Swimming has changed! The sport’s got a whole lot mess-y-er!

It wasn’t all that long ago when you had to be a butterflyer, a backstroker, a breaststroker, a freestyler, a sprinter, a distance swimmer or an IM-er. Seemed like you had no sooner taken up the sport of swimming, when someone was trying to make you A-something.

Somebody would tell you, “If you want to be a great swimmer, you need to be a-something” – (usually a-one thing).

Now – if you have to be something – you can be a M.E.S.S. – a Multi Event Stroke Swimmer! Gives a whole new meaning to someone telling you your room is “messy”doesn’t it?

With some of the world’s greatest swimmers now showing that it is possible to be great at more than one stroke, multi eventing – (or M.E.S.S. for short) has become something for all swimmers to consider.

Why be a M.E.S.S?

Swimming several events gives you races to look forward to – no matter how good or bad you might be feeling in the water. Sometimes you can feel great in every event, and across every stroke. Other times you feel great in one stroke, but not in others. Some days you feel great over one race distance, but not over others.

No matter how you feel, as a M.E.S.S. there will be something for you to look forward to.

 1.       Being a MESS gives you lots of options in racing;

Imagine going to a meet and knowing: “I can do anything!”

A Freestyle event comes up – you can do it!

A great backstroke race is on – you can do it!

The Medleys – distance events – the sprints…. You can do it, you can do it, you can do it!

 The great thing about being a MESS is having the skills, technique, confidence, knowledge and abilities to choose to do anything!

You could choose to concentrate on one stroke across several distances. You could choose to concentrate on one distance with several strokes – all the 50s, all the 100s, all the 200s.

You could swim every stroke on the program in order to gain race fitness and master back-up racing – perfect for improving your ability to swim fast heats, semi finals and finals format racing.

You could do only the events where you currently feel fast and fit: or you could deliberately do the events that don’t feel so good and improve your skills, strokes and speed: strengthen your strengths and overcome your weaknesses.

Nothing feels better than being able to choose to choose!

 2.       Being a MESS gives you lots of choices in training;

As well as having the choices in racing, being a MESS means you have more choices in training: millions of ‘em!

Fitness is fitness. Sure – stroke specific skills, power and strength for each event have to be practiced and mastered sometimes, however swimming is swimming, water time is water time, streamlining is streamlining! Underwater swimming is the same for fly and free, and also backstroke, and the skills practiced in one stroke will often improve skills in another stroke.

Most swimmers go to training thinking “I have four training choices – my main stroke, my main stroke kick, my main stroke pull and my main stroke skills /drills”.

MESS swimmers go to training knowing they have more conditioning combinations and training options  than the best Pizza place in the world has topping choices!

 3.       Being a MESS gives your body (and your brain) a break;

Being a MESS means never having that “Oh no – not another freestyle session” kind of feeling. Every session is an opportunity to learn, grow, improve, discover and experiment.

No more mental “blah” days when you find it hard to concentrate and find the right motivation to switch on your swimming brain.

No more workouts when your legs are so tired and worn out from swimming miles and miles and miles of the one stroke.

With MESS you feel fast, fresh and fabulous most of the time because every session – every day – every week is delightfully different.

4.       Being a MESS is more fun.

Write down the things you really enjoy doing – what is it about the most fun things you do that makes them so much fun?

They are:

• Interesting;
• Challenging;
• Enjoyable;
• Stimulating for your brain;
• Something you can do with your friends;
• Always new, different and exciting.

Ta-daaa! That’s what being a MESS is all about.

5. You never grow out of being a MESS!

We’ve all seen the swimmers who were great backstrokers at nine years of age and sort of outgrew the stroke – (or the stroke outgrew them).

We’ve all trained with the swimmers who were doing huge volumes of training in their favourite event when they were 13 and then got tired, bored and flat and were off playing one of the big four balls (Baseball, Basketball, Football and staying at home having a ball doing nothing)  by the time they were 14.

As a MESS – you never outgrow your stroke or your event – because you don’t have one….you have lots of them. As your body changes, develops and matures – you can simply switch focus, change direction, change emphasis and voila: You are still the great swimmer you always were!

OK – so maybe you are reading this and thinking, “but I want to specialise in one stroke and be the best of the best at doing it”.

That’s great – if you have the passion, talent, commitment, desire and motivation to be the best in one event –go for it – give it your best – give it everything you’ve got.

But the point with being a MESS is that you don’t have to be a-anything – being a MESS means you can choose to do one, two, three, four or twenty seven thousand different events and get out of swimming what ever you want to get out of it. It’s a great sport – make it yours!

So go ahead – be a MESS – and for the first time (and maybe the only time) in your life being MESSY will really pay off!

 And now…for all you MESS’ out there, The MESS Poem:

 Being a MESS with lots of strokes,

Means I have more fun than other folks.

I get to master all the skills,

With lots more strokes and lots more thrills.

I never get tired, or bored or flat,

Or lazy or dull or anything like that.

I never get sick of the same old pool,

Cause everyday is new and cool.

So why not be a MESS like me,

Have a lot more fun and feel a lot more free.  

Wayne Goldsmith and Helen Morris.

© 2010, Swim Coaching Brain. All rights reserved. This post can not be reproduced in full or in part without the expressed consent of the author Wayne Goldsmith.

Related posts:

1. How much training is right for me (or how cake baking can help you swim faster!!!)
2. Talent ID in Swimming: the Talent Pool!
3. A.T. – does it stand for Anaerobic Threshold or A Total Waste of Time?

For every swimmer there will be one last race.

One time when you hit the wall, look up at the score board, see “Jones, P   1:03.07” for the last time. Or “Lane 6 56.83”. Or “Lane  3 – 2:45.71”

And in that one moment, how do you want to remember your swimming career?

And in that one moment, how do you want to be remembered as a swimmer?

And in that one moment and throughout the next 50, 60, 70 years…..what will you remember about swimming? 

What will all those early mornings, long sessions, tough gym workouts and competitions mean?

It would be easy to measure a swimming career in terms of medals, cups, trophies, ribbons, records, titles, championships and podium finishes: to measure your swimming career in terms of your competition performances.

