by at least half a second and was never challenged. Yana Klochkova of the Ukraine would win both IM’s, while also dominating the 400m freestyle, winning by over a body length. At her first major international meet Natalie Coughlin of United States would win a medal of each colour, winning her gold medal in the 100m backstroke, just a preview of the international career that lay before her. While she didn’t win gold in any of her events, American Kaitlin Sandeno was all over the face of the distance events, placing 5^th in the 400IM, winning bronze in the 200 fly, bronze in the 800 free, and 6^th in the mile. (Hannah Stockbauer would be the inaugural winner of the women’s mile in 16:01.02.) *There were some random problems with the touchpads over the course of the meet. For instance, in the 100 free Van den Hoogenband touched first according to the scoreboard, but the backup touch-pads gave the win to Ervin. After 2001 FINA decided to start hosting the meet every two years. In the next installment, in part deux, we will reconvene in Barcelona (2003), Montreal (2005) and Melbourne (2007). Main Image Credit - Marco Chiesa, SwimNews [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

You’ll be truckin’ along, crushing practices, beating those main sets as if they stole your lunch money until it happens… You fall ill. That chronic injury flares up during the biggest training week of the season. Or a combination of personal and social events combine to disrupt your practice schedule. It’s frustrating. And leaves you feeling more than a little irritated… After all: Once the injury/illness/drama passes, and you set back to training at full speed, you feel like you are playing catch-up, starting from scratch, having missed out on some glorious opportunities for improvement. But those setbacks don’t have to be so crushing. Here are a few powerful ways that you can get ahead of those training setbacks before they happen: How to Get Ahead of Training Setbacks Before They Happen

How to Get Ahead of Training Setbacks Before They Happen

Revisit your training history.

Odds are pretty good that your training habits are remarkably consistent not only in the context of a single workout, but also over the course of a training cycle or season. I saw it often, and experienced it as well:

The swimmer who would have a couple great workouts, and then sandbag the following one.
The athlete who could never complete a full week of training.
The swimmer who always got sick in the middle of hard training phases.
The guy or gal who got overwhelmed when exams came around, leading them to miss workouts.
And so on.

From cycle to cycle, season to season, these hangups were consistent with the swimmers I observed and trained with (and myself in the case of getting ill in the midst of difficult training). While it is understandable that we perpetually want to be looking forward, to making ourselves better as we move onwards, it is important to understand where we are starting from as well.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. – George Santayana

Plan for heavy training.

The load that swimmers carry is no joke. Two-a-days, an 11 month season, and more travel than you can shake a kickboard at. And this is on top of school, work, and any other commitments you manage to squeeze in to your 24 hour day. The totality of all the hard work can leave you vulnerable, particularly during the colder months of theyear. A study done on French top-level nageurs saw an increase of 50-70% in illness among swimmers during heavy bouts of training, with a marked uptick during the winter months. Knowing you are susceptible during the holiday training season, are you going to go with the “train and hope” approach of relying on luck to get you through unscathed? Or will you plan ahead by going to sleep early, staying on top of your nutrition, and making sure you are recovering to the fullest between workouts?

Similarly, those blocks of time in the school year where you are getting hammered with assignments and tests aren’t typically a surprise. Will you go play it day-by-day and hope that you are able to find the time to both study and training? Or will you plan for those periods of time when your time is at a premium by preparing and studying in advance? If you are unsure about the “sticky” points of the season where most swimmers tend to fall off or experience difficulty staying on track with the training regimen sit down with your coach and have an honest conversation about what you can do to prepare for those trying moments.

Log your workouts.

The best way to understand how fast you progress, and what kind of results you can expect with specific levels of consistency and effort is to monitor your performance in and out of the pool. You can spend your time asking your coach and teammates what is possible, and daydream about all the gains you will make in the pool when you totally and utterly commit yourself to the day-to-day grind, but until you put together a complete bird’s eye view of your training, you will be operating mostly in the dark. The reality is this: As athletes we tend to lack self-awareness. We over-exaggerate our setbacks, and underestimate the work we do in the pool. Or vice versa. The only way to truly know what to expect of ourselves—and better plan for the future—is to sit down and spend time monitoring our progress in the pool. [divider type="thin"]

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1. It's a rough road that leads to the heights of greatness.

2. Greatness is earned, never awarded.

3. Be not afraid of greatness...

4. If it's greatness you want, stop asking for permission.

5. True greatness consists in being great in little things.

6. Action is the dignity of greatness.

7. Expect that you will achieve greatness...

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Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

But no matter how well a swimmer trained in practice, inevitably they want to know how to make the most of their training. How to know that once they get up on the blocks, that both mind and muscles will work together in harmony to produce a result that is deserving of the hard work put in over the months and years in the pool. Here are 3 powerful ways to make sure that you are not only physically prepared to swim fast at the big meet, but mentally ready as well:

Be ready for conditions that are difficult or adverse.

This is a hard one, and something most swimmers struggle to accept as a necessary part of training. Look: Conditions are rarely perfect or even close when it comes down to the big meet. The weather is chilly. You’re late to the pool. You jam up your fingers on a fellow swimmer pushing off the wall during a jam-packed swim meet warm-up. Things will happen. How do we prepare for these moments? How do we develop the short term memory and the confidence necessary to be able to not only survive in conditions that aren’t ideal, but to be able to thrive in difficult circumstances? In a word: practice. Mental Toughness on the Blocks

If you are only willing to give a great effort at practice when everything is going 100% your way, than you will expect and require the same level of perfect circumstances in competition to perform your best. But if you can still set an in-practice best time at the end of a long week of training when you are bagged, or if you can hammer out the main set on a bad night of sleep, or with an extra draggy drag suit, or in a pool that has 9 other swimmers in your lane, than you begin to develop the type of resiliency and mental toughness that becomes so important when you step up on the blocks. Don’t shy away from the challenging stuff in practice. Be the swimmer that is not only willing to take on the hard sets, but be the swimmer that will do it when circumstances aren’t perfect, ideal, or even close to either.

Focus on the present.

Swim meets can be an overwhelming experience for the swimmer that gets lost in what is happening around them. There’s the fast swimming of others that makes us doubt whether we did enough in training to fulfill our own objectives. There’s the sudden fishbowl effect of standing up on the blocks, having all your teammates, friends and family staring at you. And the sometimes paralyzing realization that the race you are about to swim is a short and one-time reflection of all the time, energy and hard work that you have put in over the past few months. The simplest way to block out everything that is going around you—and some of the stuff that is going on in your own head—is to focus on the present. Swimming Fast Starts with Being Relaxed

After all, if you are getting lost in what the competition is doing, in the conditions of the meet, or on the high expectations of yourself for your performance, than you lose the relaxation and “mindfulness” that comes with focusing on the present. Being ready to race means being relaxed (mentally, if not physically). Think back to the last time you destroyed your best time in a 100-200 event. How would you describe the way you felt in the water? Relaxed? Like you almost could have gone faster? When you are relaxed, with slow and deep breaths, relaxed muscles, and a low heart rate you not only help ward off excess anxiety, you give your body a chance to perform in competition what you have been working on in practice.

Focus on execution.

Swimming fast is great. Awesome. Super great-awesome, in fact. There are fewer better and more satisfying feelings than looking up at the scoreboard and seeing a brand new best time and a number one beside our name (place, not lane). We fixate so much on that desired result, of the outcome of the event that we don’t give enough attention to the things we should be doing right now in order to get prepared. A straightforward way that I would keep my cool and focus on execution while racing was using a set of very simple cues. There was one that my coach always emphasized, and that I remember most to this day. It was: “easy speed.” Knowing that at times I could get a little, well, worked up behind the blocks and potentially go out like a bat out of hell on the front end of a race with little in reserve for a strong finish, before big races he would lay out a set of cues for each portion of the race. The following cues are for a long course 100m race—

For the start and breakout: “Explode to the surface!”
For the first 25-50m: “Easy speed!”
Into the turn: “Surf into the wall!”
For the 50-75m: “Attack!”
The last 25m: “Finish with everything you have!”

These cues were simple, and that was exactly the point.It kept me from overthinking things, and to focus on doing one thing at a time. In a race you shouldn’t have to be thinking about technique—that was the point of those thousands and thousands of meters and yards in practice. You shouldn’t get lost in what other swimmers are doing, and even though yes, it is a race, if you focus your entire race plan based on reacting to what other swimmers are doing it won’t work well for an overwhelming majority of swimmers. Be willing to train in adverse conditions... Focus on the moment... Focus on execution. [divider type="thin"]

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Improve my dolphin kicks.
Improve my back kick.
Improve my starts.
Faster rotation on my turn.
Improve my nutrition.
And on and on and on...

When you start thinking about the things you can improve, you will literally never run out of ideas.

There is always going to be a kajillion little things you can do to be better. And getting caught up in this is dangerous… Because soon enough that list will be so long, so unbelievably impossible, so overwhelming in scope and size, that you can’t help but grow discouraged and disheartened. What is the One Thing That Will Have the Biggest Impact on Your Swimming

ONE THING.

At last week’s Pan American Games Brazil’s Joao De Lucca turned a tentative 6^th after the first 50m of the men's 200m freestyle final. Given the caliber of the field, including experienced American national team members Michael Weiss and Michael Klueh, most onlookers would have been forgiven for thinking he was out of it. Instead, De Lucca charged back, splitting a sub-27 second split on the final 50m to win gold. When interviewed afterwards, De Lucca pointed out that he had cut back on junk food and partying in order to focus more diligently on his goals in the pool.

“It’s days like today you see how important it is to not do certain things.”

If there is one thing you can take away from this (besides not eating junk food and being out late at night with your friends when you are training the next morning), it’s this… Being successful in the pool doesn’t necessarily mean being great at 100 different things. You don’t even need to be great at 10 or 20 things. In fact, the big thing that is standing between you and the next level in your swimming isn’t a laundry list of things you need to do…

It’s that one thing.

That one thing, that if you changed, would send out a ripple effect so powerful that it would end up changing your swimming in more ways than you can possibly imagine. And it doesn’t have to be a massive thing, either. And that’s the secret power behind it… Because that one thing is usually a cornerstone of your swimming, something that once you change or improve begins to infect and bleed into the rest of your swimming. Here are a couple examples…

If you become absolutely diligent on getting your 8 hours of sleep you will not only recover faster, but you will also train better at your next workout, be in a better mood, cope with stress better, and so on. The effects of getting a good night’s sleep every night go far beyond just being rested.
If you promise to never miss a morning workout, not only will you be more consistent in training, but the dedication that it takes to never roll over on the alarm will encourage you to be more disciplined in other areas of your life and swimming as well. Soon enough that discipline will begin to appear when you want to do extra core work, or eat better, and so on.

When you pick that one thing, everything else sort of falls into place. For me, that one thing was being honest with myself about my workouts. Which meant writing them out… Ranking myself in terms of effort… And seeing exactly where I was doing well, and where I wasn’t. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

We have two swimmers. They have relatively the same genetic make up. Same height and weight, same size hands and feet. They both receive the same instruction from the same coach, insuring that their technique is largely the same. If they both perform one hundred hours of training in the pool, do you think that there results would be identical? The answer is almost certainly no. Small differences would snowball over time. The way each athlete develops that “feel” for the water would be different. The role of talent, that hard to describe and impossible to quantify variable, would play its role. And while you might not see much difference from day-to-day, over the span of a hundred hours, a hundred days, or a full season a chasm would separate the results of the two athletes. So what accounts for the difference? Is it innate ability? Is it that athlete number two didn’t “focus” hard enough during practice? In the pool there are certain things that you can control:

The motivation and “rage to master” in order to learn and apply yourself.
Putting in the hours, showing up and dutifully and purposefully working towards improving.

Are mastering the above aspects to your performance enough to send you careening into the stratosphere of excellence in the pool? You will be good, possibly really good, but without some assistance in the genetics and “talent” lottery it will be a whole lot harder.

What is Talent, Per Se?

When you see a swimmer that is talented, what has led this athlete to be labeled as such? Is it because they simply swim faster than the other swimmers in their lane? Is it because they make swimming fast look easy? And given that we have a hard time determining specifically what makes one athlete talented versus another, it begs another question: At which point do we tell athletes who are determined to achieve a specific level of success in the sport that they don’t have what it takes to do so?

“You can only measure one’s potential after his career.” – Gianluigi Buffon

I wish I could give a one-size-fits-all answer, but there is not one. The answer for each swimmer is as unique as their swimming abilities and circumstance. At the end of the day, if you are passionate about the sport, love the day-to-day activities associated with it, and wouldn’t rather do anything else, than why not continue swimming?

Our Obsession with High Performance

I suspect the reason people are so obsessed with talent and wanting to know if hard work can overcome genetic or environmental limitations is for two reasons: 1. They need the comfort of knowing that they could achieve excellence if they really wanted to. It’s reassuring to know that we are just as good as the best athletes on the planet, that if we truly wanted it bad enough that we could be there too. If only we put in that certain number of hours, we could be on the top of the podium. And while this is a warm blanket of comfort for when we are sitting on the couch eating a bag of Doritos watching elite athletes perform in the television, it’s simply not true. At some point you have stumbled across the 10,000 hours rule popularized by Malcom Gladwell in his book Outliers. In case you have missed it, here is what the 10k rule is essentially all about: that anyone, given the opportunity to perform 10,000 hours of deliberate and purposeful practice can attain mastery in a field. Wanna be the next Mozart? 10,000 hours. Michael Phelps? 10,000 hours. Steve Jobs? 10,000 hours. The idea is a noble and highly attractive one: that we can democratize excellence. That achieving at a peak level—not only in the pool but on the track, or on the court—is freely available to everyone, as long as you are willing to put in the work required. It allows our brains a simple way to summarize how excellence happens: “Oh, Bobby who crushed a couple NAG’s last weekend? Obviously well on his way to putting in his 10,000.” But, as research has shown, the amount of deliberate practice invested only accounts for 18% of an athlete’s performance. So while it does play an influential role, it’s not the be-all and end-all that the 10k rule proposes itself to be. 2. They want to know if they should put the effort in. Suspecting that they don’t have the innate talent that some of their peers might have, they want to know if a lack of talent or physical gifts can be overcome so that they can insert confidence and value into pushing forward into giving their all. Hedging their bets, as it were.

In Summary

In writing this post I understand that it may come across as being bleak or dreary. That wasn’t the intent. It’s not a call for swimmers who perceive themselves as being not as talented to abandon their goals or the sport. At the end of the day, if you love the sport, you enjoy the rewards of seeing your hard work produce results, who really cares? Swimming in and of itself is not a destination—you don’t become a great swimmer one day down the road; you become a great swimmer slowly over time by showing up to practice and giving your best effort consistently. The rewards you reap go far beyond best times and personal achievements. They come in developing character, resilience, patience, and having a great time extending your limits. Having the self-awareness to know that you won’t be crushing world records, and to be okay with it to the point that you can still train and enjoy the sport we both love, is a skill that will extend into “real life” as well: knowing your strengths and weaknesses is an undervalued skill in today’s age, where we are all taught that we can do absolutely anything we want as long as we put in the work. What do you think? Are swimmers made or are they born? [divider type="thin"]

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A Strong Kick = Faster Swimming

The point of doing all the leg-specific work isn’t solely to develop a strong kick for the benefit of having a strong kick; but to improve your overall swimming speed. 3 Reasons You Need to Do More Kick

Improving your kick should fit in the overall plan to becoming a faster swimmer. For many swimmers the legs are just two pieces of driftwood that trail their over-worked upper body and arms, and whether it is because they feel they are forever destined to have a mediocre kick, or whether they avoid it because they don’t like not being good at something, these swimmers are missing out on a powerful range of benefits that a good kick provides.

1. A strong kick gives you better body positioning (a.k.a. less drag).

When your kick slows, all too often our hips drop, leaving our shoulders to take the full brunt of the workload with the added drag of your legs and feet angling towards the bottom of the pool. Fast swimmers recognize that a consistent, powerful kick keeps their body flat along the surface of the water, while also minimizing the additional drag that can be crushing to a swimmer’s propulsion. This is especially in the case of sprint freestylers, who aim to skip and hydroplane across the top of the water. Having a devastating kick is necessary to keep the shoulders up out of the water and attacking and rolling forward.

2. A strong kick provides propulsion.

One reason swimmers avoid doing kick-centric work is that the propulsion that comes from kicking isn’t as intuitive as the results you get from pulling. When you try to pull harder you can see and feel the effects quite literally in front of your face. With kicking on the other hand the increase in velocity isn’t quite as noticeable as all the action is happening behind you. But the reality is plain as day: You look at any elite swimmer, they have absolute powerhouse legs. Michael Phelps could box squat 300 pounds for 20 reps. Ryan Lochte can underwater dolphin kick a long 50m in 23.49 seconds. Alexander Popov, probably the greatest sprint freestyler in history, could kick 50m with a kickboard in 27 seconds. Long course.

3. A strong kick keeps your stroke together.

You know the feeling well, whether it happened in a race, or more frequently in practice: You’ll be blasting along, and inevitably you feel the effects of the effort, with your legs slowing from a 6-beat motor to a 2 beat stutter kick. Perhaps what is most noticeable is how quickly your stroke falls apart at this stage. Your entry gets sloppy, your hands start to slip during the catch and pull, and your legs feel like they are suddenly kicking through air. As your stroke falls apart, forward propulsion plummets. Having very fit and strong legs can help delay this inevitable collapse, and help you keep your stroke together long enough to power you to the wall with speed. What will you do to incorporate focused kick work at practice today? [divider type="thin"]

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7 Experiences Swimmers Know All Too Well

1. The exhilarating and unbridled pride of besting a PB.

It all happens in a moment—you crash into the wall in a flurry of white water, look up, and see a time emblazoned in digital numbers that you always dreamed of, but never swam—until now. In a rush you experience it all: pride, satisfaction, happiness, relief, and the sense of possibility at what is possible with hard work. It’s a rewarding moment, and the exact feeling that pushes us through the morning workouts, the long test sets, the solitary laps late at night and early on Saturdays.

2. The impossible workout that suddenly wasn’t so impossible.

I don’t know about your coach, but I had one back in the day who would brag about that impossible workout. He would let us know 4-5 days in advance that a workout was coming that was so hard, so difficult, so impossible that he wondered how many of us would be able to finish it. Looking back now I understand what he was doing, trying to build us to be mentally resilient to face challenges. Back then, however, all the advance warning did was cause a general sense of stress amongst the group. A couple swimmers would inevitably get psyched out enough to the point that they’d fall mysteriously ill the night before the big session. But once we all got in, and the workout got going, and faced the challenge of that impossible set, and eventually overcame it, we realized we were a little tougher than we initially gave ourselves credit for.

3. The extra adrenaline surge of swimming really fast in a high pressure situation.

These are the scenarios swimmers dream of while they lay in bed at night: with the meet on the line, our swimmer stands up on the blocks to anchor the medley relay against their arch-rival. They dive in, make up lost ground, and riding a surge of adrenaline, a 6^th gear they never knew they had, out-touch the competition at the wall for the win. Jason Lezak described it as a second rush of adrenaline on the closing leg of the 4x100 freestyle relay in Beijing. And yes, it is awesome.

4. Doing something in practice you couldn’t do a couple short weeks prior.

All that work in the pool, all those meters and yards back and forth, up and down, early and late in the day—it’s all for something, right? Those moments where you suddenly realize—sweet molasses, I am actually getting in better shape!—are the best. Whether you don’t get as gassed after warm up, or manage to perform on the main set and not just survive it, the validation of your commitment is a satisfying moment, and tends to encourage even more meters and yards!

5. The struggle that is choosing a lane during meet warm-up.

We’ve all been there. That swim meet. The one where there was a only 6-lane pool and 1,000+ swimmers in attendance. You get to the pool for the first session, survey the stands overflowing with swimmers and then look at the pool, which resembles a colorful cauldron of bubbling arms, caps and bobbing heads. The walls are so clogged that you need to stop at the flags and wait in line to push off, and once a sprint lane opens up the line is so long it begins to look like the lane is having a Black Friday sale. The only saving grace? You know the competition is getting just as a frustrating warmup as you are. Michael Phelps This is My Nightmare

6. Swimming a killer race…and then getting DQ’d.

The start went off without a hitch. You nailed your breakout. Your stroke felt relaxed, powerful and smooth. And then there was that one turn where your shoulder dipped a little too far in anticipation of a lightning-quick turnaround. Nevertheless, you push on, touch the wall and look up to see a new personal best time. Jumping out a sense of dread has already enveloped you, and you hope and pray that the official at the end of your lane wasn’t talking about you when conferring with other officials after your race. You even slink away in the hopes that if they don’t have a chance to talk to you, than the DQ won’t count. But alas, as you make your escape, a brief announcement punctures the air, “We have a disqualification in the previous heat in lane 6.” D'oh.

7. “Take your marks…stand up.”

Ah, if there is a way to frustrate 8 swimmers in exactly the same fashion at exactly the same moment this is it. You’ve fully primed yourself up to race, beat your chest a few times, carried out your pre-race routine, and are ready to get down to business when the starter decides that he doesn’t like the cut of someone’s jib on the blocks. “Stand down swimmers.” Most swimmers will recover from this hiccup, and truthfully, we should be mentally resilient enough to refocus when this happens. Nevertheless, it doesn’t make it any less annoying or jarring when it does happen. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Gonna give this Auburn sprint set a rip today. How hungry am I going to be after this set @BrettHawke? pic.twitter.com/YE9bFPNr7Q
— YourSwimBook.com (@YourSwimBook) July 27, 2015

To which Coach Hawke replied:

Very! 🍌🍞🍗🍮 https://t.co/ZApAUKxhOD — Brett Hawke (@BrettHawke) July 27, 2015

Here is how the set was laid out: Auburn Sprint Set

Unfortunately, I had to make a couple alterations to the set:

The pool I swam in today was meters, not yards.
Because of this (and mainly because I didn’t notice that there were two rounds of 25’s at :60) I did 9 rounds instead of 10.
As I progressed through the set, I had to take less rest between the last few rounds. This was because there was an aqua fit class coming in at 6:00pm, giving me *only* 2:15 to do the full workout.

My goals for the workout weren't necessarily time based, although I would be happy holding 13's all the way through:

Maintain deadly streamlines and breakouts throughout, with a minimum of 4 dolphin kicks on each push-off.
To keep awesome technique for absolutely as long as possible. In other words, to delay FTD (Full Technical Disintegration).

So with my workout in tow, I skipped on down (not really) to the local YMCA pool to torment the local lap swimmers. Here is how the workout went down:

Round 1: 10 x 25 @:60

Feeling pretty glorious! Was able to average 13 flats without having to go fully all out. The public swimmer I was sharing the lane with didn’t look overly impressed as I went through the reps. All the waiting at the walls and then the suddenly violent swimming was causing some confusion apparently. Note: swimmers in moderate lane not overly pleased. Waves are washing over the lane rope into their lane, making head up breaststroke challenging.

Round 2: 10 x 25 @:55

Still rollin’, crushing the 13 flats. The streamline and breakout felt tight, and relatively drag free. Clearly frustrated, the public swimmer gets out, stares at me, then stomps off to the change room. Apparently not a fan of the waves.

Round 3: 10 x 25 @:50

Starting to get a little sweaty. You can tell that you are doing work when you feel the sweat rolling off your forehead at the walls. On rep 5 a blur of a body and what appeared to be XXL swimming trunks pass through my vision. More critically, the blur’s foot crosses the black line and I nearly head-punch it with my face. By the time I get to the wall they have moved over to the “moderate lane.”

Round 4: 10 x 25 @:45

Mostly :13’s, but was fairly winded by the end of the round. At this point I realize that I have had Rihanna’s “We Found Love” in my head for the better part of ten minutes on repeat in my head. Racking my brain to figure out where I heard it earlier… New public swimmer gets into the lane. We split it, giving me the wall side. Left hand and pool-side ladder become acquainted on two occasions, and somehow manage to straight arm one of the lights on the wall. Still not sure how.

Round 5: 10 x 25 @:40

The reality of the set is beginning to set in. I manage a 13 sec rep on the first one, and then steadily slow to a series of 14’s. In crunching the numbers I am realizing that there is no way I am going to have time to finish the set with how much time I have left. Accept that I will have to cut the rest between rounds down to a couple minutes of wall-hugging at the end of each round. Also, if they “found love” did they lose it in the first place? Why would you go and lose it, RiRi?

Round 6: 10 x 25 @:35

Starting to slow down a bit. The speed isn't quite as peppy as it in previous rounds. Nevertheless, I am convinced that the water jug I've packed full of enough BCAA's to clone a dinosaur will help me get through it. Too tired to take goggles off my eyes at the end of the round.

Round 7: 10 x 25 @:30

The struggle has become real struggley. Form is starting to deteriorate, fast. A few of the push-offs include a slightly longer glide than in previous rounds. Shoulders are starting to seize up, and the heels of my feet are beginning to cramp up. Getting the feeling that my stroke is starting to T-Rex a little bit. More notably, “We Found Love” has suddenly been supplanted by Lou Bega’s “Mambo No. 5.” I have officially entered my nightmare.

Round 8: 10 x 25 @:25

On the first two reps I am able to keep some semblance of technique. On the remainder I contracted a serious case of FTD. Breathing to my off-side in order to give dominant shoulder a break. Doesn’t seem to be helping much. The streamlines are still pretty legit, but am now breathing every two strokes, and hand entry is starting to slip. Manage to swim an ugly 15 flat on the last rep. Hang onto the side of the pool for 4 and ½ minutes before the final round…

Round 9: 10 x25 @:20

Sweet molasses this got ugly. Debated strapping on the fins, but figured I had come this far, might as well finish it off with a bang, even if it was more of a whimper. The first and last reps were 15 flats. The remainder of the reps were completed in around 16 to 17 seconds, just enough to take 1-2 haggard breaths at the wall before setting off. In terms of technical proficiency, I wouldn’t say it was very impressive. Both shoulders were essentially numb and locked up for after the first rep, with my stroke count sky rocketing as I fully engaged my little T-Rex arms. The last couple were...well, agonizing. As the aqua fit class seized the pool, I beached myself onto the deck of the pool and lay there like a dying whale for somewhere between 2 and 15 minutes. I am not totally sure how long for certain. Had a bit of a fatigue blackout.

In Summary

I learned and remembered a few things today:

Rihanna found some love.
No wonder Auburn has a world class sprint program doing sets like that.
Public lap swimmers generally don’t like people sprinting up and down the pool. (Sorry I'm not sorry?)
Limits are meant to be punched in the face. Before today the most meters of high quality work I had done in one session was 1,100m. Doubled it and change.
I'm going to sleep like a baby tonight.
And yes, Coach Hawke, the hunger pangs were out of this world when I finally managed to scrap my life together and walk off the pool deck.

Image courtesy of Auburn Athletics [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

The turns we do in practice are the turns we do in competition. The breathing patterns we perform in workouts are the breathing patterns we execute during our races. So knowing this, that our training habits fundamentally create the performances when it matters most, it would behoove swimmers to start to work on creating better and more productive habits in the pool. But where to start? How to Fix Your Bad Training Habits

It’s easy to go crazy and write out a list of 29 different things you want to improve in the water, but often these huge lists leave us feeling overwhelmed. And even when we do kick off down the path of smarter swimming, we create circumstances that are designed to make us fail and ultimately have us feeling underwhelmed and discouraged with the process. Here is how to start fixing your training habits in the pool so that you can punch those best times in the face at your next meet:

Fix the environment.

Often we look at swimmers who have great workout habits and think to ourselves:

They must have superhuman levels of willpower. That’s how they do it!

As a result we figure that we need to lean exclusively on willpower to get us through those first few attempts at doing the right thing. But then when we stumble or drop the ball on the new habit, we immediately punish ourselves mentally:

See, knew you couldn’t do it. Obviously you don’t have as much willpower as Gary, so of course you couldn’t stick with it.

Willpower is a tool that you can use, yes, but standing alone it is weak in the face of your pre-existing habits and behaviors. Level the odds by making the environment more supportive of your goals. Making morning workouts is an easy example. If you’re trying to get into the habit of making 100% of them, make getting up at the ungodly hour of 5am as easy as possible. Lay out your gear the night before, pre-pack your bag, and put together a morning routine that increases the likelihood you will get your butt out of bed early. Another is surrounding yourself with positive teammates and influences. We all have those people in our lives that make building new habits more difficult. The teammate that encourages you to take shortcuts over the course of a workout. The friend who derides your goals in the pool, telling you that it is only “one practice, what’s the big deal?” Having people in your environment can make a massive difference in whether those changes stick or not. Do everything you can to manipulate the environment so that it promotes and supports your goals. It’s crazy to think how often we gloss over trying to make the environment more supportive of our goals and instead stubbornly lean on the fickleness of willpower.

Start smaller.

How often have you set yourself an ambitious new habit and then found yourself a little overwhelmed by the scope and nature of the change you want to inflict? Perhaps you recognize some of my greatest hits:

I am going to give 100% effort, 100% of the time! I am going to do 10 underwater dolphin kicks off of every wall, forever! I am going to swim every stroke with absolutely perfect technique, until the end of the time!

These goals and habits are great. Well-intentioned, to be sure. But depending on where you are starting, they can be wholly unrealistic. If you are having trouble getting 2-3 underwater dolphin kicks off of each wall presently, and you try to level up to doing 10, than you might be able to stick to it for a little while, a few walls at least, but then what? You miss one, and then suddenly the whole idea of habit change collapses in on itself.

See, knew I couldn’t do it!

(It’s infuriating how some of our self-talk can be indescribably not nice.) The solution? Start smaller. Yes, this might drive some of you nuts, especially those who expect long term results to happen in the short term. But doing an extra two dolphin kicks per wall every day for 6 months will always trump doing 10 dolphin kicks off every wall for one week. Don't Be The Swimmer That Expects Long Term Results with Short Term Effort

Don't Be The Swimmer That Expects Long Term Results with Short Term Effort

The strongest aspect of starting small, of taking tiny, but incremental steps, is that it isn’t jarring or overwhelming. The discomfort of change isn’t so scary that the moment you stumble it doesn’t send you crashing back to earth, and as a result, it is much more sustainable. Which transitions quite neatly into…

The occasional one-off setback isn’t a dealbreaker.

A habit is a weird thing. It’s not something we create one day and then can leave to its own devices. It takes a very long time to get to the point that it is automatic (just how long depends on the difficulty of the habit change—typically over two months). It requires commitment and attention long after we have decided to create it. When you understand this, that habit change is an ongoing process, it should be easier to forgive yourself for the occasional screw-up. The ultimate marker of whether someone is successful with implementing new habits isn’t how perfectly they do it, it’s how quickly they bounce back from their “ah screw it days” and get back on track. Missing a day isn’t a deal breaker. Missing two in a row on the other hand? That’s when you get into trouble.

In Closing

Habits can be insanely powerful things. And once they are ingrained you can largely forget them. You simply are the swimmer that show up and works hard every day. You are simply the athlete who makes better food choices when out with your friends. You are simply are the swimmer who shows up for every morning workout. When that habit has been around long enough, it becomes a part of your identity. It becomes a part of who you are. So create an environment that supports your habits. Start small. And stick with it after the occasional stumble. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

2. The Roadtrips.

The swimming road trips in our childhood are typically replaced by weekend trips to music festivals and random road trips with friends later in life, but they miss that certain excitement of being away from home that you got from going away for swim meets. The car rides back and forth from the meet venue were often filled with loud pump up music, bad singalongs, and more lukewarm hotel pasta than you can shake a kickboard at, but time only seems to give the memories a brighter shine. (My own rookie mistake: head-banging for the first time as an 11-year old with the senior group on the way to a meet to “Bohemian Rhapsody” left my neck unbelievably sore for the rest of the weekend.)

3. Those Moments When It All Came Together.

The hours and hours had been invested. You made all those early mornings. Shied away from those family-sized bags of Doritos when out with friends. And you paid extra attention during the main sets. You got up on the blocks with a quiet confidence that comes with being prepared, and the swim that followed exceeded even your own expectations and hopes. The moment you crashed into the wall with a massive surge, looked up at the scoreboard, saw the “1” beside your name, and a time faster than you considered possible. Yeah. That moment.

4. Putting Together Psych-up Tunes.

There are certain songs that I look back on now and can strongly identify with particular meets I went to as a kid. A particular song I latched onto as my psych-up song for a full weekend of swimming. They were the tracks whose lyrics seemed to describe perfectly the situation or motivation I was experiencing at the time, and to this day when I hear those tracks I can’t help but get a little fired up.

5. The Grind.

Yes, there were moments where you hated it. Where you complained about having to get up at 4:45am to go to the pool and swim to the point of exhaustion for two hours. Or the times where coach made everyone redo a whole set because somebody didn’t do the breathing pattern properly. But even though you complained, you always went back. You knew there was still work to do, and that even if it was hard, it was worth it.

6. The Homies.

Your swimmer friends are your thunder buddies. Some you will be best friends with till the end of time, while others will come in and out of your life as the years go by. But the closeness you develop over the months of years and training is hard to replicate in the real world. After all, you and your teammates were fully in it together. You experienced not only the struggle together; the hell weeks, going to altitude, the endless lactate threshold sets, but also the shared sense of purpose, the shared accomplishment of doing something as a group and team.

7. Diving into an empty lane.

It’s hard to describe those first few moments when you dive into a quiet pool. A sense of detachment from the real world? Of being separated from whatever is going on the rest of your life? For many swimmers, even though the pool is the site of a lot of hard work and misery, it is also their own little happy place, somewhere they can go when they need to get out of their own head and out of whatever is happening outside of the lane lines.

8. Black line therapy.

Times get stressful as a kid. The pressures of school and of growing into yourself can often feel overwhelming. And while those sources of stress will change as you charge into adulthood, that black line will always be there. The black line, and its quiet, non-judging company gave you an outlet to release the stress and frustration you are experiencing in the rest of your life. It might not have fixed all of the things going on in your life, but the clarity and feel-betterness that came from swimming up and down that black line definitely helped.

9. The buzz you got from a great workout.

Sure, you’ll experience this in similar ways later in life. It won’t be the same, though. This is because swimming was your first love when it came to pushing your physical boundaries. It showed you what was possible, and pushed your expectations and limits to levels you thought unreachable. The times that coach scrawled up a set that left you slack-jawed. Those 50k weeks of training. Those 100x25 at 100m race pace. These were the moments of real struggle and challenge, and when you not only persevered, but excelled in those moments of adversity, you walked out of the pool with a little bounce in your step and feeling about six inches taller.

10. The sense that the sport is yours.

Swimming will never be a top-4 major sport in North America. (Sorry, Michael.) Proof of this comes when ESPN is more likely to air coverage from arm-wrestling matches than break to Katie Ledecky’s utter domination of the freestyle events at the 2015 FINA World Championships. Perhaps because of this the connection between swimmers and their sport is remarkably tight. We know that it wasn’t going to make us famous, or rich, or lead to extravagant endorsement deals. We swam because we loved it. Because at the end of the day we’d rather be nowhere else than gliding through the water. We swam because in the most profound sense, the sport is ours. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Are you ready and willing to finally test the limits of your swimming and see how fast you can truly go? Here is your playbook, your “Art of War,” your little list of 15 rules to achieve those monster swims: 15 Rules for a Monster Swim Season

1. Do things a little bit better every day.

It’s natural to want to make the big, drastic improvements. In reality, dropping big chunks of time off your best time doesn’t come from doing something right once, it comes from doing a whole bunch of little things right consistently.

2. The details matter.

It’s crazy to think how often races end up coming down to who kept their head down at the finish, or who had a slightly tighter streamline off that last wall. The way that you perform these seemingly innocuous aspects of your swimming in practice is the way you do them in competition, so don’t neglect them.

3. Remember that progress is rugged.

You are going to get banged up, challenged and bruised on your way to improving in the pool. Understanding that the process isn’t easy will serve you well in those moments of difficulty in the months ahead.

4. You’re tougher than you imagine.

Our limits are largely the construct of exaggerated beliefs and past experience. Remember the last time coach put up a set that you thought was impossible? And you ended up doing it? Yeah. That time. And the host of others as well. You are tougher than you give yourself credit for.

5. Surround yourself with swimmers who are doing it right.

Trying to level up your swimming is tough enough, doing it with teammates and friends who are content to swim in the waters of mediocrity is tougher. Choose the people you associate with carefully; all too often they are a reflection of you and eventually, your results.

6. Excellence requires full time effort.

Putting in the effort at the pool is one thing, but if you are sabotaging it by staying up late, eating poorly, and not taking care of yourself out of the pool, it waters down the hard work you are putting in.

7. Log your workouts in the pool.

Consistency over the course of a full swimming season is tough. There will always be distractions, setbacks, injuries and illness. Write out your workouts daily to keep yourself accountable and keep your intensity in practice elevated.

8. Keep it simple.

It’s always the simple things that make the biggest difference: attendance, work ethic, sleep habits. Master the fundamentals first, the things that make up 98% of your performance, and leave the other 2% for when you are crushing the basics.

9. Be grateful.

Yes, getting up at 5am for morning workouts isn’t the greatest. Nor is Hell Week or spending yet another weekend away from your friends from school. But swimming-- and the myriad of benefits it will provide you from building character, consistency and toughness-- is worth being grateful for.

10. Stop looking for reasons you can’t swim at an epic level.

The easiest thing to do is to look at something challenging or hard or that hasn’t been done before and say, “I can’t.” Instead, you should be asking, “Why not me?”

11. Master the process, master the results.

Big goals are great and necessary, they give us motivation and something to strive for. But a championship swimmer isn’t made on race day. They are forged in the day-to-day grind of falling in love with the process. 15 Rules for a Monster Swim Season

12. Don’t be afraid to fully commit.

Top level swimmers have insane levels of personal integrity. When they say that they are going to do something, that they are going to commit to a specific goal, they do it. A funny thing happens when you fully commit to something—your world seems to bend around it in order to make it come to fruition.

13. Be the teammate you want to have.

Some of my best memories from my age group swimming days aren’t necessarily the best times and records (though those were nice), it was the moments where an older swimmer lent a word of encouragement. Or when the team all got up to cheer for me. Those moments matter a lot more than you realize, so take the steps to be that teammate regularly.

14. Get the help you need.

Here’s a fun fact: you don’t need to struggle towards your goals on your own. Your coaches are there to provide not only technical assistance and programming guidance, but to help motivate you in times of struggle. Similarly with your parents. Share your goals with the people that matter. You don’t need to step into the arena alone.

15. Have fun.

Yes, this might come off as a little ridiculous. How can swimming 40k+ per week plus dry-land sound like fun? Well, improving is fun. Challenging your limits is fun. Pushing teammates to levels they never thought capable is fun. And yes, destroying those goals at the season is a whole metric ton of fun. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

SEE ALSO: 5 Tricks for a Faster Swim Start

But in 1998, in Perth, he would blast out with an absolutely unbelievable start that leveled the field, leaving everyone to try and play catch up. Pilczuk would win in 22.29 ahead of Popov and hometown favorite Michael Klim. Here is the video from that race: Former Auburn coach David Marsh glowed when recounting Pilczuk's journey a few months after that world championship win:

It hasn’t been easy for Bill. It’s been something he’s had to work very hard at. He didn’t have the financial support and raw talent of the typical championship swimmer. If he doesn’t accomplish anything beyond winning a world title, he’s already beaten the odds.

In researching the piece (which you can read here), there was repeated mention of Pilczuk working on his start a lot.

When I asked him recently-- he is now a coach for the men's and women's program at Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia-- what "a lot" meant, here is what he had to say:

To give you a rough estimate of what working on starts a lot meant... Some days, when the 15m pool was open, they'd have to tell us to leave because we wanted to break the record of the pool in every stroke. Maybe 50 on those days. We would do at least 10 runners and 20 starts a day throughout a workout. Dean [Hutchinson-- he was team captain senior year at Auburn] and I would stay after and get about 10 on our own every single practice. We had to duck tape our back toes because the grip tape tore the skin off.

Now a coach, I asked Pilczuk if he would like to share some tips on how the rest of us can improve our starts. Here are Bill Pilczuk's four tips for developing a more explosive start:

1. Flexibility

Without ever stepping foot on a block, you can improve your potential for a great start through flexibility training. The ability to find the best joint position for your body size, is key for an optimal start. Learning a great start requires you to have the ability to manipulate your body on the starting platform to get into the most powerful position. Many swimmers can only get into one position due to a lack of flexibility in their plantar flexors, knee and hip extensors and low back muscles. When a coach tries to help the athlete find a better angle or stance, or the athlete tries to relax in the set position, they are unable.

2. Stance

Once you have achieved better flexibility, you will be able to manipulate your center of gravity on the block with your joint angles. In general, your feet will be just inside shoulder width apart – think where you would put your feet before trying to dunk or block a spike. Now step back with one leg to a distance that puts your center of gravity in your control – usually stepping back twice the length of your foot staying on the balls of your feet. Your hands grip the block at shoulder width with palms not resting on the platform. Practice changing your hip angles, knee angles and foot position.

3. Arm pull

Once you find the perfect, balanced stance, and have a good grip on the blocks, you need to concentrate on the pull of your arms against your back leg. Pulling on the block allows you to increase your power by using your arms and legs to create momentum. If the block is slightly loose, it should rock back with the force of the pull like a see-saw. The arms not only help to increase your power, but help to keep your center of gravity moving in a straight line off the blocks, instead of a rainbow. After you pull/push, your front toes should be over the lip of the block, ready to continue your line-drive off the blocks, extending horizontally forward.

4. Speed in - Speed out

Kind of obvious, but at no time in a swimming race will you come close to the speed you have in the first 5m of a race because of water’s resistance. The goal of a start is to develop as much power as possible off the blocks, and hold the speed you develop in the air into the hole and up through the breakout. Think of a rock skipping across the water or a spear hitting the water. The angle each hits the top of the water, will determine how fast it will travel and where it will go. Your angle of entry will vary depending on body size, but the goal is to keep your speed off the block underwater and through the first full stroke cycle. ** A big thank you to Bill Pilczuk for taking the time to share this information. You can stay up to date with his program at the SCAD Athletics website. [divider type="thin"]

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

From putting together a comprehensive underwater dolphin kick guide, to sets for developing kick power, we’ve covered reasons to work both on your underwater fly kick and your flutter kick. Why so much focus on kick? Well… Simply put: Elite swimmers understand the importance of having a monster kick. From Popov to Phelps the greats all have otherworldly kicks that help drive them across the pool at rocket speed. They intuitively understand that having a very strong lower body not only helps you propel through the water faster (that sounds important!), but it can also help you maintain body position and stroke integrity in the latter portions of your workouts and races. In other words, a strong kick helps you swim like a demon and stops you from dying so bad at the tail-end of your races. Over the course of this series of articles I have occasionally heard the argument that because a swimmer has a bad kick, they should simply focus on their upper body more. Or that because the legs are the biggest muscles in the body, and as a result tire quicker, kick work should be avoided. Baloney. It’s precisely those swimmers that should be working on their kick. Yes, your legs are thick with muscle. But avoiding training them simply because you presently perceive them as a weakness means you are leaving a ton of added speed on the table. At the end of the day, if you want to swim fast you need to be able to kick fast. Period. A Kick Set for Faster Foot Speed in the Water

A Kick Set for Faster Foot Speed in the Water

What You Need to Know About This Set

Recently I did a kick workout that was designed specifically for the sprint to middle distance crowd. It’s purpose was to accomplish a handful of things:

Help you learn to kick in a narrow, drag-reduced position.
Develop power and strength in your legs while doing a technically efficient kick.
Teach you to focus on the up-kick portion on your kick.
Building general aerobic capacity in your legs.
While also translating these aspects to your swimming so that you can add your awesome new kick to your stroke and move faster through the water.

