I've always wondered why swim coaches add weight training to their training programs at USA Swim clubs and colleges all over the United States.
I guess at some point, some coach years ago decided to add "weights" to a swimmer's training, and they discovered that the swimmer was able to pull or kick harder in order to achieve a specific time in race, and from then on, it became scripture for every other coach trying to take his swimmers to the next level.
I mean seriously, that's usually how things go in the sport of swimming. Discover a swimmer who does it better and faster than everyone else, ask the coach "what's the special sauce" and decide to implement into their program for ALL their swimmers - whether it's in the swimmer's best interest or not.
So - the question remains - does weight training really help a swimmer?
I think before we start putting all the swimmers on the bench press or have them do a bunch of pull-ups or push tractor tires over on the ground, perhaps review the law of physics as it relates to swimming.
Water is 800 times denser than air - so if we look at this from a physics point of view, it would appear that two key components of motion will come into play, power and drag.
As a swimmer flies off the blocks, it is the fastest they will ever be, because from that moment, they enter an environment that creates DRAG and ultimately the density of the water will stop their motion. Swimmers practice this all the time during practice sets where the coach tries to illustrate the importance of a tight streamline and push off the wall - to see which kid actually goes farther. Every swimmer tries to tighten up as much as they possibly can just so they can win, but usually it's the taller, skinnier kid who ends up winning. Why? More POWER and less DRAG.
The power/drag coefficient is the most important equation a swimmer must calculate. If a swimmer is planning on swimming a 50 or 100 yard freestyle, it's without question that POWER is more important, but if a swimmer is planning on swimming a 200 yard or greater race, then DRAG becomes the key component in the race.
So - why lift weights if you are a mid-distance swimmer?
Unfortunately it simply doesn't make sense. It goes along with the theory as to why so many swim coaches have swimmers kicking on a kickboard. What purpose does that serve? They aren't kicking a 6 beat kick which could help them in freestyle - and when you think about the kick - it promotes maybe 5% to the overall stroke?
Just as kick sets are overrated, so is the concept of weight training. IF we lived in space and we dove off the block, we could streamline forever - since there is NO DRAG in space, but because we are dealing with water, the molecules are constantly interacting with all elements of the body, thus creating DRAG.
When we streamline - the goal is to make our body SMALLER and to move through the water creating as little a disturbance as possible, so what good is it to have a swimmer increase the size of their chest, shoulders, arms and but in weight training?
Power will NEVER win over Drag. It's time for swim coaches to figure out how they can make their swimmers STRONGER without increasing the size of their body mass.
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Tuesday, February 23, 2016
What's with all the Negative Vibes?
In 1970, one of the best WWII movies to come out was a movie called Kelly's Hero's. The movie took a lighter tone versus the more dramatic tone of some other great WWII movies such as The Dirty Dozen and Patton.
Kelly's Hero's was a story about a private (Clint Eastwood) who overheard a drunk German officer talking about all the bars of gold that were being held at a bank behind enemy lines. Clint was to a point that he knew the war would be over soon, and perhaps now was an opportunity to enrich his life after the war - so along the way he enlisted the help of some others to help him retrieve the gold before the Allied forces stepped in and took it for themselves.
One of the characters he enlisted was another "misfit" of a tank platoon (Donald Sutherland) who had decided that he, and his enlisted fighters had seen enough of the war and decided to venture off into more "remote" areas where they could enjoy life a little longer.
Eastwood enlisted other characters along the way such as Gavin MacLeod, Harry Dean Stanton, Telly Savales, Don Rickles, and Jeff Morris, it appeared that Gavin MacLeod always appeared to exemplify the negativity of the situation, forcing Donald Sutherland to respond at one point to Gavin's comment on a situation, "Why don't you knock it off with them negative waves? Why don't you dig how beautiful it is out here? Why don't you say something righteous and hopeful for a change? "
I use this as an example to illustrate how I see USA Swimming coaches choosing to look for the negative as it relates to USRPT versus seeing the positive that could come from implementing such a program.
If one was to look at USRPT from an OBJECTIVE point of view, I'm still trying to determine "where" the negatives lie for the SWIMMER.