But that will reduce a career of wonderful experiences and life changing events to a few dollars worth of plastic, metal and cotton.

What has swimming really meant to you?

The world has changed.

Everything is fast, instant, immediate and entertaining.

Swimming on the other hand stayed true to old fashion values like hard work, commitment, dedication, being selfless and working with others, being part of a team.

Swimming taught you lessons – not just about fly and back and turns and starts but about the things that really matter.

It taught you to set goals and work hard to achieve them.

It taught you that when things got tough, you got tougher.

It taught you that hard work and a positive attitude could overcome any obstacle.

It taught you to be humble – how to deal with losing.

It taught you to be humble – even in victory.

It taught you about honesty – about the importance of giving all you had to give and letting people see what you were capable of.

It taught you to deal with pain and discomfort.

It taught you about discipline, about time management, about being organised.

It taught you about nutrition, about health, about fitness, about taking care of yourself.

It taught you to stand up and face challenges – to be assertive – to never be intimidated by anything or anyone.

It taught you about confidence and believing in yourself and in believing anything is possible.

Swimming was the best teacher you ever had.

So what if you didn’t win the State final.

So what if you didn’t break the World record.

So what if you didn’t get that Olympic gold.

You became so much more than a flashy piece of metal – you became something far greater.

You became a person who achieved amazing things. A person who could push themselves through barriers other people see as insurmountable. A person who could overcome adversity and meet any challenge life threw at them. A person who gave everything they had to chase a dream and even if they came up short, got up and had another go at achieving it….and another….and another.

You became an outstanding student: staying up late to study for an exam was nothing compared to driving yourself up and down a lane 20 hours a week.

You became a great parent: having a child and losing some sleep was insignificant compared to travelling over night to a meet, racing all day, driving home and then getting up for training at 4 am the next day.

You become a wonderful partner: dealing with the differences between you and your partner was a small issue after working so close to a team of people pushing themselves to their limits day after day after day.

Don’t measure yourself or measure your career by gold or silver or bronze. Don’t measure it by ribbons or medals or titles.

Measure it by the only things that really matter – how much you enjoyed doing something you loved with people you loved being with. Or how many fun times you had with mom and dad on the way to training or on long, sleepy drives home from meets. Or by the jokes between repeats that went on and on and on and had you laughing under water most of the session. Or by the friends you had when you were ten who would still do anything for you 20 years later.

Or by the lessons you teach to your children: passing on the swimming experience and life lessons to the next generation and helping them be all they can be.

So when it is your last race, whether you grab the gold medal at the Olympic Games and retire on top or if it is swimming 3:35 for 100 free as a 92 year old in the State Masters championships, take a moment or two to smile, think about what you have achieved and feel very, very satisfied.

You did it.

Wayne Goldsmith (written for and inspired by Helen Morris)

© 2010, Swim Coaching Brain. All rights reserved. This post can not be reproduced in full or in part without the expressed consent of the author Wayne Goldsmith.

Related posts:

1. The W Word: Winning.
2. Talent ID in Swimming: the Talent Pool!
3. Message to Swimming – you still don’t get it!

If someone told you, “Hey, you got to go on line and read this article I just found. It tells you how to take two seconds off your 100 metres PB time”.

Would you read it? Of course you would!

OK – look down – because here it is.

Competitive swimming practice has one aim – to “find” time: to find ways of cutting time off your race PB.

You “find” time by focusing on improving technique, with consistent hard physical training, by improving flexibility, strength, speed, power and of course you find time by focusing on improving swimming skills – dives, starts, turns and finishes.

In sprint events, skills – dives, starts, turns and finishes – represent almost half of the race.

In an event like the 100 metres (short course), 45 metres of the race are skills based – dives, starts, turns and finishes.

The first 15 metres are almost totally reliant on your dive, start and underwater technique.

The last 5 metres into the wall and the first five metres off the wall are largely a product of your turning technique, “wall” power and underwater skills.

The final 5 metres of the race are dependent on your finishing skills.

That’s 45 metres of the 100 – almost half of the total race – which are skills based.

Yet, in spite of these facts, I’ll bet you don’t spend anywhere near 50% of your training on skills practice!

The typical swimming training session ends with a “token” five minutes (or around 4% of training time) of skills practice.

In a perfect world of course, every dive would be a race quality dive, every start would be a race quality start, every turn would be a race quality turn and every finish would be a race quality finish but…….it ain’t a perfect world.  

So skills practice – or what we call F.F.A.S.T. (Fast Finishes Aggressive Starts and Turns) – is a critical part of enhancing swimming performance and should be a priority of every training session.

There is “easy” time to find in skills practice – that is, it’s much easier to find time improvements through quality skills practices than to try and find time by just swimming more and more laps.

For most age group swimmers, Masters swimmers and triathletes, there is at least 2 seconds improvement to be found by committing to daily F.F.A.S.T. practice!

 Think of how many extra laps you would need to do to find those 2 seconds just in swimming practice. (And think of how much time you can find by working hard in both F.F.A.S.T practice and swimming practice).

Where exactly are those 2 F.F.A.S.T. seconds?

Here’s your first 0.5 second - it’s in your dive.

There is an easy half a second to be found in your dive.

The most common mistake made by swimmers when diving is they “flop” lazily into their “take your mark” position instead of taking a strong, powerful, “coiled spring” position and being ready to explode off the blocks when the gun goes.

This means that when the “go” signal comes, they must first get into the right take off position, before they can actually leave the blocks and this means a loss of at least half a second.

If you start with a “grab start” it is highly likely your hips are well back towards the back of the blocks. You can find time in your grab start by working on your flexibility in your lower back and hamstrings and aiming to have the centre of the outside of your hip, the centre of the outside of your knee and the centre of the outside of your ankle bone in one straight line and your chest flat on your thighs.

If you do a “track start” chances are you are not using the explosive power potential of your inner “elastics”. The muscles and tendons in your arms and upper chest are like big rubber bands. When you are in “take your marks” position, pull back on the front of the blocks and the tension and energy in your “rubber bands” will help to explode you forward when you “go”.

Here’s your next 0.5 second – in your “three kicks”.