Before we jump into the set, here are the things/terms you need to know:

"Happy Feet/Mail Slot" Kick:

This is a freestyle kicking drill that is the main focus of the set. With a kickboard (or in a streamline with a snorkel), this is kicking where you focus specifically on kicking very quickly from the ankles while keeping the slimmest possible profile in the water. This kind of kicking is fun, you will sense as though you are skipping across the top of the water (which is the goal) from the low drag. Remember: fast, loose (happy!) feet, sleek profile in the water. You, my chlorinated homeslice, are the Sunday paper and you are going to kick right through the mail slot.

Single Leg Kicking:

Single leg kicking is great for a couple reasons:

It requires you to brace your core in order to stabilize your body in the water. Bracing your core also has the benefit of giving you a stronger body line. You’ll notice that the moment you tighten your belly and glutes that your hips will nearly rise up out of the water. This is a good thing. It simulates the body position you want when swimming so don’t fight it.
And you can really dial in on the up-kick in order to maintain a steady rate of propulsion. In other words, you shouldn’t be stopping and starting when doing single leg kick. The goal is to keep a steady speed, requiring you to kick with equal force on both the upward and downward phases of the kick.

With the single leg kicking you want to carry over the narrow and fast aspects of Happy Feet kicking. (So basically, you are doing single leg Happy Feet kick.)

Cruise Swimming:

There are some cruise 50s (70-80% intensity) at the end of each round. With these 50’s of moderate intensity swimming you are going to carry those loose, fast feet, your braced core, and your active up-kick and incorporate it into your swimming. This is the moment where we apply the stuff we were working on while on the kickboard, so remember to stay focused and keep your kick fast and awesome.

The Options Are Endless:

There are countless ways to adapt this set. Play around with the distances, the intervals, and how many rounds you go through the set. As long as you are doing it with money technique, and adhering to the focus points of the set, screw around with the set as much as ya like. Similarly, feel free to throw on some gear for this set. I like to mix up my kick work with short fins, and also wearing short fins and DragSox (my new favorite piece of swim gear). Also, don’t stress too much about rest or intervals. At heart this is a technical set, so take the required rest in order to do it properly. And with all of that out of the way here we gooooo…

THE SET

3 rounds through--

200 free kick with board Happy Feet

200 free kick with board single leg [alternate legs by 50]

<Rest-- :15 sec from the next :60 or :30>

4x50 swim cruise @1

Round 1: Regular kick
Round 2: Short fins + DragSox
Round 3: Short fins

Questions?

If you have questions about the set, hit me up on Twitter @YourSwimBook and I will do my best to address it. Happy kicking!

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

1. We still keep abreast of swimming news.

Even though we don’t train for awesomeness anymore, the interest in the sport remains. Especially with respect to our teammates and the competition to see where we woulda or coulda been had we kept swimming. The level 10 remote control freakouts we have when swimming randomly appears on the television will never completely go away.

2. The first time we are winded from climbing a flight of stairs is a humbling experience.

Sure there were those times after a rugged week of training where we could barely lift our arms, let alone walk. But now, with no training to fall back on as an excuse, we have seen the depths to which our cardiovascular fitness has plummeted when we need to pause halfway up the stairs to take a couple breaths.

3. You realize that you might have mistaken discipline for obedience.

Sports teaches us a lot about responsibility and discipline. But to be fair, a lot of times having not only your teammates in the water to race against but a coach on deck screaming at you made sticking to the plan a lot easier. With our physical fitness and health needs now completely in our hands, we find that it can be difficult to find something that envelops us as fully as swimming. Rec leagues provide some stimulation, and working out on your own at the gym provides too much of that “Hey, I don’t actually have to be here if I don’t want to!” freedom that we were lacking over so many years.

4. Seeing the up-and-comers is a mix of nostalgia and awe.

Sure, you were that fast kid too at one point. But now they seem to be coming up a whole lot faster, making you wonder if you’d had better training how much faster you could have been.

5. You can’t get away with eating like a garbage truck anymore.

It was a bit ludicrous how much food you could eat and still have that robust set of abs. After all, you could eat a six-pack of cakes and know that you’d burn it off with one good session at the pool. Now, with that lack of activity that six-pack of cakes has turned into a couple tortured nibbles and bites here and there.

6. Your time management is slippin’.

Swimming provided a lot of things to us; it was where we met our friends, got into crazy shape, and pushed our boundaries on a nearly daily basis. But it also provided something else—a strong sense of structure. You had to manage your time effectively around it. Now, with all that extra time freeing up you find that an assignment that would have taken 45 minutes while you were swimming can now be leisurely stretched out over 2-3 hours.

7. We think about how we will guide our kids into being better swimmers than we were.

Having been through the years of training, the nerve-wracking competitions, and ostensibly smarter because of it, we will be able to show our own little tadpoles the fastest and most efficient way to swimming like a boss.

8. Catch yourself saying, “Yeah, well back in my day…”

Anytime someone brings up the topic of how hard a particular swim practice was that day, it launches you into a “In my day…” tirade that outlines the Hell Weeks, the kickboard-throwing coach, and repeating sets over and over again until everybody got it done exactly right.

9. That feeling of unease that you have something to do the next morning will take a while to pass.

Friday nights were always go-to-bed-early nights. And as you progressed up the ranks in your age group years and started accumulating more and more morning workouts there were progressively more of these types of nights. That nagging feeling—soon met by a thrilling realization that you have nothing to do the next morning—will last a while.

10. It’s hard to give up the athletic wear.

Soggy-bottomed sweats are the official pants of the competitive swimmer. It was something you could get away with, it signified your vocation as an amateur athlete. Unfortunately, in the real world sweatpants tend to elicit not feelings of wonder of athletic prowess, but of laziness. So you are saying that I can’t wear baggy sweatpants to work? But I’m an athle—nevermind.

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Measure the Critical Parts of Your Swimming

Outside of total volume (which is not an accurate indicator of performance), here are some different ways to track and measure your swimming so that you not only stay focused and motivated, but ultimately swim faster:

1. Count your stroke rate and chase greater efficiency.

Swimming fast involves a host of different things: excellent technique, high levels of efficiency, and the mindful attention to consistently to focus on these things. Having a target stroke rate, and consistently trying to make yourself efficient enough to shave one or two (without gliding for 3 seconds at the end of each stroke, obviously) strokes off per 50 is a simplified way to keep yourself on top of trying to move across the pool in the most economical way possible. Get into the habit of counting and recording your stroke count and make a point to swim more efficiently in order to decrease it bit by bit.

2. Best times.

Are we talking about best times here? Sort of. What we are talking about are in-practice best times. (“We talkin’ ‘bout practice?”) It’s unrealistic to think that you are going to be able to swim best times consistently in a training environment, so instead have a list of training bests. These don’t have to be limited to just swim times, either. Undoubtedly your coach has thrown together kick sets where you can see how fast you can belt out a 100 kick with a board, or how fast you can a 25 underwater dolphin kick. Having this little list of in-practice bests gives you something that you can improve at your next practice, and gives you a nearly limitless set of targets and benchmarks to strive to beat on.

3. That old attendance thing. Kinda important.

If there is one thing you should be monitoring this year, it’s probably this one. After all, the other metrics in this post hinge on this one determining number. Tracking your attendance gives you a more realistic picture of how much training you are actually making. We tend to deflate the number of workouts we have missed over the months of the season. You remember the “occasional” missed workout, but if there is one “occasionally” missed workout per week they start to add up awfully fast. My suggestion would be to try to hit perfect attendance for a week. And then a second week. And try to see how long you can get the perfect weeks of attendance going. Doing it this way instigates the “don’t break the chain” effect that comes from being on a hot streak.

4. Grade your effort in the pool.

Okay, so let’s say you are making it to all of your workouts. That’s great, right? Olympic gold medal here we come. On the other hand, it’s not so great if… You are sandbagging the workouts. Or if you are spending half the workout hiding under the bulkhead from your coach. And not if you swim at half-effort on the main sets. Want a simple way to keep yourself honest? Rank each of your workouts by effort after you get out of the water. Doing this will have the curious effect of making you want to work harder so that you can earn that 8, 9 or even 10 out of 10.

5. The premium meters and yards.

All meters are not created equal. Some are done for pure aerobic work, others are completed in order to facilitate a technique change. And then there are the ones where you are swimming at full speed. The race pace stuff. The meat and potatoes of your training. Tracking these bad boys will give you a better idea of what kind of results you can expect at an upcoming meet, while also giving you a sneak peek at whether a big breakthrough is around the bend. If you are banging out repeat after repeat of :13 second 25m butterfly, you will have the confidence to know that you should be able to belt out a heckuva fast 50 at your next meet. Accuracy is pretty key here in terms of time-keeping, so get coach on board with helping you record your results.

Ready to Take Your Swimming to the Next Level?

Especially during those tough bouts of training where you are living in a constant state of borderline exhaustion. Here are a couple things to remember when you feel the waves about to take you over:

Remember that improvement happens in increments.

We have all had those swims where we drop a violent amount of time; whether it’s dropping a full second in a 50, or dipping a few seconds below 2 minutes for the first time in the 200. Those crazy-large improvements are impossible to forget. But they are also rare. You won’t drop a full second on your best time in the 50 (or even 100 or 200) every time you swim it. On one occasion you may drop a few tenths, or a couple one hundredths, and then every so often, you will get that grand slam improvement. On the other hand, there will be times where you add time, where you actually perform slower than your best time. Whatever the case, it is important to remember that improvement typically happens in tiny increments. It’s created in the small technical adjustments, in having just a slightly stronger finishing kick than the last time, in having a streamline that is just a bit tighter. Which leads perfectly into…

Every session is an opportunity to be better.

There will always be days where you feel awful in the water. Where your stroke simply feels like it is falling apart. Where you feel yourself getting gassed far easier than usual. Where no matter how hard you try, or how hard you focus, you can’t escape the feeling that you are swimming through molasses. The typical reaction in these cases is to consider the practice a mulligan. Oh well, better luck next time, the thinking tends to go. Not so fast. Just because you feel like garbagio in the water doesn’t mean you can’t still work on your kick. Or perfect your hand entry. Or do a pile of sculling to improve your feel of the water. There will always be something you can do to improve. The difference between those who pull it out at the end of the season and those who don’t? Taking advantage of every chance you have to get better in the pool, no matter how tired or exhausted you are. When you are ready to swim a little bit faster… And set yourself some goals that kick a ton of butt-butt…

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

Surely you’ve experienced it at one time or another. You put together a couple awesome workouts in the pool, and you can’t help but feel a growing surge of power at your back, as though the accumulated positivity and accomplishment in recent days is pushing you forward and onward. But then what happens? We slacken off. We miss a day. And then we start back at square one, picking up the pieces, trying to get back to that place we just were. It’s kind of infuriating, no? (Yes!) Sometimes the reasons that we take both our feets off of the accelerator are out of our control. Injury. Illness. House of Cards season 3 comes out. But a lot of the time, it is because of the mental wizardry that we use against ourselves. Here are 3 of the goofy lies that we ply ourselves with that arrest the big ‘mo dead in its tracks…

1. I did good yesterday, so I can take it easy today.

This is something I prefer to call the cupcake fallacy (I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but I will fully admit to being uncontrollable around cupcakes), and it is something that makes us feel good about the poor decisions we are about to make. Here are a couple examples… I swam super duper awesome yesterday, so that means I can totally slack off today. I ate really well over the weekend, so I can dive head first into this box of cupcakes guilt-free.

2. I am planning on doing really good tomorrow, so I can totally do whatever today.

This is the previous lie’s ugly step-sister. Just in the future. (All of the step-sisters and step-brothers are ugly. Smooth talkers, though.) We justify not giving a full effort, or giving the practice at hand our full attention by promising that in the future we will do so much better. But rarely, if ever, does this happen. (Tomorrow you’ll say the same thing, or come up with a different excuse.) Do you recognize any of these… I am not feeling totally up to it, but I am sure I will be tomorrow. My stroke doesn’t feel as good as I want it to today, but tomorrow—no matter what!—I will give a killer effort at practice.

3. It’s just one workout.

Is it, though? How many times have you caught yourself saying that? Just once, right? Nope. That is incorrect. It might only seem like once, but I promise you that the “just one time’s!” have accumulated up to being something sizable. Because it is only “one workout” it doesn’t seem like much, and might seem close to the point of meaningless, but the sum total of times you use this excuse can add up to something very substantial, indeed. (Every time I use the word "indeed" it makes me feel 6 IQ points smarter. Fact!) Ultimately, just “one workout” probably won’t make much of a difference. But the routine of showing up every day is massive. What are the goofy reasons you come up with to avoid maintaining the big ‘mo in the pool?

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

Under the impression that somewhere out there, if they just look hard enough, is the Holy Grail of training hacks that will get them the results they so desperately want (but so desperately would rather not have to work for). Feel free to try out the hot new suit, the minimalist shoes, and every supplement under the sun, but the one thing that cannot be “hacked” or short-cutted is the consistent application of hard work… Consistency. It’s a word that doesn’t get the street cred that it deserves, which is too bad. It’s the least glamorous of training habits, and yet, it is far and away the one that should be getting your full and undivided attention. Not only have I seen it in numerous athletes over the years, but I was that athlete… The guy who would bang out a few amazing workouts in a row, and then miss two sessions. And it sucked. Not only is it frustrating to be feeling like you are starting over from scratch every time you fall off the wagon, but those missed and botched workouts add up to some serious training time over the course of a season. (Let alone a career.) Here are a few tricks that I have picked up over the years that have helped me to become much more consistent in training:

1. Be the consistent swimmer.

When you think about what kind of swimmer you are, what comes to mind? Are you the type of swimmer that never gives up on the main set? That always shows up for morning workouts? That is awesome at breaststroke kick? Or that can kill it any time, any stroke with a pull buoy? Whatever the identities are, you chose them. (Well, a coach or teammate might helped things along by telling you that were a great kicker, or a great puller, or whatever, but at the end of the day, it’s your call how you identify yourself as a swimmer.) First step is to identify yourself as a consistent swimmer. Why? Because we skew effort towards the things we believe ourselves to be good or skilled at. And being consistent is exactly one of those things that you can identify with. After all, perception drives action. The idea is that when you identify yourself as a consistent swimmer you are more likely to behave in ways that align with the way you see yourself. When you identify yourself as being consistent, and follow that up with consistency in training, it sets off a powerful feedback loop that further drives home that by golly yes, you are a consistent swimmer.

2. Design your environment for consistency.

At this point I am assuming that you want to be more consistent in training. But in all honesty… What have you been doing to make it as easy as possible on yourself to succeed? I’m not talking about making easier goals. What I’m asking is… Are the things you are doing outside of the pool making it harder for you to achieve that ambition of being steady and true in the water? Here are a few examples:

Removing the tablet and cell phone from your bedroom so that you get to bed early and make those morning workouts.
Pack snacks and meals before you head out for the day so that you are fuled up and ready to rock by the time your afternoon workout rolls around.
Making an effort to spend more time with teammates and friends who are not only positive influences, but also down to be consistent in training.

It’s one thing to say that you want to make the most of your training, that you want to be the best version of the athlete you can be… But if the time spent outside of the pool is acting in direct conflict to your goals, than how serious are you really about them?

3. Set specific, short term goals.

Staying focused in the short term can be difficult for swimmers with big dreams. How come? Because they are perpetually looking down at the bottom of the calendar, at that big championship meet, for when they are going to throw down that wildly massive best time. The problem with this is that the end of season meets are usually so far off that they remove any sense of urgency. As a result, valuable chunks of training time are brushed aside. “I got lots of time!” these swimmers might catch themselves saying. Instead of dropping the consistency ball, stay focused and dialed in on your training from day one by setting short term (monthly, weekly, daily) goals for your training. The options are endless for what kind of targets you want to set: attendance, effort level, spending extra time after practice working on your start, and so on. While you have one eye on the long term awesomeness, keep the other on the very next step in front of you.

4. Be consistent and patient. Fun!

The hardest thing in the world can be to wait for something you really, really, really want. Christmas Eve when you were a kid, for example. Couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t think straight. Just wanted to ransack the house looking for the gifts. Being willing to commit for the long term with your goals is kinda like this. You want your awesome goals and you want them right now. And so when results don’t happen as fast as you think they should, or you aren’t pumping out times as quickly as you expect, it’s natural to get a little frustrated. Sometimes you get so frustrated, so put down and out that you temporarily throw in the towel. Patience you must have, my young Padawan. You don’t cut down a mighty oak with one big swing of the axe. You show up every day, give it ten solid swings, and then do the same thing the day after. And after that. And so on.

5. Record your workouts.

Wanna know the simplest way to keep your feet to the fire? Record your workouts. Seriously. Doing so has a few hilariously powerful benefits:

It forces accountability on you. You can fib to your coach, your teammates and parents about how your workout went, but when it’s you and the pen. Simply logging those workouts can push you out of 6/10 territory into an 8 or a 9/10 just by thinking about the fact that you will have to write it out later.
It gives you greater transparency of progress. When you know exactly how long it takes for you to see progress in the water you will not only have a more accurate idea of what type of results to expect you will also be able to set smarter goals. And yes, this is important.
It’ll keep ya motivated. It can be hard to stay fully engaged and motivated over the course of a long season. Having a record of your training history—something to look back on with pride and satisfaction—can provide just the jolt you need to get your butt back to the pool.

I could go on and on, but you get the gist.

In Closing

Being successful in the pool isn’t some secret. No matter how hard we get pitched the latest and greatest in swimsuits, supplements and swim gear at the end of the day it boils down to who can best wield their talents and skills on a consistent basis in practice. Will you be the swimmer that prides themselves on being consistent?

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

Whether in an app, or a book, or unorganized sheets of loose leaf, monitoring and tracking your practices is a high yield habit that takes but a couple minutes a day. At the heart of what makes a log book so powerful is this: When you want to improve in the water, you need to track your workouts, progression and the actions and behaviors that drive improvement. Logging your workouts, and the things you do out of the pool that help dictate the way you do in practice, create a greater self-awareness into how the things you do impact your swimming. After all…

1. Writing out your workouts insures an accurate record of your performance.

No matter how sharp and perfect we like to imagine our memories to be, the way we remember our results tends to skew according to a variety of biases. I’ve seen swimmers—who are just starting to log their workouts—be surprised by how little work they were actually doing compared to how much they liked to believe they were doing. Having an accurate history of your performance history means you avoid making far-fetched goals and expectations based on training that didn’t happen, and doesn’t leave you sitting in the water after a disappointing swim wondering why you went slower than expected. Yes, it can be a humbling experience to see how little you are actually doing in the pool, or how inconsistent your effort in the water has been, but knowing is half the battle.

"The palest of ink is better than the clearest of memories." – Tommy Kono

2. Reinforces the stuff that is working.

The biggest jolt of motivation and inspiration from the use of a log book comes from seeing what works. Those moments of surging confidence and satisfaction from connecting the things you are doing in and out of the pool to the times being posted on the scoreboard reinforces the hard work you are investing. If you had a series of fantastic workouts following a specific nutrition and rest program, than you know with 100% certainty that this is something that works and that you can apply to your training moving forward. The good news is that you can apply the same lessons when things don’t go your way. A quick search through your training history can typically shine a light on why you aren’t swimming the way you hoped for. Knowing what works, what doesn’t, and having it written out for you on paper in front of your eyes is much more powerful than a coach simply telling you what you oughta be doing, or *knowing* what you should be doing.

3. You’ll learn more about your swimming.

If you are serious about your swimming, knowing things like your practice best times for swim, kick and pull distances and test sets is critical. Not only does having this information on hand help you give an ever-increasing set of standards to chase after, but it provides the short term and daily goals that will keep you focused and motivated over the season. Serious swimmers know how fast they can push a 100 freestyle long course, or kick a 50 with fins. It’s those in-practice times and targets that motivate them and drive them to do things just a little bit better each day.

4. Progression is a crazy motivator.

One of my favorite parts of having a written history of my workouts is being able to look back at where I used to be in comparison to where I am now. Seeing a set that I struggled with a few months ago turn into something I can handily do now creates a very rewarding and motivating surge of energy. It reinforces the hard work you have put in, and injects you with a white-hot shot of confidence and self-esteem. It’s an intoxicating and empowering feeling to start off struggling, to be not the greatest at something, and then build your way up to something better and faster through nothing less than hard work, persistence, and sticking to the course, and then being able to see the full record of that progression.

5. Spot the sticky spots.

Most of the setbacks we have in training tend to be consistent. We get sick during the holidays, we miss practices studying for exams, or get burned out around the same parts of the year, or get injured when we slacken off of our pre-hab routines. Seeing these sticky points written out on paper can help us better plan for them and ideally steer clear of them altogether in the future. Armed with your training history you are aware of what is to come, what to expect, and what you need to do in order to circumvent those setbacks and derailments.

6. Things like consistency become a game.

Ever notice that when you are on a hot streak of good workouts it is easier to keep that string of awesomeness going? Similarly, when you drop a couple stinkers in a row and you can’t help but feel like you’ll never shake yourself out of it? Writing out your workouts plays on the natural tendency we have to streak by turning each day’s writing out of workouts into a competition. Will you match the effort and results of the previous day’s session? Will you be able to write down that you gave a 10/10 effort for the 3^rd day in a row? With each session, with each workout, being consistent with your training becomes a challenge and a competition with yourself to see if you can do it.

7. It gives your coach direction and insight to how you are responding to training.

Want even more feedback into your performance? Share your log book with your coach. Having your coach’s observations added to the mix can make for a potent combo. He or she will be able further help you understand perhaps why on some days you were performing out of this world while on others you were struggle-city. Plus, the feedback they get from understanding how you better perform can help them be a better coach to you. Win-win.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

Doubt. The creeping sense that we are running out of time, that there aren’t enough remaining hours in the pool to help us push towards the goals we want to achieve. That perhaps our shade of greatness wasn’t meant for us.

Frustration. The anger and discouragement that comes with not being able to do what you hoped to do is common in our sport. We set goals that are unrealistic, and then get upset with ourselves for coming up short. We hope for full time results with part time effort, and get disheartened when things don’t pan out. When we put in effort and don’t see the expected results it makes us feel as though we are swimming in quicksand.

Insecurity. We wonder if it is us, that there is something lacking in us that would otherwise allow us to achieve greatness. We fret over whether we possess the latent talent, the physical prowess, and the technical skill to achieve the big things we hope to accomplish in the water.

Look: There always comes points in our swimming where we hit walls of frustration or outright failure. We aren’t seeing progress as fast as we would like. The things we want to accomplish seem to be outside of our reach. In times like this where you come up short, or are struggling through trying periods of training, where you feel like you are stuck alone in a whirlwind of insecurity and doubt. These emotions, while tough, are normal, and not only that, are part of the process. Every swimmer that has graced the top of the Olympic podium has experienced flashes of these feelings at some point during their ascent to elite-status, so don’t feel as though you are the first swimmer to feel this way. But once these feelings begin to pass a little bit, you will find that there are some surprisingly powerful benefits to coming up short: 5 Tough Lessons Swimmers Can Learn from Failure

5 Tough Lessons Swimmers Can Learn from Failure

1. It’s a course corrector.

Moments of failure shine a light on our preparation and training. How many workouts did you actually show up for? Can you honestly say that you were working as hard as should have been to expect the results you had hoped for? Results, whether good or bad, lays bare our training history for what it is, not what we’d like it to be. In these moments you have a couple options: You can keep doing the same thing and continue expecting the same results. Or you can make the adjustments necessary that will help you succeed in the long run. The value of competition goes far beyond just winning medals and placing in finals. It is an assessment of our training and preparation. Use these moments to make the changes and corrections necessary in order to propel you to level you want to be at. If that means making more practices, so be it. If that means tracking and ranking your workouts by effort in order to insure consistency in your training, than so be it.

2. Coping with it will come in handy later.

The top swimmers in our sport didn’t get there by winning all of the time. They got there by overcoming more frustration, doubt and failure than the rest of us. A funny thing happens when you learn to value failure as a tool, and not as a crushing chapter of your swimming. You begin to fear it less. The emotional baggage it carries is lighter. And you even begin to seek it out so that you know where you can improve. Because they don’t fear it as much, and because they trust the process to work in the long term, they are able to see past the short term struggle and frustration and are able to power well past the point at which most swimmers would either back off or quit entirely.

3. Setbacks develop emotional smarts.

It’s odd to think of it this way, but when we come up short we actually experience some positive stuff. Failure, in its particular way, makes us more emotionally intelligent. After all... We learn and appreciate the struggle. As a result we are more patient and sympathetic to the grind that our teammates and fellow swimmers are going through to achieve their own goals. We experience humility. While it can be a prickly feeling at first, we learn that we might not be as self-aware as we initially thought ourselves to be. And this is a good thing—self-awareness is a very under-valued trait in today’s day and age where we are told that we can be absolutely anything we want to be.

4. It’s a motivational tool (if you want it to be).

It’s odd to think that failing on occasion will get you to your goal faster, but it’s entirely possible. If you stumble repeatedly over the course of the season, and unleash the frustration and anger on your training in a productive manner it is entirely likely that your setbacks can be credited for speeding things up. Michael Phelps is a classic example. Anytime he had an “off” meet or suffered an unexpected defeat the reaction wasn’t quiet introspection; it was full fledged rage at making sure it never happened again, leading him to double down on his training moving forward. You can wield your setbacks as a force for positive change, or you can use it to define you. Wield Your Setbacks for Positive Change

5. You weren’t ready yet.

Yes, this one stings a little bit, and I can say that I was guilty of this on many on occasion over the course of my swimming career. We like to think we are ready for that big piece of success, that we have done everything necessary to achieve the loftiest of our dreams… Only to come up short. Big-time short. Progress can be painfully slow at times, too slow for our ambitious tastes. But progress is progress, and everyone moves at their own pace. Learning what your pace is, and being ready is something that is unique to you.

In Closing

Does this mean you should launch yourself into the new swimming season determined to fail? Of course not—go into it believing that you will be successful! You shouldn’t be under the impression that you are destined to bomb from the get-go, but you should certainly be willing to view your swimming as a work-in-progress, something that is continually being tweaked and improved. The point of this post isn’t to promote failure, but rather, to get you to a point where failing sets you up to achieving the things you do want to accomplish. Keep in mind that while coping with failure is very important, in and of itself as a tool failure has its limitations. While setbacks can highlight the things that don’t work, it’s the moments that you succeed where you truly learn what works. Yes, accomplishing anything worthwhile in the pool is tough. And there is certainly the chance you may come up short. But that doesn’t mean failing needs to be the default setting to your swimming. Be confidant in your abilities, your vision, and move forward for success in the pool.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

The truth about having powerful levels of resilience is surprisingly simple. And perhaps most notably, that it is a skill, something that we can all work on and improve so that we can face resilience with a brave face and the tools necessary to battle our way through. Here are 5 things you need to know about becoming a resilient athlete in the pool:

5 Things You Need to Know About Being a Resilient Swimmer (2)

1. We naturally focus on the negative stuff.

On numerous occasions I have heard a coach bemoan the fact that an athlete will forget the 9 positive things they do when 1 negative thing happens to them in the water. And it’s true. We can’t help but zero in our attention on that one bad race, even though the other 7 went well. It’s no different when complimenting someone; you can give them 99 kind words but they will only remember the 100^th unkind word. It’s actually natural for us to spend an inordinate amount of our focus on the bad stuff that happens in the pool (and in life). From an evolutionary perspective our species has benefited from being able to not underestimate risk or danger, and as a result, negative information and experiences carry a heavier shock than their positive brethren. Understanding this point is critical. We are hard-wired to get bent out of shape when things don’t go our way. Being resilient means being able to see past the struggles and disappointments that come along over the course of the swim season. And it means being able to understand that you are always going to feel the negative stuff more deeply than the positive stuff.

2. Open yourself to the fact that there will be tough times.

Gazing at all of the opportunity and awesomeness to come over the course of the season is easy in September. All we see are the big meets, the best times, and the glory and radness to come from swimming like a monster. While it’s great to imagine the season going swimmingly (boom!), in reality you know this won’t always be the case. Although the exceptionally trying moments will be heavily outnumbered by the positive ones, as discussed in the point above it is the tough spots that will be remembered most. This season embrace a willingness to meet resilience. Does this mean you should you be actively seeking failure or going out of your way to find disappointment? No, of course not. But you should rid yourself of the perfectionist outlook that dictates that everything has to go perfectly all of the time or else it is all for naught.

3. There’s always a reason to feel some gratitude.

In the midst of tough moments it can be hard for us to look for the good stuff. Or to feel grateful. Or to see the silver lining. But that is exactly what you should be doing. When things don’t go their way, non-resilient participants in a study were shown to go fully negative. When things are going well, they feel great, but the moment that things go south they go completely and full-blown negative. On the other hand, those who demonstrated resilience were shown to exhibit signs of positivity and optimism even in the midst of tough situations. While they are certainly in the thick of it, and feeling the sensations of frustration, they are also able to see some good in the situation. It’s not blind optimism in the sense that they think everything is honky-dory, but rather that they can experience both frustration while also experiencing gratitude in the same moment:

“Yeah, things suck right now, but at least I don’t have this other problem.”

Cause, literally, it could always be worse.

4. Escape the gravity of negativity by taking action.

Use challenges as opportunities to develop confidence by taking action. Resilient athletes in the pool build and develop resilience by focusing on the things that they can do in order to solve a problem, rather than let themselves get caught up in the powerful gravity of negativity.

Shoulder injured? Use it as an opportunity to develop a thunderous underwater dolphin kick.
Pool closed for repairs/maintenance? Use it as an opportunity to kill it on the stretch cords and stairs.
Your first race at the big meet go unexpectedly? Use it as fuel to get you amped up for your next race.

If you are feeling a little stuck with trying to find your way out, here are some starter questions designed to get you thinking in terms of finding a way forward:

Where can I do right now that will help me out of this pile of molasses?
How can I make this situation the best thing to happen to me?
What are the choices in front of me?
What can I learn from this?

5. Take a small positive step forward.

If the quickest way out of a tough spot is taking meaningful, constructive action, does that mean we need to hammer out a mega-best time the next time we swim? Not at all. In fact, the smaller the first step or action you take to get your way out the better. (Small means the barrier to entry is low. In other words, you are more likely to do it because it is tiny.)

Having a rough workout? Focus on one tiny aspect of your technique and nothing else.
Blown first race at the big meet? Go back to your race plan and pre-race routine for your next event.

Don’t get caught up in the belief that you need to take huge, meaningful steps out of a tough spot. Those big changes come about as the result of many, many small steps, so focus on the first little step, and then the next, and things will seem to take care of themselves from there.

In Summary

Being resilient in the water (and in life) doesn’t have to be a mystery, or something that is only gifted to the superstars of our sport. All it takes is a little gratitude, an open mind about what is next, and the willingness to try something positive and small to get your way out of it. Give these suggestions a try the next time a challenging circumstance floats your way and sign up for my weekly motivational newsletter and let me know about it. I would love to hear how it goes for you.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

After all…

We shear off our body hair.
Invest hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars into suits that promise to cut down on drag.
And are focused on making the tiny improvements in our technique to decrease resistance in the water.

With this methodical and detail-curious (detail-obsessed makes us sound crazy, which we totally are not…right?) approach we stay focused on making our swimming as efficient as possible. We understand that to swim faster we need to subtract certain things as much as possible. Less drag. Less resistance. In our high and low search for new and novel ways to gain the critical advantage over our competition it is easy to overlook the things in our day-to-day to life that we can improve. If you want to swim faster this year (and not have to spend more time in the water to do it), you can apply the same “less is more” approach that we swear by in the water with the way you do things outside of it. Streamline Your Life Outside the Pool

What areas of your life outside of the pool are causing you resistance?

What parts of your life outside of the pool are causing you to have extra drag in the water? Here are a few of the more glaring examples:

Sleep: are you getting a solid 8+ hours of sleep per night? If not, what is the drag? Is it watching TV in bed? Is it not managing your evenings effectively?
Stress: Is stuff outside of the pool turning you into a stress case? Are you allowing school and work to pile up on you to the point that you find yourself cursing under your breath about all the stuff you need to catch up on?
Time management: Do you find yourself perpetually rushing over the course of the day with a moment to yourself nowhere to be seen? Down time from school and swimming is necessary to help stay mentally fresh over the course of the season so make sure you are budgeting your time to allow for it.
Nutrition: Are you settling for convenient foods that aren’t so convenient for your swimming prowess? Are you scrambling to get food—even if it’s less than good for ya—instead of planning out some good meals for yourself ahead of time?

In Summary

In the never-ending arms race for better training techniques, more quality yardage, and more efficient technique, sometimes performing our best in the pool truly comes down to the fundamentals. Like getting your sleep. Eating good, performance-yielding food. And managing your time and stress. What will you do this year to streamline your life outside of the pool so that you can swim faster in it?

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

Here are some of the common mistakes athletes make in the water at the cusp of a new year of training and competition:

1. Not working the fundamentals.

Before you jump into working on getting back in shape and getting faster in the water, make sure that you are hammering down the basics. And there is nothing more basic, and yet more critical, than swimming with the best technique you can. The best time to improve those facets of your technique is not during Hell Week, or in the days leading up to your biggest meet of the year. It’s something that you should be working on from day one of your training. Set up a foundation of excellent technique and proficiency in the water from the very beginning, and as training gets more difficult in the coming weeks and months it will be much easier to maintain that awesome form.

2. Not setting goals.

But even more important than setting goals for the end of the season and those big end-of-cycle competitions are laying out training goals. Yup, training goals. What are you doing to do on a daily and weekly basis that will help power you to the technical and physical condition necessary to achieve the awesome radness you want to achieve? What are the routines and systems that you need to implement on a daily basis that will get you some serious amounts of success? You know what you want to do at the end of the year... Now write out what you have to do on a short term basis to get there.

3. Not being proactive about staying injury-free.

You and I both know how much being injured stinks. Don’t wait to get injured to start doing something about being healthy this season. All you need to do is spend a few minutes a day with your pre-hab to help lower the odds of you getting re-injured.

4. Not learning the lessons of the previous season.

The previous season can be a huge wealth of knowledge. If you decide to sit down and take an honest look at the lessons it provides. At the end of the day, there no two identical paths to success in the water. Through trial and error we each must come to learn what it is that works best for us. The good news? You can shorten the learning curve by reviewing the previous season’s results. What didn’t work last season? We tend to focus on the negative aspects of our swimming. After all, it’s pretty black and white... Either we achieved our goal, or we didn’t. And when we don’t, we tend to dwell on it. It’s human nature to do this—we are hard-wired to place emphasis on the negative aspects as a defense mechanism. Use this tendency to focus on the bad stuff to break down the parts of your training that went below expectations. Often times knowing what not to do is as important as knowing what you should be doing. What did work? Now here is the much funner part. There are things you did last year that definitely worked. What were they? There were stretches of time in your training, and moments in competition, where things went your way. Where the work and effort you invested paid off with wildly successful results. Write out the circumstances that led to those quality performances and embed them into your training and competition moving forward. In other words, turn down the suck from last year. And turn up the rad. Turn Down the Suck From Last Season

5. Not starting off the season with good habits.

Habits aren’t something you just switch on and off at your leisure. Good training habits in the pool are developed over time, with deliberate consistency and repetition. Trying to install better habits in your training halfway through the training cycle just makes it harder to have them stick, as when you are burdened with physical and mental fatigue from heavy training your willpower struggles to keep up. The time to hammer down those super excellent habits is at the beginning of the year, when you are mentally freshest. Some examples: Nutrition: Start off the year by packing healthy meals the night before so that you can lean on the habit when training gets tough. Training habits: Let’s say you want to take your underwater dolphin kick to the next level. Start the season off by doing 4 dolphin kicks off every wall, so that when training ramps up, and the intensity and duration of your sessions increases you are prepared to carry your new UDK along with you. Time Management: The schedule of a swimmer is no joke. Tack that on to the load of an academic schedule, and we’re taking a full load. You know that there are going to be stretches of time where your time will be at a full blown premium, so get in the habits from day one of running your schedule so that your schedule doesn’t end up running you. Track your workouts: One of the easiest ways to improve your swimming this year is by writing out your workouts. Get into the habit of spending a couple minutes writing out and recording your progress at the beginning of the season, and it will give you a treasure trove of information that you can use to help guide your performance over the rest of the season.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

Everyone knows that how a swimmer performs when it comes to meet time is tied to what type of effort is put forth in practice, so why would swimmers squander even a single training opportunity where they could improve? Instead of feeling like you are simply going through the motions, here are several ways for you to make the most of your time in the water: How to Have Better Practices in the Pool This Season

How to Have Better Practices in the Pool This Season

Have a Pre-Workout Routine

Developing a pre-workout routine is powerful for several reasons. A good pre-workout routine, once repeated enough that it becomes nearly automatic, will get you in the water and your body primed to train like a boss with little thought or need to be motivated. A pre-workout routine (or as I like to call it—a “launch list”) is particularly helpful for those morning workouts when the last thing you want to do is crawl out from underneath those warm bed sheets. Pick a simple act to kick off the routine. Something so simple, so banal, that to think up a reason not to do it is close to impossible. Things like—

Drink sports drink.
Pack swim bag.
Listen to a particular song.

The key is to make it super simple and accessible. By doing this habitually you will create a set of triggers that will let your body and brain know that go-time is rapidly approaching. Consistently applying your pre-workout routine you are teaching your body to expect a certain behavior once the action is completed. The effect is this:

“When I do this, then this happens…”

The secret behind why this is so effective is that it bypasses the need to be “motivated” or “inspired.” Waiting for motivation to strike is a bit of a fool’s errand, and very often only comes after we have begun to start the activity we need to do. Rarely does it strike us out of the blue at 5am on a cold Wednesday morning, pushing us to get out of bed. That motivation and energy flows from action, from starting. Having a pre-workout routine helps launch you into those first few steps.

Track Your Workouts.

If you are serious about wanting to make progress in an area of your swimming, whether it is swimming less strokes per 50, having better breakouts, or the simplest goal of swimming faster, than measuring it is critical. Saying that you want to be the best swimmer you can be is one thing, but how important can you claim your swimming to be if you aren’t actually tracking what you are doing in the pool? How Important Are Your Goals in the Pool

How Important Are Your Goals in the Pool

For instance:

Swimmers who say they want to be more consistent in practice, but don’t track how many workouts they make it to.
Swimmers who claim that they want to have a more efficient stroke, but don’t count the strokes they take per lap.
Swimmers who say that they want to swim a particular time, but don’t monitor how fast they are swimming in workouts to gauge progress.
Swimmers who say that they want to eat healthier, but don’t write out what and how much they are eating.

This isn’t a case to journal and monitor every last little thing in your training. But you should be noting the couple of things in your swimming that will make the most profound impact on whether or not you achieve your goals. After all, if you are truly down to improve a facet of your swimming, you oughta be measuring it.

Make the routine the goal this year.

While having season-end goals is important—they provide a compass for our season, after all—they shouldn’t be the focus of your mental energy. Instead, the routine should be your focal point. After all, when we think about our big, unbelievably awesome goals it can often lead us to feel “less than,” discouraged because we still have so much work to complete, and they are typically phrased in an all-or-nothing manner. But this puts us into a bit of a quandary—if goal setting has its downsides, how do we accomplish our goals? Simple—by making the routine the goal. Make an Excellent Routine the Goal This Season

Make an Excellent Routine the Goal This Season

When you focus solely on creating the daily habits and routines that will get you to your goals you unburden yourself of the pressure that comes with your goals. Take a few minutes and write out the daily schedule you’d like to be able to carry out. The things you will need to do on a daily basis to excel. The things you will focus relentlessly on improving day-in and day-out. The powerful part about this is that once you’ve got your routine in place, it will start to become habitual. And that is where the real power of your routine will show itself.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

That once you get your swimming habits in order, are willing to take the steps necessary to master yourself mentally, that unbelievable things can happen for you in the water. In essence... When you get a hold of your mindset, crazy stuff happens. After all:

Your mindset is what dictates whether you give up on that tough set long before your body gives in on you.
It’s what separates the swimmers leading the lane day in and day out at practice, and the talented athlete who swims with the current instead, content to lag behind the pace.
And it’s why some swimmers always seem to be able to dominate the pool when it matters most. It’s the reason some athletes show up consistently and crush the competition at meets.

Here are some simple, yet powerful, tactics to embrace the mindset of an elite swimmer this season: How to Develop the Mindset of a Champion Swimmer

Be adaptable.

It’s not enough to have big goals in the pool. After all… We all want great things from ourselves with our swimming. The friction comes when we find resistance to our goals, whether it is as a result of a lack of progress, injury, illness, or any other myriad of hurdles that will come our way. To get from planning to being in the arena, daily fighting the battles that come with grinding after a big goal you need to adopt adaptability. When things don’t go your way, you adapt. Injured shoulder? Strap on those fins and get some vertical kicking in. Had a bad meet? Change the training circumstances moving forward. Not getting the sleep you need? Hack your sleeping environment until you find what works for you. Being adaptable is a hugely powerful trait that will help you navigate through the minefield of setbacks that will inevitably happen as you train your butt off towards excellence. When Things Don't Go Your Way

Be vulnerable.

Being vulnerable, I can hear you say. What? I know, being vulnerable probably isn’t the first thing to come to mind when you think about swimmers who have elite mindsets, but when you open yourself to the fact that maybe you don’t have all the answers, and that there are weak areas in your swimming than you are better prepared to learn from and take advantage of those soft spots. Being vulnerable doesn’t mean being a pushover, or being soft with your goals. It’s about acknowledging that there is much to be learned from moments where we come up short. It’s about recognizing that we need to grow with our goals. That we should have an open mind about our training and the seemingly reasonless sets coach scrawls up on the board. And that we should be willing to reach out and ask for help when we need it. As a vulnerable athlete you are less likely to suffer from excessive hubris, and it even allows you to set more realistic and ultimately motivating goals for yourself. Doesn’t sound so bad, now does it?

Be more focused.

Being more focused sounds easy, right? Stare harder at the set on the white board. Focus with all of the mental resources available to you on having a high elbow catch. Brain strain your way to having loose ankles and hips when you kick. But I am talking about being more focused in a broader context. About how the rest of your life fits into your training. It’s natural to want everything. We are told that if we just work hard enough that we can have our cake and eat it too. That we can train ten times a week, go to school full time, work part-time, have a social life, and have enough time to binge watch 2 television series per week. If only we work hard enough. Yeah, right. The reality is this: if you want hyper-fast results in the pool, you will need to laser-focus your efforts around that. Yes, balance is important. Massively important. You need the downtime away from the pool to recover both physically and mentally. This isn’t a call to abandon the rest of your life to dedicate solely on your swimming. But you are fooling yourself if you think that you can go out three nights a week with your friends and still be in any kind of reasonable condition to make the prescribed morning workouts.

Train with no regrets.

There are fewer worse feelings than knowing you are better than the performance that you just laid down. If only you had given a better effort at practice, been more consistent with making workouts, and had done the seemingly tiny things that would have added up to making a big difference. Opportunities are limited, despite what we lead ourselves to believe from time to time. There are a finite days of training and competition at hand. Sadly, we won’t always have the chance to do awesome things in the pool. This season install a sense of urgency in your training so that when you fly into the touch pad at the end of the year during your best event and look up at the scoreboard, you can do it with a clear conscience and an awareness that the swim represents your very best efforts. Make the Most of Your Training Opportunities

Make the Most of Your Training Opportunities

Be uncomfortable.