Race Pace Training is demanding - for both the swimmer and the coach, but it appears to me that COACHES are being selfish by not considering the benefits to the swimmer. Here are just a few:
1. Accountability
2. Goal Planning
3. Shorter Practices
4. Instructional Benefit
5. Injury Prevention
6. More time with Family / Friends / School
7. Meet Preparation
These are just a few of the benefits as it relates to implementing USRPT or a Race Pace Training structure within the swim club.
I think it's time that USA Swimming to embrace the benefits to the SWIMMERS and begin accepting that Race Pace Swimming is far more beneficial to swimmers than traditional practices.
Let's knock off the negativity and dig just how great a Race Pace Swimming program could be.
Monday, January 4, 2016
Michael Andrew and USRPT
On Sunday, January 3, 2016, ESPN's "Outside the Lines" aired the story about Michael Andrew and the success he's had utilizing USRPT (Ultra Short Race Pace Training) and the resistance that has come from the "traditional" swimming community.
After watching the segment, I felt the reporter and ESPN truly stayed independent and allowed parents and swimmers to make cast their own decisions as to whether USRPT would actually benefit their long term COMPETITIVE swimming future, but I believe more conversation is warranted.
As a background, I myself have been associated with competitive swimming for over 12 years. First as a parent, then a USA Swimming official, and finally as a coach. Over the years, my kids have had the opportunity to train with many "certified" USA Swimming coaches and train with various clubs across the United States, and the one thing I realized is there are many ways to "skin a cat" and USRPT is simply one of them.
The first time I heard of the Andrew's family was in 2009, when Michael broke the National Age Group record in the 50 SCM backstroke. I knew this because my son had broken the 50 LCM backstroke the summer prior.
Once I noticed the record had been broken, I began to research the family. The first unusual aspect of the family I noticed was where they lived, South Dakota. I wondered how could a swimmer come from that state like South Dakota versus more pedigree states known for their swimming such as; Florida, Texas, and California? The second item of interest involved the number of meets they would attend. Prior to Michael turning 10 years old, I noticed they had traveled from Oklahoma, California, Colorado and Utah, where he actually broke the record just days before he turned 11. I wondered why a family would be traveling so much, especially when in most traditional clubs, kids may swim one meet per month?
As we continued to track Michael's progress, we discovered in April 2010 prior to his 12th birthday, he and his family were making a stop in Nashville, TN, on their way back from the NASA Junior Championships in Orlando, FL. It provided an opportunity for the "current" record holder in the 50LCM backstroke and the previous record holder to race against one another. What a great opportunity.
When we first saw Michael and his family, it was without question he came from good genes. Both his parents were very tall and very athletic. His father swam with the South African "SEAL" unit there and his mother was a "Gladiator" on the British television show version. This kid came from good stock! At the time, Michael was just a shade shorter than my son and both of them were looking forward to racing each other. This would be the last time my son would get the better of Michael in most of the races.
As we continued to monitor Michael's progress, we were amazed by his ability to drop time at every single meet he attended, with many meets occurring back to back weekends. We wondered 'how in the world?' We knew he was a big kid, but then again - so was our son - and he wasn't dropping time like Michael. We couldn't understand how he could drop so much time at every meet, especially considering that they were driving to every meet in a Suburban and being homeschooled along the way. It just didn't seem possible. It wasn't the "traditional" way. It didn't matter what questions we would ask, it was simply evident, this kid was getting faster every week, but how?
In December 2011 Peter was interviewed by Peter Busch of Swimming World Magazine where Michael's success in achieving National Age Group records was getting noticed. Swimming World inquired about Michael's training. After watching this interview, it made perfect sense what Peter was looking to accomplish. In order for Michael to continue to set National Age Group records, he would simply take the record time, and break it down by 25 yards, in order to create a training cycle for Michael to follow, limiting the amount of rest per 25 yards in order to simulate a race experience.
This made perfect sense to me. From a mathematical philosophy, if Peter was able to break down the time Michael would need to go for each 25 yds in the race (including turns) in order to achieve the record, and if Michael was able to achieve those times in practice, then Michael should have the confidence in knowing that he would not only break a record, but question, by how much?
I mentioned this idea to my son's USA swim coach at the time (who had worked with Michael Phelps) and he dismissed the idea. His coaching philosophy followed the traditional coaching route that many other USA swim coaches followed. Train the kids hard for 6 weeks, then pick up the speed the following 6 weeks, then reduce the yardage in the final 6 weeks so they are rested by the time championships roll around. The problem with that philosophy is that, every "body" is different.