Most swimmers lose time (as opposed to “finding” time) by losing momentum unnecessarily after hitting the water following their dive.

There are three “danger” zones in the first underwater kick – i.e. the underwater period following your dive.

Danger Zone one – kicking underwater: kicking underwater after the dive should be fast, strong and explosive: do not glide! The glide kills momentum and loses time.

Danger Zone two – kicking towards the surface: many swimmers run out of air and “pop” up to the surface, stop kicking and lose time. It is much faster to kick deliberately and powerfully towards the surface and maintain momentum.

Danger Zone three – kicking into your first stroke: without doubt the biggest danger zone. Many swimmers will stop kicking, start stroking, then start kicking again. This is the swimming equivalent of hitting the brakes at full speed in your car. Kick into your first stroke (breakout stroke) with speed and power – hitting the surface like a great white shark hitting it’s prey. It’s not only faster but it scares the daylights out of your opposition!

The next second will come from your turn.

You are never faster than when you are coming off a wall – “wall” stands for We Accelerate Lazy Limbs – turns are an opportunity to gain speed and “find” time.

Walls are where you increase your speed, gain momentum and get a competitive advantage over your opposition.

Attack the walls with power, aggression and speed. In freestyle and backstroke, keep it simple and fast: chin on your chest, then kick yourself in the backside and flip straight over. In breast and fly, your hand touch should trigger the snap of your hips and knees to your chest and to get your feet on the wall as fast as possible (ideally well under one second from the time your hands touch the wall to the time your feet touch the wall – i.e. hand touch / foot touch time).

And the final 0.5 second is in your finish.

There are four key elements in every great finish:

1. Finish with your head forward – i.e. pushing towards the wall;
2. Finish with your hips high and legs driving towards the wall;
3. Finish on a full stroke, i.e. with your arm (in back and free or arms in fly and breast) fully extended;
4. Finish with your legs working at maximum speed. 

So, there you go – an easy two seconds off your 100 PB!

Now turn off the computer, get to the pool and make it happen.

(Watch for a future www.swimcoachingbrain.com article with drills and practices to improve each of the F.F.A.S.T. areas).

Wayne Goldsmith

© 2010, Swim Coaching Brain. All rights reserved. This post can not be reproduced in full or in part without the expressed consent of the author Wayne Goldsmith.

Related posts:

1. Speed development workouts – five of the best speed workout sets to have you burning up the lanes!
2. The Top Ten Technique Tips for Every Swimmer
3. How much training is right for me (or how cake baking can help you swim faster!!!)

Without doubt the toughest question in swimming to answer is “How much training is right for me?”

Coming up with the right swimming training program has often been described as being a bit like making a cake.

When you make a cake, you follow a recipe which specifies how much flour, how much butter, how much milk, how many eggs, how long to bake in the oven, what temperature to set the oven for – yummy I can almost taste it now!

If you add too much butter, no eggs and five pounds of flour more than the recipe needs, then cook it for three hours at a high temperature, you get a mess more like a brick than a dessert!

Training is a mix of the right things done at the right time in the right quantities.

It all starts with your training plan – your “recipe” for success.

Your training plan includes lots of ingredients like endurance, speed, power, technique training, skill training, mental skills development, gym work and about 100 000 other tasty training treats.

It’s mixing these training ingredients correctly that makes all the difference.

Do too much endurance without mixing in some speed work, gym work and flexibility and you will not get the success you deserve.

Not enough endurance training and you will find yourself “dying” at the back end of races.

It’s the balance of training “ingredients” that makes a great racing “cake”.

So how do you know how to make your “cake”?

Step one:  Decide what cake you want to make.

Once you decide to make a cake, you then decide what type of cake it will be.

If you want to make a chocolate cake, you need eggs, milk, flour and chocolate. If you want to make a lemon cake, you need eggs, milk, flour and lemon. You select your ingredients based on the type of cake you want to eat!

In swimming, decide what performance you want to end up with at your next meet, then plan your training with the right mix of ingredients for that performance.

For example, If you want to improve your 100 fly, your ingredients are:

• Great fly technique – long slow arms with fast legs;
• Strong, fast, powerful underwater kicking;
• Powerful, explosive start;
• Controlled breathing – every 2-4 strokes;
• A solid base of endurance training so you maintain rhythm, speed and form in the second 50;
• Developing the mental skills to remain relaxed and to maintain rhythm when you get fatigued and under race pressures;
• Fast, powerful turns with a tight tuck and less than a second between the time your hand touches the wall to when your feet touch the wall.

Deciding what performance you want to achieve determines what training you need to do.

Step two: The perfect recipe.

So you want to make a chocolate cake. You ask around for a chocolate cake recipe. Maybe you buy a book about making cakes. Or search the net. Or call Grannie for her family favorite.

The perfect swimming recipe has four essential ingredients:

• Physical ingredients – a balance of speed, endurance, power and race specific tempo training;
• Mental ingredients – a blend of self confidence, self belief and self esteem with relaxation, motivation and visualization skills;
• Technical ingredients – a mix of great technique development training for arms stroke, kicking, breathing, body position, head position and timing;
• Tactical ingredients – a box of tricks – pacing, racing skills, diving, starting, turning, finishing, racing strategy and psyche outs.

Step three: Find a great kitchen.

Now that you have decided to make a cake you need to have a kitchen with the right equipment to allow you to start making and baking.

The right environment is important. Just as you can’t make a cake without an oven, some bowls and some mixing spoons, you need to find the right environment to help you achieve your swimming goals.

The right training environment gives you the opportunity to realize your potential and achieve your goals. The right training environment is one which maximizes the opportunity for you as an individual to work on the specific skills and techniques you need to be a successful racer.

Find a pool with a motivated, passionate, caring, knowledgeable coach who has the time and patience to give you the individual attention to detail you need. Find a team with motivated, passionate, committed, fun loving swimmers who want to work hard but want to love and enjoy every minute of the experience.

Step four: Keep checking on the cake.

The reason they put little windows on oven doors is so cooks can keep checking and monitoring the progress of what they are cooking.

Every day you train it is important you check your progress.