It happens to all of us—we get locked in to a lane or training regimen that is dead-center within our comfort zone. When we find ourselves in the default setting, in the tried-and-true, in a place where there is nothing to be risked and even less to be gained, it’s time to challenge your comfort zone. Growth and improvement comes from stretching ourselves and our self-perceived limits. Don’t underestimate the power of being uncomfortable—it not only forces you into a position where you need to stretch what you consider possible, but the resulting confidence that comes from having leveled up will only feed the positive feedback loop encouraging you to do it again. (In other words, you become an habitual envelope pusher!)

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

From throwing together a monster guide on how to improve your underwater dolphin kick, to showcasing some kick sets performed by Canadian National Team member Evan White, to outlining a list of reasons to work on both your flutter kick and your fly kick there has been no shortage of material on the topic. With the critical importance of the UDK from the 50 to the 1500m every swimmer who is serious about maxing out their performance in the pool needs to be paying attention to what can make up as much as 60% of their race. Today I want to share with you a set that I have been guinea-pigging myself with over the past couple weeks and have experienced fairly hysterical results. Before we get into the set, here is what you will need to perform it:

A pool.
A bathing suit.
About 10 minutes of your day.
Two weeks of consistent application.
A hearty attitude for hilariously powerful underwater kicking.
A pair of DragSox, or two ratty t-shirts will do if you don’t feel like throwing down $30 for the DragSox.
Zoomers or short fins.

The set is simple, and can be done at the end of your workout, before the main set, after warm-up, or whatever. It can be done as a bonus set in addition to the workout your coach prescribes. My suggestion? Do it as a pre-main set so that your underwater fly kick game is on point for the main set. (The whole point of improving the UDK is to apply it to the high paced, quality work in your swimming so that it is relevant to competition speeds. Having a beautiful UDK is nice, but if it’s not hauling you from one end of the pool to the other faster than your swimming speed than there isn’t much use to it.) After doing this set 7 times over the course of two weeks here is what I noticed:

It was much easier to kick out further with my underwaters.
Developed a much greater feel for the water with my feet.
Combined with consistent ankle-loosening work before practice I was soon getting a fuller feeling range of motion. (Fuller is just about the only word I can find to describe it. You’ll know what I mean after doing the set even just once or twice.)
The power in my kick improved noticeably. The snap of the toes is snappier, the whip motion from the hips markedly stronger.
My streamline feels extra gangster. The extra resistance that comes with the DragSox forces you to really really tighten up your arms into your head.

With the set, feel free to play around with the specifics. The interval or number of reps isn’t set in stone. The interval was designed to get :15 seconds of rest after each 25, but if you feel like that isn’t enough, take more. Remember, the main focus during the set is to explode off the walls and hammer those dolphin kicks and get to the 15m/y mark as fast as possible. Here is the set: 20x25 @:35

FAST underwater dolphin kick to 15m (12.5m okay for when not wearing fins)
Wearing DragSox for all of them.
Wear fins for the last 10.
Alternate on front and on back by 25.
Streamline must be tight and legit.

10 Minutes a Day to a Faster Underwater Dolphin Kick

And that’s it. Simple, really. If you have never used DragSox before I couldn’t recommend them enough. The drag they add to your legs force them to work overtime in a form of resistance that is extremely swim-specific and hard to duplicate otherwise. And more importantly, when you take them off and swim a lap at even moderately high speed you will feel like someone strapped a jetpack to your back. Win!

Your Turn

Give the set a go for a couple weeks and let me know how it goes either via the YourSwimBook newsletter (it’s free, yo), or Tweet me on the Twitter thing.]]> 4443 <![CDATA[Why You Should Start with the Fundamentals in the Pool]]> The beginning of the season is a perfect time to hit reset on some of those questionable habits you found yourself lugging along over the course of last year.

The fundamentals aren’t glamorous. It can be easy to overlook them for something that is considered more cutting-edge, fancier, or the latest and greatest. But without question the very foundation of your swimming is found directly in the fundamentals. They are the first place you go back to whether you succeed or fail in your goals. They are the undisputed pillars that hold up your swimming. Everything else is largely smoke and mirrors and gimmicks. When you master the fundamentals you master yourself, and once you master yourself, well, the sky is the limit with your swimming.

Here are 5 simple fundamentals to work on this fall and winter as the swimming season rolls out:

1. Hammer down the technical elements of your swimming early.

There is not necessarily a bad time to work on your technique (except for say, ten minutes before the biggest race of the year) because at the end of the day it is always better than never when it comes to making technical improvements in your stroke. The beginning of the season, however, provides the best opportunity to overhaul those technical glitches in your stroke, starts, turns and streamlines. By doing it right from the very beginning you set yourself up for a season where you can focus on the other tangibles on this little list. If you are like most swimmers there are a couple glaring things you can immediately set to fixing technique-wise. Write them down, paste it to your kickboard, the fridge, or in the smallest font imaginable on the inside of your goggles. Hammer away at them mercilessly and set in stone the habits of great technique from warm-up to warm-down at the beginning of the year, and that way you can avoid the last ditch efforts at stroke corrections when the big meet looms large on the calendar.

2. Sleep your way to faster recovery and better practices.

Swimmers are a little nuts. We have a season that is, well, it’s not even really a season… It just kinda keeps going with the very rare break. On top of the length and duration of our year we have our Herculean workload in the pool and gym, all the while contending with school, work and what passes for a social life. Often the first thing that gets cut back on is the time we spend between the sheets. That’s too bad, really, because getting a solid night of sleep, and even getting sleep extension (an extra 1-2 hours per night) can yield some pretty amazing results in the pool. Yes, our schedules are hectic. And doing the things necessary to ensure that we get a solid night of sleep and get up early for those morning swim workouts can be a challenge. But when you fully grasp the power that a solid night of sleep can have not only on your swimming but overall health and well-being than you should be more willing to make it a big priority in your time management.

3. Maximize your potential by being consistent from day one.

Being the swimmer that has a hard time maintaining a consistent level is infuriating on a few different levels. After all… You never get to experience the full set of training opportunities before you. When you miss practices, sandbag sets, or otherwise miss out on valuable time in the water, you are guaranteeing that you will only ever be able to perform at a fraction of what you are capable of. Nobody wants a 65% performance. Get as close to that three-digit performance as you can. You always feel like you are starting over. It’s unbelievably hard to maintain any sort of positive momentum and progress in the water when you are perpetually stopping and starting. It’s like the guy who drives fast to the next red light. Any progress that you make is set aside as you need to get back into the swing of things. This season be the master and commander of your swimming by being utterly consistent. This means making the practices you commit yourself to at the beginning of the year. And it means giving your best effort each time you hit the water.

4. Good training habits make for faster swimming.

More often than not the way that you start the season sets the tone for the rest of the year. If you’re first month of training is riddled with shoddy swim practice habits than it becomes much easier to carry them on over subsequent cycles of training. Good habits require the discipline to care for them long enough until they become second-nature, as well as the resilience to hang onto them in the face of adversity. What are some awesome training habits you can instill from day one? Here are a few ideas:

Break out aggressively off each wall with speed and explosiveness.
Maintain a killer streamline off your walls.
Stop taking 3-4 arm pulls into turns when doing kick.
Breathing bilaterally as much as possible to encourage balanced muscular development.
Performing a set number of underwater dolphin kicks off of each wall.
Keep a high elbow catch at all times—especially when fatigued.

And so on. Remember that you don’t need to completely overhaul your swimming on day one and try to change every single last bad habit—simply pick the 1-2 that will have the biggest impact on your performance and hammer them into submission before moving on to the next training habits. (Pro Tip: An easy way to monitor and track your habits in the pool is with a swimmer’s log book. Each day throw down a little checkmark or star, or whatever your artistic sensibilities dictate, to acknowledge that you performed your workout with solid training habits.)

5. Foster an environment that promotes success in the pool (and swim faster as a result).

Here’s something to think about when a non-swimmer tells you that swimming isn’t a team sport… One swimmer chasing a spectacular goal is powerful. A whole group of swimmers chasing an amazing goal are completely unstoppable. The momentum and energy from the group maintains an unspoken accountability that helps pull along swimmers who are stumbling while keeping the rest of the group stay at full speed. Some simple ways you can be that awesome teammate: a. Be positive in practice. What’s that? Coach just chalked up a 2k for time? Booo-urns, right? Wrong. Instead of complaining about how it’s not fair, and that you did that set earlier in the week, and that you don’t feel good, either nod quietly or better yet, issue a— “We got this, guys.” After all, negative energy is fully contagious. You’ve felt it hanging around someone who complains all the time, the negativity literally draining the life out of you. Don’t be that swimmer. Be the athlete who promotes a positive and encouraging training environment. b. Cheer on your teammates. One of my favorite things I hear on deck at meets is a variation of the following: “Did you hear me cheering?” Getting up and excited for teammates, even if they aren’t contending for a gold medal or trying to break a record adds more to the team dynamic than you realize, so be the one to stand up and lead the cheers. c. Challenge your teammates in practice. Everyone has a competitive streak (whether they are willing to admit it or not), and one of my favorite ways to bring this out is to see swimmers go to head to head in practice. Sure, sometimes they will butt heads (see: Cullen Jones and Josh Schneider swim-off in 2011) but the effect is one that gets the athletes’ competitive juices going and fosters and environment where you are expected to bring your A-game to practice every day.

In Summary

This season is going to be a great one. After all, you’ve got the lessons from last year in hand, and a set of fundamentals to work on moving forward that will get you started on the right foot. Will you begin the season with a firm grip on the fundamentals? Image credit -- Flickr

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

Problem #2: Not making enough workouts. As a result, your performances when it comes to meet time aren’t that hot and are wildly underachieving.

Fix: Set a goal for a specific percentage of workouts you want to attend, and add a couple layers of accountability. Track the amount of workouts you make. It’s easy to gloss over a couple missed practices as being a minor hiccup in your attendance records, but you’ll be shocked to see how often those couple workouts add up over the course of the season. For example, over the course of a 10 month season if you missed just one practice every two weeks that would add up to nearly 3 full weeks of missed training. Tracking your attendance makes it real, and forces you to be honest about how true you are being to your training. Have an accountability buddy. Going at anything alone is tough. There can be times where you feel a little lost in the mix when the coaches have their attention focused on specific parts of the group at various parts of the season. Partner up with a teammate (maybe not someone you directly compete against?) and throw down an accountability agreement. You’ll pay the other $5 for every missed practice, making it a friendly competition to see who is most consistent. Or have to make the other person a playlist of their choosing. Or whatever other kind of reward/disincentive works for you. How to Troubleshoot Your Swim Practices

Problem #3: Letting outside factors interfere with training. Outside stressors include—but certainly are not limited to—school, work, crazy ex’s.

Fix: Be the athlete that takes a hold of their schedule. This will require some planning, cutting some of those extraneous activities (lookin’ at you, Netflix), and setting clear boundaries around your time. Plan ahead for crunch time. Let’s be honest, those stretches of time where your schedule got away from you weren’t really that much of a surprise. You knew exams were coming, when mid-terms would be, and when your big social commitments of the year take place. Instead of being the swimmer that waits until the famed time-management flail hits you, plan ahead for them. (Novel concept, right?) This means being on top of your schedule and time from day one. Establish boundaries. Having friends that aren’t in the sport is important to have balance and a mental break from the sport in between practices. There is life beyond the pool, and it is important to deeply experience it. Striking a balance between the two is tough, especially if your non-swimmer friends don’t share the same enthusiasm for your goals as you do. That’s where setting clear boundaries comes in handy. If this means setting a rigid curfew for yourself so that you get the sleep you need than so be it. If it means leaving the party early on Saturday night than that’s what has to happen. When you establish boundaries—and let those in your environment know about them, and ask them to respect them—you make things easier when you are faced with having to make a decision that impacts your training for better or worse. Have a plan to manage stress. When school, work, and other commitments pile up past neck-level it’s natural to feel overwhelmed. Once the stress hits, and you are feeling weak and overpowered in the face of all that is to be done that familiar thought comes around—“ahhh, screw it.” You know those moments—where things become so ridiculously out of control, so hard, that the only solution is to throw your arms up and walk away. It’s precisely when we are stressed out the most that we make some rash and usually bad decisions. Have a de-stress plan in place for when—and yes, it will happen—those hope-crushing bouts of stress rear their unsightly faces. How to Troubleshoot Your Swim Practices

Problem #4: Not focused enough in the water during practice.

Fix: Get engaged by simplifying the things you are are focusing on. Less is more in this regard. Avoid feeling overwhelmed by focusing on one thing at a time. I spent some time swimming for a super-club in my teenage years. There was 30ish of us, with one coach. So when coach came by your lane with some corrections, he came in fast and furious with a handful of things to work on. Only, trying to focus intently on improving 6 different things with my stroke watered down my focus so much that my stroke would actually fall apart. Instead, pick one thing to do and do it exceptionally well. The focus and effort you pour into that one thing will soon bleed into other parts of your swimming without even having to force it. Pick one aspect of your swimming to tear apart that session. As mentioned earlier, you should be setting yourself training goals. Whether it is technical, lowering your stroke count, maintaining a stroke rate—whatever it is, pick something and hammer away at it for the duration of the session. And then the next practice. And the next. Until it becomes ingrained and habitual. How to Troubleshoot Your Swim Practices

Problem #5: The environment around you isn’t conducive for success in the water.

Fix: Surround yourself with people that are killin' it in the water, and streamline your life outside of the pool for success. Look to level up your swimming. The greatest part of multi-grouped swim clubs is that there is always someone faster. (Until you become Alpha Dog, obviously.) Instead of surrounding yourself with swimmers your speed or slower, rise to the challenge and take on the older and faster kids on the team. Those swimmers, by and large, didn’t get to where they are by accident. The training habits and attitude that gets elite swimmers to where they are is contagious, so surround yourself with swimmers who have an appetite for fast swimming and success. Grease the out-of-pool habits to encourage better training in the pool. If you are serious about achieving high performance stuff in the pool this year you cannot only be excellent from warm-down to warm-up. The things you do outside of the pool matter—often more than you realize—and influence your training. Whether it is getting the sleep you need to recover and bounce back strong before your next practice, or eating a little bit better, make sure that your environment outside of the pool supports your ambitions inside of it. How to Troubleshoot Your Swim Practices

In Summary Training is tough stuff. Daily we are asked to push ourselves to levels that we consider difficult or impossible, and then are asked to come back and do it again the following day. It’s challenging, but it doesn’t have to be full of misery or frustration. This season be the athlete that masters practice, masters the process, and subsequently masters the podium.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

After all, how many times have you heard someone say, “Man, that dude totally has a football body!” Swimmer’s bodies get love because we are lean, but not too lean. Usually tall, with long limbs, flexible, with broad shoulders, and a (mostly) defined abdominal areas, the competitive swimmer look is one that is fashionable in all seasons. Here are 9 signs that you have a swimmer’s body:

1. You’re tall. (For the most part.)

Swimmers at the top levels of the sport are inordinately tall. As an example, the average height of male 100m freestyle world record holders is 6’4” dating back to 1976, with the United States’ Rowdy Gaines being the shortest amongst the group at 6’1”. (Which is also how tall Missy Franklin and Aussie sprinter Cate Campbell are.) But fear not my vertically challenged friends, there is still room for those who weren’t born to NBA-sized parents. The distance legend Janet Evans was 5’5. David Berkoff, the guy whose underwater dolphin kick was one of the stories of the 1988 Seoul Olympics, was 5’8. More currently, Japanese superstar Kosuke Hagino is 5’8”, showing that while the general trend of swimmers is tall, it’s not a deal breaker if you aren’t.

2. You’re flexible.

Before the start of every race Michael Phelps gets up on the blocks and wrap-slaps his arms and hands behind his back. Phelps’ also has remarkably flexible ankles, and hyper-extending knees and elbows. The overhead movement required for fast swimming means we have flexible lats, shoulders and back. After all, whipping our arms above our shoulders for thousands of meters on end requires them to be at least mildly flexible.

3. You’re strong.

I’m not talking about being able to lift massive amounts of weight in the gym, but relative strength. (Although freestyler Nathan Adrian’s 160 pound dumbbell bench press—per arm—might have something to say about that.) Michael Phelps could do over 30 pull ups at a time. Natalie Coughlin crushes both in terms of relative strength and when playing around with the dumbbells. While you won’t see us lifting up cars, you will see us lifting ourselves up and over chin-up bars with relative ease.

4. You have hilariously large lats.

With all of that overhead work comes highly developed lats. Your lats stretch across the entirety of your back (latissumus dorsi means broadest back in Latin), from your spine to your shoulder. From the kazillions of pulls we perform over the course of our swimming careers these muscles get rather, well, large. The large, expanse of a back is a hallmark of the competitive swimmer regardless of your stroke or distance. The big latty McLatty’s transition nicely into the next thing that gives a not-so-subtle hint that you are a swimmer…

5. You have swimmer shoulders.

Or as we call them... ...shoulders. They are so pronounced that they are termed specifically for us. Completing the V-shape common to swimmers are those boulder shoulders. Or, as we shall call them—bashoulders. (I’ll work on that one.) The cumulative effect of a big back and big shoulders means that shopping for clothing is a bit tricky. Sitting on the aisle seat on a plane means you are getting body checked by the snack cart and bathroom-bound passengers no matter how far into your seat you try to tuck yourself. And no matter where you are at in the world you can spot a fellow swimmer by the high shoulder to waist ratio.

6. You’re built like a torpedo.

Despite all of our (relative) strength, and the shocking amount of time spent both in the pool and in the weight room, we are lean. After all, success in the water demands it. Unlike our land-locked sporting brothers and sisters we compete in a medium that is trying to slow us down at every turn. Water is thick to the tune of being nearly 800 times denser than air at sea level. In order to combat this we need to assume a form that is less Diesel F350 and more Murcielago. Swimmers who are built with sleekness are rewarded with much lower drag than their overly muscley compatriots. The end result of this slender footprint in the water is efficient and fast swimming.

7. Your hair is constantly wet and beat up.

It’s not too hard to discern swimmers from the general population by just looking at the tops of their heads. During the winter they are the ones who have water-logged heads for the first couple hours of the day, with the tops of the back of their shirts and sweaters becoming soggy. Over summer months— when the outdoor pools provide a 1-2 combination of ultra-violet rays and chlorine—our hair gets particularly manky. Stiff, weathered-looking and border-line brittle, like you could break it off if you twisted it with too much enthusiasm. Although there is the misconception that chlorine turns our hair green (the culprits there are “old brass fittings, gas-heater coils, trace copper in the water supply or residue from copper-based algicides that are dissolved in the water”), it’s more the perpetual sogginess, the tangles and the nearly surfer-boy look that our hair takes on that identifies us.

8. You have all the triceps.

For a moment imagine this… A swimmer with large shoulders, and the expansive latissumis dorsi to go along with it… And then tiny triceps. Seems a little weird, doesn’t it? To go along with all the other backside muscular awesomeness swimmers are also gifted with bulging triceps. For everyone except for those weird breaststrokers (I only call you guys weird because I never learned to master the stroke. So maybe I am a little jealous…) swimmers use their triceps to finish the stroke, meaning that over the course of their careers they do about 3.2 million tricep extensions. With that kind of work they are bound to get huge.

9. The amount of body hair you have is always in flux.

Hair is part of your body, right? Yup! This leads to some tortured and lengthy hotel shave down sessions for some of the more developed males, and lamentable amounts of ‘splaining by the ladies for why they have hairy legs between meets. No matter how many times we hear—“but does it really make that much of a difference?”—we know that yes, it actually does. We understand that it is impossible to replace that feeling when we first dive in after a shave and sensing as though someone had slapped a prop to our backside. And that no matter how many times we nick ourselves, and how many times we shaved against the grain (can you tell I sucked at shave downs yet?) it was always worth it when we felt amazing diving into the water.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

Something that doesn't involve training more, spending a whole bunch of money, or having to wait for months and months for results to become apparent? Spending a few minutes a day writing out your workouts can do a handful of very powerful things that can help you improve your swimming on day one.

Things like...

Being more consistent in practice.
Learning how to become fully accountable to your swimming.
Seeing what works and what doesn't when it comes to how your lifestyle (sleep, diet, etc) affects your workouts.
And much more.

Below is a snazzy little infographic that outlines 8 reasons why a swim log can help you swim faster this season. And when you are ready, here is why YourSwimBook is the ideal log book to help you achieve your goals in the pool. On to the infographic... 8 Reasons to Keep a Swim Log Infographic

8 Reasons to Keep a Swim Log Infographic

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

Part of this leg power and stamina came from his strongman-inspired workouts done in his Florida days with strength and training coach Matt DeLancey. Between sprints, heavy deadlifts, box jumps and more sprints, and his pool work, Lochte was able to develop a kick that stands above most international-level swimmers. (This was most apparent at the most recent FINA World Championships. Lochte, kicking on his back, surged past the competition during freestyle events. FINA has since amended their underwater dolphin kicking rules in order to limit fly kick done on the back during individual medley events-- but not during freestyle events.) In the video below Lochte crushes a 20.9 over 50 yards doing solely dolphin kicks on his back. The swim was done at a charity swim meet, and while it might not count as an “official” time it is still something to behold. Enjoy:

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

Through it all it can be difficult to turn a positive eye when things feel like they are stacked up against you. But there are benefits to persevering through the tough stuff. Whether it is a stream of injury and illness, a disappointing set of performances, or the overwhelming crush of schoolwork and training, when you learn to appreciate difficult situations a few powerful things happen…

You learn to find your way out of tough spots faster.
You are more optimistic and less likely to toss in the towel at the first hint of difficulty.
You detach yourself from results and focus instead on making the small increments of improvement.

All of which combine to help you swim faster, sooner. But if you have spent any time at all on this site you probably already know this. (If not, than read this. And this. And this too.) What you might not have known, on the other hand, are these three little talked about benefits of persevering through the grind: 3 Underappreciated Benefits of the Struggle

3 Underappreciated Benefits of the Struggle

1. It Gives You Empathy.

It’s easy to look at the strides someone else is making and think to yourself... “Pfft, I could totally do that if I wanted to do.” When you are neck deep in the grind, and every step forward feels like it requires a Herculean sum of energy, than you begin to appreciate the struggle that others encounter on their respective paths. Suddenly you have a little more respect for that national champion you see at local meets. You can’t help but be a little in awe of the youngster on your team that hasn’t missed a practice all year.

It pushes you to being a better teammate (and ultimately, swimmer) by understanding the trials and tribulations the swimmers around you are going through.

2. It Teaches You Where You Can Improve Most.

When that tough main set is scrawled up on the whiteboard it can be easy to want to sink back into our comfort zone. To not push yourself and to stay happily within your self-perceived limits. Because after all… The grind can be a cruel teacher. It can expose weaknesses in our preparation and training just as easily as the end of season swim. It can highlight where we aren’t taking enough rest and sleep. It reminds us where our conditioning is at when our technique completely falls apart early in the main set. And it shows us that we aren’t completely ready to level up to the next level of training. Yes, there will be moments where the struggle is mega-struggley. These aren’t indications that you need to quit, but rather, tell you with rather pointed urgency that something has got to change.

3. It Builds Character.

Showing up every day and putting in the work not only develops a powerful foundation for future performance, but it also builds layers of character. When you make a goal, and stick to it over the long term in the face of disappointing performances, getting sick, and spiking levels of self-doubt, you teach yourself something that is so valuable it’s impossible to put a price on it… You identify yourself as someone who commits to their goals and sees them through. That sounds simple, but consider this statement a little more deeply for a moment… When you know in your heart that a goal will be chased down, that you will invest your energy and smarts into delivering on the promise you made to yourself… You are much more likely to stay true to your goals in the future. Sure, it’s easy to say that you are the type of swimmer (and person) who sticks to their goals. Who stays true to their promises. Who has the integrity to see things through. But when you have concrete evidence of this type of behavior in your personal history it creates a solid foundation for future goals.

In Summary

The struggle is rough. There is no disputing that. There will be many points in your swimming career where the easier path is the door. But for those who stay true to their goals, who are willing to see past their current circumstances, there is a lot to be gained by having the personal integrity to go toe-to-toe with the trying bouts of training that comes with our sport. Things like faster swimming in the long run. No regrets at having invested a complete effort. And building the character and personal integrity that is characteristic of high achievers in sport.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

Given that swimmers annually perform hundreds of thousands of arm rotations it should be of little shock to learn that this type of work and frequency places a lot stress on the shoulder musculature and joint. As a result, the shoulders are the most commonly injured body part as a result of competitive swimming. Studies have shown a large number of swimmers will experience injury to their shoulders over the course of their swimming careers: How to Prevent Swimmers Shoulder

One study showed 47% of collegiate swimmers having experienced shoulder pain that lasted 3 weeks or longer (with the same study reporting 48% of masters swimmers experiencing it as well despite half the workouts of the collegiate swimmers).
A study of over 1,200 American club swimmers found swimmers presently experiencing shoulder pain ranging between 10% in the younger age groups, and 26% of national team swimmers experiencing pain at the time they were surveyed.
Another study done in Australia on 80 of their elite swimmers aged 13-25 found that 91% of them were experiencing shoulder pain. When given an MRI, 69% of the swimmers showed inflammation of the tendon of the supraspinatus muscle. (This bad boy helps to keep your shoulder stable and helps lift the arm sideways—which is why when you have tendonitis in this spot that it hurts when you recover the arm.)
And lastly, when the University of Iowa’s men’s and women’s swim team was tracked and monitored for a period of five years the shoulder was the most reported injured body part, followed by the neck/back. Freshmen, in particular, tended to suffer injury more often—sometimes twice as frequently—than their teammates.

These studies and stats tell us what most swimmers and those around the sport already intuitively know—that swimmer’s shoulder is frighteningly common. In this little guide we are going to tackle it.

Preventing Swimmer’s Shoulder – It Starts with Posture

At the end of the day, shoulder related injuries are generally as a result of poor posture and sloppy mechanics in the water. Yes, overuse and the seemingly endless repetition of arm rotations seems like an unstoppable prescription for shoulder agony, but when you have proper alignment and posture you minimize the chances of injury. It starts with building better posture, both in the pool and out of it. It’s easy to see how the battle for good posture is a hard one—we are a culture of banana-shaped sitters. From being slumped over our desks, on the couch, in bed, or during our countless staring matches with our mobile device, the posture we carry for the 22 hours of the day we aren’t in the pool inevitably bleeds into our swimming. And when we have bad posture in the water we are creating the ideal circumstances for the inevitable shoulder injury. Besides avoiding the time missed and misery that comes with being chronically injured, think about this… When we have poor posture, we not only limit the mobility of our limbs but we also dramatically short-change the amount of power we can exert. In order to correct our not-so-great posture, we’ll start where we spend the most of our time… In bed.

1. Sleep on your back.

Having sore shoulders is inevitable over the course of our swimming careers. It’s bad enough that they are tired and sore after a tough workout, but it’s even worse when sleeping improperly on them at night ends up causing even more pain. I cannot count how many times I woke myself up at night from a streaking pain in my shoulder, flashing all the way down to my elbow because I was splashed across my bed on my front with my bad shoulder wrapped up under my head. Whether you go full blown fetal, semi-prone while giving sweet cuddles to a pillow, or in any other variation of side sleeping, the default setting for most of us is on the side. The problem for swimmers (and their sore shoulders) is what happens when they place their arm above their head, or roll their shoulders forward. Placing your shoulder out of alignment tends to exacerbate the pain, causing you to wake up in the middle of the night with your shoulder on fire. The answer? Lay on your back while you sleep to take the pressure off your shoulder, and to put your neck and shoulders in alignment. To further place your arms and shoulders back into their socket—where they are supposed to be—place your hand across your chest. If your shoulders still aren’t rolling back far enough place a pillow under your elbow in order to elevate the hand a little bit. You’ll find this position is especially helpful if you are presently experiencing shoulder pain. (Shout-out to Kelly Starrett at MobilityWOD for this tip.)

2. Improve your t-spine mobility.

As swimmers we know all about the importance of having flexible shoulders, pecs, ankles and hips. It’s drilled into us from day one with the myriad of stretches and arm and leg swings we do from our age group days and up. But if I told you that something called your thoracic spine played a major role in your swimming, would you have the faintest idea what I was talking about? The thoracic spine refers to the part of your spine located in the upper and middle back. This bad boy is built for rotation, it’s built for flexion, and it’s built for extension. When swimmers have poor t-spine mobility it affects a whole bunch of things, not just how likely you are to spend the last half of the workout doing vertical kick in the dive tank instead of completing the workout with your teammates. You can’t rotate as well to breathe, causing over-rotation of the hips. Your shoulders and chest roll forward and inwards. And it also restricts your undulation, hindering your dolphin kicking. Here is a two pack of simple exercises to incorporate into your warm-up to boost your t-spine range of motion: Foam roller thoracic spine extension. 8 deep breaths. You will find yourself extending further back. Suck belly button in. Roll up another vertebrae or two and repeat. Support your head with your hands to avoid undue strain on your neck. Swimmers Shoulder Prevention

Quadruped t-spine rotation. On all fours put a hand behind your head and dip below your opposing shoulder, leading with your elbow. Keeping your head straight and hips stable—don’t twist your hips, in other words—leading with your elbow, rotate your shoulders so that your elbow ends pointing at the ceiling. How to Prevent Shoulder Injuries from Swimming

How to Prevent Shoulder Injuries from Swimming

3. Improve scapular stability.

What are your scaps? And why are they important? And more importantly, why is it so fun to say “scaps”? During my day they were neglected in favor of more rotator cuff work. Over the past decade or so research has begun to show just how critical a role they play, with swimmers with less than awesome scaps generally suffering from added stress to the anterior shoulder capsule, a rise in the likelihood of rotator cuff compression, and decreased neuromuscular performance in the shoulder. Okay, so those were some sciencey words. To break it down, the scaps provide a solid base from which your shoulder joint can exert additional force and power. Stable, strong scaps = more power and speed in the water. (And less likelihood of injury.) An easy way to develop scap stability is to throw a basic standing row into your warm-routine. You can use an elastic band, cable machine, or my favorite, TRX. Keep your elbows tight, feel the squeeze in your scaps at the end of each rep, and perform the movement with control. how to prevent swimmers shoulder

4. Strengthen your rotator cuffs.

For as long as I can remember I have watched swimmers do internal and external rotators with bands on deck. I've banged out a large number of them myself, and continue to do so to this day as part of my daily warm-up. It's been so intertwined with the term shoulder injury that it has turned most swimmers and coaches into armchair physiotherapists.

"Aww yeah, shoulder is acting up. Gotta get back on the internal and external rotators."

A word of caution with doing endless sets of rotator cuff strengthening exercises, however. Performing work on the rotator cuff isn’t a cure all for shoulder issues. It should be used as a preventative tool, and one that is lower on the totem pole than having overall mobility in your t-spine and stability. Dr. Erik DeRoche, USA Swimming’s team chiropractor on the 2012 and 2014 World Championship teams as well as the University of Michigan’s team chiropractor at NCAA’s in 2012, backs this up:

“Commonly, I see swimmers performing rotator cuff strengthening exercises as a fix for shoulder pain.

This, while a part of therapy, is one of the last things I do on the continuum of care.

Establishing mechanical deficits is primary…”

Which transitions into probably the most critical preventative measure you can take against shoulder injury…

5. Swim with perfect technique.

Having great posture outside of the water is fantastic, and will serve you well. But if you forgo any thought of maintaining solid posture in the water, than you are still leaving yourself open to taking on shoulder injuries in the future. Remember that swimming is a resistance exercise, just like weight lifting or any other kind of resistance training, and that achieving proper technique and form should be your over-riding objective before adding any kind of load (intensity and/or volume) in the water. On top of the risk that you are putting your shoulders at, swimming with stinky posture means you are losing out on substantial power in the water. Don’t believe me? For a moment round your shoulders forward, and try to simulate your stroke. Are you getting a good range of motion? Nope. Are you using your core, back and arms to the best of their capability? Certainly not. In other words, having excellent technique and mechanics in the water is absolutely critical to both swimming fast and staying clear of nagging shoulder injuries. Dr. DeRoche:

“Poor swimming mechanics is what I see most commonly creating shoulder ‘issues’ in any swimmer.

The primary factor which contributes to impingement syndromes that I see in my office is a thumb first hand entry in the crawl/freestyle stroke.

What this hand entry creates is internal rotation of the arm/hand and ‘closes’ off/pinches the soft tissues on the inside (medial) arm and disallows for adequate reach and therefore a less than optimal catch.”

Russell Mark, high performance consultant to USA Swimming, agrees (emphasis mine):

“Repetition alone isn't enough to injure your shoulder. Repetition of bad technique is. It's so easy - and incorrect - to swing your arm behind your body when you swim.

In freestyle, a wide hand recovery is more natural and easier on your shoulder than a recovery with your hand close to your body. Swing your hand and arm around to the side.
During the pull phase, make sure your hand doesn't scull wide at the same time your body is rotated.

If you have shoulder pain, talk to your coach and see a physician. Try and identify exactly what part of the stroke the pain occurs and make an adjustment! Pain is when your body tells you you're not doing something right for it and you need to listen.”

Brent Hayden, Olympic bronze medalist in the 100m freestyle in 2012, and winner of the 100m freestyle at the 2007 FINA World Championships, had this to add for all you freestylers out there:

"...eliminate zipper drill and over-emphasis of high elbow freestyle, which often involves shrugging (therefore impinging the shoulder) the arm through the recovery. Instead aim to come around naturally like an arm swing with a soft elbow."

6. Make pre-hab routine.

Swimming is a big investment of time. I get it—between all of the two-a-days, 4-day meets, and more meters and yards than you could possibly count—the sport demands much from us. In addition to school, work, and what passes for a social life it is hard to put together the extra time to insure the health and well-being of our shoulders. But you can avoid having to put out the fires of chronic or sudden shoulder injuries by spending just a handful of minutes per day before your workout priming your body and shoulders for not only high performance swimming, but movement that is less likely to result in injury. This means making your pre-hab work habitual. Routine. Simply a part of your training. As essential as your goggles and suit. Travis Dodds of Vancouver based InSync Physiotherapy notes that most shoulder injuries are avoidable:

“My view is that this injury is almost entirely preventable.

If an athlete is starting to feel stiffness or mild shoulder pain they should focus more on prehab.

If it lasts more than a few days or becomes severe enough to limit their stroke or range of motion they should seek treatment, even if pain doesn't seem that bad. Swimming through pain simply limits your technique.”

Make your pre-hab a part of your daily warm-up routine, something that you don’t even have to think about—just something you do—and you will be well on your way to swimming injury-freer this season.

In Summary

Start with solid mechanics in the water. Have killer posture in and out of the pool. Seek the advice of your coach and a qualified therapist to deal with your specific condition. And go forth with less pain in your shoulders my chlorinated homies. THANK YOU I would like to thank the following experts for contributing their time and expertise to this little guide:

Dr. Erik DeRoche, Chiropractor, Performance Health NorthWest. Dr. DeRoche has extensive experience with competitive swimmers, having been the chiropractor for Team USA at both the 2012 and 2014 FINA World Championships. He has lectured for USA Swimming and USA Triathlon. You can find him online at his practice by clicking here.

Russell Mark, High Performance Consultant, USA Swimming. Formerly a rocket scientist (seriously), Russell lectures regularly for USA Swimming. Catch up with him on Twitter here.

Travis Dodds, Registered Physiotherapist, InSync Physiotherapy. Since completing the Masters of Physical Therapy program in 2010 at the University of Alberta Travis has consulted with a myriad of clubs, varsity squads and pro athletes and has worked on site with sports ranging from volleyball, soccer to, you guessed it, swimming. You can connect with Travis at his blog by clicking here.

Brent Hayden, Olympic bronze medalist in the 100m freestyle at the London Games, Hayden was a fixture on the international sprint scene for nearly a decade, with Commonwealth and World Championship medals to his credit. Catch up with Brent by visiting his website here.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

Yes, the work required of high performance swimming is challenging. And it can certainly be frustrating at times, particularly when things aren’t going your way. But being the swimmer that has a positive outlook and a strong and resilient mindset when it comes to their performances and training means that you are able to get past failures faster, set smarter goals, and derive more satisfaction from the process. And, like, swim faster. And who doesn't want that? Think you might need to give your mindset a tweak? Here are 5 signs that your mental approach to your training needs some improvement:

1. A majority of your thoughts are spent thinking “what-if” and “if only.”

Wishful thinking is nice—it is great to think about the things we want to achieve. But at a point wishful thinking begins to dominate your thoughts and behaviors, and that is a paralyzing transition. You want to have your big goals, but you want to have the action that comes along with it. This could mean spending more time creating shorter term goals and objectives for your training. It could also require you to forgo the notion that you need perfect circumstances in order to take action.

2. Your focus is on not screwing up instead of excelling.

High pressure situations tend to bring this line of thinking out of a lot of swimmers. Instead of focusing on the things they want to achieve, of dialing in mentally on the aspects of the process that they can control, they flounder in the “worst possible outcomes.” What if my suit falls off on the start? What if I lose to my biggest rival? What if I miss my heat? Being prepared to race in adverse conditions is one thing by mentally rehearsing all possible outcomes (Michael Phelps used this to great effect), but you can also prepare by showing up and training hard every day in practice no matter what the circumstances dictate. This means working your butt off even though you had a short night of sleep. Or had a stressful day at work or school. The effect of being able to crush it in practice when the situation isn’t ideal is undeniable. Excelling in the face of difficulty you develop a real confidence that is hard to fake when it comes to meet time.

3. You are constantly looking outwards for change.

When things don’t go our way in the pool, whether it is in training or competition, we have a tendency to look outwards for culpability. After all, we did everything we could to prepare and to be ready to race fast, right? (Not necessarily.) Sure, on occasion external factors will play a role in how you perform, but at the end of the day how ready you are to swim lights-out on race day comes down to you. When you are willing to be accountable to your performance in the water it grants you full control of your swimming.

4. You are getting hung up on the negatives.

When some swimmers face a challenging situation they see only the downside. Injured shoulder? Missed training time. Illness? More missed training time. Bad practice? Must mean that the next one will be bad too. It’s natural to spend more time focusing on the negative things that happen to us in the pool—our brains are hard-wired to do so. But when we fixate solely on the crappy stuff that happens to us we lose out on the development of a crucial skill: adaptability. The reality is that bad things will happen, not only in the pool but in life. What matters next is not how you fixate on what is happening to you with feelings of life being unfair, but how you will pave your way forwards. Injured shoulder? Develop a monster kick. Sick? Get fully rested and healed up and come back roaring to go. Bad practice? Come back furious and itching for a chance to atone for it.

5. You want to have a struggle-free ascent to your goals.

When we daydream about our lofty goals and record-breaking swims we tend to forget that there is a hilariously large amount of work that stands in our way. Having massive goals is important, but even more critical is a fundamental awareness that it is going to tough work to bring it to fruition. There will be resistance, there will be setbacks, detours and failures along the way. The struggle, the pain and doubt that comes over the course of the day-to-day training and grind tend to make most athletes squeamish to the point that they decline stepping forth with their best effort. They expect things to go smoothly from day one, and while they wait for those perfect conditions to materialize, the swimmer comfortable with struggle and who is realistic about the grind cruises right past them.

In Summary

It’s amazing what can happen when we adjust our mindset accordingly. Setbacks and problems suddenly don’t become so intimidating. Defeats and failures are suddenly not so debilitating. Be the swimmer that walks on deck with a positive and open mindset and reap the rewards in not only being able to bounce back harder from adversity, but more importantly, be the swimmer that can thrive in any situation or circumstance.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

From the early morning workouts, to the punishing weeks of training during the holidays, and the towering number of meters and yards swum over the course of our training we work hard. So hard, in fact, that it would seem to make sense that swimmers get injured a whole lot. If you go to any swimming website and read through the comments you’ll see more than our fair share of armchair therapists warning about overuse injuries and spouting tales of career-ending tendinitis. Do Swimmers Get Injured More Often Than Other Athletes

Do Swimmers Get Injured More Often Than Other Athletes

As someone who spent a majority of time during my later teenage years sidelined with chronic shoulder injuries I know that swimming can be a cause of infuriating, serious, and painful injury. But personal experience aside, do swimmers in general get injured more often than other athletes?

Injury Rates for Swimmers

There is no shortage of research on injury in sport, and swimming is no exception. Although the numbers vary with the studies outlined below, you can get a broad sense of how often injury happens in the water. An Australian study followed 5 different clubs over a 12 month period, with 74 swimmers participating in a self-reported study. 38% of swimmers reported missing training at one point or another due to shoulder injury. 22% had injuries that lasted longer than two weeks. Injury rates ranged from 0.2 to 0.3 per 1000 km. How Often Do Swimmers Get Injured

While an injury rate of 0.2 to 0.3 may seem low, the study notes:

“…a squad of 20 swimmers that trains 50km each week may sustain five SIP [injuries causing missed training time] and three SSI events [injuries causing pain lasting longer than two weeks] during a 16-week training phase.”

No matter how you dice it up those injuries can cause some serious havoc on a team’s program. A separate study done with over 265 Danish swimmers found an injury rate of 0.9% per 1,000 hours of swimming. The shoulder led the way, with the back also commonly cited. Breaststrokers were much more likely to have knee injuries, and the fastest swimmers in the study experienced injury significantly more often (added training, perhaps?).

How Do Swimmers Get Injured?

It should probably come as little to no surprise that the shoulders lead the way when it comes to which body parts are injured when it comes to swimming. In a study done with the University of Iowa men's and women's team (cited later), five years of monitoring found swimmers were most likely to get injured in the following ways:

60% of injuries happen in the water.
30-40% doing dryland.
Body Part Most Injured in the water: Shoulder.
Body Part Most Injured doing Dryland: Back/neck.

While breaststrokers didn't suffer as much in the shoulder department, they were certainly not immune to injury with increased injuries in the knee and hip areas:

86% of breaststrokers experienced knee pain.
47% of breaststrokers experienced knee pain weekly.
42% of breaststrokers missed training time due to groin injuries.

How Often Do Swimmers Get Injured Compared to Other Athletes?

Okay, so common sense and personal experience tells us that swimming carries an increased risk of suffering shoulder, neck/back and knee injury. (Not too mention stubbed fingers, paddle slaps and so on, but that is for a different time.) Chronicling five years of training history for an NCAA division 1 program at the University of Iowa researchers found the following injury rates for collegiate swimmers:

4.00 injuries per 1000 exposures for men (exposure counts as a practice or competition)
3.78 injuries per 1000 exposures for women

These stats can be misleading given that it only tracked one program—and their individualized approach to training isn’t necessarily a blanket generalization for all swim teams and programs—over a 5 year period. That being said, it provides us with a number to measure up against other sports. Below is where swimming falls when compared to other NCAA division 1 sports averaged out over a 15 year period. Keep in mind that these are also the practice injury rates, and not the game injury rates, which were significantly higher with football leading the way with 35.9 injuries per 1000 exposures, and women’s softball at the bottom of the pile at 4.3 injuries per 1,000.

In Summary

In terms of swimming being a worse offender for promoting injury than other sports, that doesn’t look like it is the case. And to be honest, the injury rates for swimmers could and should be able to be dramatically reduced. After all, we only have our own performance to worry about, we don’t have have people trying to mow us over as in football, or someone else’s ankle to roll over in basketball, or a landing to try and stick from height as in gymnastics. (Although we do have to tend with the breaststroker’s foot from the next lane, smashing into the lane rope, and so on, but really…) With a good background of pre-hab, having good posture both in and out of the water, and swimming with proper technique consistently and especially during times of difficult training, swimmers should be able to avoid the injury bug.