I couldn't help but think that Peter was on the right track. Not only did it make sense, but the MATH and the SCIENCE was available to back up the results. I had to research this style of training further.
In 2012 my son suffered a shoulder injury. I knew the "traditional" USA Swimming program wouldn't be good for him and could easily push him out of the sport. Even after surgery, he still wanted to swim so in his interest, I flew out to Lawrence, KS, to meet with Peter for the day and learn about his training technique, and from that time I knew there was no way my son could handle the 6000+ yards / day swimming where the kids are simply thrown into the pool and the coach pays the most attention to the swimmer who can actually finish the day. This isn't coaching, this is survival of the fittest.
I began to train my son following the USRPT ways. Initially it was met with resistance, but after a few training sessions, my son began to benefit from training for the race, versus training to survive the practice.
As the years have passed, I have implemented the program with a high school teams and my own kids. While I'm not a total believer in Dr. Rushall's principles (dryland training) I have seen the results, and more importantly, so have my swimmers.
The problem that I believe many programs will have with USRPT is that it requires the coaches to actually "coach". It requires the coach to train each swimmer on a specific basis, but what's wrong with that? What's wrong with a coach ASKING a swimmer, 'what events do you enjoy swimming?', 'what are your goals for swimming?', 'how can I help you to get closer to these goals?'. This is where many of the "old school" coaches who swam 10,000 yds/ day when they swam have a problem. They don't have an interest in working at making their swimmers better.
Race Pace Swimming works. It provides kids with tracking that tells them IF they are improving at every practice. If they normally could swim 20 X 25 free on 15 secs - and now they are able to hold 22 X 25's - THAT IS SUCCESS - and they get psyched knowing they ARE getting faster.
Michael Andrew may not be the Messiah, but I think we've seen enough from his performances to suggest there is another way to success.
If you have a swimmer that is frustrated with their coach, training, or ability to achieve faster times, keep an eye on RacePaceSwimming.com. We are versed in the skills of USRPT and how you can translate its principles into your current club environment.
We know that race pace swimming works. We have seen results. The first step we take with our swimmers is understanding THEIR goals. From there, we educate the swimmer on aspects of swimming that will help them achieve their goals which include making sure the swimmer is swimming the stroke correct, the importance of all 6 strokes(freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, breastroke, starts and turns, and underwaters), and how training "at pace" will give them the confidence to race at their absolute best during meet season.
After watching the segment, I felt the reporter and ESPN truly stayed independent and allowed parents and swimmers to make cast their own decisions as to whether USRPT would actually benefit their long term COMPETITIVE swimming future, but I believe more conversation is warranted.
As a background, I myself have been associated with competitive swimming for over 12 years. First as a parent, then a USA Swimming official, and finally as a coach. Over the years, my kids have had the opportunity to train with many "certified" USA Swimming coaches and train with various clubs across the United States, and the one thing I realized is there are many ways to "skin a cat" and USRPT is simply one of them.
The first time I heard of the Andrew's family was in 2009, when Michael broke the National Age Group record in the 50 SCM backstroke. I knew this because my son had broken the 50 LCM backstroke the summer prior.
Once I noticed the record had been broken, I began to research the family. The first unusual aspect of the family I noticed was where they lived, South Dakota. I wondered how could a swimmer come from that state like South Dakota versus more pedigree states known for their swimming such as; Florida, Texas, and California? The second item of interest involved the number of meets they would attend. Prior to Michael turning 10 years old, I noticed they had traveled from Oklahoma, California, Colorado and Utah, where he actually broke the record just days before he turned 11. I wondered why a family would be traveling so much, especially when in most traditional clubs, kids may swim one meet per month?
As we continued to track Michael's progress, we discovered in April 2010 prior to his 12th birthday, he and his family were making a stop in Nashville, TN, on their way back from the NASA Junior Championships in Orlando, FL. It provided an opportunity for the "current" record holder in the 50LCM backstroke and the previous record holder to race against one another. What a great opportunity.