Ask yourself seven simple but very important questions every day:

• How do I feel today? SCORE 0 for GOOD / GREAT and 1 for BAD / POOR
• How well did I sleep last night? SCORE 0 for GOOD / GREAT and 1 for BAD / POOR
• How’s my attitude?  SCORE 0 FOR GOOD / GREAT and 1 for BAD / POOR
• Are my muscles sore and aching? SCORE 0 FOR NO and 1 for YES
• Do I feel stressed and anxious? SCORE 0 FOR NO and 1 for YES
• Is there anything happening away from the pool that I can’t stop thinking about? E.g. exams, problems with family and friends? SCORE 0 FOR NO AND 1 for YES
• How’s my appetite? SCORE 0 FOR GOOD / NORMAL and 1 for POOR

If you score 4 or more, chances are you are tired and bordering on over training. These simple daily checks are your “window” into how your body is “cooking”.

Step five: Take it out of the oven at the right time.

So your cake is almost done. You look in the oven, take a guess and pull it out before its ready…………disaster. It doesn’t rise – it is just a gooey yucky mess.

Or – you think your cake is ready but just to be sure you leave it in the oven for another 30 minutes……..what happens? It comes out with a hard, black base and tastes like charcoal.

One of the biggest mistakes swimmers make is to just do one more session or one more set – believing it is better to be “over cooked than under done”.

Racing is a combination of Physical, Emotional and Technical (P.E.T.) skills. The excitement, the emotion, the joy and the rush of racing is the edge you need to perform at your best.

If you go to the Meet feeling light, fast, positive and energized, chances are you will race well.

If you go to the Meet tired, flat and negative because you just had to squeeze in a few more miles in the pool, no amount of positive thinking is going to help you get that personal best time.

Step six – The icing on the cake

All great cakes get finished off with some tasty icing and maybe some candy sprinkles.

All great swims are finished off with something special…….you! The great swims are those which say something about the swimmer who swims them. That is, they are a statement about you, your hard work, your attitude, your belief and your discipline.

The icing on the cake is you and your ability to take the recipe and make it special.

So that’s all you need to know about training and racing. I bet you didn’t know that cake making had so much to do with being a great swimmer!!

Wayne Goldsmith

© 2010, Swim Coaching Brain. All rights reserved. This post can not be reproduced in full or in part without the expressed consent of the author Wayne Goldsmith.

Related posts:

1. The Engagement Factor – the essential element in designing training sets and swimming workouts.
2. Mental Skills Training in Swimming – a new approach.
3. A.T. – does it stand for Anaerobic Threshold or A Total Waste of Time?

• Did you ever want to ask your coach a question but couldn’t find the right way of asking the question?
• Did you ever have something you wanted to say to your coach but couldn’t find the right moment?
• Did you ever want to sit down with your coach and discuss some stuff you have been wondering about but never had the chance?

Well – here’s your chance!

Questions you always wanted to ask your coach but were afraid to ask!

How good can I be? Do I have what it takes to be a great swimmer?

“How good you can be, has nothing to do with me. It’s up to you. I can write the workouts. I can help you improve your technique and skills. I can help you get faster, stronger, more flexible and more powerful…I can do all that stuff but in the end, greatness is a choice and success is a lifestyle. Your passion and your desire to succeed will determine how far you go in this sport. I will help you all I can, but in the end, it’s up to you”.

When should I specialise in the one event?

“There are rules about stroke specialisation – it’s not about age or sessions swum or how long your legs are….it’s about the three Ps:

• What stroke suits you physically?
• What stroke suits you psychologically?
• What stroke are you passionate about in swimming?

Or if you like, your “special” stroke is the one which best suits your body, mind and spirit. As you grow, mature and develop, it will become pretty obvious what stroke is “yours” – and if you work hard at it every day, there are no limits to what you can achieve.

Does it really matter what I eat? I’ve seen lots of kids eating junk food at Meets and they still swim really fast.

“Does it matter what fuel a formula one driver puts in his car? Does it matter what fuel the space shuttle uses to get into orbit? High performance engines need high performance fuel. Swimmers are high performance people and high performance athletes so yes…it does really matter what you eat”.

Why do I have to get up so early in the morning to train?

“A great question! There are three reasons:

• To prepare you for racing / meets: at most big meets you race heats in the morning and race finals in the afternoon / evening. So we train twice a day to prepare you to meet the demands of competition racing;
• To give you the maximum time between sessions to rest and recover. We believe that your body needs 8-10 hours between sessions to recover so we structure training to give you the best possible opportunity to be at your best at every workout;
• And the third reason is a selfish one….because there’s nothing more wonderful than working with a team of motivated, committed, dedicated, talented people first thing in the morning!!”

Why do I have to train so hard when my friends who play basketball and baseball seem to only train two or three times a week?

“Another great question. The main reason is that a key component of most land based sports is walking, jogging and running. These are all normal, natural movements for us humans. Jumping into a big body of water and swimming fast is not a normal or natural thing for us to do or else we’d all have fins, scales and a big flat tail! So we need to spend a lot of time in the water to learn how to move on it, under it, over it and through it. Imagine how much time a fish would have to spend learning to play football!

What else do I have to do (besides swimming) to be a great swimmer?

“Follow the great principle – gym work (dryland) – recovery – eat – attitude – train!

G = do your gym work and dryland training with the same passion and determination that you put into your pool work.

R = rest and recover after training, get plenty of sleep and help your body and mind regenerate after hard work.

E = eat quality, nutritious, high performance foods and plenty of fresh water, juices and healthy drinks.

A = attitude is everything! Attitude leads to consistency. Consistency gives you belief…and with belief, anything is possible.

T = train hard, consistently and to the best of your ability.

In other words to be great – be great!

Why do I have to swim with the older and faster kids sometimes? – I just want to swim with my friends!

“I hear ya! Swimming is as much about friendships as it is about freestyle so you have no argument with me. But, training is also about making the most of every lap and sometimes you have to train with older, more experienced and faster swimmers to help you improve and reach your goals. And right after training, you will have so much to talk about with your friends”.

Why do I feel so bad and so tired when we taper for a meet?