Dominate the Competition.

Regardless of where you land on the scale of ambition, the swimmers who perform consistently in the pool are able to do so because they wield motivation routinely and habitually. What follows are 7 workout habits that your local motivated swimmer employs in order to keep him or herself on track. Put them in place for yourself and become not only a more motivated athlete, but more consistent in your training, and most importantly for most of you, a faster swimmer.

1. They set different kinds of goals.

Every swimmer in the pool has things they hope to accomplish with their time spent lapping back and forth and around the black line. The motivated swimmer has those big, lofty goals, but also understands the importance of creating smaller, short term objectives and goals. In fact, where motivated swimmers shine brightest is by setting goals and objectives within their training—things like specific stroke rates, doing a specific number of kicks off each wall, breathing patterns, or in-practice best times. They understand that these ultra short term goals are perfect for keeping them focused and motivated during the session and training cycle at hand.

2. They focus on the things that matter most.

Ever written out a goal plan that was full of things that produced little in the way of tangible results? Like: Pack bag. Tie shoes. Remember water bottle. While these things might be necessary and essential, doing these things fill us with a false sense of accomplishment, often replacing the things that we truly need to do in order to get us closer to our goals. Things like giving a top-flight effort in practice. Showing up every day to workout. Doing pre-hab for our swimmer’s shoulder every single day. When you throw together a plan for crushing your goals this season see beyond the maintenance tasks and zero in on the growth aspects of your training.

3. They keep their commitments.

Want an easy way to deflate confidence and stall momentum when you need it most? Waffle and flake on the things you say you will do. If you make a commitment to yourself that you will make every practice this month do what it takes to hold that promise. Personal integrity matters more than most swimmers care to realize. After all, when you habitually break the commitments and promises you make with yourself it breeds a self-identity that demonstrates that you are not reliable. That you can't trust yourself with goals big or small.

4. They know that motivation comes from acting.

There is painfully common belief that motivation should always precede the act. In other words, that you must be fully and utterly jacked up and primed to give an awesome effort. Motivated swimmers know that motivation doesn’t come from thinking about doing the things you want to do, it comes from doing the things you want to do. 7 Habits of Highly Motivated Swimmers

So this means habitually taking the first step, routinely taking action in the face of apathy and doubt. Where action goes, motivation follows.

5. They know excellence requires a thousand swings.

You don’t cut down an oak tree with a dozen wild and full effort swings. You show up every day, take a few solid cracks at it, and then come back the next day. Little by little, meter by meter, you work away at it consistently and dutifully over time. Managing your expectations and being patient enough to know that your hard work today will pay off down the road is tough. However, when you understand that getting really good at something requires a consistent and daily investment of quality reps, than you are less likely to become discouraged when your unrealistic expectations don’t come to pass.

6. They enjoy the day to day work of getting better.

Tell me if you have experienced this scenario before: Burning with confidence you set yourself a monstrously ambitious goal. You know you have the talent. You have the support system in place. And you have the work ethic. Off you go, plodding along for a month or two, showing up when it counts, and doing the little things right outside of the pool in order to support your goals. After a few months of top-notch effort you go to a meet, hoping to get close to that mark you’ve set for yourself, only to come up far short. The realization becomes painfully clear... You’ve reached the top of what ends up only being a small hill to see that there is a far greater mountain to be climbed ahead of you if you hope to achieve that fantastic goal. Is this moment humbling? For sure. Discouraging? To some, absolutely. But it should also be the exact moment where you realize that you are going to have to love what you are doing on a daily basis. And by love I don’t mean be falsely optimistic; but loving the process of improving in increments and having a taste for challenging and pushing yourself daily.

7. They find motivation in doing it better.

If you take two swimmers who are prescribed the exact same amount of meters, same number of practices, and are the same age and size, can you reasonably expect that they will perform identically in competition? Of course not. Small technical differences would make a distinction. And the average effort given would snowball to create a sizable disparity between the two swimmers over time. In other words, while our two swimmers in this example might be performing the same number of meters, one is inevitably going to do it better than the other. We are all given the same opportunities, more or less. It’s what we do with them that matters most. It’s easy to want to crave more opportunities. To want better equipment. Higher performing supplements. These “if-only’s” are common. At the end of the day the self-driven swimmer finds motivation and confidence in doing it better with the opportunities given to them than the swimmer in the next lane.

In Summary

Don’t fall for the illusion that motivation is something that just happens to us. You are the muse to your inspiration. And if you are serious about your swimming, about exploring the depths of your potential in the water, you will need to cast aside the misconception that you need to be motivated to take progress. So take the first step. Do it a little bit better. Do it with consistency and courage, and you will find yourself well on your way to achieving comical levels of success in the water.

Take Your Swimming to the Next Level

Swimmers will experience varying amounts of resistance over the course of the thousands and thousands of meters and yards of training and racing. From untimely disqualifications, to injury, to the competition outpacing them, top performing swimmers—and anyone who has attempted at fulfilling their potential in the water— have had to battle at length in order to become successful. Ultimately, the biggest impediment to our success is almost always the resistance we create for ourselves. Here are seven common stumbling blocks that hold swimmers back from realizing their full potential in the water, and some additional tips to help swim through them:

1. Lacking self-awareness.

It’s amazing how few swimmers lack the ability to properly diagnose and assess their swimming and training. Either they over-estimate the work they have done and are surprised when they perform poorly, or they under-estimate the work they have done and perform according to expectations instead of swimming according to how they trained. Expectations that are out of line with our results are a symptom of an athlete having low or distorted self-awareness. Here's how to become a more self-aware swimmer so that you can create more realistic expectations for your swimming:

Record and monitor your performances in practice. The way you race isn’t a surprise when you can look back with an air of objectivity at the work you have done. This means knowing your in-practice bests, your average effort given at practice, and your attendance.
Review moments where your goals were in line with your training. There have been times where you have been close to predicting your performance. Take a second look at those moments in order to build a more informed expectation of how fast you can reasonably hope to improve.

2. You think you are the exception.

Success in the pool, is well, hard. What makes it even tougher is when a swimmer is loaded up on the “you have so much talent” praise. It’s dangerous because it indicates a sense of exceptionalism that tends to remove the impetus to train hard. If a swimmer thinks they are more talented than the next, than it’s natural they’ll come to think they can get by with less work than the “less talented” swimmers in the next lane. You can’t control talent. But you can control your work ethic. Your commitment to your training schedule. The focus you place on your technique.

Make your work ethic your talent. Talent comes with the burden of expectation, so instead of thinking yourself as talented or gifted, focus on making yourself the athlete who is the hardest worker.
Remember there will always be someone more talented. No matter how gifted you are, or how gifted your coach and parents tell you that you are, there will always be another swimmer out there who is more gifted. On top of that, there will always be someone more talented who is also willing to work harder than you.

3. You don’t have yard-sticks for progress.

Most swimmers when throwing together goals tend to emphasize the big, year-end objectives. I want to win provincials! Break the NAG for the 100 fly! Make the Olympic team! It’s great to have these big, booming goals, but without attention paid to the process, to the thousands of little steps between now and that goal it can be easy to become distracted and get side-tracked. By not having the steps and measurable targets in training and the “off” meets it becomes really tough to keep yourself accountable to the program.

Set weekly goals. Every Sunday sit down with a piece of loose-leaf and write out what you want to achieve in the water that week. Attendance levels, extras you want to complete before or after practice, habits you want to instill in the water.
Set daily goals. You should be walking on deck every single practice with purpose and intent. This means having standards and benchmarks for your practice. Breathing patterns you want to hold, a number of dolphin kicks you want to belt out off each wall, intervals you want to stay under.
Again, record your progress. Seeing how you are progressing over the course of your training reaffirms the work you are doing, while shining a light on the areas of your swimming that need attention.

4. You are a flash-in-the-pan swimmer in practice.

This treads a little bit upon point number one and the need to be more self-aware, but it is worth repeating. There are a few different reasons that you lack consistency in the pool. Perhaps you have an impossible juggling act of other sports, school, work and Netflix to maintain. Or maybe the thought of fully committing to yourself to your swimming is a little frightening. Whatever the reason, it is ludicrous to expect full time results when you only ever apply yourself with part-time effort in practice.

Keep the chain alive. The easiest way to keep yourself accountable to your effort in the water is to write down your effort level at the end of each practice. Slap a calendar up on the wall and give yourself a score after workout. It’ll show you how consistently inconsistent you were, while also giving you a jolt of motivational fuel to encourage more solid workouts more often.
Remember that anything less than your best will lead to regret. Looking back on your swimming and wondering “what if?” stings something nasty. It is all upside when you give your best on a consistent effort—not only do you swim faster (which you think would be enough) but the steadiness means not having to wonder how much quicker you could have gone.

7 Reasons You Aren’t Achieving Success in the Water

5. You refuse to put your environment in line with your goals.

Achieving wild and unending glory in the water is tough. Real tough. So why do we make it harder on ourselves by creating an environment that acts directly in opposition of our goals? The people we hang out with most regularly have an impact on our swimming, whether we care to admit it or not. If your friends refuse to understand that your sport is a priority, and are unyielding in trying to get you to skip a few workouts to hang out, eventually you will cave, no matter how much willpower you have at the outset. Similarly, if you are having a hard time eating well, but have cupboards and a fridge stocked with crap food, than you are making it exponentially more difficult on yourself to fuel yourself properly for your training. The fastest and most simple way to create an environment that fosters success is to make the right thing the default option. Paint yourself into a corner so that you have no option but to do the thing that promotes excellence.

Seek out the positive people in your life and in your lane. There are those in your life who genuinely have your best interests at heart. Who will support you in your goals, and not deride and talk snidely of them or push you to act in a manner that contradicts what you need to do. There are swimmers on your team who are doing big things; watch and learn from them.
Remove the obstacles to your success. Having a hard time getting to sleep cause you are playing around on Pinterest till the wee hours? Remove the phone from the bedroom. Want to eat better? Get rid of the crap in your cupboards so that it’s not even an option. There are things holding you back that you have control over. Remove them with prejudice.
Create boundaries. The death blow for any commitment is when exceptions come around. “Just this one time,” always leads to “just one more time” and so on. Have clear boundaries in your life and in the pool and let the people in your life know about them.

6. You think you are working hard, but you aren’t.

“Hard work” is a floating term. It’s something that is constantly in flux, and (ideally) always trending upwards in to new, uncharted territory (for you). Michael Phelps, in his pre-Beijing training extravaganza was regularly clocking two and three-a-days along with around 80,000 meters per week. His definition of hard work is certainly different from the rest of us mere mortals. The point is that what “hard work” means to you now is nor your limit, nor what it will represent as you continue to improve. In other words, continually seek to elevate your definition of what hard work means to you.

Hard work goes beyond effort. Yes, getting in the pool and swimming your brains out until you drop makes for a great workout. But if you are swimming with lousy technique, beachball streamlines, and other training habits that only promote poor swimming, than the benefit is negligible. There shouldn’t be a distinction between training hard and training smart—the top swimmers excel at both.
Challenge yourself frequently. The only way to bust through plateaus and expect more from yourself is to push your perceived limits often. This means trying harder intervals, doing an extra rep on the main set, and simply doing it faster and better than the last time out.

Seek to Elevate What Hard Work Means to You

7. You lack the patience to play the long game.

Having those moments where you work hard for a little bit, and then immediately see results are fantastic. Intoxicating, even. Those overnight improvements tend to come after some bouts of hard work followed by recovery, or more immediately, as a result of a technical correction. But every big-time swimmer knows that as you get faster, as you progress up the ranks, the improvements come more rarely and require exponentially more work. While it would be amazing to instantly see the fruits of your hard work, often times you will have to wait months, and possibly even years, to see the results.

Have a list of training goals. You don’t need to wait until the end of the season to crush a personal best time. Keep a list of training bests so that you can have measures of improvement that don’t require a shave and a tech suit. Start with the essentials: 50 kick, 50 pull, 200 kick, and distances of your off strokes.
Patience is not the same thing as waiting. Waiting for the perfect moment to swim with purpose isn’t patience, it’s procrastination. The difference might be a little more subtle for some, but there is a massive chasm between the two. Patience is being willing to work hard today for results that will not come until some point into the future. Waiting is sitting around waiting for a suitable time to work hard.

In Summary

Swimming awesomeness-- whatever that entails in your dreams and in your particular case-- is within you. But it requires you to be perpetually challenging yourself and your self-perceived limits. It takes some brutal honesty and self-awareness. And it requires a near Herculean sense of patience and focus. Will you step over the self-imposed barriers of resistance that you have placed in front of yourself and chase greatness?

Dominate the Competition.

You know it well enough, that uneasy feeling and frustration... ...that workout. You walked out on deck feeling loose and energized, but when it came time to the main set, your stroke and conditioning abandoned you. Or it was test set day, and after having invested a quality couple of months of training you were expecting better from yourself. Whatever the case, it is understandable that we get irritated and take it personally. Our swimming is a result of the time and energy we spend on it, as well as a reflection of our talents and the physical gifts we bring to the sport. While these feelings are natural, they also reflect that you have high expectations for yourself and your swimming, which is great! It means that you expect the best from yourself, and anything less is not cool. That being said, bad practices are going to happen. I promise you this. Every once in a while they’ll blindside you, in much the same inexplicable way as the time you swam a near-PB on five hours of fractured sleep. Knowing that they happen, what can we do to salvage the most of our training session when things go sideways on us? How can we best go about getting back on track with our workouts? Here are a few ways to give that crappy workout some emergency CPR and come out of it producing some useful work:

Get back to the fundamentals.

When I am having a bad workout in the water it is often because my stroke feels off and out of sorts. My catch isn’t sticking the way it usually is. My hand is slipping through the water. The answer here is simple... If you find that you are redlining far below the speed you want to be at, dial it back down and get back to basics. Pick apart your technique and do one thing with complete and utter awesomeness. Whether it is your streamlines, your upkick while on the kick board, or having a devastatingly high elbow catch, choose one thing and execute it to the best of your ability. (Doing this also has the curious side of effect of bleeding excellence into other parts of your swimming as you will see. Greatness is contagious.) By forgetting about the pace clock and drilling down on your technique it frees you to focus on something with full focus and attention. Once you feel like you have a concrete grasp on your technique, slowly ramp up the intensity again.

Give yourself a mini taper.

When your conditioning is abandoning you, and you need to give your swimming a kick-start, implement one of the following to shock and cajole your stroke back to where you want it to be:

Throw on some flippers and get your speed back with some short bursts of blinding swimming. This is particularly helpful if you are feeling frustrated to the point of anger in the water. No better way to burn it off than by hammering down some faster-than-race-pace swimming.
Strap on some Drag Sox to give your feet and legs an unbelievable feel for the water. There are a heap of reasons that I love my Drag Sox, but none so handy as using them when I am having an “off” session in the water. Why is this? Because the moment you take them off it feels like someone strapped a jet pack to your back.
Do some sculling. Tossing your hands up in front, above and behind you and getting your feel for the water back with some sculling. My favorite sculling drill is to put on a snorkel and do a slow sculling motion that mimics my pull. I’ll spend a few second up in the catch, a few more at the catch, hang out for a bit with my arm pointing at the bottom of the pool, and finally by my hips.

Instill some confidence with some random PB’s.

Progress comes in many forms. It doesn’t strictly have to be in the form of your best event, and it doesn’t even have to be something that you do in the pool that demonstrates progress. For instance:

How fast you can kick a 25m with a kickboard.
How fast you can sprint a 50m with Drag Sox on.
How many strokes you take during a set of 200’s.
How many crunches you did after practice.
Time spent stretching out your hamstrings…
And on and on.

These are all easily measurable and quantifiable ways to record progress in the water (and out of it). If you are doing something you have never done before it is tough not to feel the pride and satisfaction that comes along with it.

Take a strategic break.

When things are continually getting worse, or not improving despite your best efforts it’s time to take a step back. For myself, when things are getting to be close to frustrating to the point of helpless rage I find it helpful to go for a walk. You know, in that nature thing that is outside. Getting outdoors and out of the cap for an hour or two, with nature there to properly give me perspective, has always been a powerful way to pull me off the ledge. For you it might mean taking a full day off of training. Or going in and doing a loosen up session. Or avoiding your main stroke at your next practice and working on your off strokes. Whatever the case, learn to know yourself so that you can deal with the frustrations of poor training in a manner that will have you back on track sooner than later.

MANAGE THE NON-POOL STUFF

Of course, there are the things that take place outside of the pool that create the conditions in which terrible practices like to grow. The three big ones: 1. You aren’t getting enough rest. Proper sleep is almost always the first thing to get cut when a swimmer’s schedule begins to load up (more on that in a minute). Sleep is absolutely the easiest thing you can do this season to improve your performance in the water this season. Besides the host of health benefits that come with it, it will help your body recover and restore itself before the next punishing session in the water. 2. Your mouth is a corn syrup dumpster. If we are what we eat, what are you? A walking Dorito? A tall drink of fizzled corn syrup? Outside of the fact that you are most likely growing at a fairly rapid rate, your hours and hours of training in the water demand replenishment. Lots of it. Your body is a finely tuned machine and performs best when properly fueled and hydrated. Treat your body like the Lambo that it is and not as a dumpster. 3. You are stressed out. One of the most powerful lessons you will learn from swimming happens outside of the water. It’s the daily time crunch where you learn to prioritize and be efficient with the hours you have each day. Swimmers have to be excellent at time management—their schedule allows for nothing less. This means having a plan for those exceptionally busy times of the year (exams, holidays, and so on) where you know that your time is at a premium. How to Deal with a Bad Swim Practice

In Summary

Bad practices will happen. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. What happens next is ultimately up to you. You can choose to make the most of a stinky situation or let the workout define the rest of your day. Take a breath, reset yourself and get yourself back on track.

Dominate the Competition.

In the time you spend with your lanemates you will see them at their best, and see them at their worst. Similarly, they will see and help you succeed, while providing comfort in times where you struggle. The bonds you grow over the meters and yards, over the weekend meets, the long coach bus and plane rides, the holiday training camps, the Hell Weeks, test sets and more cannot be understated. It’s a bond that will last far after you go your separate ways at the end of your career in the pool. Here are 15 things only your teammates will understand in the water:

1. The excitement of seeing your friends after a break.

Whether it’s the couple days after the holidays, or the weeks and months of summer, you know you missed them. Those long distance sets waiting for your return, on the other hand, maybe not so much.

2. The panic that envelops you when you see that you have not one, but two missed phone calls from coach on your cell phone.

You had good intentions, you swear! Maybe you passed out from a pasta coma before you had a chance to set your alarm. Or you selected 5:15pm instead of 5:15am. Seeing those missed calls puts even the most experienced swimmer and alarm clock-setter in a state of gut-wrenching panic.

3. The communal fear the night before a devastating workout.

After a successful Friday night session, capped off with a couple fast ‘get out’ swims the mood on deck is running high. Coach gathers the group, and tells you that the following morning’s workout will be the most challenging set of all time. So hard, in fact, that he or she doubts anyone has the courage to finish it. You and your teammates quietly walk out, the mood dampened, set to sleep restlessly with thoughts of test sets and tight intervals.

4. That moment of panic right before a set starts…and no one in the lane knows what they are doing.

Between the handful of you someone could have paid attention while coach was explaining the Fourier equation up on the whiteboard. Instead, you all assumed someone else was listening. Only nobody did, and the set kicks off in a handful of seconds…

5. That there is always that one swimmer who will lose track of the reps or intervals.

“How many is that?” and “When do we go?” are the common refrains of your hapless teammate who despite his best intentions just cannot keep the clockhand straight. Or remember how many reps have been completed so far.

6. Friends will cheer you on. Real friends will count your laps.

You don’t even have to ask—they are just standing there at the end of the lane with a towel on the bulkhead, lane counter in hand and sleeves rolled up.

7. If coach is buying, you are going to stuff your face extra hard at the post-competition dinner.

Swimmers have a ravenous appetite as it is, but when coach whips out the credit card and states that dinner is on him, swimmer take it to the next level.

8. You can’t wait to get to the pool to stalk the hottie from the other team.

Competition provides a great opportunity to test out all the hard work you invested over the weeks and months. It’s also a perfect time for you to check out that good looking swimmer on the other team. You’ve checked out their FB, their Instagram pics, and now it’s time to take it to the next level—by swimming in the same lane as them during warm-up!

9. The misery that comes with the letters…”DQ” and “DFL.”

There is nothing even remotely awesome about being disqualified, especially after the race is done, and you are skulking away hoping that one-handed touch went unnoticed. The “DFL”, well, that just sucks, especially when it’s your best event.

10. That 0.1 seconds is not an eye blink. It’s sometimes the difference between the best swim of your life and…well, not.

Swimming can look like an insane sport at times—we train thousands of hours in order to drop sometimes as little as a couple tenths of a second. That fraction of a moment of time is often what separates success from defeat.

11. That “dryland” is a term that only you guys and gals will understand.

There comes a point where swimmers realize that people who go to the gym don’t call it going for dryland. (Although using this term with confused non-swimmers is rather amusing.)

12. When you run out of razors…and you still have one full leg to shave down.

Whether you are doing a shavedown at the pool the day of, or having a shave down party in the hotel room the night before, there is a particularly deflating moment when you realize that you have just run dry your last razor, and you still have one guerrilla leg to go.

13. That there’s no judgement based on appearance at early morning workouts.

At 5am there is no judgement. No one looks down on bed-head or being unkempt at this hour. Simply getting up and making it to the pool is worthy enough.

14. Having your swim crush ask you to help with her or his cap is pretty much like getting their phone number.

Close seconds: When your swimmer crush asks you to warm down together or help with partner stretches. All basically the swimmer’s version of a first date.

15. The agony of defeat and the sweetness of victory.

Over the course of your career you will log a stunning number of hours swimming up and down and around the black line with your teammates. Some will last late in life, others will come and go. The memories you build, both great and not so awesome, will last long after your suit dries for the last time.

Dominate the Competition.

Be great today.

(And tomorrow…) (And the next day...) You don’t need to be perfect today. You don’t even need to be the best or fastest today. But you should be great. What does this entail? It means doing it a little bit better. And then doing it a little bit better tomorrow. And the next day… Remember: Greatness doesn’t come from a podium finish, a record, or a world leading time. It’s slowly developed, accumulated and saved over the course of a long period of days and practices. Greatness isn’t something you achieve… It’s something you build.

Build your greatness.

Day by day. Practice by practice. Meter by meter. YourSwimBook is designed for the “boringness” of daily greatness… From logging your workouts… To seeing where you can improve fastest… To correcting course when you find yourself slipping… YourSwimBook will help you be great on the daily.

Dominate the Competition.

Training will be going , well, swimmingly, and out of the blue we will suffer an injury. Or perhaps it is that chronic injury we thought we finally had a lid on that pops back up and stings us for what feels the millionth time. In both cases, the resulting feelings are the same. Frustration. Anger. Depression. A feeling that time and ground is being lost that can and will never be made up. A sense that we are not in control of our own destiny any more. Guilt from not being able to help out with the team. And the inevitable negative thinking that comes packaged with injury that leads us to missing training or even competition. It’s an awful set of feelings. Here are a few of the ways that we deal mentally with being injured:

Heightened anxiety of further injury.
Denial of how severely you’re injured.
A general frustration and impatience.
Over-analysis of symptoms.
Disengagement from the team.
Mood swings and general grumpiness.
Frustrated and disturbed sleep.
A sense of isolation within the team.
Drop in motivation that can often turn to apathy over time.
Changes in appetite.
Anger and even depression.
Guilt from not being able to play a more constructive role within the team.
And of course, an obsessed focus on when they can return to action.

Swimmers who have been injured before, and who are well aware of the mental roller coaster that comes with the process of recovering from injury, may cover up their injuries and swim through them.

At the end of the day, getting a handle on your injury is what is going to get you back to swimming at full capacity the quickest. The first step is to come to terms with the fact that you are banged up. Self-awareness is a very underrated and little-talked about skill among swimmers. With a little bit more self-awareness we would better perceive our limits, understand when to push our bodies and when not to, and even set much better and ultimately attainable goals. (Key distinction: not easier, but more likely to be attained. The difference is subtle but distinct.) When you come to terms with the injury and actually accept it—instead of beating yourself up as being weak, or inferior, or not good enough—you can begin the process of healing both physically and mentally. An athlete who tells themselves they are weak, or not good enough, or a “pussy” will try to push through injury, typically re-aggravating or further aggravating the problem.

How to Get Yourself Back to 100% Both Physically and Mentally

When I was 18 I, like many swimmers over the course of their careers, had a banged up shoulder. It had been a recurring issue, leading me to miss significant chunks of training. I had done so much kicking with fins that my feet had developed a series of leathery calluses that looked like a second set of knuckles. The psychological effect of it was worse. Both because it wasn’t the injury wasn’t very well explained to me (“Oh, it’s typical. Part of the process,” was the quote from one coach) and the overwhelming amount of information online I was dumbfounded and frustrated. After a couple months of the shoulder clearly not getting better I was referred to one of the top athletic therapists in the area. When I walked in, I began to feel more like a can of Spam on a conveyor belt. Another check to be cashed. The therapist barely stopped to ask what my discipline was in the pool, how long I had been swimming for, and how long I had been injured. I tried to explain these little tidbits about my personal training history, but he would interrupt with a screening movement that felt like someone was stabbing me in the shoulder with a steak knife. He yanked my shoulder this way and that, while throwing some big words at me that I didn’t understand. With my free hand I rushed to scribble out some of what he was saying. Most fundamentally, I wanted to understand what was going on so that I could just get back on track in the gym and in the pool. The simple “why?” to why I was hurt. That was perhaps the worst part of the whole thing. If there was a clear A-B line, a simple cause-and-effect, a culprit that I could look at and say, “That is why I am injured,” than I knew I could set myself on the track to fixing it, healing up, and getting back on track in the pool. When I walked out that day with a rubber band and a set of exercises to do each day I didn’t feel any better about the injury. If anything, I felt worse. Here a few ways for you to battle back against the emotional roller coaster that comes along with being injured:

Seek treatment.

After reading the list of psychological symptoms of being perpetually injured above it might be hard to imagine why anyone would still be reticent to seek out treatment. You might view treatment as a sign of weakness, or downplaying the severity of your injury in orer to not miss out on valuable training and competitive opportunities. You might not be used to having to struggle through injury, or you simply might not have the healthiest mechanisms in place for dealing with setbacks (“If I’m not a swimmer, who am I?”). Whatever the case may be, give yourself permission to seek treatment.

Have trust with your practitioner.

Easier said than done, as illustrated by my experience above, but when you are undergoing treatment you want a sense of trust and care from the therapist you work with. After all, when you are injured, you are vulnerable. You’ll believe anything and everything if you think it will make you feel better. When you are able to work with a therapist who acutely listens to your dilemma—no matter how many times he or she has seen someone in your condition before—it goes a long way in establishing trust in the treatment and recovery protocols they give you. The reality is that you are more likely to follow the rehab program if you believe that the people you are working with have your best interests at heart.

Gain control by educating yourself.

This is a decidedly double-edged sword. With the avalanche of information out there regarding injury you can quickly get lost in possible reasons for why you are banged up. (If you are Googling or WebMD’ing symptoms for your shoulder, at some point a diagnosis will tell you that you have cancer. Or diabetes.) Being properly informed and educated on why we are injured gives us a sense of control. It’s not “I don’t know why this is happening to me” anymore, and becomes, “I know what’s wrong, and here’s how to fix it.” An essential part of this is also being able to understand the misinformation that is associated with your respective injury. There is a stunning amount of broscience out there when it comes to swimming related injury, and often leads to unnecessary confusion and frustration when we let it go unchecked.

Lean on your social support.

Having a strong backstop of people who care about you during the course of recovering from injury is paramount. It’s natural that a lot of the people in your trust tree are likely swimmers given the amount of time we spend in the water on a weekly basis, and might make it harder to stay connected when we are dry-docked. Don’t underestimate the mental and physical benefit of having our social circle strong around us.

Keep your motivation strong by keeping your mental game tight.

Easier said then done, right? Here are a few ideas to stay positive:

Have perspective. The daily struggle of being injured fully and completely stinks. I get it. But for a moment look past today, and look a couple weeks or months from now. When you are starting to feel overwhelmed and frustrated by today’s lack of progress think long term. In the grand scope of your career in the water today will barely register.
Vow to come back stronger and smarter. While you are injured it’s a great time to put together the pieces for how you are going to come back with more determination than ever. This should include a pre-hab plan to ward off similar injuries in the future—something that you should stick to whether or not you are beginning to experience symptoms again.
Focus on the things you can do. Injured shoulder? Develop a kick so powerful that it drowns the competition and improve that awful hamstring flexibility of yours. Injured knee? Improve your core strength, spend time on the stretch cords, and improve your upper body strength. With the injuries that are most typical to swimmers—shoulders and knees—there will always be something you can do to continue to move forward. And seriously, it can always be worse. Always.

In Summary

After that experience as an 18 year old I left the sport for a year. When I eventually returned to the water, on a friend’s recommendation I pre-emptively went and saw a local physical therapist who had experience with swimmers. She listened carefully to what I had gone through with my prior therapist, appreciated my concern for re-injury, and was able to “diagnose” why I was having so many problems beforehand. (Poor posture, as it turned out.) Buoyed by the sense of control, and of feeling like there was a way forward that didn’t have to include significant re-injury, I was able to go back to training feeling remarkably confidant. I had a sense that I could manage my injury, and that type of feeling is all a swimmer truly wants when dealing with injury. Remember that giving yourself permission to seek treatment, having good care, leaning on your support group, and a little bit of patience you will be back in the water soon enough.

Dominate the Competition.

I’ve seen it happen more times that I can count. A young swimmer, charged and brimming with energy and fire, writes out a big goal at the beginning of the season. Puts down some quality work. Shows up at meet time feeling confidant and prepared. And then swims much slower than they expected. Dejected, they feel like their hard work was all for naught. As though all those workouts, all that attention to detail evaporated into thin air with nothing to show for it. Perhaps most depressingly, this athlete now feels that the process is flawed or stacked up against them. That no matter how well they plan for something, how hard they work, that they won’t … In other words, what’s the point? Why You Aren’t Improving As Fast As You’d Like

Why You Aren’t Improving As Fast As You’d Like

Look: Even though it looks exceedingly simple, properly setting goals is not easy. While writing out a goal on a piece of paper and taping it to the fridge door takes but a moment, learning how you progress, what it takes to be successful, and figuring out how to manipulate your strengths and build on your weaknesses takes experience and patience. Here are a few reasons why your expectations aren’t being met in the pool:

1. Your goals and expectations in the water are unrealistic.

I hate hearing this myself, and I am equally not at ease spreading this truth about progression in the water. Often times, more than I would care to admit in my own experience, our goals are unrealistic and don’t match what we are doing in the pool daily. Working hard for three straight weeks—while commendable and an incredibly impressive achievement—won’t result in a 3 second drop in your 50 freestyle. (Well, for most of us, at least.) A simple way to remedy unrealistic expectations is to have a clear record of your training history. Something that you can reference in order to build a pragmatic forecast for your swimming. When you can accurately chart your progress within a training log you’ll see how much work it actually takes to improve in the water, and not be left to expectations that aren’t based in reality.

2. You’re making the same mistakes over and over again.

Setbacks, mistakes—whatever ya wanna call them—are bound to happen. As sure as you stubbing your finger in a lane rope, getting slapped by another swimmer’s paddle, or choking on water right before a flip turn, at some various points in your swimming career you’ll get derailed. The most frustrating of failures are the ones that we are already aware of. The ones that we experience over and over again. A lack of consistency. Giving up too early. Not showing up for AM workouts. The things we know we should be doing, but because we believe ourselves to be the exception, end up ignoring and paying the price for (again) later:

If you know that you should be sleeping more during the week, but you keep staying up late despite your good intentions, than can you truly be surprised that those early morning workouts aren’t that great?

Similarly, if you watch a competitor dolphin kick by you off each wall, and you continue to ignore it during training, is it fair to be surprised when he or she does the same thing to you the next time a meet comes around?

It’s only continues to be a mistake if you don’t learn from it.

3. Drop any and all expectations at the beginning.

One of the most trying aspects of a swimmer’s career will be those periods where they are coming back from a lengthy break from the water. Whether it is as a result of having to take significant time off because of serious injury, or they simply needed to take time away from the water, the acclimatization process to the water can be frustrated when you start off with heavy expectations. Particularly for those swimmers trying to get back into the swing of things expectations can turn out to be more of a burden:

Expectations signal that you are currently “less than.” Every moment between now and whenever you fulfill your expectations you feel like an inferior version of yourself. These feelings become cumulative when we don’t hit those expectations fast enough or with enough ease.

Expectations ignore the day-to-day routine. It’s important to have goals and expectations, but even more important is falling back into the routine and habits of being an awesome swimmer. When you are focused on showing up each day and doing your job the results take care of themselves.

4. You’ve got a misplaced sense of entitlement.

I know, I know. You’re a special little snowflake. From the time we are little guppies in the shallow end we are told how unique and awesome and talented we are. Somewhere along the way a sense of entitlement develops that we can get by with the bare minimum because we have been told that we are talented. Or we feel we are the exception to having to show up to morning workouts because we are so skilled that the extra conditioning isn’t necessary.

But, but… I don’t have to work hard. I’m talented!

So are a lot of other swimmers out there. A whole lot of other swimmers. And more importantly, they are talented and they are willing to work their butts off. Good luck competing with that. A little harsh? Maybe. But a funny thing happens when we stop believing that the sport owes us success… Or that our talent or genetic ability should magically deliver us results…. We learn to appreciate and be grateful for the things we have. We find greater value and satisfaction in the hard work the confidence it builds. And while the sport doesn’t owe us a thing, it has given us a lot of things. Getting to train with your teammates. An opportunity to test your limits in a safe and enjoyable environment. The physical benefits of being an athlete. Remember: The sport doesn’t owe you anything. But it will give you everything if you choose to appreciate it. Swimming Owes You Nothing, But Can Give You Everything

Swimming Owes You Nothing, But Can Give You Everything

5. There will always be a point where your expectations aren’t worth the effort (and the effort not worth the return).

We all say that we want to swim as fast and as fluid as Michael Phelps, but how many of us would commit to training 80k per week, and not miss a day of training for 5 straight years? While I can’t tell how many of you have their hands raised right now, it is safe to hazard a guess very few. A commitment of that magnitude would require you to give up a lot, and for most swimmers, locking themselves down into a binding commitment for that length of time, and at that intensity, simply wouldn’t be worth the return at the end of the day. For each swimmer the lengths to which they will push themselves is as unique as they are. For some, it’s capped out at a 5 month high school season. For others, it’s training 7-9x per week, 11 months of the year. And for that very select few it’s a 24/7 job, where every meal is planned, with planned recovery sessions between workouts, and measured sleep each evening. Achieving at the highest level of our sport is no joke, it demands a lot from you as an athlete, demands a lot from you as a person, and demands a lot from your life. Deciding that this kind of commitment isn’t for you isn’t a bad thing, as it helps you realign your expectations for what you can achieve in the water. So before you set yourself some crazy expectations for your swimming, consider what the trade-off is going to have to be, and whether that is something you are willing to live with.

Dominate the Competition.

You’ve decided that this is going to be the season where you take things to a whole new level in the pool. With lofty goals affixed on high, an unshakable resolve to do whatever it takes, and all the support you could ever need around you, you charge into the season ready to smash your personal best times and turn some heads while doing it. So you know that you are going to have to escalate the work you are doing in the pool in order to smash some best times. But where do you start? How to Get Into Freak Level Shape This Season

How to Get Into Freak Level Shape This Season

This is the point where a few classic mistakes are made:

An all-or-nothing approach is taken. An example: a swimmer who typically trains 5x per week hops into the national group lane and is expected to train 9x per week plus dryland. Some might survive the shock-and-awe approach, most will not.

There is a huge increase in work done at the highest levels; which is hard to sustain. It’s tempting to think that in order to sprint faster you can just double the amount of sprint work you do each week and that you will improve accordingly. The reality is that your body can only handle so much work done at the absolute highest intensity. Even at the highest levels you don’t see elite swimmers doing more than a few hundred meters per workout at 100% intensity. High to low 90’s, maybe, but full blast?

Increased intensity with brutal form. Work done in the pool is not created equal. At the highest levels of effort your technique and form will strain. It can be tempting to toss technique aside at the expense of “high effort” work, but this proves to have diminishing returns. It waters down the high powered work you’ve done with great form, and opens the door for shoddy technique. High effort swimming done with poor technique is not the same as high effort swimming done with great form. Not even close.

Volume vs. Intensity

The secret to getting into even better shape is to escalate volume before you increase intensity. So let’s say currently you are swimming 9x per week, which is what we could consider a fairly advanced level, with a majority of those practices done with a significant amount of race pace, or close to race pace, yardage. That’s a lot of high intensity training. The temptation is to add another couple high intensity workouts—but what this typically ends up doing is cutting short recovery between practices leading to the increased likelihood of burn out. Instead, add 1-2 low intensity sessions. You could strap on some fins and do a couple 1k’s kick at a cruising speed. Throw in a bunch of technical work. Drills, sculling, swimming in slow motion with perfect pace Why slow pace? Why take it so easy as volume is increased? Well, even though there is a tendency for coaches to drive their swimmers into the ground with endless reps at a high intensity, having a strong aerobic foundation is key for performance in competition and more importantly, in training. With high intensity training there is a point where doing more simply robs the energy and recovery necessary for the next session, and when adding training time you want to avoid costing recovery for your next practice. The low intensity swimming that centers around cruise kick, drill and scull work not only doesn’t cost recovery, but strengthens your aerobic system.

But, but—I’m a sprinter! I don’t need no stinking aerobic work!

Wrong. A strong aerobic system improves recovery between those tough sessions and during those tough sessions. Just how much of a role does aerobic work factor in your sprints? According to this research, your aerobic system is responsible for 13% of the energy in a 10-second sprint, and 27% in a 20-second sprint. How to Get Into Freak Shape This Season

Regardless if you possess a 20-point 50m freestyle like world short course holder Florent Manaudou you still need aerobic work to punish the sprints.

5 Rules for Getting into Freak-level Shape:

1. Sleep and diet are an absolute priority. If you aren’t doing your best to recover between your workouts recovery will suffer, performance will suffer, and progress will halt. Eating and sleeping aren’t just things you do in between bouts of aggressive training—they are the fuel and the recovery to your workouts. Eat and sleep to perform. 2. Volume before intensity. Remember what we just talked about in regards to improving your aerobic system? Level up your swimming with low intensity work first. 3. Scale slowly. Yes, we want results and we want them now goshdarnit! Your body is capable of amazing feats of resiliency, but we don’t want to add sessions if it is costing you performance in your existing practice schedule. 4. Form above everything else. If form is deteriorating to the point of complete failure rest. Great technique is the easiest and most overlooked way to swim faster. More swimming shouldn’t be done at the expense of shoddy technique. 5. Before you do extra, maximize the opportunities you already have. Extra and bonus work is great, but only if you are already maxing out the training chances currently presented to you.

In Summary

I can understand that the idea of doing more aerobic work might not seem “hard enough” or challenging to the point that it would drive improvement. Low intensity aerobic work, when done with purpose can be a great recovery tool while also developing a broader foundation for the high intensity work you are already doing. Try adding 1-2 chill workouts to your practice schedule over the next couple weeks and you will find yourself coming back stronger after the big sessions, while also fine tuning your technique in the water.

Dominate the Competition.

1. Rank your effort in the pool.

Showing up to the pool and going through the motions is easy. You get to have some social time with your friends on the walls between reps and sets, during dryland, and during kick sets. But how hard are you actually working? Simply attending practice doesn’t insure that you will improve or maximize your ability. Each and every time you exit the pool you should be ranking how you performed that day in the pool.

2. How consistent is your attendance?

Having an accurate record of your attendance can be humbling at first. While it might seem like you are *only* missing a couple workouts here and there, when you see them pile up in real time, on paper, right before your eyes, than you start to see how much untapped potential you are leaving behind. I’ve seen a lot of coaches over the years keep attendance sheets pinned up on the team corkboard—if your coach doesn’t do this you can do it on your own at home in your training log.

3. Schedule regular check-ins.

Each week spend a couple minutes sitting down and looking over your week of training. Where did you do well? What are the hang-ups that are causing you to have less than awesome workouts? You should be regularly reviewing your performance in training in order to see where you are at with your goals. You can power up this accountability tool by scheduling a check-in with your swim coach. You can do it each Saturday after your final practice of the week. Sit down and hash over the week that was, and where you want to take things next week.

4. Write out things you want to accomplish in practice for the week.

Like check-ins, an easy way to stay on top of your training is to set yourself weekly goals for your training. Every Sunday night pull out your training log and write out what you want to accomplish that week. It could be hitting a particular number of workouts. A specific number of hours of sleep per night. Eating better. Whatever it is that will positively impact your week of training the most. Make them specific, so that as the week progresses you can get the satisfaction of crossing off (or using big greasy check marks) each little goal on your list.

5. Hack the reasons you don’t feel like training.

I can almost always pinpoint the reason for why my workout goes south. The main culprit over my training history for a bad workout, or for the “meh” feelings I have towards working out is a bad night of sleep (massive construction project going on right down the street from my house—blasting and all), or needing a rest day. Instead of simply accepting that these feelings are going to happen, your training log provides you the ability to pinpoint the causes for why you feel that way, and more importantly, gives you the opportunity to make a change so that it doesn’t happen again. Meaning you focus on getting to bed earlier. Or taking a day off from high intensity training to recover fully. Be accountable to those moments where you feel like brushing off your training and own them.

6. Take full control of your training by seeing what works.

Similarly to cracking down on the things that do not work in terms of helping you get your butt to the pool, what are the things that lend to great workouts? You know those workouts—where you feel fantastic from warm-up to warm-down, where your stroke feels crisp and powerful, and where your training bests tumble before you. Those breakout practices don’t have to happen irregularly and randomly—when they happen break down the circumstances that made them happen and replicate them moving forward. If doing so meant that you had an extra amazing practice or two per week that would be more than worth the couple of moments it takes to review your excellent workouts.

In Summary

The moment you decide to be more accountable to your swimming and to your goals in the pool is a liberating and powerful feeling. Instead of allowing your performances and the way you feel about them to be subject to mysterious outside forces, you take back the power and control over your swimming. All it takes is some regular assessment, capitalizing on your successes, learning from your stumbles, and taking the time to regularly review your training and competition. Will you be the swimmer that is accountable to their performance in the water this season?

Dominate the Competition.

You pushed me further than I thought I could go.

You rightly pointed out to me when I hesitated, when I was stubborn, that it “wasn’t that you can’t, it’s that you won’t!” There were those moments where I thought you were punishing us (and I’m sure on occasion you were), but that the goal ultimately was to show us that we were tougher than we ever imagined.

You taught me the value of hard work.

No, I’m not just talking about the best times. (Although those felt pretty darn great, too.) I am talking about the self-esteem and the value of self I developed from working hard. The pride that you can’t fake, the satisfaction you can’t convince yourself of other than working for it.

You let me fail in a safe environment.

I knew that if I worked hard, and kept my commitments to the team and to myself, and I still failed when it counted most that I could do so with your support. And as a result, I didn’t want to let you down. If anything, it made me want to work even harder for you. After all, I wanted to make you proud too.

You made us feel like a family.

Would the swimmers on the team and in the group have been friends if not for swimming? Perhaps. But you took a motley crew of swimmers and directed them toward a common goal, and in the process creating a family, where we all came together in moments of triumph and defeat in order to succeed as a group.