When we first saw Michael and his family, it was without question he came from good genes. Both his parents were very tall and very athletic. His father swam with the South African "SEAL" unit there and his mother was a "Gladiator" on the British television show version. This kid came from good stock! At the time, Michael was just a shade shorter than my son and both of them were looking forward to racing each other. This would be the last time my son would get the better of Michael in most of the races.
As we continued to monitor Michael's progress, we were amazed by his ability to drop time at every single meet he attended, with many meets occurring back to back weekends. We wondered 'how in the world?' We knew he was a big kid, but then again - so was our son - and he wasn't dropping time like Michael. We couldn't understand how he could drop so much time at every meet, especially considering that they were driving to every meet in a Suburban and being homeschooled along the way. It just didn't seem possible. It wasn't the "traditional" way. It didn't matter what questions we would ask, it was simply evident, this kid was getting faster every week, but how?
In December 2011 Peter was interviewed by Peter Busch of Swimming World Magazine where Michael's success in achieving National Age Group records was getting noticed. Swimming World inquired about Michael's training. After watching this interview, it made perfect sense what Peter was looking to accomplish. In order for Michael to continue to set National Age Group records, he would simply take the record time, and break it down by 25 yards, in order to create a training cycle for Michael to follow, limiting the amount of rest per 25 yards in order to simulate a race experience.
This made perfect sense to me. From a mathematical philosophy, if Peter was able to break down the time Michael would need to go for each 25 yds in the race (including turns) in order to achieve the record, and if Michael was able to achieve those times in practice, then Michael should have the confidence in knowing that he would not only break a record, but question, by how much?
I mentioned this idea to my son's USA swim coach at the time (who had worked with Michael Phelps) and he dismissed the idea. His coaching philosophy followed the traditional coaching route that many other USA swim coaches followed. Train the kids hard for 6 weeks, then pick up the speed the following 6 weeks, then reduce the yardage in the final 6 weeks so they are rested by the time championships roll around. The problem with that philosophy is that, every "body" is different.
I couldn't help but think that Peter was on the right track. Not only did it make sense, but the MATH and the SCIENCE was available to back up the results. I had to research this style of training further.
In 2012 my son suffered a shoulder injury. I knew the "traditional" USA Swimming program wouldn't be good for him and could easily push him out of the sport. Even after surgery, he still wanted to swim so in his interest, I flew out to Lawrence, KS, to meet with Peter for the day and learn about his training technique, and from that time I knew there was no way my son could handle the 6000+ yards / day swimming where the kids are simply thrown into the pool and the coach pays the most attention to the swimmer who can actually finish the day. This isn't coaching, this is survival of the fittest.
I began to train my son following the USRPT ways. Initially it was met with resistance, but after a few training sessions, my son began to benefit from training for the race, versus training to survive the practice.
As the years have passed, I have implemented the program with a high school teams and my own kids. While I'm not a total believer in Dr. Rushall's principles (dryland training) I have seen the results, and more importantly, so have my swimmers.
The problem that I believe many programs will have with USRPT is that it requires the coaches to actually "coach". It requires the coach to train each swimmer on a specific basis, but what's wrong with that? What's wrong with a coach ASKING a swimmer, 'what events do you enjoy swimming?', 'what are your goals for swimming?', 'how can I help you to get closer to these goals?'. This is where many of the "old school" coaches who swam 10,000 yds/ day when they swam have a problem. They don't have an interest in working at making their swimmers better.
Race Pace Swimming works. It provides kids with tracking that tells them IF they are improving at every practice. If they normally could swim 20 X 25 free on 15 secs - and now they are able to hold 22 X 25's - THAT IS SUCCESS - and they get psyched knowing they ARE getting faster.
Michael Andrew may not be the Messiah, but I think we've seen enough from his performances to suggest there is another way to success.
If you have a swimmer that is frustrated with their coach, training, or ability to achieve faster times, keep an eye on RacePaceSwimming.com. We are versed in the skills of USRPT and how you can translate its principles into your current club environment.
We know that race pace swimming works. We have seen results. The first step we take with our swimmers is understanding THEIR goals. From there, we educate the swimmer on aspects of swimming that will help them achieve their goals which include making sure the swimmer is swimming the stroke correct, the importance of all 6 strokes(freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, breastroke, starts and turns, and underwaters), and how training "at pace" will give them the confidence to race at their absolute best during meet season.
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