“Guess what??? It’s normal and almost every swimmer in the world feels yuck during taper time. In taper time your body adapts to the hard work you have been doing in training and it is this adaptation that takes some getting used to. Your blood, nerves, muscles, energy stores and many of your cells are all changing, growing, adapting and improving during taper time – no wonder you feel funny! Don’t worry. It doesn’t last and you will be feeling fast, fit and fantastic on meet day!”

I don’t want to stick around and do the team relays at the end of meets. Why do i have to do it?

“Believe it or not, swimming is a team event. Yep – that’s right: a team event. We are a group of people with two clear goals: to best the best we can be and to enjoy every moment of what we do. Think about what orchestras can achieve when they work together. Each musician is highly talented and works hard to be the best he / she can be. Each musician can make wonderful sounds and music with their own instruments but when all the members of the orchestra come together and play in harmony, the result is magic! By working together, encouraging each other, supporting each and creating “harmony” in our team, we can also make magic – fast swimming magic! Did you know that t.e.a.m – stands for together everyone achieves magnificence?”

Why is it so important that I get plenty of rest and sleep?

“When does a tree grow? When you are planting it? When you are watering it? Or when it is resting quietly in the sunshine, absorbing light and energy and taking in water and nutrients from the soil? Training stimulates your body to grow, change, develop and improve but most of these changes and improvements take place while you rest, recover and regenerate. So the message is train hard – rest “hard” – that is, spend as much time, effort and energy on your recovery program as you do on your training program

Why do you always go on and on about streamlining and working our turns?

“Swimming is so much more than butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle. There is a fifth stroke – underwater technique and skills. You can be the fastest freestyle swimmer in the state, but never win a medal at championships because you have slow turns and sloppy under water work. So the reason i always go “on and on” is because streamlining, turns, starts, dives and underwater kicking are as important as any of the four competitive strokes. Imagine having a race car with a huge engine but it couldn’t turn, steer around corners or brake when it had to: you would never be able to drive it at full speed because of limitations in its handling and braking. Swimming is the same. You can do a lot of work improving your swimming speed, endurance and power but never realise your full potential unless you consistently work on improving and enhancing your skills”.

Why do I have practice other strokes? I only want to do backstroke.

“Several reasons. Firstly, swimming the same stroke all the time would get boring…for you and me! Second, developing skills in other strokes will often help your favourite stroke. Improving your fly can help your freestyle and backstroke underwater kick. Working on backstroke can enhance your catch and shoulder flexibility. Thirdly, it gives you options. Sometimes if you just focus on one stroke and it is not improving – what we call a performance plateau -, you can get bored, frustrated, angry and even despondent. By spending time working on skills, technique and performance in other strokes you will often find that your main stroke starts to improve as well.

Why do we do so much kicking practice? We don’t race kicking races!!

“Have a look at the great swimmers of the past 10 years; Thorpe, Coughlin, Piersol, Phelps…all great kickers. Kick is a critical part of swimming fast. Still not convinced??? Next time you train, cross your feet and swim the fastest 100 you can. Then do it again, working your legs fast and kicking with speed and power…..and feel the difference. In fact, one of the greatest swimmers of all time recently said about kick: “kicking is critical to success. I think of it like this. My arms take me out – (to half race distance) and my legs bring me back (the second half of the race). Without a strong kick to “bring me home” there would be no world records, no gold medals and no big race wins”

Why do I have to go to the gym?

“Athletes in all sports use the gym for several reasons. To get stronger, to improve flexibility, to enhance their power…there are as many reasons for going to the gym as there are stars in the sky.

However, we use the ability principle in our swim gym program:

• St-ability – we work on our abs, back muscles and core to create a strong, stable platform for swimming.
• Mob-ability – we focus on mobility so that we can get into important swimming positions for little effort.
• Flex-ability – we concentrate on flexibility so we can reduce the risk of unnecessary injury.

Swimming ability = st-ability plus mob-ability plus flex-ability!”

Thanks for your questions!

And one final thing….don’t ever be afraid to ask your coach anything. After all – your coach’s dream is the same as yours…to see you reach your potential and for you to enjoy every moment of your time in swimming!

Wayne goldsmith

© 2009 – 2010, Swim Coaching Brain. All rights reserved. This post can not be reproduced in full or in part without the expressed consent of the author Wayne Goldsmith.

Related posts:

1. The Swimming Coach Score Card – a must for all coaches (and swimmers and parents).
2. Speed development workouts – five of the best speed workout sets to have you burning up the lanes!
3. The Top Ten Technique Tips for Every Swimmer

Ten things you can do to respond to a psyche out-er:

• Smile;
• Say “thanks”;
• Shake their hand and say “I really appreciate your support”;
• Laugh and say “is that the best you can come up with?”;
• Tell them, “I am sorry. I really wasn’t listening to you”;
• Tell them an even bigger “exaggeration”;
• Walk away;
• Say, “wow – I am really lucky to be racing someone as talented and gifted as you”;
• Keep chatting with family and friends.

But the best thing of all is to……………ignore them and swim your best.

Psyche out practice – dealing with Dirty Downers.

You can make yourself Dirty Downer “proof” by being ready to perform at your best.

The best way to do this is to make sure your training and preparation is tougher and more challenging than the competition you are targeting.

Nothing gives you more confidence than going to a meet knowing you have done everything in your power to prepare fully – physically, mentally, technically and tactically for the meet.

If you are prepared to the best of your ability and you know you have done your best in training then your confidence to compete well is high then………..Confidence is your protection against the psyche out and confidence comes from a great preparation.

Positive Power Plays – PPPs – using psyche outs to your advantage:

Yes – you can be a psyche out-er: but you can do it positively and not have to put anyone else down? How?

Nothing psyches out other people like confidence! Confidence works both ways – it can make you impervious to psyche outs and it can Psyche out others. It is your secret weapon!

Confidence comes from having complete faith in your training and preparation.

Faith in your training and preparation comes from working hard, developing all the physical and mental skills that will make you ready to perform and doing the little things right every day.

Body language – psyche out with your body!

A lot of communication is non verbal, ie communication other than speech.