You showed me the impact a person can have.

I can only hope that everyone has the chance to have a coach like you: someone that is patient, believed in me, and also didn’t let me off the hook when I could be doing better. In the years since you coached me I think often of the lessons you taught me.

You reminded me there was more to come.

Yeah, that DQ stung. Big time. And after you let me mope and be angry, you told me that there would always be an other opportunity. That what ultimately would matter in the long run was not this one bad swim, but the full extent of a career in the water.

You showed me you cared.

You didn’t have to pick me up outside my house at 4:45am to give me a ride to morning practice, but you did. You didn’t have to take us all out for dinner after we came up just short of winning you a title at the biggest meet of the year, but you did. You didn’t have to send me a note wishing me luck and congratulations when I graduated university, four years removed from your program, but you did. Thank you, Coach.

Dominate the Competition.

Improvement in the water doesn’t always have to come by pounding more meters and yards. Or swimming with such high intensity that you find yourself in the pool gutter face-to-face with what you had for lunch earlier. Yes, hard work is important. And critical. But sometimes we don’t want or need to do more hard work in order to improve. Here are the three easiest ways to swim faster and have the best season of your life: The Three Easiest Ways You Can Improve in the Pool This Season

The Three Easiest Ways You Can Improve in the Pool This Season

1. Sleep more.

Sleep is absolutely critical for human performance. It doesn’t matter what your goals are in the pool, we need sleep to be able to function on a basic level over the course of the day. Tack on the demands of high performance training and the importance of having sufficient sleep becomes even more important. Despite what all the supplements and “all-natural” (Ha!) energy drinks promise you, still the best way to recover from intense physical effort is a heavy dose of sleep. But with all the demands on our time, isn’t it easier to just crush a couple cups of coffee or other pre-workout stimulant and charge through your day like a grumpy, dry-eyed zombie? After all, does our performance really suffer that much when we are a little bit sleep deprived? Stanford’s Cheri Mah’s research into sleep extension with Cardinal athletes has provided a powerful glimpse into what happens when swimmers get more sleep than what is typically prescribed (the usual “8 hours”). Five Cardinal swimmers were followed for two weeks, sleeping as what was usual. For the next 6-7 weeks, however, they extended their nightly dose of sleep up to 9-10 hours. The results:

15m sprint times improved by over half a second. (That is huge.)
Reaction time was 0.15 seconds faster off of the blocks. (Again, for sprinters this can make or break a race.)
The swimmers were 0.10 seconds faster on the turns as well.

If someone told you that you could drop three quarters of a second on your first lap of your best event just by sleeping more, would that be something you would be interested in? Heck yeah it would! That type of improvement is a sort of gain that you would tie to months or years of training, not merely spending more time curled up under the sheets. Sleep a Little Bit Longer Each Night

Do what you need to do to make your schedule receptive to getting more Z’s, and do it guilt-free, knowing that you are powering your performance in the water.

2. Set goals for your practices.

It never ceases to amaze me how often swimmers come to practice with nothing in mind for what they want to achieve that day in the water. The attitude is generally that, “Well, Coach writes the workouts and I do them. End of story.” While this may be true in a broad sense, it is also up to you to make the most of your time in the water. Look: You know what you want to achieve this season. That big, awesome goal of yours that you dream about when you should be studying, relive in your mind while hanging out with friends, and fantasize about in bed. And, if you have put in the tiny bit of legwork necessary in order to break down that goal you know what has to be done in order to make that goal come to fruition. (“You mean wishing for it doesn’t make it so…?”) The training goals, the things you do on a daily basis, are what will send you hurtling full-speed towards accomplishing your end of season targets. Your Daily Training Goals Are What Will Help You Succeed

Your Daily Training Goals Are What Will Help You Succeed

Things like:

Give a consistent and tough-minded effort at practice each day. Keep yourself accountable to this mini-goal by recording your effort levels on a daily basis.
Spend an extra fifteen minutes on mobility work. Bum shoulder? Spend some extra time on your lats, chest and thoracic spine before and after practice to ward off re-aggravating it.
10m breakouts on every wall. Short course races are won on the walls and breakouts—are you doing what is necessary on a daily basis to insure that your underwater dolphin kick game is strong?

And so on. The side benefit of having these intra-session goals is that it keeps you focused. There are fewer things less pleasurable than being bored and unfocused at practice. Going through the motions with little interest or attention paid to what you are doing is nine pounds of not-fun in a five pound bag.

3. Track your training.

You got three minutes a day to spare? Probably not, right? But what if I told you that with those three minutes you could…

Get to the bottom of why you have those dud workouts (and correct the behaviors and actions leading to them).
Find out why some sessions go so amazingly well (and apply those behaviors and actions to future workouts).
Stay motivated over the long term (by seeing progress in real-time).
Set better informed goals for your swimming (by knowing exactly how much you can realistically expect to progress in a given time-frame).
Keep yourself accountable to your goals in the water (by having a daily check-in that requires you to be honest about your swimming).

Yup, all of those things and more can all be yours when you spend a handful of minutes writing out your workouts. Yeah, I get it—the last thing you probably want to do when you get home after a long day of two swim workouts, a full day of classes, and trying to think of clever things to write on Twitter is to write things on paper (with a pen, no less!). But spend just a couple mildly therapeutic minutes rehashing your workout and you’ll swim smarter (and eventually, much faster).

The Takeaway for Your Swimming:

The temptation to go for the latest supplement or sweet new piece of tech gear as a quick-fix for our swimming is hard to resist. They are just so shiny, after all! But at the end of the day, the things that can dramatically improve our swimming don’t require an FDA approval sticker or spending more time in the pool or even working harder. Sleep more. Have training goals. Track your training. Rinse and repeat, and those best times of yours will never know what hit them.

Dominate the Competition.

Most of the time we swim in comfort. We go to the pool, and usually without thinking about it, slip into our normal routines. We do our usual warm-up. The same breathing patterns. Pull into the wall a couple times during kick sets. Streamline out to the same distance we did the day before. Do the same sets and the same intervals that are not only familiar, but comfortable. Safe, even. Over and over, round and round we go, swimming the same way, never really pushing ourselves, but expecting better results all the same. Today, do something you’ve never done before. Try a little harder. Push yourself a little further. Today, go fail. Being successful doesn’t mean doing the same things you have always done. While consistency is important, being elite doesn’t mean doing the same thing over and over, round and round, the same practices, the same intervals, with the same technique. It’s chasing the areas of your swimming that are hard. Where you will fail the first few times. In order to improve, to really improve with your swimming you gotta open yourself up to outright failure. You have to place yourself into situations and environments that require you to grow and expect better and more from yourself. This could mean moving over to the fast lane. Trying a faster interval. Doing the hard breathing pattern. And don’t worry about nailing it the first time… You probably won’t. In fact, you almost definitely won’t. But you know this, even if it is just intuitively. You know that it’s going to be a struggle, and expecting things to go perfectly the first time around is foolish. Instead, you use these moments of difficulty to see where you are at, and to give you the confidence to show up and try again tomorrow. Welcome failure. Seek it. But don’t take it personally. It’s an indication of where you are at, not who you are, and certainly not what you can become. After all, if you are never failing you aren’t pushing yourself hard enough. And leaving a whole lot of untapped potential behind. Today I challenge you to go to the pool… To push yourself a little further… Do something new, expand your limits and kung-fu punch your way out of your comfort zone… And when you’re done… Write it out in YourSwimBook. It’s made exactly for those kind of moments. The good, the bad, and the awesome.

Dominate the Competition.

As familiar to swimmers as the everlasting scent of chlorine is the early morning practice. With bag thrown over our shoulder, hair splayed in every direction, and geared up in sweatpants we make our way to our local pool under the cover of darkness while the rest of the world sleeps. Back and forth in the quiet din of the pool we hone our craft, improve our conditioning, all the while knowing that we will be returning to the pool again later that day. Usually around the age that swimmers begin doing early mornings is when they are starting to eye whether or not they are going to swim in college, giving the swimmer and parents added pressure/incentive to scale up the sessions in order to see the improvements necessary to garner the attention of big name schools. But are morning workouts truly that necessary? Or do they represent a line that separates the good from the great? The Case For and Against Early Morning Workouts

The Case For and Against Early Morning Workouts

For most coaches, early morning workouts are simply the way it has always been done. For others it’s the only time they can get good pool space. And for others, mornings are used strictly for skill development. And while early mornings continue to be a staple of the swimmer’s training regimen, there are coaches out there who are doing away with them completely. Here is a breakdown of the reasons for and against having early morning practices for swimmers:

Reasons for Morning Workouts

In defense for early mornings, a swimmer will pick up...

Time management skills.

I’ll admit, kids nowadays have it much harder than I did when I was a kid. With no iPad, cell phone or TV in my room to keep me up late at night (and the phone was in the living room) it was either catch up on some homework or go to bed. With the “fall to sleep by X hour in order to get Y number of hours of sleep” deadline never far I was forced to be on point when I got home from PM practice. This meant doing homework, eating dinner (often at the same time), emptying and drying out towels and swimsuits, and prepping food for the following day. I envied my friends who didn’t swim and their lackadaisical evenings. Luckily for me I also had a spare each semester in high school which gave me an extra hour each day to get homework in during school hours (or take a power nap in a corner of the library). When you are running on a tight schedule the benefit is that you not only learn to prioritize the important stuff, but you find you are able to get things done faster. If you’ve never heard of Parkinson’s Law, it states that the things you do expands or contracts as to fill the time allotted to complete it. In other words, whether you have one hour or four hours, the task will fill up the void of time. Knowing that you have a finite amount of time each evening forces you to make do with the minutes and hours available to you.

Simulates swim meets with two sessions per day.

Getting up and being ready to swim fast in the morning is a nice bonus that is learned over the span of doing morning workouts. Your body learns to be ready to race and to swim lights-out in the AM, something that can come in handy when you need to get up and swim like a boss during heats at a swim meet.

Sets you up for a big PM session.

Whether it is muscle memory, still being “warm” from the earlier session, or having a better feel for the water because of the recent swim, I’ve always found that the second session of the day I feel better in the water, and more ready to swim lights out fast. When the morning workout consisted mainly of kick and drill work I had a greater feel for the water at night, and typically swam great after the “set-up” workout earlier that day. (This effect holds true to this day, even though my “early” morning workout aren’t nearly as early they once were.)

Makes you mentally tougher.

Being able to perform when conditions aren’t great, when you haven’t had a great night of rest become more important as you progress through your career in the pool. One of the hallmarks of elite swimmers is their ability to swim fast no matter the circumstance. This type of adaptability is earned through experience, and morning workouts provide this. It’s important to be able to race on low sleep (sleeping poorly as a result of pre-race jitters the night before competition is wildly common), when you are stressed out, and when the situation calls for anything but fast swimming. These moments in training give you the confidence to know that you can represent when it comes to crunch time no matter what circumstances present themselves. Early Morning Practices Should Be Used Tactically

Early Morning Practices Should Be Used Tactically

More pool space.

Our community pools are beehives of activity for the local population. Between swimming lessons, aquacise/aquafit classes, open swim, the synchro, water polo and underwater hockey teams, and then, the competitive swimming team, afternoons are typically a complete gong-show at most local pools. Early mornings provide the pool space for teams to stretch out a little bit and make use of equipment and space they wouldn’t be able to otherwise. Power towers, stretch cords, and the starting blocks were things we couldn’t use with the crowded lanes and decks typical in the afternoons.

Gets your butt into bed early.

Sure, you might be getting to bed early because you simply can’t bear the thought of being groggy for another day, or you are so tired from the day that you are falling asleep in your textbooks, but morning workouts encourage earlier bedtimes. Dave Salo, head coach at USC, a proponent of reduced sessions and overall yardage in favor of fewer, higher quality bouts of training, tends to use morning workouts for drill and kick work, and to encourage his university-aged athletes to maintain a reasonable bed-time.

Increased frequency of training.

The more frequently you swim, the quicker you’ll tolerate the stress that comes from training. By getting in the pool more often—even if they are for sessions with less volume and intensity—your body will adapt and be able to train harder. Swimming being the technical endeavor that it is requires a steady diet of work, and the addition of those morning sessions can help ingrain a better technique and feel for the water.

The Case Against Morning Workouts

When the swimmer’s schedule gets away from them it encourages a situation where sleep is going to be sacrificed. Simply look at what a swimmer’s typical day looks like when they swim a double and it’s not hard to see how sleep will eventually come to bear the burden of an overbooked schedule. From a wake-up call in the neighborhood of 5am, followed by a full day of school, another session in the pool, and then the always delightful nighttime shift of homework, most young athletes carry a punishing schedule. The main three reasons morning workouts end up having the opposite of their intended effect, in order of importance:

Lack of sleep.

Obviously, right? It’s a cruel irony that at an age where swimmers are starting to hit physical maturity is when both their training load and homework load all hit their peak. At the same time that swimmers are eyeing the possibility of swimming beyond high school, they are also being hit with hilarious levels of study time both in class and outside of it, and the sleeping habits that result from this 1-2 punch aren’t always pretty, as sleep is the first thing to be cut when you are in the midst of exams and heavy bouts of training. Although we have been fed the line that physical activity improves sleep patterns, high level athletes train on the extreme level of things, and whether as a result of this tend to actually sleep (although still within what is considered “healthy”) with less efficiency and with less continuity than non-athletes. While short term sleep deficits don’t impact actual physical performance in swimmers, the rate of perceived effort goes through the roof (this means that it feels harder than it should to perform); depression, stress and tension go up, and psychomotor function was impaired after only one bad night of sleep. On the other side of things, where swimmers actually get more sleep than what is considered typical or baseline (8 hours), performance increased big time. Sleep extension—where swimmers in a Stanford study where instructed to sleep for 9-10 hours over a 5-6 week period—was shown to have a positive impact on performance, with swimmers increasing their 15m sprint times by an average of half a second.

Decreased recovery.

With the increase in training frequency means that the window for recovery between workouts is shortened. A punishing morning workout doesn’t always set up the swimmer for a good evening session (although with some proper programming this can be avoided), and can often have the effect of resulting in a poor workout in the PM. This effect is amplified when sleep deprivation occurs the night before. The athlete goes from crappy morning workout to a zombie-like state over the course of the school day to another crappy practice at night. At which point the athlete needs the following day to recover from a bad night of sleep and two weak practices. Those early morning workouts can end up leaving an athlete in a perpetual state of exhaustion, where they are never able to give those complete efforts at practice and take longer than necessary to recover from hard work.

Time drain.

Outside of the recovery and sleep implications (which are more than enough as it is), morning workouts are a significant investment of time. Between the back and forth commutes, the pre-workout mobility work, and then the warm-ups, warm-downs and other non-main set work, we are racking up some serious hours over the course of the week. When you consider that the main set, the money maker of the swim workout, is usually only about half of the workout (and sometimes less), with the rest of the practice consisting of warm-up and warm-down it’s entirely conceivable that you could just bundle the main set from the morning into a 2.5 hour workout at night-time and forego the morning practice altogether.

So what is the right answer?

There is no blanket yes or no answer. A good coach will recognize that the application of morning workouts isn’t one size fits all, and that there will be times over the course of the season when a morning workout just doesn’t make sense. Like when the swimmers are especially tired or beat-up, or after a long meet. At the end of the day, the decision with whether or not to go to mornings is something that is individualized to each athlete. Adding early morning sessions might make sense for a swimmer who is able to start classes later in the day, or who has a workload at school that allows them to get a full bout of sleep each night. And often times easing off of the mornings for a week or two can be just what a swimmer needs to come up for air with their studies, and even bust through a plateau that they have been redlining on for an extended period of time or shake them out of a rut. Striking a balance between workouts, academics and recovery is tough. But for as long as the enterprising swimmer wants to seek an edge by training a little bit more than the next swimmer morning workouts will always exist. It’s using morning workouts tactically and to their fullest advantage that is what matters, and not just because “it’s the way it’s always been done.”

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

The attention that comes with the sudden tornado of media attention and coverage will give local swim teams and clubs a solid shot of growth. Most recently, following the London Games the membership in USA Swimming exploded by 13% the year after the Olympics. And while it seems like we are always talking about how to spread more awareness for the sport of swimming and how to get more people into the water, it would seem to also make sense to focus on making it more accessible and enjoyable for the athletes that are already engaged in it. When you consider that the annual attrition rates for most swim teams is at least 35% (Gould, 1987) we begin to see that even cutting into this number slightly would result in a lot more swimmers continuing on with the sport. Here are several of the major factors that influence whether or not a swimmer is likely to stick with the sport: Why Kids Stop Swimming

1. Interest from coach that extended beyond the pool.

It’s no secret that many swimmers have a love-hate relationship with their coach. They love the results they get from practicing, but hate the hard work and strictness that sometimes has to come with it. But when USA Swimming surveyed a group of athletes who were still swimming, as well as a group of former swimmers, the major discriminant between the two groups was that their coach had an active interest in what the athlete was doing outside of the water. This meant that for swimmers it’s very important to have a coach who is concerned with their academics and other activities that don’t revolve around the pool.

2. An emphasis on best times (or doing their best).

While we place such an emphasis on winning or losing in the sport, swimmers who are taught to improve their own performance and to focus on making the most of their own talents and abilities was also another a major discriminating factor between active age group swimmers and drop outs. Things like focusing on the process, learning how to appreciate hard work, and continually pushing their own limits help fuel a focus on doing one’s best and removing expectations to outcomes or the performances of others.

3. Active swimmers love their teammates.

The better respondents got along with their teammates, the more likely they were to stick with the sport, with comradery that comes with training with their friends a major factor in kids continuing in the pool. Having an atmosphere in the pool that rewards commitment, hard work, and is also an enjoyable one where they can spend time with their friends is important to swimmers.

4. Training takes up way too much time.

It should not really come as a shock to anyone that this makes the list. It was easily the most common reason cited for leaving the sport by swimmers who quit. It’s no secret that the workload that swimmers perform at even an age group level puts many athletes at the professional level to shame. 20+ hours a week in the pool, plus dryland, in addition the course load from school doesn’t leave the typical age group swimmer with much time to do anything else.

5. Coach is too strict.

This bleeds a little bit into the previous point about training being a big time drain, and was another common reason that former swimmers listed for dropping out. If athletes aren’t willing to make the commitment to the full training schedule swimmers will butt heads with coaches who expect a certain level of commitment to the program. This point is usually also the opposite of the first point about a coach being interested in what a swimmer has got going on outside of the pool; when a coach is “too strict” it usually means that other activities are forced to be sacrificed in the name of the sport. There were also some things that didn't necessarily make the list that was produced in the USA Swimming survey that I have seen as factors for driving kids out of the pool over the years on deck and in the pool:

6. Coaches/parents forget that it is the swimmer’s “thing.”

Yes, swimmers require structure and instruction. But over-scrutinizing a swimmer’s performance is exhausting. Ever had a boss that was on your butt all day long, looking over your shoulder and not willing to trust you to your own devices? When parents and coaches remove that over-the-shoulder-quarterbacking and let the swimmer own their experience it becomes their thing. They gain control and ownership of it. It’s not: “We swam great,” but rather, “You swam great.” Don’t rob the young swimmer of the ownership of the experience whether it was good or not so good.

7. Early specialization.

If you show an aptitude for the sport at an early age you’ll be asked to do more. (After all, you “owe” your talent.) Young athletes across all sports are being asked to specialize earlier and earlier. It’s all part of the arms race to build highly specialized super athletes from the cradle. The added expectations and single-sport focus from an early age can lead to burnout, while also leading to injury—without a broad foundation of athleticism built up by engaging in other sports and activities they become great swimmers but not great athletes. A variety in sport not only develops better athleticism for swimmers, but it also gives them a different avenue to stimulate themselves.

8. Finances.

And lastly, swimming—like a lot of sports—is not cheap. Although the temptation for outsiders to think that all it costs is cash for a swim brief and a set of goggles, when you begin to tally up club fees, travel for meets, and time spent volunteering on weekends and doing fundraising the cost becomes quite substantial. And the higher the ambitions, the more the costs. International travel and team dues ran Missy Franklin’s parents upwards of $100,000 the year leading into the London Olympics. While most swimmers won’t (and shouldn’t) be subjected to such costs, even having a couple young age groupers competing at different competitions on the same weekend can run you a few thousand dollars over the span of just a couple days.

Closing Thoughts

It’s inevitable that the sport will lose swimmers over the course of the season. Other activities will take precedent, other interests will show more promise, and coaching changes/pool closures and all those other random interruptions will cause the membership numbers to slip. But by having coaches who pay a little more attention to the athlete’s goals and interests outside of the pool, promoting an environment where the athlete can succeed and perform to their best, and creating an atmosphere where they can hang out with their friends we can save at least a few of those swimmers from hanging up their swimsuit.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

4 - @2:00
4 - @1:30
4 - @1:00
4 - @:30

Total: 20min set Warm-down 300 easy w. snorkel with perfect technique A Fun Yet Crushing 20 Minute Sprint Set

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

Here’s a thought for ya…

Whether to yourself or to someone else, how many times have you said, “I have to go to practice”? A lot, I bet... But why do you have to make it to practice? Because coach will be mad if you don’t? Or because you have work to do on your goals, things you desperately want to accomplish? Does the “have to” come from ambition, or does it come from obedience? If going to practice feels like a chore, if it feels more like work than an opportunity for greatness, than you are showing up to practice for the wrong reasons. You show up to your workouts because coach expects it. Your parents expect it. You show up to practice because you’ll get in trouble if you don’t. Not because you expect it. Not because you are invested in your training. And not because there are things you want to achieve in the pool. Go to Practice Today Because You Have to Achieve Something Great

Go to Practice Today Because You Have to Achieve Something Great

Your Why…

What’s your why for swimming? If you are showing up to practice solely because you have to, and not because you want to, of course it will begin to feel like work. Like drudgery. And that type of discipline (but really, is it discipline if you are being continually coaxed into doing something? Sounds more like obedience to me…) might keep you going for a while, but lack of passion trumps everything. Remember... Disinterest will win out over *discipline* every time. You Are Going to Practice for the Wrong Reasons

You Are Going to Practice for the Wrong Reasons

Get serious about what you want to achieve in the water.. Put some thought into what you want to do at the pool. What do you want to achieve? What kind of amazingness is chilling dormant within you, just waiting to be ignited? Will you “have to” be great in the water today? The featured image for this post was shot by Neil Hodge, a talented photographer based out of Victoria, BC. You can check out his work by visiting his Facebook page by clicking here.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

1. DragSox.

Probably my favorite tool that I have added to my swim equipment this year are these genius, and yet super low-tech foot nets created by California-based AquaVolo. DragSox are exactly as they sound—socks designed to create a sizable amount of drag on your feet. AquaVolo DragSox

And why would you want to do that? For a few different reasons my chlorinated homeslice:

Develop power in your legs. Kicking is massively important in swimming—for balance in the water, for propulsion, and for your starts and walls. In a short course race underwater kicking can take up to 60% of the race.
It’s highly swim specific. Unlike doing an endless number of squats, leg extensions and lunges outside of the pool, strapping on a pair of DragSox is as swim-specific as it gets, especially given that they don’t inhibit range-of-motion like some fins or shoes do. Think of it as resistance training for your kick.
You’ll feel like a beast when you slip them off. Do them for a set in the middle of your workout, and the next time you push off the wall you will feel like someone attached an outboard to your hips.
Develop a way faster kick. Swimming with fins or doing kick with a board will never feel the same after you use these bad boys. Not only will your kick feel smoother and more powerful, but it will be faster, and that’s the best gift you can give.

The only downside? Prepare to field regular questions mid-set from curious onlookers in the next lane. You can pick up a pair of these bad boys at AquaVolo’s site for $29.

2. Finis Snorkel.

I wish I had had one of these during my age group swimming days. As an habitual one-sided breather I developed some pretty ludicrous muscle imbalances in my chest, shoulder and back as a result of breathing to one side for years of distance workouts. Since getting back in the water a couple years ago rarely have I done a practice without strapping on the snorkel for a set or two. After all, with it you can… Finis Freestyle Snorkel

Do streamlined kicking. Hard to do this without a snorkel without breaking streamline and having your hips sink straight to the bottom of the pool.
Improved hand entry. The result of those years of one-sided breathing left me with a left arm catch that dropped—a lot. Using a snorkel while doing long bouts of freestyle (especially in a long course pool) helped me correct this, restoring balance to what had become a galloping stroke.
Easier to hit desired rhythm. For those swimmers trying to achieve a smooth, even kayak-like stroke breathing presents a unique problem—it breaks our cadence and rhythm, especially if we favor one side over the other (which, I assume, is just about everybody). With a snorkel mounted on your face you don’t roll your body to interrupt your stroke, giving you more time swimming with the technique you want.

(On a sidenote, throw it in the dishwasher once a week to keep it nice and clean. The mouthpiece will get mouldy hanging out in that meshbag of yours after a while. You are breathing through it, after all.) The Finis snorkel is available here for around $30.

3. TYR Socket Rocket goggles.

There are about a kajillion different kind of goggles out there for all types. From the old school Swedes, to the $80ish dollar Speedo FastSkins there is a set of goggle for every swimmer. But after years and years of swimming wanna know my favorite? The TYR Socket Rocket. TYR Socket Rockets

Besides the fact that the name rhymes, the mirrored goggles look certified gangster, and provide a surprisingly clear view from the inside out, something that is key given that I swim at the local Y where the lighting leaves something to be desired. The goggles come ready to wear right out of the package and they are coated with an anti-leak “Thermo Plastic Rubber” that is surprisingly comfortable, especially during those long workouts when you don’t have a chance to peel your goggles off your face too often. The indented-goggles-in-the-face look isn’t a particularly appealing one, even for the most ardent of swimmer. Oh, and they are only about $20. Pick yourself up a pair over at the TYR website.

4. YourSwimBook log book

I bet ya didn’t see that one coming, did you? Can’t have a gift guide without a shameless plug or two. Seeing as all the gear on this list is stuff that I use, might as well throw it in here as well. So what if youuu use it, I can hear you thinkin’. Auburn University’s whole team got one last year. So did the Nations Capital Swim Club (Katie Ledecky’s swim team). As well as St. Peters Western Swim Club (home of Olympian Stephanie Rice and coach Michael Bohl). Mel Stewart, Olympic champion, had some pretty good things to say about the book. Oakville head coach Sean Baker (2012 National Club Coach of the Year) had some praise as well. YourSwimBook

The benefits are pretty simple:

More consistent practices. Logging your workouts, and tracking the things that matter, means that you are able to pinpoint patterns and habits that lead to great, good, and bad workouts.
Motivation for days. There are fewer things more rewarding than sitting down on looking over a well executed practice. Having your training history at your finger tips
Sections on goal setting, mental toughness and more.

YourSwimBook retails for $39. You can learn a lot more about it by clicking over here.

5. Swim-specific dryland.

Dryland has come a long way for swimming over the years. Gone are the days where coaches would send their swimmers to the weight room to go pick up and put down weights with little regard to specificity or how well the work done in gym transferred to the pool. For those swimmers who are struggling with their dryland, or who are at a loss for what to do, or are looking for something that is super specific to their goals in the water, help is here. Bridge Athletic is a simple idea brought to you by a powerful app and experienced strength and conditioning coaches. Gifts for Swimmers

Here is essentially how it works:

Download the BridgeAthletic app on iOS or Android.
Sign up for the program. Enter your best event, your meet schedule, how much gym equipment you have access to, workout frequency, training schedule, and exercise experience.
You’ll be prompted to perform a series of bodyweight exercises and stretches to assess strength and flexibility.
Within about a day or so you will get a fully customized strength training plan that is unique to your event, strength & flexibility and your workout schedule. Everything is covered in the workouts, from the warm-up, to set and range reps, to a full and complete warm-down (stretching) at the end of each session.
Once you do each set, you tick it off (a satisfying feeling) and move on to the next. Video and image demonstrations are included within the app, as there are a lot of exercises in the program (there was in mine, at least).

I could go on and on about this app, but the key things I noticed during the first few months of its use was a nearly 40 pound increase in my barbell back squat, and I dropped a couple seconds in my 50 free kick. And who designs your customized training plan? Nick Folker, the former Strength & Conditioning coach for the men’s and women’s teams at Cal. He continues to work with some of the sport’s best sprinters, including Roland Schoeman, Natalie Coughlin, Tom Shields, and some Olympic gold medal winner you might have heard of named Nathan Adrian. BridgeAthletic has plans for individuals as well as teams and groups. Learn more here.

6. Motivational swimming posters.

Motivational swim posters: a superior way of covering up the unsightly scratches, holes and dents in your wall. Or, you know, also inspire and motivate yourself to kick a little bit of butt-butt at the pool today. There are five of them in our shop, but this one is my favorite and also our best seller (click here to view the full poster in high res): Motivational Swimming Poster 1

The posters retail for $29 a piece, or you can buy all 5 of them and save yourself 20% (as well as the cumulative cost of shipping for each poster). See them all in our online shop by clicking here.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

1. It's a rough path that leads to the heights of greatness.

2. Be not afraid of greatness.

3. True greatness is found in being great at the little things.

4. Step up and earn greatness.

5. Greatness is a practice, not a status.

Want More Motivation?

If so, you will love our line of exclusive motivational swimming posters. Made by swimmers, for swimmers.

About the Author

]]> 4981 <![CDATA[How to Warm Up for Fast Swimming in Practice]]> The sloppy hand entries. The lane pulling. The beach-ball streamlines.

If you are slagging through the motions, swimming along with little regard to focus, solely counting down the laps, it’s a safe assumption that this lack of focus and apathy will extend towards the bread and butter sets later in the workout. Additionally, if the goal of warming up is to, indeed, warm up, then isn’t it worth asking what good comes from performing a bunch of empty-headed meters at a slow pace in cold water? Instead of mindlessly warming up, do it with focus today. After all, focused warm-ups:

Connect better when used in conjunction of the main sets. The warm-up is exactly that—specifically designed prep for the workout at hand.
Take less time than the high yardage, low quality warm-ups that populate many whiteboards.
Translate well to competitive environments.
Have you mentally in-line with your goals and objectives for both the training session and the training cycle.
Provide a great opportunity to hack down the weak links in your swimming.
Prepare you both physically, and mentally to swim like a boss during the main sets.

Here are a few ways to make this happen and get yourself into the habit of warming up with purpose:

1. Review your goals.

What do your goals have to do with warming up? Swimming fast in practice starts by putting yourself in a place mentally where you are ready to work your butt off and throw down some hilariously fast times. Each time you step out on deck you should be doing so with purpose.

With intent. If you’ve ever gone to your local neighborhood gym you know the unfocused type. They walk in, meander from machine to machine, and between gazing at their smartphone will do a few sets and reps here and there, never really giving a complete effort until they decide they’ve had enough and briskly walk out, seemingly satisfied with wasting an hour at the gym performing yet another lackluster workout. Why Are You at the Pool Today

In the pool this swimmer hangs out in the corner of the lane, is usually the last to get in, and tends to give uneven, sporadic effort in the water. If you feel that you aren’t overly focused when you step onto the pool deck, spend a few minutes reviewing your goals. Why are you at the pool today? What do you want to accomplish with your time in the water? This focus and intensity shouldn’t just be limited to the main set, but should bleed into the whole practice session. Not only will you have more consistent, more effective practices from beginning to end, but being on point and having your goals in the back of your mind will help push you through those moments where you are tired, you are sore, and the last thing you want to do is swim another lap. Get your mind right from the moment you step out on deck, and performing at a high level will become habitual each time you strap on the suit.

2. Warm-up the movement.

A proper warm-up doesn’t just get you a little bit sweaty, it also primes the movements and intensity to come later in the workout. Warm up with the same technique and rhythm to be used later in the workout. Think of it this way… If you were in the gym, would you do bench press warm-up reps to prepare for a heavy day of squats? Of course you wouldn’t. You’d do a bunch of bodyweight squats and progressively load up the weight on the barbell. Apply this specificity to your warm-ups.

3. Throw in a few minutes training the weak link of your training.

We all have those weak links in our swimming. The thing that we keep telling ourselves to work on, but rarely do. Instead of waiting until the end of practice to hone this specific thingy, or trying to level up your weak link in the midst of a tough set when you are likely to lapse from mental and physical fatigue, in corporate working on your soft spots in warm-up:

If your pull up are terrible, add a 4-3-2-1 rep ladder before each workout.
Stinky kick? Do the last 200m of your warm up kicking at a brisk pace.
Underwater dolphin kick need some TLC? Do extended breakouts off each wall.

The best part? It doesn’t take any extra time to do this, it’s already meters/yards that you are doing, now you are simply doing them with purpose. Why during your warm-up? Because your mind and body are fresh, and working on your weaknesses is always going to be easier at the beginning of your workout then when you are taxed mentally and physically in the midst of a challenging set. The key to making this work is to do just a little bit each day. (If it’s important to your swimming, you should be doing it everyday.) If It's Important

You don’t need to upend the way you train overnight—this type of wholesale change rarely sticks. Instead, make the adjustment so small, so inconceivably easy that it’s impossible not to do. Sure, it might not look like much in the short term, but over the course of the season it will add up in a very powerful manner.

4. Shorter distances, higher intensity.

Instead of prescribing warm-up at volume, make the reps shorter, with intervals so that the swimmers are focused from the moment they get into the water. Is it really necessary to do mobility and stretching work on deck, a warm-up, and then a pre-set—covering the span of sometimes 1-1.5 hours before the bread and butter sets have even begun? Rather than do a blanket 1000m warm-up of mix swim/kick and pull, try doing 4x50 of each descending each to about 85% effort with perfect technique. (Having shorter, more focused warm-ups will come in particularly handy at swim meets, when you don’t always have 90 minutes to leisurely warm-up.)

5. Be ready physically to race.

By swimming slowly, in cool water, all you really doing is insuring that you are going to be spending the first chunk of the main set getting properly warmed up. Treat your practice warm ups like you would treat your competition warm-up. When you go to a meet you won’t have the first few reps of the main set to get acclimatized or warmed up—it’s warm up and then the blocks and that’s it. A simple rule of thumb: By the end of your warm-up you should feel ready to race.

6. Prepares you mentally to perform.

Perhaps the most critical way of thinking about warm-up is to think of it as the staging area for a killer performance. Instead of viewing it as garbage yards, or meters simply to be swum through without thought, use your warm-up to mentally prepare for the work ahead. By the end of warm-up you should have worked yourself up mentally to a point where you are ready to inflict some damage on the main set.

In Summary

There’s no grand mystery behind swimming well in practice. Show up, swim with intent, warm up with purpose and put yourself in a position to perform at the best of your levels in that given set of circumstances. It’s simply having the mental discipline to put these habits in place so that you can not only make the most of the time you are spending in the pool, but better prepare yourself to swim like a boss when it comes time to stand up on the blocks. The featured image for this post was shot by Neil Hodge, a talented photographer based out of Victoria, BC. You can check out his work by visiting his Facebook page by clicking here.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

1. The Optimist.

Unflappable under duress, this swimmer will always stay positive, no matter whether it is rep 1 or rep 100. They are the ones cheering for you when you are bummed about swimming in the B final, and they are the first to congratulate you after a great swim. Regardless of what kind of lunacy coach has scribbled up on the whiteboard you can count on this athlete to bring positive energy to the workout.

2. The Workhorse.

This athlete takes pride in having an epic work ethic. Steady, dependable, the local workhorse is all-go, no-quit from the moment they strap on their swimsuit. They might not make it look very pretty at times, and heck, it might be downright ugly, but you know that they are going to give it every last ounce of effort. SEE ALSO: Swimming Tips: The 7 Fundamentals of Fast Swimming

3. The Lightning Bolt.

This swimmer, although they work hard, are prone to violent and sudden drops in time that befuddle even the coaches expectations. They can raise the bar very suddenly for the group, and as such, elevate what everyone think is possible.

4. The Technical Master.

This swimmer bangs out everything according to spec. From not pulling into the walls on kick sets, to holding the breathing patterns, to completing the full warm-down, this swimmer’s attention to detail infects your swimming as well, reminding yourself to always give a complete and focused effort in the pool. This athlete is a you that there is a lot of pride to be taken in completing the details and the seemingly benign aspects of your training.

5. The Team Manager.

They are the one that gets everyone together for team cheers. That tracks down the missing member of the relay team. That is corralling everyone to the team van so that the squad makes it to the pool in time for warm-up.

6. The Superstar.

Having someone on the team that is so good, so fast can be a blessing for those who seek to do great things in the water. Knowing how high the bar can be set, and seeing what it takes on a daily basis to make it happen can provide a humbling education on how excellence is attained. The Superstar forces you to raise the expectations and standards you have for yourself in the pool. Although swimming is competed largely at an individual level, you train as a team, and as such, like a sponge, are going to soak up the good habits that the above teammates display on a regular basis. Make a point to not only associate with these athletes, but to be that teammate as well.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

Should I reward myself for a great practice with five episodes of my favorite show? Should I write out my goals with a sparkle pen and plaster that bad boy on the fridge, above my bed, and as the background on my phone?

And while these external rewards and motivators are good, and can act as a band-aid in case of a motivational emergency, there is a better, simpler and less sparkled way to get and stay motivated in the pool. It doesn’t come from trophies, gold medals, or giving yourself a cupcake for having a solid session in the pool. It comes from progress. It comes from seeing with irrefutable certainty that the work you are putting into the pool is paying dividends. From elevating your game, inch by inch, stroke by stroke, lap by lap.

When Our Motivation Stalls Out

We’ve all experienced the doldrums of motivation in our training. When we are frustrated, our morale has sunk to levels that are nearly unfathomable, and a dark cloud of doubt follows us around and infects every decision we make. “No they won’t!” you blurt out, tears welling in your eyes when coach says that things will turn around eventually. This depth of despair is common (frustratingly so). The cause of it? It’s not because you ran out of TV shows to reward yourself with, or ate all of the cupcakes… It’s because progress has stalled out. Where once you were improving by leaps and bounds now progress has ground to a grinding halt. You are possibly even swimming slower in some instances. All that work, all those meters and early meters… What was the point?!

Turning It Around

Our greatest source of motivation comes from being in control of our swimming, of mastering our technique and conditioning. Of seeing ourselves improving. Again… It comes from progress.

Progress Every Single Day

Okay, let’s be realistic here… You are not going to swim a best time every day in practice. (Although that would be great.) Each practice doesn’t need to be the best ever. But there should be a tangible little win each day. Just…something that you did that is a sign of progress. A set that was overcome. A breathing pattern that was mastered. A commitment to technique that was upheld. These little wins, although they barely cause a ripple individually, cascade into a giant wave over the long term. ("Micro winning!") And most importantly, they are the engine behind having consistent and legitimate motivation. The kind of motivation that is real, internal, and 100% fair trade.

Get serious about your progress

The top athletes—regardless of sport—track their workouts. Why? Because they know that in order to make progress, to secure those daily wins, they need to be measuring their performances against past results. Writing out your progress seems obvious, or overly simple, but it’s crazy how many up and coming athletes forgo using this simple tool. At the end of the day… If you say that your swimming and your goals are important to you, why aren’t you measuring them? The featured image for this post was shot by Neil Hodge, a talented photographer based out of Victoria, BC. You can check out his work by visiting his Facebook page by clicking here.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

Now that's moving!!#sacnation pic.twitter.com/hE0anqHixe
— Scottsdale Swim (@ScottsdaleSwim) October 7, 2015

Stop caring what others think of your goals.

One of the low-lights of my career was having a high performance coach tell me that I couldn’t do something. A well respected, international level coach point-blank telling me that I was incapable of doing big things in the water. Peuw. When you are young, impressionable and simply don’t know any better, this can be tough. And it doesn’t get easier with age. When someone of authority tells you that you can’t do something, it sucks. Truly. It’s hard to push out the nastiness, naysaying and jealousy other people brew when they find out you want to do something special with your swimming.

But if you are not doing a little bit extra at practice because you are worried about being made fun of…
Or are scared to fail in front of others when coach draws up a challenging set…
Or are embarrassed to move over to the fast lane…

In some way you are allowing what the opinions others hold dictate how you train. How you perform. And how successful you will ultimately be. We spend so much time feeling paranoid about how others feel about us. Which is too bad, because in reality, people are gonna talk whether you are swimming fast or swimming slow. Give them something to really stew on by training on the next level. Swimmer's Manifesto for Swimming Fast in 2016

Swimmer's Manifesto for Swimming Fast in 2016

If you want respect, it’s earned in the water.

We tend to feel that we deserve respect. Not as a result of the work we do, how we behave, and how we carry ourselves in and out of the water, but simply because. You don’t deserve anything you haven’t worked for. It’s goofy to think that you can train part-time, with minimal effort and achieve high-level, full-time results. Results don’t lie. They peel back and bare the truth behind your training. It’s not the swimmer that has a flash-in-the-pan swim in competition that other swimmers admire. (Well, maybe a little…) It’s the athlete that shows up every day and throws down with high effort that gets street cred. You want respect? Show up and do the work.

You don’t need to be an Alpha-type to be confidant.

For you quiet, introverted swimmers out there, I feel your pain. Whenever a teacher would call on me in class my face would go instantly bright red. Like fire-engine red. We quietly go about our days, hoping that we don’t get pulled out of the crowd lest we get overly noticed. But although you may be shy and timid out of the water, in the pool is where your confidence truly develops. Why is this? Because you have put in the meters. You showed up on all those early mornings. You didn’t quit on those impossibly trying final reps, and you certainly didn’t blink in the face of the insane holiday training sets. True confidence comes from effort. If you show up and work your butt off, confidence will come. I promise you.

Don’t mistake loud, aggressive behavior for confidence. Often times this type of bravado masks a very deep insecurity. Show me the swimmer quietly staring blankly down the lane, unshakeably focused and I will show you someone who is about to swim out of their mind. Confidence shows its true colors through action. Talking about how fast a swimmer you have the potential to be isn’t confidence. It’s hot air. It’s an illusion. You can be the quietest introvert on the team, but if you are showing up every day and giving your best effort, you will develop true confidence. The type that cannot be faked with some chest-puffing and bluster.

Stop caring about things that don’t matter.

Each morning we wake up with a tank of empathy and energy. Over the course of the day certain things begin to drain this reservoir. What these things are, contrary to what you might think, are completely under your control. Do you get bent out of shape that coach just drew up a tough set, or do you direct your energy towards getting mentally prepared to crush the set? We can spend energy complaining and looking for a way out, or we can drive that same focus into overcoming what lays ahead. Another point: There are things you can choose to care about: your effort, focus, and discipline during practice. And there are the things you can care about and which will have no difference to your day whatsoever and only distract you from the things that do matter: The swimmer next to you making big waves. Coach being in a grouchy mood. Johnny not returning your text message. You have a limited tank of energy each day. Pump the things you care about with that stuff. You have goals…right? That’s where your energy should be going. If you are getting bent out of shape about how Susie pulled on the lane ropes during kick sets, or how Billy got out early with a fake injury, or how Marky Mark didn’t finish the warm-down, than you are wasting valuable energy and focus that could be better served elsewhere. Our energy and thoughts go somewhere. Always. Don’t let them seep into the things that don’t seem like they might matter but in actuality do not whatsoever.

Success requires you to be weird.

Social pressures require you to want to fit in. To not break the lock-step that we inevitably fall into when we are in a group or team setting. Success, on the other hand, requires you to be strange. Weird. Abnormal. Being elite, no matter what elite means to you, demands uncommon levels of focus, commitment, and training. The surest path to mediocrity is to do what everyone else is doing. This will guarantee you a spot in the crowd, indistinguishable from the rest. But if you want to do some genuinely special things in the pool, this kind of ambition requires you to be weird. Different. Unique. Don’t be afraid to swim outside the lane-lines of mediocrity and normalcy. This is where the good stuff is.