Your body says a lot more than you realize. Your arms, legs, head, body and face often relay messages to other people about how you really feel inside.

For example:

• Walking briskly with body tall and straight = Confidence
• Standing with hands on hips =  Readiness
• Sitting with legs apart = Relaxed
• Sitting with hands clasped behind head and legs crossed = Confidence and superiority

People pick up on your body language and will react to it.

Just as you want your words to convey confidence, strength, composure and certainty, send positive, powerful signals through your body language.

Summary:

1. A psyche out is something that can only happen to you if you let it;
2. A psyche out is the result of not being ready to do what you have to do – proper preparation produces no pressure;
3. The greatest defence against the psyche out is confidence – confidence which comes from your belief in your preparation and yourself;
4. Make training more challenging and more demanding than the competition you are targeting and you can relax and enjoy the challenges of the meet with confidence, control, composure, certainty and calm;
5. Do not be tempted to join the “Dark side” young padawan…never become a Dirty Downer – fight hard, fight fair and let your medals do the talking!

Wayne Goldsmith

© 2009 – 2010, Swim Coaching Brain. All rights reserved. This post can not be reproduced in full or in part without the expressed consent of the author Wayne Goldsmith.

Related posts:

1. Swimming Psyche Outs. How to be in control, confident and composed when faced with psyche outs (and how to use them to your advantage!!). Part One.
2. The Top Ten Technique Tips for Every Swimmer
3. How much training is right for me (or how cake baking can help you swim faster!!!)

“The highest reward for a person’s toil is not what they get for it but what they become by it.” John ruskin

How many times do you hear a football player or baseballer or basketballer say something like “It was tough out there today. The other team really psyched us out”.

Sportspeople talk about the psyche out as something someone else did to them – that someone somehow did something mystical or magical that impacted on their performance.

Lots of people talk about psyching out…………..so what is it?

What is a psyche out?

A psyche out is the words, actions and behaviors of another person trying to increase pressure on you and as a result try to negatively influence your performance.

Pressure is a misunderstood concept in sport.

• Pressure is not the race;
• It is not the crowd;
• It is not the gold medal;
• It is not the opposition.

It is something you put on yourself – it is something you create: it is something you generate.

The psyche out has one goal – to convince you to put more pressure on yourself.

Even the best swimmers will perform poorly if they lack confidence and can not deal with the pressure of competition.

Think about swimming in your home pool on a warm summer morning with your friends. It feels great. It feels relaxed. It feels comfortable.

Now imagine 50,000 people sitting in the stands around the pool watching you swim.

How do you feel? Nervous? Tense? Uncomfortable? Under pressure?

Why?

The pool hasn’t got any longer. The water hasn’t changed. The only thing that has changed is you – and your perception that swimming in front of 50,000 people is different (and more pressure) than swimming in front of a few moms and dads.

Pressure is something you generate in response to your perception of the situation.

Why do some people try to psyche out others?

Nothing impacts on performance like pressure! The main reason people try psyche out others is to artificially create pressure by increasing doubts, fears and insecurities in their opposition and try to erode their confidence.

Remember this…………Pressure places people in positions for poor performance.

Why are psyche outs such an effective strategy?

Your attitude and your confidence determine your destiny. Anything that impacts on your attitude and destroys your confidence is potentially damaging to your performance.

The psyche out is a tool some people use to attack attitude and kill confidence to get you to increase pressure on yourself.

What kinds of psyche outs are there?

Psyche outs come in two basic forms – the Dirty Downers and the Positive Power Plays.

Dirty Downers (DD) are those psyche outs which focus on bringing people down through criticism, sarcasm and down right meanness.

Positive Power Plays (PPP) are psyche outs which give you strength and confidence without putting anyone else down.

Dirty Downers: Where do they happen?

Dirty Downers can happen any where – the locker room, at the end of the pool during warm up, in the ready room, in the marshalling area, behind the blocks…….you name it, the Dirty Downer can hit you anytime…anywhere.

Who does them?

Thankfully not many swimmers are Dirty Downer Do-ers!

Dirty downer do-ers are often swimmers who lack confidence in themselves and decide their best tactic (and their best chance of winning) lies not in developing their own confidence and self belief but in destroying the confidence of others.

Make yourself psyche out proof.

Here’s the secret……………………..psyche outs only work if you let them!

It’s not the psyche outs that are the problem – it’s how you respond to them.

Dirty downer do-ers can find fault in your appearance, your clothing, your hairstyle, your club, your friends, your family, your coach, your training program, your swim gear, your body odor, your dog………but the important thing is to learn to control how you respond to the comments and criticisms.

A Dirty Downer Do-er is trying to get you to lose confidence and get you to create pressure on yourself by making you feel inadequate in comparison to them.

Forget comparing yourself to other people – compare yourself with how close you are to your own full potential.

Some of the best (and worst) psyche outs:

A few leading swimmers were asked to talk about the best and worst psyche outs they have ever heard. Here are some real beauts!

“Is that swim suit really small or have you just put on weight lately”

“Are you still swimming? I heard you gave up a long time ago”

“You look really tired – are you ok?”

“Those goggles are really old. I can’t believe you still wear them”

Regardless of the psyche out – remember the secret – the psyche out only works if you respond to the pressure it is trying to create!

What they say and what they mean………………………….

Often the Dirty Downer Do-er will give hints about how they really think and feel in their psyche outs.

If they are feeling a bit flat, tired and fatigued, they might try to hit you with a “hey you look tired and worn out” comment.

Listen to what they say but also listen to what they mean:

For example:

They say: “I have been doing 10 sessions a week and I am in the best shape of my career” .

They mean: “I am not really sure how i am going to go today”

They say “We’re swimming through the meet. We’re not even tapering for this meet”

They mean: “I need an excuse in case I don’t swim well today”

They say:“We’ve just done a hell week”

They mean: “I am really tired”

They say: “We’re doing 50 miles a week”

They mean: “I am really tired”

They say: “I’ve just done a huge pb in the gym”

They mean: “I need to make you think i am stronger than i really am”

So………what do you do when a Dirty Downer Do-er strikes??????????????

Read Part Two later this week which starts with Ten things you can do to respond to a psyche out-er!