There is no hard rule for where you need to be at, by what date.

At the end of the year (and season) comes the inevitable retrospection. We mentally take stock of how we performed, both the good and the ugly, and for many swimmers, there is a particular sting of pain that arises from not being close enough to achieving the big goals. That you aren’t far enough. That you aren’t on pace to achieve your wildest of goals. That there isn’t enough time. Here is a little secret… You have more time than you realize. There is no strict guideline or road-post you need to be at by a specific date. We all progress at our own pace. Physically, mentally, emotionally, and in the pool. Measuring up against other athletes is pointless in this regard, as they progress on their own terms as well. One of my favorite all time swimming stories is that of Bill Pilczuk. The guy walked on to Auburn University (and paid his way), was never a prodigy, and never broke a NAG record. He was simply a guy who worked and worked and worked, and eventually, in 1998, at the age of 26, unseated the greatest sprinter in the history of the sport, Alexander Popov in the 50m freestyle at the FINA World Championships. So often you will hear a swimmer say, “If only I’d trained harder at the beginning of the season. Now it’s too late.” For this particular competition, sure. But overall is it too late? Nope. Trust me on this one—no matter how old you are, 16, 19, 21, 35— you will always wish that you hadn’t waited to start. That *if only* you had started by such and such a date that you would be so much further along. You don’t need to be a prodigy at age ten to be successful at age 16. Most ten and under standouts fizzle out long before they hit the collegiate ranks. And like I said about Bill Pilczuk, the guy was on the north side of his 20’s before he made his mark. Don’t squander the opportunity of today because you feel like you didn’t take advantage of yesterday. (Likewise, don’t squander today because you now sense as though you have a new lease on your swimming career.) Just don’t wait. No matter where you are at, how old you are, or where you fall on the scale between age grouper noobie and Olympian stand-out, tomorrow you will wish that you had started today.

Learn to accept that you will almost certainly fail.

This is tough. And something I know a ton of you deal with. (I’m right there with you as well.) We have well-meaning goals, but action towards accomplishing them terrifies us. What if we come up short? What if it is harder than we expect? What if we aren’t up to the work and sacrifice necessary? So we don’t do anything. Look: Failing isn’t going to crush you. Not in the same way that the weight of regret and “what-ifs” will. It’s not even if you are going to stumble and fail, it’s when. Develop a resolve to brave the ugly and unshaven face of failure and difficulty, and to trust yourself that you will be fine even if the worst case scenario comes to pass (which it will not). No one says you have to like failing (if anything, use the anger and frustration to fuel your efforts, not allow them to fizzle out), but remember that it is a frequent occurrence on the path towards doing anything meaningful. You’ll stumble, you’ll fail, and most importantly of all, you’ll be okay.

Get serious about what you are willing to sacrifice for your goals.

Success requires sacrifice. Not sure it can be more simply described than that. We are sold on the idea that because we live in the age of instant information, high powered supplements, brain hacking, advanced training techniques and all the rest that we can short-cut our way through the things that truly power our performances. Things like being consistent in practice, showing up to all our workouts, getting enough sleep every night, and eating for high performance. Consider what sacrifice actually means for a moment... Sacrifice isn’t denying yourself something as a form of punishment. It’s giving up one thing to get something better.

It’s giving up a night out with your friends in order to get a good night’s sleep and have a killer workout the following morning.
It’s giving up 20 minutes of your night to meal prep and pack your bag for the next day so that you are properly fueled to train.
It’s giving up watching Netflix in bed so that you rest adequately (and recover).

Small scale sacrifices are especially tough because they seem so small (don’t be fooled, they add up big time over the course of a full season), and because the windfall from doing something better (showing up and working hard at practice) doesn’t always manifest itself until much later (the big meet).

Success is lonely.

For a sport that leaves its athletes logging a lot of hours swimming up and down the black line, and around their own heads, swimming at the highest levels can be a little bit lonely. Not everyone will have the determination that you do. Or the commitment. Or the drive. And that is okay. When you commit to doing something exceptional in the water you may find that you suddenly find yourself a little lonely. Excellence happens in rarefied water. You won’t always have company when you do another rep at the end of the main set. Or stick around after practice to hone your technique. Or run down to the local football stadium to run stairs. Being elite is a solitary endeavor. You won’t always have company or even support while you chase the outer reaches of what is possible.

You need to fall in love with routine.

It’s easy to love the goal. In your dreams, with your imagination going full bore as though you were wearing fins, paddles, and an outboard motor, you swim faster than you ever though imaginable. You crash into the wall, the competition choking on your wake, glance up at the scoreboard and perform a technically perfect fist pump. That’s the easy part. And while drawing up the big goals you want to achieve are fun and easy, they do nothing to get you closer to your goal. In fact, excess fantasizing about the outcome can actually cause you to take longer on your goal, because the act of setting the goal feels like enough of a step forward that you actually don’t take any meaningful action. Write out your big goal. And then write out what your daily routine will have to look like in order to achieve it. And while it may take you a little while to build up to adopting that greasy routine that will power your record-setting performances (start small, get back on track quickly, and work new habits/behaviors into things you are already doing), adopting, and learning to love the routine is what will have you swimming like a certified gangster.

Get tough on your inner monologue.

Imagine a coach or a teammate approached you mid-practice, looked you squarely in the fogged up goggles and said, “You suck. You don’t deserve to be successful. You can’t do this. Give up. Seriously. Just give up right now.” Most of us would want to give them an “accidental” paddle-slap the next time you swam past them. Or smear some A-535 in their suit before their big race. So why do we accept such talk from ourselves? We talked a little bit about being hard-headed and focused enough to drown out the doubts and jealousy and others. This will seem like a piece of cake when it comes time to do battle with the brutal things that you say to yourself on a regular basis. Things that if they were to come out of someone else’s mouth would produce a visceral and immediate reaction (“How dare you, sir!”). Here are the Billboard top hits for such negative self-talk that we barrage ourselves with on the regular:

I can’t do it.
I don’t feel like doing it right now, so I won’t.
I don’t deserve it.
So-and-So couldn’t do it, so neither can I.

These thoughts are gonna happen, but you should be willing to unleash some exceedingly simple mental judo to keep them at bay. The reasons I love these is because it accepts the fear-based talk, and merely makes an easy suggestion that is almost impossible to say no to. Some mental judo chops to place in the arsenal include:

I can’t do it…but if I did, imagine how good I would feel about my swimming.
I can’t do it… but seeing as I can’t, I might as well do one more rep/round/set and take it from there.
I don’t deserve it… but neither does the other guy. I deserve success too.
I don’t feel like doing it… but I know once I start I am more likely to “feel like it” again.

Negative thoughts are happen. I don’t care how positive and optimistic you are on the outside, these nasty little barbs will bubble to the surface on occasion. Don’t allow them to set the table for how you swim. Take control of your inner monologue and fight back.

* * *

With anything, you can read the above post a hundred times, print it out and tape it to the fridge so you see it each day, but if you don’t focus on applying them to your life it’s just wasted time reading another listicle on the internet. Although success in the pool and in life is never easy, it can be fairly simple when we decide to make it so. Focus on the things that matter. Build a routine. Sacrifice short term gratification for long term glory. Grow confidence by acting. Be courageous enough to face the possibility of failure. And go forth, step poolside and be excellent.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

2. Get yourself a bag for your gear.

Buy a swim bag that can handle all the various types of swim gear you will need to own. Fins, paddles, pull buoy, goggles, earplugs and caps.

3. And most importantly...

Join a swim club at an early age. Display early aptitude for the sport. Work hard, have fun, but maintain a sensible balance so that you don’t burn out like many top age groupers are wont to do. Progress through the groups until you make your first junior national cut. Along the way you have a series of coaches who motivate you in different ways, how challenge you, and expect you to expect more from yourself. You learn along the way that it's all about getting better. Each day, bit by bit, improving. Work hard. Leave the comfort of the small pond to compete against the big fish for the first time. Be humbled, realize how much more work there is still to be done. Have parents who are not only supportive of your goals in the pool, but will drive you to practice, console you after a bad meet, and help guide you during the most trying periods of training of your career. And so you continue working at it, narrowing down you focus on your core races, the ones you excel at most. As the training continues to get more and more specialized, you spend more time outside of the pool streamlining your life to support your goals inside of it. Work hard. How to Be a Champion Olympic Swimmer in 3 Simple Steps

How to Be a Champion Olympic Swimmer in 3 Simple Steps

By now you are doing a fair amount of dryland work to compliment the nearly endless number of laps you are doing between the lanes. The best times don’t come so easily at this point. Where before you were dropping seconds at a time, now the window of improvement has narrowed to sometimes just tenths or hundredths of a second, and yet, the amount of work that goes into it continues to escalate. More work for smaller returns. You miss out on more than a few social outings, particularly on the weekends, in order to make sure you are properly rested and ready to rock come Saturday morning. Work hard. You qualify for your first senior nationals, and compete on the highest stage the sport has to offer in your country. You race against national record holders, Olympians, and world champions. Seeing how they prepare and approach training and racing inspires you to take your training to the next level. You choose your post-secondary institution based on both the academic and training opportunities. Leaving the confines of your age group team you swim with a full squad of athletes your age who share a common goal. Work hard. When you go to your first Olympic Trials you are nervous, but excited. A lot of work has gone into your swimming so far. You come up short in making the team in your best event by just a couple tenths of a second. Discouraged, you return home debating leaving the sport entirely, whether you can handle another four years of training, sacrifice. After a week away from the water you realize how much you miss it, and how much you would regret not giving it everything you had. And so you commit to another four years. Sustain numerous shoulder injuries, sprained fingers, and more muscle soreness than you can begin to remember. In your quest to not only make the team next time, but to win gold, you leave no stone unturned. You break down your race and swimming looking for millimeters of improvement. Start, turns, technique—nothing is left to chance. You take a year off from school and work to completely and utterly focus on your training. Work hard. In the weeks prior to Trials you post times in practice that are nearly super-human. At Trials you outpace the competition to qualify for the team. On the biggest stage you stand up on the blocks, look down the lane, confidant that you have done the work, made the necessary sacrifices, and are ready to unleash the fastest swimming of your life. As you dive into the water on your way to Olympic gold, on your way to achieve your “overnight” success, you can inwardly smile knowing that you did everything you could to make this moment happen. So there it is, a super simple and straightforward 3-step plan to becoming an Olympic champion!

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

Be engaged (not married, the other kind).

How many times have you crawled out of the water at the end of a long workout and thought to yourself, what did I just spend 90 minutes doing? If this is happening even somewhat often, it’s time get more focused in practice. To be honest, I can understand why we zone out during workout. It tends to happen after you swim at a particular level for a while. You start to gap out more frequently. You’ve been so accustomed to what you are doing, the movements have become so habitual, to the specific technique, the pace, that your body literally goes on auto-pilot and your mind goes elsewhere. To reminisce on last night’s episode of Brooklyn 99. On the essay that you are struggling to finish. The hilarious text you are going to fire back at your best friend after practice. When you catch your mind slipping (or losing count for what seems like the fifteenth time that set), get back to basics:

Make sure your hand entry is perfect.
Do an extra dolphin kick off each wall.
Breathe every four stroke to your weak side.

Swim with intention, and that way when you climb out of the pool you can look back knowing that you didn’t waste the meters or yards given to you that day.

Prod your comfort zone (gently, if necessary).

Our comfort zone is a funny thing. (Peculiar, not hilarious.) We work hard to get to a specific level of conditioning. Once we get there, somewhat satisfied and totally comfortable, we linger for longer than is necessary instead of further pushing ourselves. The simplest way to insure that you are always pushing yourself just a little bit? Progression. Do something a little bit better. A little bit longer. With slightly better technique. Progress isn’t about crushing your personal best time each time you dive into the water. It’s about making the minor adjustments on a daily basis that insure our swimming is continually trending upward and onward.

Big successes come with little steps (steps on steps).

You don’t need me to tell you that the season for a competitive swimmer is a long haul. Once you get a certain level there isn’t really an off-season, a couple weeks, maybe a month break at the end of the summer. Staying motivated and hungry for the duration of a full year or training is tough. There are valleys, peaks, bubbling streams and all sorts of other nature-like metaphors. In order to sustain forward movement forget about the perfect swim. Or the perfect stretch of training. Instead, view each day as a tiny opportunity to improve. To get just a tiny bit better. In other words, fall in love with the repeated application of small wins. The focus isn’t to drop 5 seconds off your 200 free at the end of the year. It’s to train a little bit better today.

Walk on deck with a goal (and with a car blowing up in the background like a total super bad-a).**

Each set and workout has benefits and targets in mind. What are they? When you deeply understand the purpose of each rep, each set, each workout than you cannot help but be more invested in your training. Decide what you are going to work on without coach having to emphasize it. Choose to have deadly streamlines on all your push-offs. Make the decision to hold a specific breathing pattern. Resolve to hold a specific time for every repeat.

Put it all together

Training like a boss doesn’t have to be complicated. And it isn’t reserved for the top athletes in our sport. It simply requires that you are a little more mindful during practice. (You are gonna be there anyway, so you may as well make the most of it!) Train like a champ, and you will perform like one when you stand up on the blocks come race time. Image credit: Neil Hodge Photography

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

Rehearse the process, not just the results.

Goals in the pool are important. They inspire us, push us to keep at it when we are exhausted both mentally and physically at the end of a grueling workout. And they help guide our efforts over the course of a long season. But fixating solely on our goals in the water misses a crucial aspect of seeing them through—the process. Researchers at UCLA had two groups of collegiate students visualize their performance on an upcoming midterm. The first group were instructed to focus solely on performing well on the actual midterm, while the second group was told to visualize themselves executing the process of doing well on the midterm. Not only did the second group perform much better on the midterm, but they also exhibited much better study habits, and were more confidant and less anxious about the test. So how do we translate this method of rehearsal to the pool? The options are endless, but here are some ideas to get you going in terms of what to visualize:

Showing up to early morning practice.
Not giving up when the main set starts to crush you mentally.
Doing extra work on your freestyle kick at the end of practice.
Finishing the last rep with full power and excellent technique.

And so on.

Rehearse the movement.

So now that we have covered the benefits of visualizing our races, and the process with which it will take to accomplish the things we want to accomplish, what is there left to daydream about? Narrowing the focus even further, you can use visualization during practice to boost your performance. Research published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that when track athletes were asked to visualize before a quick sprint 87% of them performed better than those who were distracted or didn’t mentally rehearse at all. How can you use this knowledge to swim faster during practice? When you are catching your breath between reps and sets take a few seconds to picture yourself performing at the levels you want to be swimming at. The technique you want. The feeling of the water getting caught on your forearm. The sharp rotation of your shoulders and hips. Instead of spending that time mindlessly hanging on the wall imagine the form and speed you are aiming for. The closer you pair the visualization to the actual effort, the better—visualization was most effective when done 1-2 minutes prior to the sprint.

Put the Power of Visualization to Work

It might sound a little hokey, but the power of visualization has been shown over and over to work for better and faster swimming. The best part is that it takes a shockingly small amount of effort, certainly in proportion to the results that it can yield. All it really requires is the discipline and consistency to do it regularly. Little effort with a high yield in terms of performance? Sounds good to me.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

1. THERE IS NO “I” IN TEAM.

“It is amazing how much can be accomplished if no one cares who gets the credit.”

Although swimming is largely competed at an individual level, we train within a collective. When we are supportive and encouraging of the goals of the athletes we train with we help to foster a culture of excellence. One swimmer trying to accomplish great things is powerful. But the wake that is created by a group of athletes all chasing a common goal is nearly unstoppable.

2. MASTER THE FUNDAMENTALS.

At the beginning of each season Coach Wooden would sit his players down and instruct them on how to properly put on their socks and shoes. Newcomers unfamiliar to this would be forgiven for being thrown into shock. Here was the top basketball program in the country, some of the very best players in the nation, being instructed on how to correctly put on a pair of shoes? Long before you master the intricacies of the playbook Wooden had you start at the very beginning. The same can be applied to your swimming goals. When you execute the basics correctly, and build a foundation with proper fundamentals, everything else falls into place.

3. DO WHAT YOU CAN, WITH WHAT YOU HAVE.

“Don’t let what you don’t have interfere with what you can do.”

There will always be someone who has a better set-up than you. A better coach. Nicer facility. Better access to services. And there will always be someone who has it far worse than you. A bad coach. A 15-yard pool. No access. Don’t allow your current circumstances be the defining thing of whether or not you take action today. Don't allow your environment to be the decider when it comes to developing killer training habits in the pool, or having a positive attitude. Make the most of what you have, for it is usually more than enough.

4. SET THE EXAMPLE.

“Seek opportunities to show you care. The smallest gestures often make the biggest difference.”

There are many memories that I carry from my age group swimming days. The most potent ones? Where an older swimmer reached out to help me with a technique correction. Or when the swimmer I looked up to most on the team was leading the cheers for my race. These things matter, and they create more impact than you can imagine. Spend time working with the youngsters on your team. Share your knowledge and experience of the sport. You might not think it’s a big deal, but to the kiddos it’s a huge deal.

5. PRACTICE LIKE YOU WANT TO RACE.

“If you don’t have time to do it right, when will you have the time to do it over?”

It’s tempting to think that we will figure it all out on race day. But the way we swim in competition is a direct reflection of how we train every single day in practice. The way we finish at the end of a close race is how we finished those hundreds of times in practice. The breathing pattern you hold during your repeated sprint efforts in practice is the breathing pattern you are going to hold during the big 50 final at state. And so on. Practice with intention. Practice with focus. Practice “right.”

6. EFFORT IS EVERYTHING.

“Players with fight never lose a game, they just run out of time.”

Is there anything more disheartening than watching a swimmer give up in a race? Their shoulders sag, they roll from side to side from breaths, hand entry goes from precision strike to a hand slapping the water. Whether they give up on the final lap of a race, or the final rep of a tough set (or earlier), Giving up is a habit, and not a good one.

7. FOCUS ON THE POSITIVE.

“If we magnified blessing as much as we magnify disappointments, we’d be much happier.”

Our brains are hardwired to focus on the negative. It’s a survival instinct—“Hey look at that sabre toothed tiger hanging out in the bushes over there!”—that has served us well. But the modern man or woman continues to experience the pull of fear even though there isn’t a 500-pound jungle cat hiding around the corner. Which means that we have to go out of our way to be grateful for the things that we have. Keeping a nightly gratitude list has been shown to help you feel more positive and optimistic, and can also help you fall asleep better at night. There is lots to be positive and optimistic about. It's simply up to you to seek it out.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

The swim you are going to perform when you get up on the blocks is built today. It’s developed, honed and prepared during today’s workout, yesterday’s, and tomorrow’s. Over the course of weeks and months you build your race swim. Little by little, meter by meter. The breathing patterns, the way you streamline, your technique, all of it is honed long before you ever get up on the blocks. And yet, so many swimmers maintain a distinction between training and competition as though one doesn’t have to do with the other. The benefit of having developed a background of good training habits means you can reliably call on them to show up on race day. After all, when good training habits are your default setting you become consistently hard to beat. Here are a few ways that you can be training to race every day in practice: Streamline like a boss. Starfish or beach-ball streamlining is no good for fast swimming. You know this already—your coach has probably yelled it at you a multitude of times just this week. You are going fast, really fast, when coming off the walls, so do your best to maintain that speed. Turn with intention. Practice flip-turns are usually a lot like the middle cushion of my couch—soft. Even Phelps, the greatest swimmer of all time, managed to misjudge the distance of the wall during the 100m freestyle during US Nationals in the summer of 2014. The result was the dreaded toe-push off that leaves you getting dusted by the competition. Know how many strokes you are going to take into the wall. Turn with speed and intention during workout. Starts and turns day should be every day. Explode out of your breakouts. So now that you are doing fast turns in practice, don’t just surface like a breaching whale—explode to the surface of the water and power through your first few strokes. Maintain that tight streamline until the last moment and then power through your couple of stroke cycles without taking a breath. Swim with the technique you want to race with. When you are adjusting your goggles, and taking those last couple of deep breaths before plunging in for your race, you want to be able to let your thoughts go instead of having to think about your technique. The technique you race with is the technique you train with. And vice versa. Get comfortable at race pace. If this means strapping on a pair of fins, so be it. You should be prepared to be able to breathe and execute proper hand entry when going at ballistic speeds. Why does this matter? So that it isn’t completely foreign to you when you are shaved down and dive into the water only to be greeted by a massive wave the first time you take a breath. Plan out your underwaters. Have a plan for your underwater dolphin kicks and develop it in training. If your goal is to hammer out five kicks off every wall of your 200 free you better be cranking them out day in and day out, otherwise when it comes to race time, and you are feeling the walls starting to close in on your last 50m, those kicks will become really challenging. Master the breathing patterns. This one goes out especially to my sprinting broskis. Master the breathing pattern you want to hold during your race in practice so that you are acclimatized to it when you step up on the blocks. This could also mean having a breath-taking strategy—one breath on the first 25, 2 on the second, or breathing every 4 on the first 50, every 2 on the second 50 of a 100m race. Do these in practice so that when you step up on the blocks and dive in you can just lean on those well-worn habits from training.

In Summary

Think of practice as the proving grounds for your race. Where you dictate the way you are going to later perform. The benefit of taking this mindset into the water with you? It requires you to be more focused and engaged in the pool. No more swimming through the motions, but rather, consistent, well-intentioned swimming from the moment you get in the water. Image credit: Neil Hodge Photography

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

Arms, ankles, and capped-heads bubbling in the water. Line-ups around the corner to use the blocks. Bodies littered across the walls, lane ropes and everywhere in between. Whoever said swimming wasn’t a contact sport never tried splitting a 25-yard lane with 35 other swimmers all doing completely different strokes at wildly different speeds. So some swimmers retreat to the hot tub. Or to do arm swings in the showers. Or hop into the kiddie pool and do a couple minutes of doggie paddle and wall kick.

How Long Do I Need to Warm-Up For?

We all have that warm-up that we lean on (or at least we should) when we go to competition. We know that no matter how we are feeling, or what is going on outside the pool, that we can do our template warm-up and be ready to race. A study done with a group of group of NCAA swimmers had them do three different warm-ups:

No warm-up.
A warm-up consisting of a 50-yard swim at 40% intensity.
A typical pre-race warm-up.

The results? 44% of the swimmers performed best after a regular warm-up, 19% after the 50-yard swim at 40% intensity, and most interestingly, 37% after no warm-up. Swim Meet Warm Up

So the takeaway? That you can still bang out a good swim even if you aren’t able to get any warm-up done in the pool. Further, there was no real difference in reaction time, distance off the blocks, stroke count or perceived rate of exertion among the three types of warm-up. Does this mean you should dive in with completely cold muscles and perform full blast efforts? Absolutely not. One summer, under the thinking that I needed to be able to swim fast no matter what the circumstances, I did a couple arm swings, dove in and blasted out a 50 freestyle, promptly tearing an intercostal muscle in my rib cage. Any kind of sneezing, coughing and laughing promptly became my proverbial nightmare. You wouldn’t stomp the gar on your car after it had been sitting in the cold all weekend, so don’t do the same thing with your body. Loosen and warm yourself up in some form or shape, regardless of how much or how little pool space you have on your hands.

How Much Time Before Your Race Should You Warm-Up?

The good news is that if you are competing later in the session you can get away with warming up outside of the scheduled warm-up hours and thereby avoid the maelstrom (provided they have a secondary pool for this purpose, obviously). In one study of internationally ranked swimmers they were instructed to perform a 200m time trial. One group was given 20 minutes between warm-up and race time, and the other was given 45 minutes. The 20-minute group swam 1.5% faster, most likely due to “better core temperature maintenance.” Knowing this can be helpful for timing your warm-ups, and if you are swimming multiple events spread out over the course of a long session this info provides the impetus to plan for a couple mini warm-ups to keep yourself loose and warm.

How to Supercharge Your Swim Meet Warm-Up:

Here are a few sneaky ways that you can help prime your body for fast swimming before and during your warm-up: Visualize your race/big efforts in the minutes leading up to it. One of my favorite ways to get warmed up is to stand behind the block of the lane I am going to swim in later and mentally rehearse the race a couple times. I imagine the dive, how the water feels, the kick tempo. I liked to do this before warm-up to make it as much a rehearsal as possible, so that when I dove in later it felt like I had already been there. Prime your central nervous system. Your body should be ready to go before you dive in the water. Don’t use the first lap of your race to acclimatize yourself to swimming at top speed. How can you do this? Do some explosive movements outside of the pool that simulate your race. A couple squat jumps. Some fast-paced push-ups. Medicine ball throw downs. Just a handful of reps—the point isn’t fatigue but CNS stimulation. Swim until you are ready. Once you feel like you are ready to rock and roll, your warm-up is done. No need to belt out a 3,000m warm-up/workout because you feel so great in the water that you end up taxing yourself. Have a Plan B warm-up. If you know that the meet warm-up is going to be a nightmare, and there is no secondary pool, develop a dryland warm-up with your coach. You’ll still want to get a few laps in to get that feel for the water, but if you can manage the majority of your warming up outside of the pool the less likelihood you run of getting booted in the face by that jerk breaststroker. Develop a plan in the weeks leading up to the meet (and use it before practice to get a feel for it). Stay warm between races. Parkas on deck at swim meets have been around as long as I can remember, and with good reason—getting bundled up helps keep that core temperature raised. Through on some sweat pants, a hoodie/parka and preserve some of the heat you built up during your warm-up.

In Summary

As you get older and more experienced you will learn what works best for you not only physically, but mentally in terms of getting prepared to swim lights-out. Stay loose, stay warm, stay ready. Image Credit: Ruth E. Hendricks Photography

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

On the Day of the Big Race

Get there early. Showing up to the pool a little bit early provides you the opportunity to loosen up before the full brunt of the swimmers attending the meet show up, and gives you a chance to check out the pool set-up (if you haven’t already). If seating is at a premium, getting there early also means first shot at squaring away a decent spot. Manage expectations. Remember that rarely do things ever go perfectly, much less according to plan, so go into your day of racing with the mindset of being flexible with distractions. Being able to stay focused in the face of unexpected circumstances is one of the hallmarks of elite swimmers. Develop a routine for before you get up on the blocks. Michael Phelps has done the same set of arm swings on the blocks since he was a kid. Everything before the big race is planned and done the same. The warm-up. The arm-swings. The stretching. Even the characteristic bent-over arm swings. For Phelps, this routine helps to keep himself calm and focused. Build a pre-race routine of your own. How to Prepare for a Swim Meet

Note your event and heat numbers. There is no greater panic in the world than suddenly realizing that your heat is the next one up on the blocks. Instead of asking your coach every five minutes—“When am I up?”—write out your events and keep note of where the other events are at in relation to your races. Keep surprises in your diet to minimum. The last thing you want is your stomach doing a backflip in the moments you are standing behind the blocks. This may mean you have to do some planning in advance in terms of meal preparation. Or drinking lots of water. Or passing when your hotel roommate decides to make a late-night candy visit to the convenience store down the street. Avoid last minute technical changes. Wanna play around with a new variation of your technique? Great, that’s what practice is for. When you are standing up on the blocks you want to be able to let go, so to speak, and let your body do what it has repeatedly done in practice. (Yet another reason to train like you wanna race.) Plan your warm-ups properly. Your swim meet warm-up shouldn’t be too different from the way you warm-up in practice. Why? Because it gives you a sense of the familiar in unfamiliar circumstances. You should have a dryland routine that you can use in the inevitable scenario where the pool is so packed during warm-up that you can’t find a sliver of pool space. (Have your swim meet warm downs in order as well.) Relax and have fun! Being nervous is fine, but getting overly stressed and burnt out on anxiety is a performance killer. Remember, this is supposed to be fun, so if you have to, take a big breath, lean back, smile, and have a great time doing some fast swimming.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

For a period of a few days, up to 3 weeks for our heavily muscled sprinting brethren, we fine tune our swimming while the volume of the work in the pool is cut drastically. The swimming taper is a time of confusion for many young swimmers. While some swimmers feel great from the first day of taper, others take what feels like an eternity to reap the benefits. This confusing, awesome period of training has befuddled many a swimmer. Here is your guide to understanding the swimming taper, and how to make the best of it so that you can show up ready to destroy your best times on race day. The Swimming Taper: How to Swim Fast When It Matters Most

The Swimming Taper: How to Swim Fast When It Matters Most

What Happens When You Shave & Taper

If you’ve shaved and tapered before you already know how great it can feel. You glide through the water effortlessly, you have energy to spare, and your swimming? Well, it feels just fantastic, thank you very much. But what is happening exactly under the surface? Here is one way to summarize the goal of the swim taper:

“Consequently, to ultimately improve performance, the major challenge during the taper period is to maintain or further enhance the physiological adaptations while allowing the psychological and biological stresses of the overload periods to resolve.”

You want to keep your gains, build on them, and simultaneously recover from all of the hard work you have been doing. Here is what is going down:

You are becoming more powerful. A group of intercollegiate swimmers were tested with a stretch cord to see how strong they were before vs. after a season-ending taper. The swimmers, on average, were 5% more powerful after.
Your stroke gets a little longer. The same group of NCAA swimmers were also tested to see the difference in power and distance per stroke after doing a full body shave-down. While there was no difference in power output, distance per stroke increased by 5%.
You get more fast twitchy. A different group of male collegiate swimmers had their muscle fibers and power output monitored before and after a taper after 5 months of training. Power output doubled, with type IIa muscle fibers (the short twitch, fast firing stuff that sprinters endlessly seek out) increasing by 2.5x. There were improvements where it mattered most, the clock, with swimmers seeing times improve between 3.0-4.7%.
You swim faster. Quelle surprise, right? Another study done with 14 swimmers from the Sao Paulo Aquatic Federation found that using an 11-day taper (where volume was decreased by 48%) the athletes improved their 200m times by 1.6%. (So a 2:00 minute freestyler would drop nearly 2 seconds.)
Your arms get stronger. In a study done at the University of Texas with famed coach Eddie Reese’s swimmers, researchers found that power peaked at around day 20-21 of a taper. Increases in arm power were most pronounced during weeks 1 and 3 (45, 5, 50% increases by week).
You feel a lot better mentally. After only one week of taper swimmers reported feeling a whole lot better emotionally and mentally, with depression, stress and overall mood disturbance down. Similar to other studies mentioned above, peak swimming power when swimmers were tethered increased, peaking at two weeks. (The study only did 1 and 2 week tapers, it should be noted.)

The Two Types of Tapering Swimmers

While it’s tempting to seek out a boiler template for our taper, the truth is that we all react differently to the swimming taper. Whether it is our genes, our event, or our muscle composition, the way that we react tends to fall into two different camps. The Swim Taper: How to Swim Fast When It Matters

The Swim Taper: How to Swim Fast When It Matters

1. Late Responders. For this poor swimmers they initially perform worse than when he or she was being inflicted with max volume. This brief spell of feeling awful in the water, of swimming slower than previous training, is temporary. This scenario has caused many a panic-driven freak-out in the pool, and experiencing it leads you to thinking that you have only gotten worse in the pool. Awesome! The accumulated fatigue is slow to disappear, and it takes a while for this athlete to fully recover and achieve that superhuman feeling we all crave during the taper phase. These “late responders” tend to be older, sprinting dudes who require a longer taper as a result of the added time it takes for them to get rid of the accumulated fatigue. 2. Early Responders. In the second case, the swimmer has very rapidly adapted without this precipitous drop in performance. In other words, this swimmer's body has fully embraced the taper and is already feeling the hot sweetness that comes with added rest. (Much to the late responder’s chagrin.) Younger, female distanceish swimmers tend to fall into this profile, as they are able to respond very quickly and early to added rest.

How to Nail Your Swim Taper

Ultimately, the way you taper and the way you perform is unique to you. I know, I know… You want a definitive answer to precisely how long you should be tapering in the pool. Your taper can be typically broken down in overall volume, training frequency, and intensity.

Overall Volume: A meta-analysis of competitive swimmers (27 studies in all) showed that a two-week taper tended to performed best. Swimming performance starts to increase with even a 20% decrease in training load, with peak performance falling within a 41-60% drop in training volume.

Frequency: The same study showed that once training frequency dropped by more than 20% swimming slowed, likely due to that mythical “feel” for the water starting to drip away.

Intensity: There is a reason you do lots of high intensity work during the taper (albeit with high rest). Doing so increases red blood cell counts, glycogen stores and increased mitochondrial activity. And yes, these are good things.

So, in summary: Drop the volume, keep most of the frequency, turn up/maintain the intensity.

How to Stay Mentally Sharp During Your Taper

From my own experience in the pool, I know that tapering is mentally challenging. You feel stressed out that you aren’t feeling as good as you want in the water. You feel sluggish one day, like you are sailing over the water the next. Your mood and confidence wavers and yo-yo’s with each practice. To combat the mental and emotional jitters that come with the taper, here are a few tips for you to help chill out a bit and enjoy the process of sharpening your swimming so that you swim fast when it matters most: Relax. For me, taper was always more stressful than hard training. I knew what to expect during the tough stuff, after all. Taper, conversely, was a bit of a mystery. Your training today isn’t always an accurate reflection of how you are going to train tomorrow. There is a lot stuff going on in your body. Accumulated fatigue is slowly being flushed out, type IIa fibers are being steadily recruited, and you are reaping the benefits of added sleep and energy. Avoid last minute urges to train your brains out. Added rest has a bizarre impact on tapering swimmers. On the one hand, they are starting to feel pretty darn good in the water, and on the other, they start to wonder if they trained hard enough. Given how great they now feel, might as well sneak in a couple extra hard workouts, right? Nope. Trust the plan. With all of that time spent out of the water, swimmers have the opportunity to think over the taper, their training, and wonder if it was done properly. Did they do it right? Will it work? For you late responders most especially, have faith in the process and trust the plan you have laid out for yourself. This can be tough particularly when you train with a lane-full of early responders, whose effortless swimming and boasts of “I feel, like, sooo amazing!” help fuel doubt in your own taper. Journal your taper. Summarizing how you are feeling at the end of the day, whether in your log book or wherever, can help you build a blueprint for how you mentally and physically react to tapering. Having this record on hand for future tapers can be invaluable, and help calm some of the see-sawing in confidence in the lead-up to your big race. Sleep like a boss. The easiest way to boost your performance isn’t spending hours and hours dissecting your performance and the way you feel in the water. It’s getting more sleep. With workout volume going down a bit, and the workout frequency decreasing as well, comes an opportunity to truly supercharge your body via sleep. You know that trying to get magical nights of sleep during competition won’t always be possible, so build up a sleep surplus in the weeks leading up to your big races. Don’t go overboard on how you are feeling. Swimming, in a lot of ways, is a mystical sport. How else do you describe something like the way we “feel” the water? Or the sensation of riding the water? Swimming is a sport that predicates much on the way we feel in the water. But the reality is, you don’t have to feel great in the water to swim fast. Focus on the process, and forget about trying to attain an elusive “feeling.”

In Closing

The taper is a personal thing. The way you feel and perform during your taper, and consequently, in competition, is largely dictated by your training history, your specialty in the water, how you respond to the added rest, and so on. Work with your coach to build a taper plan that works best for you and for your goals in the water. May the swimming taper be with you. Further Reading:

How to Prepare for a Swim Meet. Beyond the taper there is the practical considerations of getting yourself ready for the big meet. Here is a breakdown of how to get ready for the big meet.
The Swim Meet Warm-Up: What You Need to Know About Getting Ready to Swim Fast. Not all warm-ups are created equal. Here are the things you need to know about priming your body to perform at it's best.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

]]> 5336 <![CDATA[7 Freestyle Drills for a Faster Freestyle]]> The following swimming drills for freestyle are designed to help you swim faster and to swim better. Drills shouldn't just be done for the sake of doing them, but rather, to apply them to your swimming. Pick and choose a couple of the drills to incorporate at your next workout, and mix it with your swimming in order to reap the benefits of developing a more purposeful freestyle. In no particular order, here are 7 drills for freestylers: 7 Freestyle Drills for a Faster Freestyle

1. Closed-fist Freestyle.

One of my favorite drills, and about as simple as it gets. You ball up your hands, removing the surface area that your out-stretched fingers would usually provide for your pull, and otherwise swim freestyle as you normally would. It reinforces the notion that when you are pulling that you should be also using your forearms, and not just your hands! This added emphasis on the surface area of the forearm also pushes you towards a higher elbow recovery. Your stroke count per length will go down a little bit, and once you unclench those hands you will get a little jolt of power, your hands now feeling like over-sized paddles.

Best for: Increasing feel for the water with your forearm. Encouraging high elbow recovery.

2. Underwater Freestyle with Fins.

This drill is basically an advanced version of the dog paddle drill. Auburn University head coach Brett Hawke dropped in to share this drill that is designed for you freestylers that like to go really, really fast. A problem many competitive swimmers have once they get to a particular level of conditioning is that their turnover is too slow. They have the distance per stroke aspect nailed down, but need to crank up the RPM. This drill creates resistance on the arm recovery, which will have your arms flying once you return to regular freestyle. In the below video Auburn swimmer Michelle Turek demonstrates the drill, along with doing a “Tiger Turn,” which adds resistance to the turn as well. This drill is awesome for both hand speed and turn speed, while also throwing in some breath control for good measure.

As promised, u/w free with a tiger tumble, for hand speed and turn speed development. @YourSwimBook @michelleturek pic.twitter.com/D4nCJqljsA

— Brett Hawke (@BrettHawke) January 26, 2016

Best for: Freestylers who want to improve hand speed in the water.

3. Head-up Freestyle.

Not my favorite, but it does a couple things for your swimming. It puts you off-balance, forcing you to kick harder to maintain a somewhat straight body line. It removes any over-glide at the front of your stroke because gliding will sink your face into the water. I find that having your head up out of the water gives you another angle at your hand entry. The removal of the glide also forces you to maintain a continuous rhythm with your stroke, which will encourage a higher elbow recovery. Best for: Freestylers who are prone to over-gliding. A good warm-up for sprint work later in the workout.

4. Hand-drag Drill.

Coach Hawke shared another one of his favorite drills for increasing hand speed and arm recovery speed for you freestylers with a classic, and one of my old stand-by drills-- the hand-drag. How do you do it? Swim freestyle normally, but during the recovery phase drag your hand through the water. Keep your hand rigid for added resistance (i.e. don't just drag your hand limply through the water). When you return to normal swimming your arm recovery will feel like it's slashing through the air. Here is a video courtesy of Coach Hawke with one of his athletes demonstrating the drill in action:

Another good drill for developing hand speed @YourSwimBook pic.twitter.com/OblnjL3jje — Brett Hawke (@BrettHawke) January 28, 2016

Take it to the next level by throwing on some paddles to make it even more challenging.

Best for: Improving hand speed, maintaining body line.

5. Freestyle with Dolphin Kicks.

At the Sydney 2000 Olympics Michael Klim lead of the Australian men's 4x100m freestyle relay. In the final 15m he switched his kick over to a dolphin kick (Klim is a multiple world record holder in the butterfly) as he powered into the wall, breaking the world record in the 100m freestyle with his hybrid stroke, clocking a 48.18. It wasn't until late 2015 that another elite swimmer--Michael Phelps--began also experimenting with fly kick at the end of freestyle races in international competition. The reason that it works for these athletes is because they are both natural butterfliers, but also because the rhythm of using dolphin kicks helps to keep the stroke rate from tapering off when fatigue and exhaustion are setting in at the end of the race. By adding dolphin kick to your freestyle arms you cannot help but begin to develop a rhythm that promotes the smooth, kayak stroke we want in our freestyle. The first time trying it will be a little awkward, but once you get comfortable with it you'll be surprised at how fast you can get going.

Best for: Improving stroke rhythm. Increasing stroke rate.

6. Sculling.

Sculling is the Swiss-army knife of swimming drills. The variations you can come up with are nearly endless.

Having trouble sticking the hand entry? Spend some time sculling back and forth (none of those half-breaststroke strokes!) with your hand or hands outstretched above you.
Want more power and more "stick" with your catch? Angle your arm a few inches below the surface and scull your way down until your arm is perpendicular to your body.

When you are doing sculling drills get your body positioned as closely as to when you are normally swimming to maximize effect. If this means using a pull-buoy or fins to achieve a proper body position, so be it!

Best for: Trouble-shooting the weak parts of your stroke.

7. Dip & Kick.

I stumbled across this drill last year and fell in love with it right away. It comes courtesy of Mike Bottom (University of Michigan's head coach), and one of his former swimmers Bobby Savulich who demonstrates it below. I prefer doing it in a long course pool so that you can get a few stroke cycles in. With fins on in particular once your arms get going you can build up some great speed. Here is Coach Bottom explaining how the drill works:

Best for: Exploding the shoulders out of the water. Proper hand entry.

In Closing

Developing a smoother, more powerful freestyle is actually pretty simple when you start to break it down into sections. Whether it is improving stroke rhythm, keeping your elbow from dropping, or increasing your stroke rate there is a drill to help you break it down and improve it. Try out the above freestyle drills during your next practice and drill your way to a faster freestyle. ** Shout-out to Brett Hawke for sharing video of the above drills. Much appreciated!

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

I remember the first time I swam long course very vividly. Junior Olympics, somewhere inland New Jersey, a bright summer day in 1988. The event? 100m backstroke, and the second lap of that race was probably the longest three-quarters-of-a-minute of my life. With no roof above me to guide my swimming, I bounced from lane rope to lane rope, rolling over on my side numerous times to look for the wall, unbelieving that I still hadn’t even seen the backstroke flags. Where were they? By the time I touched the wall I felt like I’d swum a marathon. “Welcome to the big boy pool,” a coach told me as I dragged myself out of the pool. At the highest level our sport’s athletes swim at in the long course pool, and yet, when you mention to most age group athletes that practice will be in the 50m pool you tend to get groans. Yes, it’s harder. Yes, it requires more stamina. But yes, it will make you a better swimmer. For those swim teams and swimmers that are lucky enough to have access to a long course pool, here is why. Long Course Swimming: Why You Should Embrace the Big Pool

Long Course Swimming: Why You Should Embrace the Big Pool

The Benefits of Long Course Swimming

Conditioning. The biggie: long course swimming is straight-up tougher. You don’t need me to tell you that. For swimmers going from short course yards to long course meters the difference is even more profound. Without the walls to save you every dozenish or so strokes it forces you to maintain the rhythm, stroke length and stroke rate over more than double the distance. When swimmers performed a descending set of 5x200’s in both a short course and a long course pool, blood lactate levels were significantly higher among the long course group, and during the sub-max efforts heart rate was higher as in the long course pool as well. (Heart rates after the final max efforts were identical between short and long course.) If there was ever an advantage for swimming long course it is this: you’ll become more accustomed to training with higher blood lactate levels, and getting a harder workout in swimming at the same intensity as you would be swimming short course, making it ideal for aerobic work. Trains you for the big races. If you have aspirations of competing at the elite level of the sport at some point you will be racing in the long pool. This is unavoidable. Although training long course certainly isn’t a prerequisite of fast swimming—an example including backstroke great Aaron Piersol is detailed below—training long course can give you the confidence to swim fast. Here’s another way to think about long course swimming, the 50m pool is also the same one that the Olympics are competed at. If you want to swim against the Franklins, the Lochtes, and the Campbells, eventually you are going to have to step into the same pool they race in. Exposes the weaknesses in your technique. Short course swimming can help paper over technique flaws. When you have strong walls and underwaters you can hide the soft spots in your swimming with long underwaters. Consider that short course races can be performed up to 60% using underwater dolphin kicks, and you realize that the importance of swimming technique is diminished in the small pool compared to the long pool where only up to 30% of the race can be swum underwater. Butterfly races in particular get a whole lot tougher when the amount of arm-saving turns gets cut in half. Gives you more time to really work on stroke corrections. Long course swimming gives you longer opportunities to hold on to desired stroke corrections. I have always found that when trying to make stroke adjustments it requires a few stroke cycles to get into the rhythm of it. Whether it is doing regular old swimming or dropping some freestyle drills having the added length of the pool means that you latch onto the adjustment, and have a chance to drill it down a few times before you have to launch yourself into a flip-turn. A shortcoming of short course swimming is that seemingly a couple moments after you hit the rhythm and technique you want it is time to turn, forcing you to start over after another push off and streamline. It’s a new challenge. For most swim programs the long course training and racing season comes after six months of short course swimming. Switching to the big pool is an easy way to switch things up. Racing long course is different, and requires different strategy. Gives ya a piece of humble pie with your times. Simply put, long course is slower. For swimmers new to the sport there is a moment of surprise when they come to understand that a :22 second short course swim doesn’t instantly transfer over to a :22 second-long course result. In a long course pool there is quite literally more swimming to be done. More pool space. And now, probably my favorite aspect of long course training. Space! 10 swimmers in a short course lane is a bubbling cauldron of arms and legs; the same ten swimmers in a long course lane suddenly feels like you have all the space in the world. In most programs long course training is often available only during early morning workouts due to pool space limitations later in the day, so if there was ever a reason to get your butt out of bed for morning workout it’s that you will get in better shape, improve your technique, and be able to spread your (water) wings.

How to Train Long Course in a Short Course Pool

Okay, so what if we don’t have access to an Olympic-sized swimming pool? First off, the good news is that not having access to a long course pool isn’t a game breaker. There are benefits to short course swimming; the shorter bouts of swimming means you hold onto that technique a little bit longer, you get twice the work on turns/breakouts, and a short course pool works better for training sprinters. Secondly, not only can you swim well without a long course pool, but you can excel, even at the highest levels. Aaron Peirsol, an American who held the world record in both the 100 and 200m backstroke, and is a 7-time Olympic medalist, broke his first world record in 2002 after training the previous 8 months without having even looked at a long course pool. So it’s not a deal-breaker. Here are a couple ways to make the pool a little longer:

Add some resistance. There are lots of ways to lengthen the pool. Swim with a parachute. Tether yourself to a cord. Throw some DragSox onto your feet. From personal experience I can tell you that the first time you put them on and try and kick the length of the pool the resistance will double the amount of time it takes to get there. A :20 second 25m kick turns into a :45-50 second effort. Bingo.
Turn at the “T’s.” A low-tech way to add the endurance benefits of training long course is to simply remove turns from the equation. This means that doing a flip-turn a meter or two from the wall, kicking from a dead stop, and continuing on with your swimming. Training this way robs you of the push-offs and breakouts you’d typically lean on to recover.

Lots of great swimmers have come up training in facilities that are, well, dismal, so don’t feel like having long course swimming consistently at your disposal is a game-breaker. Whether your pool is long course, short course or just a bucket in the ground, remember it’s the swimmer that makes the pool, not the other way around.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

Improve your top-end sprinting speed.
Swim the same insanely tough workout that one of the top collegiate programs in the country did.
Or drastically improve your underwater dolphin kick.

...then you are in the right spot. Swimming Practices

Some of the swim practices I have guinea-pigged on myself, others include sets and workouts from elite swimmers, while others have been submitted by some of the top swim coaches on the planet. (If you are looking for a particularly gruesome challenge, try out the Auburn sprint set listed below. It's not for the feint of heart.)

Swim Practices for Sprinters

The sprint swimmer is a special creature. And while though they tend to get flak for the relatively low amount of meters and yards they complete in comparison to their middle-distance and distance teammates, they make up for it with intensity and blinding power and speed. Here are a few sets and workouts for you fast-twitch swimmers:

The Pop-and-Lock Set: A Speed Endurance Set for Sprinters. One of my favorite all time sets, and can be adapted to your own goals in the pool. Best for developing speed endurance and blinding speed.
A Fun, Yet Crushing 20 Minute Set for Drop Dead Sprinters. A set of blast repeats with a steadily decreasing interval that will challenge your stroke and technique integrity, especially over the last four reps.
The Other Auburn Sprint Set, Or How I Spent Two Hours Driving the Local Lap Swimmers Crazy. One of the most difficult sets I have ever encountered. Took me over two hours to do it, and I still didn't even finish it all. Not for the feint of heart.
Butterfly Sets: How to Dominate Your Next 100m Butterfly. Two awesome sets for developing a monster back-half on your 100m fly (equally applicable to other strokes as well). The sets were developed by Bob Bowman for Mr. Butterfly himself, Michael Phelps.
3 Sprint Sets with Nick Brunelli. Nick was a stalwart on the national scene in the United States for a decade. Even though he never made an Olympic team, he did retire in 2012 with over a half dozen world championship medals to his credit.

Practices for Distance Swimmers

A Mid-Season Distance Workout with Grant Hackett. The man was legendary for his range in the freestyle events, holding world records in events ranging from the 200m to the 1500m freestyle. Here is a 7,400m mid-season workout he did in long course meters that will get your heart rate going.
The Hardest Set: American Distance Legend Erik Vendt (coming soon)

Sets & Workouts to Improve Your Kick

Misty Hyman's Favorite Sets for Improving Your Dolphin Kick (coming soon)
The Hardest Sets Aussie Freestyler Cam McEvoy Has Ever Done (coming soon)
10 Minutes a Day to a Faster Underwater Dolphin Kick. The underwater dolphin kick is the not-so-secret of top swimmers like Florent Manaudou, Cesar Cielo, Michael Phelps and others. Here is a quick and powerful set to improve your fly kicks in as little as ten minutes a day.
A Kick Set for Faster Foot Speed in the Water. Developing a high kick tempo is imperative for swimmers who want to swim supremely fast. Here is a set that is designed specifically to help you get your feet moving.
Supercharge Your Kick: 4 Sets for Kicking Power and Speed. Sean Baker from Oakville Aquatics shared these sets that National Team member Evan White did (also includes his results on the sets).
My Favorite Sets for Developing Flutter Kick Thunder-Speed

READY TO DOMINATE THE COMPETITION?

The inspiration of this sprint set has two origins. Both from the track world. One is a conversation between James Magnussen’s former coach Brant Best and Australian track coach Mike Hurst in 2011. In the interview Hurst described 400m track athletes who perform 3-4x 60m sprints on a minute, followed by an additional :30 seconds of rest and then sprinting a 200m flat-out. The runners admitted that the 200m felt exactly like the last half of a 400m race, as the phosphate stores had been depleted from the short-burst efforts, robbing them of the “nitro” that usually comes with a fully rested effort. Adapting this set from runners to the pool, particularly to 100m swimmers (who swim their race in roughly the same amount of time that a 400m runner performs theirs), Best noted:

Physically it's very specific to the back-end of the race when they haven't got anything even neuro-muscularly as they haven't got any phosphate system running. Neuro-muscularly they've been stuffed. The aerobic system has been screwed because we put them on about :10 seconds of rest before the last 50m.

The Squat and Sprint

The second is the story of a disgraced Canadian track star named Ben Johnson who used to perform a set of heavy squats (4-5 reps at reportedly 500ish pounds), and then immediately launched himself into a 60m all-out sprint. This was during the late 1980’s, when the prevailing wisdom was that in order to get stronger you had to sets of 10ish reps at steadily increasing weight.

He was working the fast-twitch fibers with high-force, low-speed contractions in the back squat, and then immediately hitting them with high-force, high-speed contractions in sprinting. It was two mechanically different activities requiring a high degree of neural activity to produce maximal force in a sort of bipolar manner.

Creating a Monster Sprint Set

So how can we adapt these to our purposes of building a stronger and faster performance in the water? Below is one version I tried earlier this week. I won’t lie—it’s a fun set. That first sprint efforts make you feel like you have a jetpack strapped to your back. I had the benefit of being able to do the sprints in a 17.5m long lane as well, which allowed me to maintain a high level of intensity and speed during the sprint efforts. Here is my little Franken-set: Pop and Lock Sprint Set

As far as swimming workouts go this one is pretty short, it is intense, it requires focus on the tight intervals, but more importantly it’s fun! The first time you dive into the water or push off it will feel like you got shot out of a cannon, and who doesn't appreciate that? There are countless variations of this set that you can try out according to the goals you have for each particular athlete. For instance, if you were looking to develop more powerful starts you could do sets of weighted squat jumps before doing a dive effort. Or if you are lacking in the upper body strength department to series of explosive, clapping push-ups before sprinting off. And so on! The options are nearly limitless, so try out the Pop-and-Lock the next time you hop in the water to feed your desire for more speed and power in the pool.

Ready to Dominate the Competition?

1. Start with your technique.

Jumping into the pool and banging out a couple sets at max intensity will give you a great workout, there is no doubt about that, but how much of that swimming is performed with awesome technique? It’s tempting to want to base our performance in the pool on sheer effort and will, but if you are serious about wanting to swim faster you must also be swimming with focus and intent. When you train deliberately this means you are performing your swimming workouts with both effort and focus. The ultimate foundation of a successful swimmer is having great technique. As you progress, poor technique acts as a glass ceiling for your abilities, something we will touch more on in a few moments.

2. Take it one step at a time.

Trying to make wholesale technique changes is difficult and will leave you feeling overwhelmed. Focus on one thing at a time until you are totally nailing it, and then move on to the next thing. Conversely, if you absolutely have to work on different aspects of your stroke and training, start out by separating them by set. So for instance, during your warm-up you would focus exclusively on maintaining a high elbow catch. During the pre-set you’d work on proper body roll. As they both become consistent fixtures of your swimming they will blend into your regular stroke. Focus on one thing and do it insanely well in the pool.

3. Get feedback.

Our biases are nearly countless. They exaggerate our fears, downplay our strengths, and make us think that we worked harder on that set than we actually might have. They extend to how we view our technique, as well. That hand entry turns out to be not nearly as wide as we thought. We drop our elbow when tired, without noticing. And so on. Having a coach, or video feedback in the case of training solo, will help you correct mistakes in your technique early on. Swimming Tips 7 Fundamentals of Faster Swimming

Swimming Tips 7 Fundamentals of Faster Swimming

There are a lot of meters and yards ahead of you to be swum, and getting your stroke right before jumping into them is fundamentally important. The further you go down the path of your swimming career the harder it becomes to make adjustments and change course. Practice, get feedback, apply it, and repeat.

4. Emulate the pros.

One of my favorite ways to get hyped before training is to boot up a couple YouTube videos of some of my favorite swimmers. Whether it is Matt Biondi’s cruising, effortless freestyle, or watching Phelps or Lochte belt out monster underwater dolphin kicks, watching other swimmers swim the way that I want to swim helps me internalize the movements for when I get in the water later. We respond well to mimicry via something called mirror neurons in our brains, that helps us internalize the movements and actions of others, giving credence to the expression “monkey see, monkey do.”

5. Be a master of efficiency.

Water provides resistance. A whole heap of it. Being nearly 800 times denser than air at sea-level, swimmers are continually warring against the resistance of water. From streamlining, to shaving down our bodies, to donning expensive tech suits we are forever battling the density of the water. Swimming isn’t always about getting stronger or more powerful, but being more efficient. If you look at a swimmer’s body, you begin to understand what I mean; they are built lean and designed to battle the density of water. Michael Phelps, at 6’4” weighs *only* around 190 pounds. Lean, efficient. Alexander Popov, arguably the greatest sprint freestyler of all-time would regularly swim long bouts of freestyle, all the while exploring the nooks and corners of his stroke, endlessly seeking out ways to make it more efficient and easier to slide through the water. Seek to make your stroke more efficient by making it long, while also keeping a low profile in the water.

6. Practice, practice, practice.

The top swimmers in the sport make it look supremely easy, don’t they? We can watch someone like Michael Phelps swim and think to ourselves that because it looks so relaxed, that it must be easy. The relaxed stroke masks a level of mastery and ruthless dedication to training better and faster over years of training. They’ve earned that “easy” and powerful stroke over miles and miles of focused meters and yards in the pool. Whether your goal is going to the Olympics or making your high school varsity team it requires practice. It requires showing up and putting in the repetitions. Swimming with fantastic technique and great effort for a few lengths is awesome; doing it repeatedly over weeks, months and years is greatness.

7. Measure and progress.

Swimming is a sport of numbers. Stroke counts, stroke rates, intervals and heart rates all add up for a statistician’s dream come true. More importantly, they give you very specific, measurable benchmarks that you can work on progressing and improving over time. Swimming Tips 7 Fundamentals of Faster Swimming

Focus on the number that matters most to you and work on improving it. Progression should be the ultimate goal from week to week in the pool. After all, progression acts as a motivational IV-drip, providing a steady and consistent sense of momentum that will keep you focused and inspired to work hard at the pool. Whether it is doing more meters at race pace, knocking out more 100’s at a specific interval, or holding a particular stroke count for longer and longer distances, there are countless ways to measure and progress your swimming.

More Tips for Swimmers:

7 Drills for Freestylers. Swimming better freestyle starts with mastering the fundamentals of speed. Here are 7 drills to help you swim a speedier freestyle.
How to Improve Your Underwater Dolphin Kick. Developing a powerful dolphin kick is a no-brainer when it comes to racing fast. Here is everything you need to know about mastering the underwater arts.
How to Prevent Swimmer's Shoulder. Swimmer's shoulder sucks. There's no other way to say it. Here is what you can do to prevent it from happening (again).

READY TO DOMINATE THE COMPETITION?

There are fewer things more impressive than watching a swimmer with a powerful kick. The fluidity, power and flexibility come together to create a smooth, effortless performance. Whether you are a distance swimmer or a sprinter a strong kick is essential for fast swimming. It promotes better body position, provides a measure of propulsion, and for you gallop-stroke freestylers it can help maintain speed between strokes. Listed below are three versatile freestyle kick drills for you to add to your training. As with anything, start slowly, focusing on proper form and steadily progress in volume and intensity.

Do I have to use a kickboard for these kick drills?

The following drills can be done with a kickboard, or not. If you have level 10 swimmer’s shoulder than putting your arms out in front of you for extended periods of time is pretty much the worst. Another downside of using a kickboard? It limits hip rotation. That being said, good luck prying my big, ugly green kickboard out of my hands! The following drills can be done with a snorkel in a streamline. With a kickboard. Or with your arms at your side. Adapt the drills to your goals, your conditioning levels and what you are currently capable of. 3 Freestyle Kick Drills

1. Single leg free kicking.

Kicking with a single leg has a couple magical benefits: It emphasizes the up-kick. With only one leg going you have to really focus on both the up and down phases of the kick. It discourages the lazy up-kick because you will notice a significant decrease in propulsion when you slack on the up-kick portion of your kick. In order to motor along at a consistent pace and not be starting-and-stopping in the water you need to apply just as much force within both phases of the kick. It emphasizes an engaged core. Single leg kick also has the benefit of added core engagement. Keeping your non-working leg straight, as well as keeping your direction in the pool, requires you to engage that core of yours. And yes, core strength is important for swimmers. I love routinely adding 1,000-1,500m of straight single leg kicking with fins on during my recovery sessions.

2. Vertical free kicking.

Vertical kicking is versatile, and can be used by the complete noob and the Olympic champ. It also doesn’t require a lap pool; all you need is a really tall bucket. Anytime the local lap pool is a bubbling cauldron of swimmers I migrate over to the deep end and do some vertical kicking until either the lanes clear out or my legs are shot. Either way, great success! Michael Phelps used vertical kicking (along with a 20lb weight belt on) in his preparation for the Beijing Games, doing rounds and rounds of :50 seconds, :10 seconds off to help strengthen his dolphin kick, but we can use it just as easily in order to improve our freestyle kick. Variations:

Arm placement. If you are just starting out with vertical kicking, cross your arms in front of you like you are grumpy about something. (Resist the urge to scull with your hands.) When you get comfortable with that, put your arms out of the water in the “don’t shoot” posture. And finally, when you are ready to get serious, put your arms in a streamline.
Max kicks in a set time period. The goal here is to increase overall leg speed and power. Throw on a pair of fins and for the first :20 seconds of each minute kick as fast as you can, counting the number of kicks you perform. Rest for the following :40 seconds. Do the set a couple times per week, trying to increase the number of kicks from week to week.
Max resistance. Feeling brave? Throw on some DragSox over your fins, and a weight belt, and try doing the above set. Level 9000 kicking would mean you could throw on all that gear, and then kick vertically in a streamline position and keep your head out of the water.
Vertical wall kicking. To greater emphasize a narrow kick (particularly you sprinty sprintersons), do vertical kick with your belly button a few inches away from the wall. You will have to kick with straightish, smaller kicks to avoid driving your knees into the pool wall. (Yes, this hurts.)

3. Mail-slot kick drill.

The top swimmers in the world kick fast and narrow. Most swimmers resort to a lazy scissor kick when they are swimming, with their legs having the tendency to drop and hang there, causing unnecessary drag. A simple kicking drill you can use to improve foot speed in the water, steadily build that narrow kick, and build a kick that is relevant to your swimming, is to kick small and narrow. I call it “mail slot” kicking, because the idea is to keep your body line so straight that if there was a mail slot hanging on the surface of the water you could kick your slim profile right through it. The important keys to performing this drill correctly:

Keep your feet under the water (a.k.a. “quiet” or no-bubble kick) and your butt up to simulate the same body position you want to have when swimming full stroke.
Aim for a high RPM with your feet. The goal is to condition your feet to move really, really fast while in a narrow position.
Engage your core! It's almost impossible to move your feet quickly and with control without a firm core.

Improving your kick isn’t some sort of mystery, and isn’t something that is solely reserved for the top athletes in the sport. Like just about anything else in the pool, all it takes is consistent, focused effort. Try these freestyle kick drills out the next time you hit the water and motor your way to faster swimming.

READY TO DOMINATE THE COMPETITION?

Why You Should Take Your Swimming Warm-Down Seriously

It gives you a chance to reset mentally after your previous race.
Returns your body back to resting levels. This includes the flushing of lactate, and perhaps most critically, allowing your neuromuscular system to recover.
Keeps you producing at a higher level more consistently, especially over the course of long meets where you are racing frequently.
Low intensity recovery work has been shown to have positive psychological effects, with effects including improved mood and relaxation. Which is exactly what is needed after a big race.
Effects of a hard effort last much longer than just when your blood lactate levels return to pre-race levels. Warming down helps all of your body's systems to heal.

How much do I need to warm-down?

Obviously, this answer will vary from athlete to athlete. Depending on your discipline, your level of conditioning, and of course, when your next swim is you might be constrained on how long you can spend winding yourself down after racing. Because sprint swimmers tend to have more muscle mass than their distance brothers and sisters, as well as a higher level of fast-twitch muscles, they actually need more warm-down. But if time is not a constraint, what is the ideal amount of time you should be warming down? National and international level British swimmers were found to require on average 1,400m of active recovery to get their blood lactate levels back to a normal level. (“Normal” is 2mM, something worth remembering when viewing the chart below.) If you can tell what your initial blood lactate level is you can use the following table to give yourself a better idea of how long you should spend warming down. British Swimming Warmdown Guidelines

The same paper outlines the amount of time that it takes for active and passive recovery to achieve a desired blood lactate level: Active vs Passive Recovery

The graph above shows that when the swimmer does nothing, they return to the same blood lactate level after 55 minutes. So naturally, for swimmers who are only competing once per day, or who have ample time between events, what's the point of warming down at all? Well, it's possible that we have been ignoring the real reason we need warm-down.

Your nervous system needs recovery.

What if the benefits of warming down wasn't really about flushing lactate, but because your neurons are tired and in need of recovery? A study of nationally ranked Finnish track athletes (Vitasalo et al., 1995) found that those who engaged in a protocol of 20 minutes of jet massage in the hot tub performed better in explosive and strength movements the following day compared to their non-recoverin' teammates. In other words, warming down helped them ward off the effects of neuromuscular fatigue. This is important for swimmers when you consider that the athletes in the control group of this study were experiencing the effects of neuromuscular fatigue a full day after training. It wasn't lactate build-up that was causing them to incur lower performances. This study should be an alarming reminder of how crucial to performance warming down is not only during competition, but at the end of a tough training session as well. Ultimately, the main problem with neural fatigue is that there isn't an easy way to measure it. It's not like lactate where we can take a quick blood sample and know with precision how much is in the blood. Symptoms of neural fatigue are tough to accurately rate and include fatigue (obviously), mood swings, and even loss of appetite.

How fast or slow should I be warming-down?

Hanging on the edge of the pool for twenty minutes talking to friends about their races isn’t warming down. Nor is doing laps of high intensity swimming in the warm down that only serves to produce additional lactate or further strain your neuromuscular system. Per USA Swimming’s guidelines swimmers should base the intensity of their recovery (as measured by heart rate) on their event length: USA Swimming Warm Down Guidelines

What if there is no warm-down pool?

Not having a secondary pool is no excuse for not doing your due diligence in warming down properly after belting out a big swim. From doing arm and leg swings under a warm shower to doing low level biking on a stationary bike there are ways to get your warm-down in without getting wet. And mentally you know that not having a warm-down pool isn't an issue if all the other swimmers are competing under the same circumstances.

Make warming down a standard part of your post-race routine.

The better shape you are in, the faster you will recover after your races. (Duh, right?)
Get some fluids and food in you to replenish glycogen stores following your race.
Head straight to the warm-down pool after your race. You can get the highlights (or low-lights), splits and words of encouragement from your coach afterwards.
The more swims you have the longer you should be warming down after each subsequent race.

No matter the circumstances are like at the big meet, warming down is a crucial part of your competition strategy, whether you are competing once per day or like most swimmers, repeatedly in the span of a single session. References: Peyrebrune, M.(2006) Warm down and active recovery. English Institute of Sport.

READY TO DOMINATE THE COMPETITION?

The following swimming workouts were created by Bob Bowman (with inspiration coming from the late legendary Stanford/Auburn coach Richard Quick for the second set), and are found in the Swim Coaching Bible (Volume 2), who used the sets with Michael Phelps to help develop that legendary back-half.

Two Butterfly Sets for 100m Butterfliers

Here are the butterfly sets to help you build a Phelpsonian second 50:

SET ONE

30 x 50 @ 1:30 (or 1:15 for short course)

Alternate through swim (all-out), drill, kick. Cycle through 10 times.
The swim should be full effort, with the drill and kick being done with excellent technique and with a focus towards efficiency.

The set is designed to build overall speed and endurance over the second 50m of your 100m race. As you should be doing anytime you are in the pool, keep your technique together whether you are swimming at full effort or doing drill.

SET TWO

10 x 50 at max velocity

Interval: The first 4 are to be done @1:30, and then one repeat each at the following intervals: 1:20, 1:10, 1:00, :50, :40 and :30.

This is the set that was based off of legendary Coach Quick's work, and is designed to help simulate those awful final 20m of your 100m race where your stroke rate, technique and overall will to live begin to collapse. The set will skyrocket the levels of lactic acid in your body, and then teach you to adapt to it. Bowman liked to have his athletes follow this set with 10x100’s of freestyle @1:30 (avg a pace that would guarantee about :20 of rest) to act as a “buffering set” to better train the body to metabolize lactic acid.

READY TO DOMINATE THE COMPETITION?

1. “If-Then” Your Way to Better Training Habits.

We all have those habits in the water that we struggle with maintaining or improving. Whether it’s a breathing pattern, a commitment to performing a set number of underwater dolphin kicks off each wall, or holding better streamlines, there are things that we know we can do better and yet we still struggle to do so. A simple way that can increase the likelihood of sticking to better training and lifestyle habits (by 200-300% according to research) is using something called “implementation intentions,” or “if-then” planning. What it does is anchor something you want to do with something you are already doing. 5 Science-Backed Ways to Have Better Swim Practices

5 Science-Backed Ways to Have Better Swim Practices

Here are a couple examples:

If I push off the wall, then I am going to do 3 underwater dolphin kicks.
When I walk in through the front door of the house after practice, I am going to immediately empty my swim bag in the laundry room.
If we are doing a freestyle drills set, I am going to breathe every 3 strokes.
When I wake up, I am going to drink two glasses of water.

The goal is to put a desired behavior on auto-pilot—something that needs as little thought as tying a shoe or brushing your teeth. And what is better than not having to mentally struggle doing the things that will help you succeed?

2. Starting Your Workout is All That Really Matters.

This is probably the biggest one, and something you can use outside of the pool with hilarious effect. How often have you had a wildly ambitious goal for your swimming, but pull up before the hard work begins? Perhaps you start to think you’ve bit off more than you can chew. Or the scope of the work is paralyzing. Or you thought it would be easier. To combat this paralysis make starting that tough workout the only goal. Don’t even think about finishing it. How much effort is required to do it. Or anything else. Make the goal starting that first rep, and absolutely nothing else. When you make starting the goal, no matter how small or outwardly frivolous the step may seem, you set off something in your brain that is almost guaranteed to take you the rest of the way. Why is this? Because your brain goes absolutely mental when it comes to unfinished tasks. It’s why once you start a really hard set that it becomes harder to quit than to finish. It’s why you end up telling yourself, “Well, hey! That wasn’t so bad!” after a hard workout. And it’s the same function that causes you regret at other things you haven’t completed or finished in your past. Starting is the whole ball game. Make your goal doing the warm-up, or just the first rep of that tough set. The momentum and need-to-complete will take you home.

3. Visualize Better Workouts for, Err, Better Workouts.

Visualization is a massively important tool. And something any swimmer can find real results in using. Study after study has shown the power and effects of visualization reaching nearly the same effect as overt physical training, which is pretty crazy when you think about it. (Pretty close, I said, so no, you can’t skip practice because you stayed home and “totally visualized it.”) 5 Science Backed Ways to Have Better Swim Practices

But perhaps the most powerful way to use mental imagery is in the moments before a big rep or a big set. In the minutes leading up to a big effort mentally rehearse the way you are going to cruise along the surface of the water. How you are going to snap your hips at the end of your stroke. The way your streamline knifes through the water. Imagine your stroke, exactly the way you want to perform it, and then unleash it. Track sprinters using this technique performed an average of 87% better doing some quick mental rehearsing the couple minutes before their race, so yes, it works. This stuff is wildly powerful, and when used regularly in your training can not only improve your performance in the pool, but also lower stress and anxiety levels when it comes time to showing up on race day.

4. Give Yourself a Jolt.

Variety might be the spice of life, but when strategically applied to your swimming workouts it can also help shake you loose of bad training habits and help you install new, more productive ones. One of the most powerful methods of disrupting our behaviors and habits is by changing the environment. You probably knew this on some level, after all, how many times when you are struggling have you thrown your hands in the air and told yourself, “Something has got to change!” Or, “I need to mix things up!” Well, as it turns out there is research that shows the power of changing up your environment to unstick yourself. When we change our surroundings it makes it easier to promote good behaviors and habits while also removing the bad habits that have been lingering for longer than we’ve liked. Here are some examples of changes you can make based on degree of disruption:

Low: Train in a different lane. Breathe to your “off” side for the whole session.
Medium: Do an off-stroke for the whole practice. Workout at different times. Swim at a new pool. Sleep in a different bedroom.
High: Go train with a different club for a week. Train with a club across the country for a month.

Often we only pull ourselves out of a rut when our environment is changed for us. (A new coach shows up, for instance and suddenly we begin dropping silly amounts of time.) Don’t be afraid to adjust your environment and supply it with the occasional jolt in order to keep you stimulated and motivated.

5. Track and Evaluate Your Progress in the Water.

This research showed that when participants in a weight loss program were asked to journal their nutrition regularly they lost twice the amount of weight as those that didn’t. Which goes to show that if it is important to you and your goals, that you have to be measuring it. After all, just some of the reasons tracking your workouts is so powerful include—

It forces you to be mindful of your practices. For most, once the practice is over not much thought is given to it. But if you have to spend a couple minutes going over your performance you start to see the cracks in your effort and training. You becomes aware of the areas where you are not as strong as you thought you might have been, nudging you to being more focused during practice.

It’ll keep you consistent. Being a “stop-and-go” swimmer is the worst. You know the routine: show up for a few practices, train your butt off, then miss a few more, and then start all over again. This game of red light-green light with your swimming only insures that you are never given a fair chance to see what you are truly capable of. Writing out your workouts keeps you accountable to your swimming, and as a result, will help you be the swimmer that is consistent in practice.

It gives you self-awareness. Let’s be honest, we are kinda terrible when it comes to being self-aware. We either exaggerate or downplay our efforts, our talents, and our abilities. As a result, we make goals that are hilariously unrealistic, and then unfairly batter ourselves when we don’t achieve them. Tracking your progress regularly will show you exactly how long it takes for you to improve. How hard you are actually working. And most importantly, help expose the weak spots in your practices.

In Summary

You want to swim faster? Make practice go by more rapidly? And get more time from your effort spent in the pool? Of course ya do! Now apply these proven methods for getting better workouts out of your time in the pool and swim faster when it comes time to stepping up on the blocks.

READY TO DOMINATE THE COMPETITION?

Despite having a line up of swimmers that include 100m freestyle Olympic champion Nathan Adrian, the ageless Anthony Ervin, and a host of other top-tier swimmers who have the misfortune of racing for an Olympic birth in the deepest country on the planet, there are always voices in the cheap seats that bemoan a loss of freestyle sprinting power in the United States. And while, yes, the world has caught up in many ways, there are is ample reason to believe that the USA is, and will continue to be, the dominant player in men’s sprint freestyle. At the SEC championships at the University of Missouri Caeleb Dressel twice lowered the US Open record in the 50 yard freestyle. In the prelims he swam an 18.39, and then lowered that again in finals before a packed house, throwing down absolutely stunning 18.23. The sophomore from the University of Florida Gators now owns the two fastest times in history at that distance. Which, when you think about is even more impressive given that the record was formerly set by Cesar Cielo of Brazil (competing for Auburn at the time), while he was wearing a super-suit. Cielo's time? What now seems like a paltry 18.47. In one day Dressel dropped over a quarter of a second on the record.

Race Notes:

His stroke rate is through the roof.
As the case with Ryan Hoffer, another up and coming freestyle talent, his underwater dolphin kicks are absolutely deadly.
He is crouched low in the start, which refutes the common notion that you should have your hips up high in your stance during the start.
In the finals swim it appears that he takes a breath off of his second stroke off the dive. Not sure if this was intentional or not, but it would be another shade of time he could shave off when he competes again at NCAA's.
Just wow. That's about all that can be said. Sit back and enjoy the race videos.

The Prelim Swim - 18.39

The first video is of his prelims swim, courtesy of the Florida Gators swimming Twitter account:

Here it is, Gator Nation. Caeleb's 18.39 50-Yard freestyle! #GoGators pic.twitter.com/V5fusP28Mn
— Gator Swimming (@GatorsSwimDv) February 17, 2016

The Finals Swim - 18.23

READY TO DOMINATE THE COMPETITION?

SET ONE

Done in short course yards, this sprint set is high rest, low yards, and high speed. Passive rest between the reps is encouraged. 5 rounds of—

1x50 all-out @3:00 (Nick did these from a push, and averaged 21.5’s.)
1x75 all-out @6:00 (He averaged 35.5’s)

For a total of 625 total yards at 100% intensity.

SET TWO

This set was originally done in short course yards alternating with long course meters. Although it can be adapted easily enough depending on your pool set-up. It’ll test your lactate threshold while also pushing the top end of your speed.

3x200 swim in short course yards, descending 1-3 @ 7:00 (Nick’s results: 1:50, 1:47, 1:42)
3x50m swim all-out in long course meters from a dive @ 6:00 (Nick did these in 23.5, 23.6, 23.8)
3x20m swim all-out from a dive @ 4:00 (:09, :08.8, :08.88)

While this set only totals 900 meters (or 750 if you walk back on the final dive 50’s), it’s high quality yardage.

SET THREE

This one is my favorite, and I have done it on a couple different occasions. The first time left me pretty winded, but I am looking forward to giving it another go soon. Take your 100 best time and add :15 seconds. We are going to try and hold that speed for the duration of the set. It starts out somewhat easily with the 25’s, but progressively gets more challenging to hold on to the target times. So let’s say your best 100 time is :55. The target pace is 1:10. 3 rounds of—

6x25 swim @ :30 (target: :17.5’s)
4x50 swim @ :60 (target: :35’s)
2x75 swim @ 1:40 (target: :52.5’s)
1x100 swim @ 2:10 (target: 1:10)
200 easy @ 4:00

Nick originally did this set in long course meters, with his target pace being 1:03. The set totals 2,400 meters.

More Swim Sets & Sprint Guides:

7 Drills for a Faster Freestyle. Coaches Brett Hawke and Mike Bottom share some drills and video of freestyle drills specifically for you sprinters out there.
10 Minutes a Day to a Faster Underwater Dolphin Kick. If you have tenish minutes to spare at practice, you can improve your underwater fly kick. Here is a basic set to help you accomplish this in record time.
The Pop-and-Lock Set: A Speed Endurance Set for Sprinters. One of my favorite all time sets, and can be adapted to your own goals in the pool. Best for developing speed endurance and blinding speed.

READY TO DOMINATE THE COMPETITION?

Vertical Kicking: How to Develop an Insane Kick

Some of the benefits of incorporating vertical kicking into your swim training include:

1. Going vertical allows you to really focus on kicking from the core.

This goes especially for swimmers who struggle to kick from their core and hips or you knee and straight-leg scissor kickers. Vertical kicking puts you in a position where it is easier to focus on initiating the kick from your mid-section. When we are on our front we tend to relax our belly; going vertical gives you the opportunity to really feel the kicking motion as it should--originating from your core.

2. Vertical kicking forces you to hammer down on the upkick.

Our upkick (or downkick for you backstrokers) will never be as strong as our downkick. We lack the musculature to make a completely even-powered kick a reality, but that doesn’t mean that the “weak” side of the kicking motion should be neglected. Too often you see swimmers slacken completely on the upkick in a moment of recovery instead of using it as a moment to gain propulsion.

3. Vertical kicking forces you to maintain an even kicking motion.

Kicking takes it out of you. For the amount of propulsion gained the effort might not seem like it is worth it. And so you kick your little heart out for a few lengths until you tire out and then let your arms do the heavy lifting. A powerful, six-beat kick takes dedication and commitment to developing, and the first step is building the endurance to do it consistently. Vertical kicking helps to develop an even kick; after all, if you pause or stutter at the bottom or top of your kick you sink.

4. You can crank up the resistance.

Wherever you fall on the scale of kicking awesomeness there is a starting point for you when doing vertical kick. Really want to increase the power and strength in your kick? You can start with your hands at your side, arms crossed, and then progress to having your hands out of the water, and then eventually, when you are ready to achieve pro-level status, putting your arms in a streamline position. From there you can further ramp up the resistance by throwing on some DragSox, a weight belt/brick, and using fins. The options are only limited by your imagination.

5. It’s easy on the shoulders.

For those who suffer with the common ailment of swimmer’s shoulder using a kickboard can cause impingement that makes the shoulder pain worse. Leaning our body weight on a kick-board, with our head up, can exacerbate the well-worn shoulders of a swimmer. With vertical kicking you can focus on developing your legs without putting your arms in a position where they might compromise your shoulders. Sorry kickboard, I think it's time we start seeing other people. Vertical Kicking for Swimmers

A Sample Vertical Kicking Set

Here is part of a swimming workout that I completed recently. On a trip to the local YMCA the fast lane was besieged by swimmers of varying speeds, making my planned workout borderline impossible. Instead of packing it in I grabbed a corner of the lane and did the following little workout which took about 30 minutes. PART ONE

10 x :30 on, :30 sec off vertical kicking. Odds: free, Evens: fly. With fins + 20 pound weight. Count the number of kicks on the first rep and try to hold this number for the remainder of the set. Great for developing overall leg endurance.
200 no-bubble free kick recovery with a board. (No bubbles = your feet don’t break the surface of the water.)

PART TWO

10 x :20 on, :40 sec off vertical kicking. Odds: free, Evens: fly. With fins + Drag Sox. On this set the focus is power! With the DragSox on it feels like you are wearing weights on your feet.
200 no-bubble free kick recovery with a board.

READY TO DOMINATE THE COMPETITION?

Swimming with a high stroke rate is taxing, and as such, we can only do so much of it before our form falters and we get tired out. There are a number of different freestyle drills you can do to increase your freestyle stroke rate; from head-up freestyle, the dip-and-kick, and one of my stand-by drills, the old hand drag. But if you really want to take your freestyle stroke rate to the next level, and get some power and conditioning work in at the same time, the solution is throwing one of these around your ankles: How to Increase Your Freestyle Stroke Rate

How to Increase Your Freestyle Stroke Rate

Yup, no secret technical move, no fancy-pants piece of equipment, just a piece of rubber that you can throw around your ankles to prevent you from kicking. But wait—doesn’t that make things harder? Well, yes and no. Granted, without a kick to help you balance in the water and push you forward your shoulders will be taking on all the work. However, with your oxygen and blood-greedy legs out of the equation, and your kick unable to power you through the rhythm-sapping parts of your stroke, you can hit the high-number stroke rate digits for longer than if you were straight swimming.

Powering Up a High Octane Stroke Rate

I know some of you who have swam with ankles strapped up before are groaning. And yes, throwing a band around your ankles, removing the ability to kick or even keep your legs horizontal in the water, is hard. But for swimmers who want to—

Improve overall upper body strength in their stroke.
Dramatically improve the power and endurance of the first half of their pull.
And supercharge their stroke rate…

Swimming with a band is the ticket. After all, using a band while doing freestyle (or any other stroke for that matter) will help you do the following:

Increase shoulder rotation power. Without your legs to help dive your hand into the water you will have to utterly lean on your shoulders and back to generate power for your arm stroke. Freestylers should be attacking up and forward with their hands, and using a band requires you to elevate your shoulders and attack.
Improves the power in your catch. Without the propulsion that comes from your hips and kick you will notice the soft spots in your arm stroke. For many swimmers this is the catch. A soft catch on either arm will act as a speed bump and you will notice an immediate drop in speed and propulsion if your catch isn’t high and immediate upon hand entry.
Improve overall shoulder and arm power. After doing even a few sets of band pulling you will feel the difference in the endurance of your upper body—it will grant you the sensation of gliding across the surface of the water the first time you swim afterwards. Not a bad feeling to have!
Encourages an early hand catch. Not dropping your elbow in the catch is one thing, but getting into an early vertical forearm immediately is another. Gliding is where speed goes to die when sprinting. Because you need to be moving forward at all times—otherwise you will stop dead in your tracks—your hand will start dipping down quick and early (and if it isn’t already you should be encouraging this actively when swimming).
Sky-rockets your stroke rate. For you sprinters out there this is the main goal, increasing the rate with which you can turn over your arms and shoulders. Swimming with a stroke rate at race levels is very taxing, and you can only do so much of it. Without your legs to sap you, band pulling allows you to approach the stroke rate goals you have for your sprinting and hold it for longer.

Adding Swimming with a Band to Your Training

When incorporating the band into your workouts remember the goal is not to do long bouts of band pulling (especially when you are doing it without a pull buoy). And the moment that your technique is disintegrating is the exact moment you stop for rest. No sense in encouraging bad habits, like your hand slipping out to the side, or your elbow dropping. And yes, doing a lot of this type of swimming will tax your shoulders. More so than doing pull with a pull buoy, as you will be fighting the drag that comes with your legs dropping and won’t have the benefit of the pull buoy providing the lift to your hips. (If you've got a rabid case of swimmer's shoulder and shoddy posture in the water I would definitely not suggest this drill.) This is not a drill for swimmers who don’t have good technique. Swimming with a band is basically resistance training in the water. And just like lifting weights, if you are not doing it with awesome form and technique you are setting yourself up for injury at worst, and further ingraining shoddy technique at best. So start small and scale up. Start with a pull buoy if necessary. And keep your reps short and your stroke rate high.

Sets for Developing a Higher Freestyle Stroke Rate

Here are a couple different sets that I have done recently with the band (and other assorted equipment). With both sets you will notice that I cap the end (or end each round) with high intensity swim work. Using a band is great for building endurance and power in your shoulders and arms, but ultimately the goal is to apply it to the stroke rate in your full-throttle swimming. SET ONE 2 rounds through—

4x50 pull with paddles, PB and band @1 (desc 1-4)
8x25 swim with band FAST @ :45
Extra 30 seconds rest
2x25 swim all out @ 1
10 deep water bobs to shake it out.

Only 900m in length, but it will ease you into the band work, and the two 25’s of swim at the end of each round are designed to help you incorporate the stroke rate work done with the band into your swimming. SET TWO

20x50 pull with band @1 (emphasize a high stroke rate right out of the breakout)
100 backstroke easy
10x50 swim with band and paddles FAST @1:10
Extra minute rest
4x50 swim as 25m BLAST!, 25m easy @1:15
20 minute hot tub for recovery because science says it works!

This set was originally done long course, and I was able to get down to :31 with the band and paddles. And again, when you get into the swimming at the tail end of the set you’ve “groomed” your high stroke rate into place so that it actually feels quite natural when you do some sprinting.

More Goodness for Fast Swimming:

READY TO DOMINATE THE COMPETITION?

For the sport of swimming there are few whose presence and legacy shine larger than that of Victor Davis. For Canadians, he was not only a champion, but in many ways the representation of a nature that we stereotypically avoid—brash, confidant, and arrogant. He was a champion inside the pool, and completely unapologetic of the fact outside of it. Those who competed against Davis, in what was essentially the heyday of Canadian swimming on the international stage, remember a fierce competitor whose brief but blinding streak across the swimming consciousness made it impossible to forget the man who lived by his very credo, “Go big or go home.” World record holder at age 18. Olympic champion at 20. Dead at 25. This is the story of Victor Davis.

Victor Davis: Canadian Swagger

Davis was born in February of 1964 in the Ontario town of Guelph. Raised by his father Mel, who he would be close with throughout his life, young Davis was a bit of a troublemaker, a self-described “derelict”, stealing garden hoses and throwing tomatoes at passing buses. The combative nature that Davis would display on the pool deck and in the water later in his career were perhaps hereditary; the swimmer’s grandfather had coached the national boxing team at the 1924 Olympics. Before he could get himself into any serious trouble Davis would find an outlet for his intensity in the sport of swimming, joining up with the local swim team, the Guelph Marlins Aquatic Club at age 12, where he would catch the eye of coach Clifford Barry, who immediately recognized brilliance in the youngster. “He’s got it,” Barry said. “Whatever it means having it, he’s got it. Victor has that intensity, which a lot of people don’t understand. You don’t understand how much he wants to win.” Go Big or Go Home: Remembering Victor Davis

Go Big or Go Home: Remembering Victor Davis

Under Barry’s tutelage, Davis would rise the ranks quickly. At the age of 17 he would dethrone another Canadian legend in the sport, Graham Smith, in the 100m breaststroke to win his first national title. While he had made his introduction to the Canadian swimming community, Davis’ high intensity persona was about to explode out onto the international scene the following year in Ecuador.