Wayne Goldsmith

© 2009 – 2010, Swim Coaching Brain. All rights reserved. This post can not be reproduced in full or in part without the expressed consent of the author Wayne Goldsmith.

Related posts:

1. Swimming Psyche Outs. How to be in control, confident and composed when faced with psyche outs (and how to use them to your advantage!!). Part Two.
2. Talent ID in Swimming: the Talent Pool!
3. Multi-Eventing in Swimming: How being a M.E.S.S. makes swimming a lot more fun.

1. If you want to swim breaststroke – you have to swim breaststroke

We have all been there – sitting behind a breaststroker, trying to overtake them, trying to get around their wide kicks and slow speed. Frustrating!!!

However, to get good at breaststroke – you have to swim breaststroke! That is to say, if you want to swim fast breaststroke in competition you have to train to swim fast breaststroke.

Many swimmers wonder why their breaststroke does not improve. Often the reason is simple…they don’t swim it enough in training.

How often do you do a full session of breaststroke? That’s breaststroke warm up, breaststroke kick, breaststroke pull, breaststroke drills, breaststroke main set, breaststroke starts / turns / finishes.

Many breaststrokers find themselves doing a few breaststroke drills in warm up, a few 50’s of breaststroke kick and then freestyle or medley main sets. Now often this is because of crowded lanes and the need to get the work done – particularly during main sets – but there is an old saying, “train the way you want to race”.

Allocate two to three sessions per week of nothing but breaststroke, breaststroke specific sessions, and especially timed breaststroke main sets. Then, watch how much you improve!

2. Think shape not stroke:

There are as many views and opinions on what constitutes perfect breaststroke technique as there are swimmers who swim it and coaches who coach it!

Don’t think too much about the stroke. The basics you learn in stroke school or in your junior squad program will take you a long way.

Instead think Shape.

There are three key shapes in breaststroke:

Torpedo Shape – At the end of recovery with hands and arms stretched forward, legs squeezed together, toes pointed and everything is tight.  Although this shape is only held for a fraction of a second, it is important to extend yourself to be in this shape after every single stroke.

Cobra Shape – After the torpedo shape, you move into the cobra shape. This is when your legs are still long behind you, your arms are pulling in towards your chest at maximum strength position and your head is up looking directly ahead at the end of the pool (and you are taking an in breath).

Frog Shape – Directly following the cobra shape comes the frog shape. This is a shape that you would be familiar with when learning the breaststroke kick. Your feet are close to your backside and turned outwards with your toes pointing towards the sides of the pool. Your hands are under your chin/chest, about to push forward to regain that torpedo shape while your chest, hips and knees are making a long slightly outwards curved shape (hips are extended, not flexed).

3. Don’t over think or over coach breaststroke.

In keeping with the Shape not Stroke concept – don’t over think (or over coach) breaststroke. Learn the basics well, learn to do them consistently in training and learn to maintain them at high speed and under pressure in competition.

Too many swimmers (and coaches) catch the PBA disease: Paralysis by Analysis. That means that they spend too much time and energy getting breaststroke “just right” and are constantly tweaking, fiddling and adjusting timing, rating, pull width, kick depth, head position etc etc.

Once you get a good basic breaststroke – Leave it Alone.

Keep it simple. Think Shape.

4. Long and strong / long and strong / long and strong.

Once you have a good concept of Shape, focus on long powerful kicks and strong powerful arms: or long and strong for short.

The critical shapes in breaststroke – the Torpedo shape and the Frog shape allow maximum distance per stroke from a position of maximum kick propulsion: maximum propulsive force at the point of least resistance.

Reach long – (torpedo Shape) and kick strong – (frog Shape)

The long and strong becomes a mantra and helps to develop rhythm in the overall stroke: reach long / kick strong, reach long / kick strong, reach long / kick strong etc etc.

5. Small head movements and all of them directed forward.

In all swimming strokes (and just about everything else you do), your body follows your head. If your head is moving fast and excessively up and down, chances are in breaststroke, your body will also be moving up and down excessively creating too much drag.

In breaststroke, small head movements can help when there is too much height at the breath point and therefore not enough forward propulsion.

Try thinking Forward rather than Up and Down, i.e. push your chin forward to breathe then gently push your forehead forward back into the water. The total distance your head needs to move throughout the stroke is about 3-5 inches – the distance between your chin and forehead.

Whether breaststroke is the best stroke – you can decide. It is certainly one of the best four strokes and a stroke that can be fun, enjoyable and rewarding to swim.

Wayne Goldsmith and Helen Morris

© 2009 – 2010, Swim Coaching Brain. All rights reserved. This post can not be reproduced in full or in part without the expressed consent of the author Wayne Goldsmith.

Related posts:

1. The Swimming Coach Score Card – a must for all coaches (and swimmers and parents).
2. The Top Ten Technique Tips for Every Swimmer
3. Flying into Fly: Five Tips for Swimming Brilliant Butterfly.

© 2009 – 2010, Swim Coaching Brain. All rights reserved. This post can not be reproduced in full or in part without the expressed consent of the author Wayne Goldsmith.

Related posts:

1. The Top Ten Technique Tips for Every Swimmer
2. Five Breaststroke Essentials for all Swimmers and Coaches
3. Motivation: 50 Tricks, Tips and Techniques or How to find the fire when the fire isn’t firing!!!