Ecuador: 1982 World Championships

On the night of August 5^th Davis and the other 7 finalists emerged onto the pool deck on a warm night in Guayaquil. Ecuadorian police toting machine guns lined the entrance to the deck. Earlier in the meet Davis felt he had squandered an opportunity to win gold in the 100m breaststroke. After posting the fastest time in heats, Davis struggled off the blocks early in the final. Steve Lundquist of the USA, the world record holder at the time, took advantage, and held off a last second charge by Davis, out-touching him by 7 one-hundredths of a second. “Victor was really upset,” Barry said afterwards. “He felt he should have won that race. For anyone else winning a silver would be a wonderful, wonderful achievement, but Victor, who wants to be nothing but the best in the world, it was a defeat.” With the memory of the botched opportunity behind him, Davis had refocused on the 200, and was ready to rock. Behind the blocks Davis dunked his torso and head into the water, emerging like a cobra, spitting venom and water back into the pool. Davis’ routine behind the blocks was nothing short of a production, with shadow boxing, chest slapping, his rippled 6’2 frame pacing angrily back and forth, stalking and snarling at his prey. “I like to intimidate my opponents, let them know I’m there,” Davis would say. Go Big or Go Home: Remembering Victor Davis

In the 200 metre breaststroke Davis would not be denied. At the 100m mark he would break away from the field, including the USSR’s Robertas Zhulpa and American John Moffet. Davis accelerated into the finish, touching in a time of 2:14.77, shaving close to half a second off of the world record. Zhulpa would touch nearly two seconds back for silver. For Davis, the record breaking was especially sweet. Scotland’s David Wilkie’s mark of 2:15.11 had stood for 6 years, dating back to the Montreal Games. Davis had plastered Wilkie’s name and time on his bedroom wall since childhood on a list of swimmers he wanted to beat. He was world champion, and now a world record holder. But in just a couple short months Davis’ name would echo for reasons that had little to do with his swimming prowess, and more to do with that atypical Canadian brashness.

The Enfant Terrible of Swimming

Later that year, Brisbane, Australia hosted the 1982 Commonwealth Games. They were opened by the Duke of Edinburgh, and the closing attended to by The Queen. The Games feature countries that were once under the umbrella of the British Empire, including Australia, Canada, India, England and just under 70 other countries. It’s a multi-sport competition that is a notable event on the swimming calendar for the countries involved. Over the course of the swimming events there had been a rash of disqualifications, particularly in the relays. In the 4x100m medley relay, the Canadians would win handily behind the legs of Davis and fellow superstar Alex Baumann. But immediately it was apparent there was a problem. With the officials conferring, the Canadians stood on the pool deck, wondering what was going on. Word came down from the officials booth that the third swimmer on the Canadian team, butterflier Dan Thompson, was judged to have left 5/100’s of a second early on the relay exchange. A Canadian relay team had been disqualified for the third time in the meet. Davis pleaded his case to the marshal, but any hope or interest in reinstating the Canadians fell on deaf ears. Infuriated, Davis kicked a nearby plastic chair, sending it skidding a dozen feet. The act itself may have been overlooked if not for the presence of the Queen of England in the pool stands that night. The Canadian and Australian media were quick to admonish him, with the Montreal Gazette comparing Davis to “a drunk who mistakes a marble fireplace for the indoor plumbing.” His father had been in Britain at the time of the Games and had purchased a copy of all the major newspapers to see how big of a deal this was becoming. Only, as it turned out, there was barely a mention of the incident. Regardless of the fact that no one outside of Canada seemed to care about the chair-punt, Davis and his antics had earned him the title of enfant terrible of the proud Canadian swimming program, with Dave Johnson, the head coach of the team that year in Brisbane admitting that Davis had some “growing up to do.” Trouble would continue to plague Davis over the following year, when in November of 1983 he was charged with aggravated assault following an incident with a 20 year old man who had been at Davis’ shared townhouse in Waterloo. (The case never went to trial and the charges were subsequently dropped.) Earlier in the year he’d also suffered from mono, lead poisoning, and even incurred a serious mouth infection that had cost him valuable swaths of training time. Despite his "dryland" activities, training was going well. As preparations continued for the Olympics in Los Angeles the following year, Davis' confidence didn't waver. "I don't mind losing to someone who is better than me," Davis said at the beginning of 1984. "But at this point it's nobody."

Los Angeles

A divided world descended on Southern California--with the Russians matching the American boycott four years earlier of their Games--in August of 1984. For Davis, the meet would feel like deja-vu. In the 100m breaststroke, just like in Ecuador two years prior, Davis would place second. The 20 year old didn't hide his disappointment afterward, acknowledging that he was starting to feel some of the strain from high expectations. "For the first time in my career I felt a lot of pressure," Davis admitted later in the week. For the 200m breaststroke the outcome was never in question. He had broken his own world record two months earlier at the Canadian Trials, and was the stand-out favorite to win. Davis led from the very start and only lengthened his lead with each stroke. It became not a matter of whether he would take gold, but by how much he would beat his own world record. Davis would thunder into the wall in a time of 2:13.34, dropping another second and a half off of his own world mark, while also putting a halt to the American streak of gold medals (standing at 8 consecutive races until Davis dove in). He jabbed his fists into a blue Los Angeles sky in victory, and stood proudly on the podium while the Canadian anthem played for him, for his father, his coach, and a grateful nation. When asked about the race later that night, Davis replied in a way that only Davis could-- "I was hoping to do a 2:12.9. Of course I'm satisfied. For now. Give me a few months, and I won't be."

"He Lived Life to the Fullest."

Life post-swimming was looking rather promising for Victor. He had hung up his swim suit officially in the summer of 1989. With his energy and presence a wide array of business opportunities had presented themselves. But all of that came to a shattering halt on a misty night in Montreal. "Irrepressible," ran the headline on November 15, 1989. Davis had been in a coma for several days at a hospital in Montreal, and the toll of a fractured skull, brain hemorrhaging and spinal injuries were too much for even the towering Davis to come back from. The previous Saturday night he had been at a bar with his girlfriend Donna Clavel and her girlfriend. Before Davis' arrival words were exchanged with a group of men a table over. Davis and company would leave the bar, and while Davis ran across the street to get a bottle of juice, the men who had been trying to talk to the girls earlier in the bar cat-called to the two women. When Davis returned, the men, now in their car, were cat-calling at the women. The men would later tell police that Davis threw the juice bottle at their car, cracking the windshield. And the women would testify that the group of men purposely aimed the car at the Olympic champion. What we do know for sure though is that the driver, Dennis Crossley, pumped the gas, hurtling the car at Davis, hitting him. Unable to get out of the way in time, Davis' head hit the car, causing brain injuries that he would be unable to recover from. At just 25, Davis, who had seem invincible in the water and out of it, was dead.

Victor's Impact on Swimming and Beyond.

Davis continues to live on both literally and physically. His heart, liver, kidneys and two cornea were donated following his death. No word on whether his intensity or feel for the water were transplanted, however. And the waves from his swimming continue to ripple to this day in Canadian swimming. Thirteen recipients of awards from the Victor Davis Memorial Fund made the Canadian Olympic Team in 2008, including multiple Olympic medal winner Ryan Cochrane. In all, nearly 100 swimmers have been awarded bursaries to assist with their training costs. In a country that reveres it's winter sporting heroes, hockey in particular, it is uncommon to see a summer sport athlete get much attention, much less 20 years following his death, but Davis has been the exception. Alex Baumann and him were the subjects of a documentary featuring their training and competition during the early 1980's called "The Fast & The Furious." And Davis was also the subject of a made-for-TV film that was written and stars former swimmer Mark Lutz as the epic breaststroker. In terms of swimming movies, which are by and large awful in terms of accurately reflecting the ins-and-outs of the swimmer lifestyle, Lutz and company's 2008 film do a great job. As for Davis, he continues to be remembered fondly by swimmers in Canada—even if one wonders if the memory is fading like all things tend to do—perhaps best with the words he used as his personal motto—“Go big, or go home.”

About YourSwimBook

800 swim as 4 times through (150 freestyle, 50 stroke)

PRE-SETS 8 x 150 Swim @2:15 as--

2 - Freestyle breathing 3/5/7 by 50.
2 - Freestyle/Head-up/Freestyle
2 - Freestyle/Fly/Freestyle
2 - Freestyle/Back/Freestyle

8 x 50 @1:00

2 - Drill
2 - Stroke count
2 - Drill
2 - Build to FAST.

THE MAIN SET 30 x 100 Freestyle swim @1:40

10 - Max heart rate -30 (So if max heart rate = 180, target is 150)
10 - Max heart rate -20.
10 - Max heart rate -10.

RECOVERY 2 rounds through--

3x100 Freestyle swim @1:30
4x50 Freestyle swim @:45

DRILL WORK (With fins.)

3x200 (Kick/scull/drill/swim by 50)
4x50 Swim w. fins [25m BLAST, 25m easy] @1:00

WARM-DOWN

200m loose

MORE SWIM PRACTICES:

Swimming Workouts: 25 Ultimate Practices for Competitive Swimmers. A growing list of workouts submitted by high performance coaches and athletes including Brett Hawke, Sean Baker, and more.
3 Sprints Sets with World Champion Nick Brunelli. Winner of over half a dozen world championship medals, sprint stalwart Nick Brunelli shares some of the workouts he did during his run-up to the 2012 Olympic Trials.
The Other Auburn Sprint Set, Or How I Spent Two Hours Driving the Local Lap Swimmers Crazy. One of the most difficult sets I have ever encountered. Took me over two hours to do it, and I still didn’t even finish it all. Not for the feint of heart.

]]> 5646 <![CDATA[When You Have to Say Goodbye to Swimming]]> It’s the friendships you developed over the years. The bonds that you created in-between the lane lines during all of those practices, the training camps, the long meets where you stuck around to count laps for your teammate who was in the last heat of the last race of the longest event. It was the shoulders you leaned on during the long bus rides home after a bad meet. It was the same shoulders you wrapped your arms around after the big meets. It’s the limits you pushed through. Some of those moments came willingly; you made a decision to push yourself just a little bit more, for just a little bit longer, to see if you could. Other moments of triumph you resisted; coach scrawled up a set so tough, so challenging you couldn’t even fathom completing it. After mentally going through all the excuses you could unfurl to get out of practice—your shoulder suddenly felt like it may think about acting up—and after being barked at a few times by coach, you hesitantly did the work. In both cases, you learned your limits…and swam through them. It's the commitment and focus on a goal. While you’ve heard it many times, that swimming is a conduit for how we perform in the rest of life, you will learn to really experience it in the real world. Skills such as goal setting, making a plan, addressing weaknesses and focusing on strengths apply directly to whatever it is you have next. It’s leaving without regrets. Inevitably, no matter how we leave the sport, whether by injury or by choice, there will come a time where you think “what if?” What if I had really applied myself? What if I had swam that extra year? What if I had really made a run for Trials? These thoughts are natural, and at the end of the day, can only be mitigating by making the most of the precious moments we spend with the company of the black line. While many will continue the life of a competitive swimmer in college and beyond, for you and this particular moment it’s where you begin to adjust to a life without competitive swimming. A life without the limitless eating. A life without awkward swimsuit tans. And a life without eyes and cheeks that are indented from prolonged google usage. Sure, the thought of not having to wake up at 5am and set up the pool is something you are very much looking forward to, but something inside tells you that no matter how late you get to sleep in, no matter how much more time you have for other pursuits, nothing will quite replace the And so, in those final few moments as you approach your coach, for the final time, you look across the glistening pool, see some of your teammates, smile, and hope that for those still to come they understand how lucky they are to be getting up early tomorrow.

About YourSwimBook

There are a ton of benefits to swimming. The swimmer’s body, for one. Being ridiculously, ridiculously good-looking, for another. One more is that we can crush a 90-minute workout full of high intensity swimming, burn a kajillion calories, and not be drenched head to to toe in sweat. Unlike our land-locked athlete cousins we emerge from our workouts with our clothes dry and foreheads bare of beads of perspiration. It is tempting to think that because we train in water and because we don’t see any sweat streaming out of our pores that we don’t need to pay attention to our water bottle over the course of our swimming workout. The warning signs of dehydration can be especially difficult for swimmers to notice. Dry mouth? A little bit of pool water in the mouth covers that up in a hurry. Lots of sweat? Can’t really tell. Overheating? Let me just dunk my head under the water for a couple seconds to cool off. The 1-2 whammy of thinking that because we don’t need to hydrate because we swim in a pool, and because the symptoms of dehydration often end up going unnoticed until much later, makes it critical for swimmers to stay on top of their fluid intake.

The Performance Effects of Dehydration

Why is hydration so important? Mainly because the effects of dehydration kinda, totally suck. It further increases body temperature (creating a deeper dehydration debt), sends your heart rate up, and makes your swimming feel harder than usual (your perceived rate of exertion goes up). It doesn’t take much to experience the effects of dehydration either (whether it is as a result of the workout itself or you were dehydrated when you showed up to practice). Even if you are only 2% dehydrated performance will start to suffer, with those training in warmer environments (curses to you pool supervisors and lifeguards who turn up the pool temp) being particularly susceptible. Okay, so knowing that staying hydrated is important, and that we want to stay nice fluid balanced, the next question becomes…

How Much Do Swimmers Sweat?

Before we dive into the research (swimming pun!) here are some fun facts for you to know about sweat:

Sweating is one of the ways that the body regulates temperature of the body.
Working out increases blood flow near the surface of the skin.
Perspiration acts as a natural air conditioner for the body.
Those who are acclimatized to heat or working out tend to sweat sooner, allowing for a quicker response against the rising temperature of your body.
At room temperature your body sweats around 200 milligrams of sweat over the course of an hour. This goes up to 700mg/hour during exercise, when you are stressing hard about something, or when it is hot outside.

One of the largest influences for how much you are going to sweat is going to come down to the temperature of the pool. If the pool you train at is quite cool, and we know that the temperature of the environment plays a role in how much you perspire, then it is likely that the amount you sweat is going to less than if you are one of the poor swimmers who trains in a pool that reflects the temperature of a hot tub. For more definitive answers, to the science!

Study 1

A group of elite swimmers were tracked for a series of training sessions, monitoring their body mass before and after in order to determine sweat rates and what it would take to achieve fluid balance. The study found the 41 participating swimmers (21 female, 20 male) were a bunch of sweaty little swimmers! Do You Sweat When You Swim?

So if you extrapolate those numbers to a 4,000m workout the average male expels 552 milligrams of sweat, while the ladies sweat out 428 milligrams.

Study 2

A group of nationally ranked swimmers were measured before and after a pair of 105-minute swim practices with four waterproof absorbent patches that were applied at four different locations across the swimmer’s body to measure sweat loss. (Sidebar: Pool temperature was 27 degrees, and the air temperature was 36 degrees.) The numbers were fairly consistent with the previous study. Do Swimmers Sweat When They Swim?

The swimmers in this study would sweat out an average of half a liter of water, with the sweatiest of the bunch losing nearly 800 milligrams of sweat.

The Takeaway

Okay, so now that we can dispel with the myth that swimmers don’t sweat, we can say with certainty that swimmers need to be drinking water while they are training in the, err, water. How much? According to the previous studies in order to maintain fluid balance in the water swimmers should be ingesting at least half a liter of water over the course of their workout. Being adequately hydrated is essential in helping the body recover promptly after a tough workout, so don’t forget to keep on sipping the water in the hours after your practice as well. SEE ALSO:

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5 Proven Reasons Tracking Your Workouts Will Make You a Faster Swimmer

1. Writing down your goals makes you more likely to achieve them.

Our goals tend to float along with the current of the rest of our thoughts. One day we think we are invincible and can do everything, and as a result we visualize and think about how far our talent and dedication could take us. And yet the next, fresh from a setback or a bad swim practice, we sink back into low expectations and hopes. Writing out your goal makes it more real. It yanks your goal from the ebb and flow of your mind and throws it into reality. Research shows that those who write their goals down vs those who simply think about them are significantly more likely to achieve them. How much more? A stunning 42%. Here’s how to make this knowledge work for you:

Write out your goals for the big meets of the year. Figure out what the splits have to look like. Place this prominently.
On Sunday night write out the goals you have for the week ahead. Attendance, effort, performing little extras after practice.
Have goals for each practice. Spend a couple minutes before each practice and write down 1-2 things to absolutely crush during that session.

Everybody thinks about the great things they’d like to accomplish. But if you are serious about wanting to see them through the first step is in writing it out on paper in order to inspire some action.

2. You’re twice as likely to be successful.

If there is a way that doubled the likelihood of you being more consistent with the things you set out to do, you’d jump all over it, wouldn’t you? This is the power that journaling your workouts can have. During a study of over 1,700 people at John Hopkins and Duke researchers found that the participants who recorded their daily food intake in a log lost twice the amount of weight compared to those that didn’t. Which makes sense, when you think about it. If you are writing out your swim practices you are more likely to see the patterns and habits in your training, as well as your lifestyle outside of the pool. It provides a measure of objectivity to our training that can only help us be more honest with ourselves about how hard we are actually working. Science: 5 Proven Ways Tracking Your Workouts Will Help You Swim Faster

Science: 5 Proven Ways Tracking Your Workouts Will Help You Swim Faster

3. You’ll take responsibility for your swimming.

Oddly enough, the mere practice of tracking your workouts has the effect of making you want to take responsibility for your swimming. Knowing that you are going to have to write out your next swim practice later on is enough to make you want to give a better effort. A meta-analysis of weight loss studies from 1993 to 2009 found that participants who were asked to self-monitor their eating and fitness regimen were more likely to exercise more. In other words, knowing that their behaviors and actions were being measured was enough to push them to give an honest effort. Just from personal experience I cannot tell you how many times I have been mid-practice, struggling along at a C+ effort, when the very thought of having to write out a mediocre workout in my logbook nudged the effort dial up a bit. The idea of disgracing my log book with an awful workout was often enough to salvage what was otherwise a waste of a swim. Will tracking your workouts guarantee you A+ workouts every time you dive into the water? Nope. But it will help turn enough of those D and C workouts into C+ and B workouts to make those couple minutes of logging totally worth it.

4. Planning your training makes you more likely to stick to it.

If you use a training log to its fullest, this means that you are setting (written!) goals for your training as well as the season. Another way to supercharge your swimming goals is to affix a deadline. For some swimmers this might be intimidating or imposing, but research has shown that when participants stated where and when they would complete a specific task they were more likely to complete it. It’s easy to think and dream about the things we would love to do in order to improve in the water. After all, these probably sound familiar:

One day I will start doing more core work. When I am up to it I’ll start doing extra dive work after practice. When I feel like it I will start kicking out to the 10m mark on all my push-offs.

Instead of wishy-washy goals sit down with your log book and write down when, where and how you are going to do the things you want to do.

5. It will give you regular and immediate motivation.

One of the most mentally challenging aspects of being a swimmer is the patience that is required to excel. We train our brains out for a couple workouts and are disappointed when things don’t immediately improve. We work hard for months on end, often getting slower in practice as the fatigue and work accumulates, creating a situation where we are creating gains but they are buried under levels of fatigue. In these circumstances it is easy to see how we can get frustrated and disillusioned with the process. After all, we live in a culture that demands instant gratification, so why should it be any different with our swimming? Tracking your workouts in your log book from day to day gives you an immediate sense of gratification and comfort in knowing that you showed up, worked hard, and are staying true to the long term game plan. The results are right there on paper for you to see and feel good about. Seeing the work you have invested in the pool will help you feel confident, knowing that those big-time performances are coming. Sure, these little motivational jolts might not be as deep as when you go a best time, but the momentum that comes from regular “small wins” builds up into a tidal wave of accumulated action and results.

The Takeaway

If you are serious about your swimming, you gotta be measuring it. It’s as simple as that. Our focus and energy will always be directed towards the things we track and measure, so sit down with your log book, write out some goals, track the biggies in your training, and unleash some faster swimming.

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World class athletes and programs including NBA superstar LeBron James, legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, and the New Zealand All Blacks all swear by it. So does Olympic champion Natalie Coughlin and countless other swimmers and teams. The benefits of yoga have been shown over and over again to be effective at increasing mobility, improving core strength, and perhaps most critically for swimmers looking to get an edge, shortening recovery times between sessions. The benefits of yoga go far beyond the pool as well. Research has shown yoga to have positive returns on stress levels, immune system function, and can even help to soothe anxiety and depression. Here are 5 reasons to consider incorporating yoga into your swim training: 5 Reasons Yoga Will Make You a Better Swimmer

5 Reasons Yoga Will Make You a Better Swimmer

1. It will improve flexibility.

The repetition that comes with performing the same movements over and over and over again in the pool render our muscles tight, knotty and leads to limited function. Once this happens other local muscles are tasked to help complete the movement, opening yourself to the likelihood of injury, particularly the dreaded swimmer’s shoulder. The common solution is to stretch after practice, but static stretching is kind of, well, boring. And most swimmers will use it as an excuse to chat instead of paying attention to what they are doing. Yoga, with its combination of dynamic and static stretching is highly effective at releasing muscular tension, while also encouraging mindfulness and focus on the movements. While most yoga poses (or “asanas”) don’t look outwardly challenging, they do require effort to control, meaning you will be mobilising warm muscles instead of sitting on a cold pool deck stretching muscles that are rapidly cooling.

2. It will make you stronger.

For the casual observer doing yoga might not seem like it would develop strength. There are no violent movements, no heavy weights, and no clanging of barbells and dumbbells. But holding the poses will develop muscular endurance, challenges the stabilizer and core muscles (those are kinda important for swimming), and also improves overall, functional muscular strength.

3. It improves awareness.

Body awareness is critical to fast swimming. In a sport as technical as ours there is a lot going on at all times. There is a laundry list of cues that we try to follow when we are in the water: maintain body line, enter with your fingers, pull down and not out, kick from your core, kick with loose ankles, and so on. Doing yoga, and having to follow the instructions (“Pull your belly button into your spine” and so on) keeps you conscious of your movements and increases general body awareness. 5 Reasons Yoga Will Make You a Better Swimmer

4. It’s money for recovery.

Swimmers don’t just have to work hard at practice, they are in a seemingly never-ending battle between swimming workouts where they are racing to recover as fast as possible. From doing a proper warm-down, to eating properly, to getting much-needed sleep, swimmers will do whatever they can to restore their body so that it is ready to perform at a high level as soon as possible. Yoga has been shown to decrease inflammation at the cellular level, helping to kick-start the recovery and restorative process that helps get you back to full capacity sooner than later.

5. It will provide a host of mental benefits.

The most underrated and hard to measure benefits of yoga don’t necessarily appear in your training log or on the scoreboard. It comes from helping you keep an even keel, regulate stress, and even improving your mood. Doing yoga regularly has been shown to help you better regulate your emotions, something that can come in super handy in the moments behind the blocks at the big meet when your belly feels like it’s going to explode from butterflies. Or when you are neck-deep in a tough set and are feeling frustrated and unmotivated. It goes without saying that having better control over your emotions will benefit you outside of the pool as well, helping you to de-stress and keep things in perspective.

The Takeaways

The best thing about yoga is that there is a relatively low bar of entry. There are classes and moves for every level of athlete. The versatility is hard to beat as well; you can drop some asanas just about anywhere at anytime. Expensive yoga pants, candles and yoga mats aren’t necessary. Yoga is a great way to relax and restore your body after the rigors of swim training, and when united with your usual workouts it can provide for a more balanced—mentally and physically—athlete in and out of the water.

About YourSwimBook

It's 2:30pm, and with a morning practice, a day full of classes and relentless eating and snacking already behind you, another swim practice looms ahead. Taking stock of your day you begin to think that maybe you are better off taking the rest of the day to yourself. In these moments it can be tempting to pull the rip chord on account of illness, homework or straight up disinterest. Sure, it might just be “one” practice, and in the long term a single missed workout won’t make much of a difference to whether or not you eventually achieve your goals in the pool. But that “one” missed workout (let’s be honest here, if you’re having these thoughts it’s probably not just going to be one workout) has larger implications than just our goals in the pool. Here is why you should brave the feelings of "I don't feel like it" and go to practice today. The reality is that there will always be days where the last thing you feel like doing is going to the pool. You're tired, grumpy, and a fresh season of your favorite TV show just got released on Netflix. Some of these days will be exceptionally challenging, and even the top athletes in our sport aren't immune to these types of days. Here are a few reasons you should make it down to the pool for practice (besides the whole getting better at the swimming aspect): Why You Should Go to Practice Today

You build integrity to yourself.

If you're constantly waffling and flaking on the the things you say you are going to do, you are conditioning yourself to be the kind of person who doesn't take his her own goals seriously. Keeping your word shows you that you are capable of commitment. Sure, waffling on occasion might not feel like a big deal, but when you stick to the deals you've made you develop a level of invaluable confidence in knowing that if you set out to do something it will be done. Period. Regardless of motivation, external circumstances, or how you're feeling that day, you will keep the integrity of the promises you make to yourself.

Commitments to the team matter.

Is there anything more disappointing than being the teammate that people can't rely on? You probably have already swum with this teammate at some point, the swimmer who, when they miss practice, isn’t given a second thought as to why they aren’t there. Or it becomes noteworthy when they actually do show up to practice. The promises and commitments you make to yourself matter, and so do the commitments you make to the team and the goals you guys have for the season. One of the benefits of swimming with a team and a group are the communal goals and the momentum that they create. It is times specifically like these where that commitment helps to pull you along.

How you do anything is how you do everything.

I recently discussed this exact message recently with the subscribers of the newsletter. How doing the seeming benign things well can have a compounding effect on the other, larger aspects of your life. Consistency, attendance and effort in one area always bleed over into another. It's no accident that high performance achievers in one area tend to excel in others as well. When you are able to suffer through the off-days to get your swimming workouts done you develop a type of resiliency and attention to effort that cannot help but bleed into the other areas of your life. Why You Should Go to Practice Today

It's never just "one."

Making exceptions is a dangerous thing. Once made they can spread like wildfire. Don't underestimate your ability to reason your way out of something. The solution? Draw a clear line in the sand for your workouts. There are things where you have to miss training, things like a family emergency, illness/injury, and so on. Draw a clear line between those and days like today. Once you start making exceptions for things like "I just don't feel like it today" the slippery slope of excuses and rationalizations becomes treacherous and endless.

You'll feel better after.

It would be impossible for me to count how many times I grudgingly showed up to practice, expecting nothing and feeling rugged, only to emerge from the water an hour and a half later grateful that I'd shown up. While there have been plenty of times I've had my mind racing before practice trying to justify bailing, I've not once ended up regretting showing up and doing the practice. (Low expectations tend to have a way of creating higher than expected bounce-back reactions --"Hey,that wasn't so bad!"). Often we fall into the line of thinking that because we aren’t feeling super motivated, or because we are stressed out, that we can’t have a good practice, and as a result, there’s no point even going. In these moments you will surprise yourself. Some of the best practices I’ve had occurred in moments where expectations were hilariously low. Keep in mind that when all is said and done, nobody ever regretted going to the pool and giving a good effort.

In Closing

Is this a call to go to workout no matter how sick you are? Or when you are neck-deep in overdue assignments? Or when you have a serious family emergency? Of course not. There will be days where the last place you need to be is at the pool. But for the rest… See you at practice.

About YourSwimBook

Baltimore’s Michael Phelps has experienced the absolute pinnacle of the sport, reaching heights that no one has before reached, and no one is likely to reach again. He's won a stunning 22 Olympic medals (and counting), world records in all the relays and three different disciplines, and more international medals than most developed countries. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics alone he won more gold medals than Canada, the Netherlands, or even France. But where did these massive accomplishments originate from? Michael Phelps, and his success, are largely a product of his other-worldly ability to set and create goals. His long-time coach Bob Bowman has made no secret that Phelps has long been a goal oriented athlete. How to Set Goals Like Michael Phelps

In a recent interview that Phelps did with Fox Sports’ Joe Buck for the show "Undeniable" the swimmer shared a goal sheet that he had crafted at the age of just 8 years old: How to Set Goals with Michael Phelps

What I like most about the goal sheet is not necessarily the goals, or that he had very specific targets in mind (versus writing something like, “I want to be the fastest!”). The goals were clear, but most importantly they included a plan of action. Even at that age Phelps seemed to grasp that having a goal isn’t enough, you must also have a vehicle for that change. And in his case it was working hard, and showing up to every practice.

To give you an idea of how fundamental his goals were to his swimming, and how good he was at it, consider how well he called his shot in his marquee event at the 2008 Olympics, the 200 meter butterfly. In the run-up to Beijing Phelps had goals for each of his individual events. In the 200m butterfly, a race he actually swam blind as a result of a leaky goggle, he swam within a couple tenths of his goal time (goal: 1:51.1, result: 1:51.5), providing a glimpse into the ambitious and yet ultimately realistic manner with which he is able to set himself goals.

Michael Phelps Goal Setting Tips

Here is how to do like the GOAT and unleash the power of goal setting in your own swimming:

1. Write it down.

The very first and unavoidable step in achieving something you want is writing it down. Dreaming and thinking about it is not enough. When you write it down it becomes real, something more than just wishful thinking, and you’ll find that the moment you write it out your brain will start to plot and plan to see what is necessary in order to make the goal come to pass. Need more proof that writing your goal out is crucial to success? A study done at Dominican University found that participants were 42% more likely to stick to their goals when they wrote them down. As far as performance boosters go, this is about as easy as it gets, so don't skip it!

2. Post it somewhere prominent.

There’s not much use in thinking up an awesome goal and then tucking it away in a drawer. Write it out, adn then post that bad boy! The more you see it, the more you think about it, and the more you think about it, the more you are going to focus your energy and effort on achieving it.

“I have my goals somewhere I can see them, so when I get out of bed I know I’m waking up to work on what I’m trying to achieve.” – Michael Phelps

3. Write out what it will take.

Having a goal is awesome, but a goal without a plan is simply wishful thinking. Write out a handful of things that you will have to do in order to make the goal a reality. Break down the goal into actionable, daily pieces of action. Just like your overall goal, you should make these things measurable and specific. 8-year old Phelps was mostly on the right track with wanting to be consistent at practice and working hard, but these things are subjective, vague, and can be left open to interpretation. Set yourself some rigid benchmarks, clear boundaries and a clearer path of action.

4. Work with your coach.

As much as we like to think they should be, our coaches aren’t psychic. Sit down with them and share your goal. Tell them what you think it will take for you to achieve it, and solicit the feedback and incorporate it into your goal plan. If you know that you need to be doing extra in a particular area, and need his or her help to keep you on top of it, ask for that specific type of help. Having more layers of accountability can only help, particularly on those days where your motivation to do the right things in training sags or wavers. Phelps benefited greatly from having a no-nonsense coach. Bowman was the tough voice he needed on days where his motivation and commitment wavered. While the relationship you have with your coach doesn’t need to mirror theirs, it can mirror the partnership that the two men in pursuit of achieving great things in the water.

5. Bounce back.

While it’s easy to talk about Phelps’ achievements, there is no doubt he has faced setbacks, difficulties and disappointments along the way. Most don’t know that the goal of winning 8 gold medals in a single Games had been his goal in 2004 at the Athens Olympics. Nevermind the fact that he came up short in this endeavor in 2004, but he also had some of the greats of the sport as detractors, including Australia's Ian Thorpe, who said Phelps goal was "unattainable." (Phelps would post this quote in his locker for added motivation in the years that followed Athens.) In the year before Beijing he broke his wrist and was unable to swim a lap for several weeks. And of course, there are his out of the pool antics that have gotten him into hot water as well. There will be setbacks, but what makes a champion a champion isn't how they perform when things go well, but how they react when things go poorly.

About YourSwimBook

Whenever we talk about the great swimmers invariably something comes up about their relationship with the water. The way they seem to flow and cut through, across and over the water in a manner which is difficult to adequately describe but fascinating to watch. We’ve even popularized a term for this particular talent or skill, terming it, “feel for the water.”

He has a great feel for the water. Her feel for the water is what sets her apart.

These things are not uncommon to hear on deck, and because we’ve made “feel for the water” into lore it is viewed as something that is purely God-given or inherited. Not so. Even the fastest man to ever swim the 50-yard freestyle developed this feel for the water with intent and focus. He found and built it in pages and pages of his log book where he detailed notes and descriptions of how he felt in the water. How his muscles felt. How each differing movement of his limbs solicited a different reaction in the water. Yes, we are talking about Caeleb Dressel, the same person who earlier in 2016 twice broke the long-standing US Open record in the 50-yard freestyle, ultimately swimming an 18.23 during finals at the SEC Championships at the University of Missouri. How Caeleb Dressel Used a Logbook to Become the Fastest Man Ever Over 50 Yards

How Caeleb Dressel Used a Logbook to Become the Fastest Man Ever Over 50 Yards

Swimming at a Higher Level

Before Dressel became a high school phenom, smashing numerous NAG records, and before he went to the University of Florida to swim for Gregg Troy, Dressel was a promising up and comer with the Bolles Sharks program. During his time in Jacksonville Dressel used the pages of his logbook to steadily develop his feel for the water. At Bolles one of his coaches was Jason Calanog, who is now a coach at Texas A&M. Calanog had his swimmers track their workouts in a log book, and encouraged them to write notes about their practices. Dressel’ s log book took a nearly legendary status, with detailed descriptions and commentary. Dressel would even jump out of practice mid-session in order to make note of something in his log book while it was still fresh in his mind:

“His entries were definitely at a higher level than I’ve ever seen by a swimmer,” Calanog told the NYT recently. “He’d write pages and pages about how every muscle felt and what he wanted his stroke to feel like.”

How to Use a Logbook to Help You Swim Faster

Now, you don’t need to write a dissertation each time you hop into the water in order to make a logbook work for you, and you don't need to hop out after every set to get poetic about your swimming. If you decide to start using this tool, and swimmers like Nathan Adrian, legend Janet Evans and more all track their workouts as well-- here are some best practices for reaping the most of this powerful weapon:

Write out more than just the workout you did.

Reciting the sets and repeats you did can provide some insight into your training, but the running commentary of how you felt, what led to you performing the way you did, is the most rewarding aspect of logging your workouts. Your logbook is a place where you can learn habits, detect patterns, and get a deeper understanding of your performances.

Write it out immediately after practice.

Dressel was smart to write out his thoughts mid-workout when freshest—doing so insured an accurate record. Writing out your workouts post-workout while the workout, results and how you’re feeling is freshest gives you a chance at making it as accurate as possible. We love to think that our recall is perfect, but time distorts our memories. Dry your hands off, and dive into your logbook after your practice is done.

Use it for feedback.

Your logbook is more than just a bunch of results, it’s the road-map of your progress. It shows you the things that work, and the things that don’t. Dressel used it as a tool for gaining feedback from himself, achieving intuitiveness that is on another level. Your logbook is a place for experimentation, for trying new things, and for steadily crossing off those that don’t work.

Evaluate with your coach.

Not many swimmers have the kind of deep attentiveness that Dressel possesses. Sharing your logbook with your coach is a powerful way of not only getting insight to your own performances, but will also help your coach learn more about you and how you react to specific types of training. With the notes and feedback your coach will get a broader understanding of how you are actually feeling in the water, helping them to coach you even better.

About YourSwimBook

Swimmers are a dedicated, crazy bunch. Whether you have gone down the path of dating an athlete before or not, it’s impossible to ignore that swimmers are a little different. They have the perks of being an athlete without the big head that comes from a pursuit of fame or riches. Outside of the fact that they manage a crazy schedule, can handle more than a little bit of pain and physical agony, and that they are ridiculously, ridiculously good looking, here are 7 reasons you should absolutely date a swimmer: 1. You can pig-out together. There are no pretenses when it comes to eating. She trains. A lot. And as such she needs to fuel those muscles, and in turn, this means repeated trips to the buffet line, Costco, and the bulk discount bins at the closest grocery stores. There’s no judgement here. 2. You can watch sports together. Well, maybe not all sports. She des have a bit of a tender spot for how little attention swimming gets in comparison to the big four, but if anyone can appreciate general athletic prowess it’s going to be your swimming lady. Athletes get each other. She understands the passion and intensity of being a sports fan as well as being an athlete. 3. Just be careful arguing the merits of the sport with her. The fastest way to the doghouse is to downplay the difficulty and challenges of the sport. “Oh, I could do that if I wanted.” You are playing with a basket full of fire by saying something along the lines of, “Swimming is not a sport.” Appreciate the grind of what she does, and you are halfway there. 4. That body though. Swimmers are fit. Real fit. Heck, we even have a body type named after us (swimmer’s body, woopwoop!). And although she doesn’t work out for your pleasure, you get to reap the benefits of dating someone who devotes a substantial part of their life to building the ultimate body. Even if that means suffering through her growing her leg hair out between championship meets. Why You Should Date a Swimmer

5. She doesn’t like to lose. Competitive swimmers are, well, competitive. Whether this comes down to her out eating you, destroying you at your favorite video game, rooting for her favorite team, or simply dusting you in the pool, prepare to step your game up around your little swimmer crush. 6. When she goes from sweats to dress it’ll floor you, so be prepared. A majority of her time is spent in soggy bottomed sweatpants, her wet hair tied up, no make-up and eyes darting around the room for her water bottle. But when the hair is down, she’s relaxed because she doesn’t have practice in 20 minutes, and she’s decked out in a dress…yowza. 7. She’s got her own thing going on. The best part about dating a swimmer is that they are confidant, motivated and independent. They got their own goals, and see enough in you to squeeze you in between training sessions. The self-assurance and confidence that comes from being a self-motivated athlete is the most attractive thing a woman can bring to the table.

About YourSwimBook

During the 19070’s and 1980’s the East German women, led by names like Kristin Otto and Kornelia Ender, completely dominated the landscape of international women’s competition. At the Seoul Olympics in 1988, with the East Germans utterly dominating the medal table, winning 8 individual medals and both relays (the 4x200 free relay wasn’t contested at the time on the women’s side), it was a 15-year old American named Janet Evans who would steal the show. The 5’5 swimmer from California with the inexhaustible windmill stroke would win gold medals in the 800m freestyle, the 400m individual medley, and the 400m freestyle (in a world record time that would stand for 18 years). Olympic Champion Janet Evans on the Importance of Using a Logbook

Olympic Champion Janet Evans on the Importance of Using a Logbook

Miss "Perpetual Motion"

Her workouts under coach Bud McAllister are the stuff of legend, having helped her develop the insane cardio that she relied on to run the table in the distance events that summer in Seoul. Evans would again win the 800 freestyle in Barcelona at the 1992 Olympics, and would carry the Olympic torch into the stadium during the opening ceremonies of the 1996 Games in Atlanta, Georgia. Just as she was known for her crazy sets and high mileage in the water, Evans also kept a very detailed log book over the course of her career. She discussed how critical recording your training history was to her success in her book “Janet Evans’ Total Swimming.” For swimmers that were serious about getting the most of themselves in the water, she writes, “I can’t emphasize enough how important it is to keep a log book.” While there are a heap of reasons to jot down your workouts (US Open 50 yard record holder Caeleb Dressel uses his logbook to detail how he feels in the water), Evans has these 5 suggestions for why you should be writing out your swim practices:

1. It teaches you to be realistic about progress.

Having expectations that aren't reflective of your training leads to disappointment when you don't swim as fast as you think you should have. Having a detailed training history behind you will help guide your expectations so that you can plot out goals that are grounded in the reality of your training. “A lack of understanding can bring frustration and dejection if expectations are unreasonable,” writes Evans. Having your workout history at hand, and being able to see first-hand how long it takes for you to progress will aid you in creating goals and expectations that are realistic.

2. It will help you be patient.

Once you understand at what rate you can expect to progress, your logbook will help you to become a more patient athlete. Too often I have seen athletes get frustrated and give up when they don't see results fast enough. Your logbook will give you a deeper understanding of what it takes to be successful, and as such, the hard work and the patience required in order to see its yields are easier to swallow. “Results come gradually,” notes Evans.

3. It will help keep you motivated.

Your logbook is the motivational gift that keeps on giving. Seeing progress on paper, how far you have come, and allowing yourself to revel in the hard work you have been investing into the pool and into your training will inspire you to continue to push forward. “The process itself is therapeutic and motivating,” says Evans. And during those long weeks of training, those two-a-days and long weekend meets we can use every last bit of motivation we can get our hands on.

4. Your coach will be better able to coach you.

The logbook isn't just a tool for you to be able to reflect on your workouts. It can also be used to help your coach better guide your training and preparation. By opening up your log book regularly your coach will be better informed on how you react to various kinds of training. "Details of interval, total distance, times, and athlete comments about workouts are invaluable in planning for the next season," writes Evans. Sitting down with your coach regularly for check-ins is always a good idea, especially if you are struggling to see the results you want in the pool.

5. It will keep you focused.

On top of the motivational aspects of keeping a logbook, and helping your coach better coach you, keeping a logbook will keep you accountable during training. As Evans notes, knowing that you have to write your workout later will help keep you focused during practice, if only because you are going to “want to record a positive workout.” Seems basic, but I cannot count how many times I have salvaged what was otherwise a bad workout because I didn't want to have to write out a poor practice in my logbook later.

About YourSwimBook

1. Being perpetually time-crunched.

It’s tough taking on a full time school load and then training 8-10 times per week. It makes for a hectic life, with short evenings, tight deadlines and loads of cramming between prelims and finals on the weekends. I’ve been there. But research has consistently shown that athletes do better in school. One Kansas study of grade 9-12 showed student-athletes were more likely to attend class, more likely to graduate and had lower dropout rates. Another study of Spanish age group swimmers showed academic performance was positively linked to effort given in the pool. You’ll hear swimmers mull over how amazing their academics could be if they had more time for studying. “I would get A++++’s in all my classes if I didn’t have 4 hours of training today.” And while this may be true in a few extreme cases, the time is already there. It simply requires you to prioritize and organize it.

See Also: Does Swimming Make You Smarter?

2. Being a star in the pool, but not in the classroom.

We all have those superstars in our midst. The swimmer who makes it look so easy, and as such, devotes all their time and energy into being more successful. But when other pursuits require their attention and focus, and it doesn’t come as naturally to them, they get discouraged quickly, shrugging it off as “not their thing.” As a result, they drive more of their energy and focus into the one thing they know they are good at. The swagger that works on deck doesn’t always translate to the classroom, and the pride that often comes with high performance in the water means that they are less likely to ask for assistance or admit weakness outside of it.

3. Having a hard time getting inspired to study.

Swimming comes with goals. With medals. With glory. Academics, not so much. If a swimmer is focused mainly on making his or her swimming pan out over the long term, it can be hard to spare motivation for school work. They will view it as a necessary evil, simply something that they have to do in order to further their swimming goals. Swimmers understand the benefits of creating goals, making a plan to achieve them, and then pounding away at it until it comes to fruition. It should be no different in the classroom. Set goals completing the class, or doing just well enough so that you can compete, and you will begin to take a more active interest in your studies.

4. Not planning ahead.

This goes hand in hand with managing your time. There are going to be stretches of time over the course of the year when you know you are going to be getting pummeled with assignments. Or your calendar is pock-marked with exams. Or you have a hellacious 10-day training camp that is going to leave you physically and mentally gassed for the duration. Circle these weeks in your calendar. Prep and plan for these weeks. You know they are coming, so get ahead of them instead of getting blindsided by them when they happen.

5. Trying to do it all on your own.

I was super guilty of this during university. I would continue to heap commitments, assignments and training onto my plate until it broke me. I could have asked for help at any point, from my coaches, my academic counselors, profs—but in a regrettable show of stubbornness and pride I would typically wait until it was too late to ask for help or an extension. You have a heap of resources and people in your support network. Use them. You will almost never get help unless you ask for it. It’s not a sign of weakness or a shot to your pride to admit that you are starting to sink, so take advantage of the help and assistance that is there waiting for you.