1. Set your self a daily goal to improve by one tenth of one inch. Anyone can improve one tenth of an inch each day. Over a week that’s almost an inch. That’s about 4 inches a month. That’s about 3 feet a year…..and 12 feet every Olympic cycle.
2. If you are in a pace line (i.e. a line of swimmers) chase the feet of the person in front of you.
3. If you are leading the pace line, imagine the person behind you is a shark or crocodile and you need to make sure you stay ahead of them!
4. Promise yourself a small gift or reward for improving your skills and drills – reward excellence in technique – technique is the key to swimming success.
5. Encourage other swimmers – the better your team mates perform – the more it will lift you and your performance – “a rising tide lifts all the boats”.
6. Keep a training diary and write in it three things you improved each day.
7. Keep a PB record sheet on your wall. Watch how you improve over time.
8. Remember you are special. How many people are prepared to get out of bed at 5 am, train hard and balance school, swimming and life the way you do?
9. Link your seasonsby making your short course PBs this season your long course PBs next season.
10. Make it your aim to have your 100 yard kick time no more than 10 seconds slower than your 100 yard PB swim time.
11. Reward PBs with things that will help you do more PBs. For example, if you do a PB, reward yourself with a copy of the latest swimming magazine.
12. Understand what motivates you – not anyone else – what motivates you! If you are motivated by winning, then do everything in your power to prepare to win. If you are motivated by learning new skills and challenging yourself, do it. The key to motivation is knowing what it is that motivates you.
13. Make a PARTNER PROMISE. Find someone in the team who wants to swim fast and make a commitment to them. For example, make a commitment that you will help each other achieve your goals. Each session say something positive to each other, encourage each other, meet at the pool early and do some extra work together, support each other through the tough times. Sometimes knowing you have made a commitment to help someone else is a great motivator for you.
14. Play imagination games in training like imagining the final lap of every set is the final lap of the 2012 Olympic final and all you need to do is work hard for a few more strokes and you will win the gold medal and break the world record. These imagination games are great fun and very motivating.
15. Make up some unusual, fun and weird goals that mean something only to you. Like how many times can you say “sausages” on a single breath or what’s the weirdest stroke you can come up with. Having fun is the best motivation of all.
16. Find a fast beat song that you enjoy and play it before you get in the water. “Feel the rhythm” and the beat when you are swimming and feel it lift you when you get tired.
17. Do your favourite stretches that make you feel good – as you start to stretch, you will find you begin to relax into the right mind set for fast swimming.
18. Imagine you are finishing a race when you pass someone in the next lane. Thinking about it will ignite the competitive fires!
19. Think about how heavy you thought the weight was when you first started doing gym.  How much heavier are you lifting now?
20. How many push ups / sit ups / chin ups do you do now? How many did you used to do? Be proud of all your success. Enjoy the journey.
21. Think of the other swimmers that you have beaten recently that used to beat you. Give yourself permission to be proud of your resilience, your toughness, your perseverance and your character.
22. Imagine how good you will feel when you go home, have dinner and curl up in bed tonight? – Now work hard so that comes quickly!
23. Challenge yourself to turn (or start or finish) better than ever. Before you know it you will feel better and motivated to train hard.
24. Think of each lap as an opportunity: an opportunity to improve in an area of your swimming, which will bypass you if you don’t take it.  Remember, someone somewhere IS taking that opportunity.
25. Ask a top swimmer (or successful athlete in any sport) what they do to stay motivated. Learn from them. Copy them.
26. Work hard – sometimes not thinking about it – and just doing it – is all the motivation you need.
27. Do the old NEVER ENDING STORY routine. Make up a funny story and tell someone in your lane a small piece of it between repeats. See how long you can make the story. It really motivates you to get to the end of the pool fast (and start telling the “never ending” story).
28. Get some support!!! Talk to some friends about motivation and every day support each other, encourage each other – motivate each other.
29. Put some photos of Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin and other swimming greats up on your wall. Imagine about what they would be doing, what they would be thinking and how they would be training each day.
30. Finish off one task every day. Nothing motivates you like finishing something! Might be something as simple as homework. Or a chore at home. Just finish something.
31. Shave down in training – no reason – it just feels great.
32. Stay positive. Everyone has tough days – the difference is in how you allow the tough days make you feel. Tough times fade…..tough people never do.
33. Say one positive, encouraging thing to every person in the team: coaches, swimmers, parents, pool attendants – everyone. You will be surprised how motivating others will motivate you.
34. Believe anything is possible – never, ever stop believing that.
35. Buy yourself a new, fast swimming costume.
36. Switch your brain on to something else. Focus on improving in another area of your life – school, music, another sport……..success breeds success.
37. Remember the three best things that ever happened to you. Just the thought of these amazing things will change the way you look at life.
38. Put up motivation quotes all over the place. Some good places are next to your alarm clock, on your swim bag, on the top of the bathroom mirror and in your training diary.
39. Get to training early and motivate some of the younger swimmers in your club. They look up to you and admire you the same way you look up to and admire older and more successful swimmers. Being a role model for others will trigger some really great, positive motivation messages in your brain.
40. Be the first. For example, get to the pool first on January 1^st and be the first in the team to swim a lap, a mile, two miles, five miles and so on. Striving to be the first is a great driving force and very motivating.
41. Try a new sports drink. Or sports bar. Or a new all natural diet. Motivate your “inside”.
42. Do something everyday that is “impossible”. Try kicking 50 metres underwater at maximum speed. Or sprinting 60 metres on a single breathe. Or aiming to do a PR from a wall push off (i.e. no dive). Keep trying one impossible thing each day and sooner or later the impossible becomes reality.
43. Form a triathlon team with two friends at school who cycle and run and enter in a local triathlon.
44. Lead the team cheers at your next meet. Even better, get some of your team together and write some new team cheers….and lead them at the next meet.
45. Allow yourself to be proud of you. Look in the mirror and take time to realise what an amazing person you are.
46. Do something away from the pool to help your swimming. Take an aerobics class to improve your fitness. Do a martial arts course to build strength, balance and confidence. Take up dancing to improve rhythm and co-ordination.
47. Play a counting game. Swimmers are great at these. Count tiles, laps, turns, breaths, strokes…………….you know the drill.
48. Have repeat or two in each set which is PERFECT. If you are swimming 10 x 50 always make the second, fifth, eighth and tenth ones perfect.
49. Challenge someone much faster than you to a race at the end of training. Nothing motivates like a real challenge.
50. Smile. It is impossible to smile and not feel better.

Wayne and Helen

© 2009 – 2010, Swim Coaching Brain. All rights reserved. This post can not be reproduced in full or in part without the expressed consent of the author Wayne Goldsmith.

Related posts:

1. Flying into Fly: Five Tips for Swimming Brilliant Butterfly.
2. The Top Ten Technique Tips for Every Swimmer
3. The Ten Myths of Swimming.