Swim Coaching Brain » Mental Skills and Attitudes

Getting Mentally Tough (or How to be Tougher, Rougher, Meaner and Nastier than your Opposition while still smiling and being a generally nice person)!

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 23:24:19 +0000

On the day I was born, the nurses all gathered ’round And they gazed in wide wonder, at the joy they had found The head nurse spoke up, and she said leave this one alone She could tell right away, that I was bad to the bone Bad to the bone Bad to the bone

(George Thorogood)

In this old classic rock and roll song, George Thorogood is telling the world he is “bad to the bone” – that he is tough, rough, mean and nasty and you had better not get in his way.

A lot of people think that mental toughness in swimming is a bit like this: being mentally tough means being rough, tough, mean, angry, rude, crude, nasty and that you enjoy bashing, bullying and belittling your opposition.

Guess what….real mental toughness is the exact opposite!

Mental toughness…the old way: training the body to train the mind.

The old way of developing mental toughness was simple.

Swimmers trained and trained and trained…then trained some more.

In the process, they became fitter, stronger and physically “tougher” than their opposition and being physically tougher it was believed they would also be mentally tougher.

We trained the body to train the mind. It didn’t really matter if technique fell apart, or if breathing was uncontrolled or skills like turns were sloppy: just work and work and work until you were physically capable of anything.

There were two fundamental flaws in this approach:

Not all swimmers were capable of completing huge volumes of training and in many cases the long, hard training programs induced illness and injury
It assumed that mental toughness would flow from having the confidence of having completed a long, hard, physical preparation.

Mental toughness…the new way: training the mind to train the body.

The biggest breakthrough in our understanding of mental toughness has come from the realisation that the mind is the master of the body.

Research into the mind-body interaction has consistently demonstrated what many swimmers and coaches have suspected: what the mind believes…the body can achieve.

We also know that with the right mental skills training, the mind is capable of amazing things and can drive the body to achieve swimming performances that cannot be explained by the mechanics of blood, heart, lungs and muscle alone.

In addition, our old thinking on swimming as a sport was that it was a physiology driven activity, i.e. the person who was physically best prepared would win.

We now know that success in swimming comes from the integration of three critical aspects of sports performance:

Physiology: physical factors like muscle, blood, lungs, heart, tendons etc.
Biomechanics: technical factors like stroke technique, stroke length, stroke rate and skills like dives, starts, turns and finishes
Psychology: mental factors like self-belief, concentration, focusing, imagery and relaxation.

In practical terms, this integrated model of swimming performance looks like this:

Thinking differently means swimming differently.

Actions don’t happen by themselves.

They start with thoughts. Thoughts become words – (even words you say to yourself). And those words become actions.

Swimming differently means thinking differently.

For example: A swimmer is in the middle of a really hard, challenging training set. She thinks, “Man this is really tough. But I will push harder and fight harder and get through this”.

With all we now know about mental toughness and how the mind and body work together in pain, pressure and fatigue situations, more effective thinking could be: “Focus on breathing and staying long and loose and relaxed in the water. Focus on each stroke. Feel my hand enter the water and begin to pull. Notice the feeling of pressure on my fingers and hand as I accelerate my arm through the water. Feel the bubbles stream from my nose and mouth as I breathe out”.

We used to talk about mental toughness in terms of “fight” – now it is all about flow.

We thought it was all about being brave – now we encourage breathing.

We believed the secret to mental toughness was to get tougher – now we know it about relaxation: the faster you want to go, the more relaxed you have to be.

Swimming Situation	Mentally Tough Behaviours: The OLD Way….	Mentally Tough Behaviours:The NEW Way….
Training in the Pool	Do as much training as you possibly could believing that the more training you do, the fitter you got and the tougher you became.	Execute everything you do with a focus on relaxation, excellence and maintaining perfect technique and skills under pain, fatigue and pressure situations.
Training in the Gym	Push and drive yourself as long and as hard as possible and do as many repeats as you can.	Integrate your mind and body in all dry-land training activities and focus on staying relaxed and composed, while maintaining great technique in pain, pressure and fatigue situations.
Before Racing	Jump up and down, make noise and try to psyche out your opposition by showing “bravery”, “courage” and “intimidation”.	Adopt some “mindfulness” techniques like slow, deep, breathing and allowing thoughts, emotions and feelings to flow in and out of you without reacting to them or judging them.
During the Race	As the race goes longer and things get tougher, grit your teeth, work harder and fight hard to the wall.	As the race goes longer and things get tougher, focus on breathing, relaxation and maintaining excellence in stroke technique and skills without effort or conscious thought.

Table 1: Mental toughness in swimming: comparing the old way of thinking about mental toughness with some new ideas and better ways of learning how to be mentally tough.

A new direction for mental toughness and swimming: Swimming and Mindfulness:

Mindfulness is a relatively “new” technique in swimming performance psychology. (It has only been around for 2-3 thousand years in the practice of meditation). It has been described as bringing one’s complete attention to the present experience on a moment-to-moment basis.

Increasingly mental skills practitioners and coaches are looking at mindfulness as a technique to help swimmers manage their mind around training and competition.

Mindfulness can be learnt relatively quickly and once practiced can help swimmers deal with the “moment to moment” challenges they face when training hard and racing fast.

Summary:

Being mentally tough has nothing to do with anger, being mean, feeling nasty or fighting: it’s keeping calm, composed and in control when things get hard;
Anyone can be mentally tough when it doesn’t matter. Being mentally tough in the first three repeats of a 20 x 100 metres training set doesn’t really take a lot of doing. Being mentally tough by maintaining great technique, skills and breathing control when doing the final three repeats – and even asking the coach for one or two additional repeats….now that’s mentally tough;
Don’t confuse physical toughness with mental toughness (although they are related). Just training hard physically is not enough! You need to integrate MIND AND BODY in training and practice so that your ability to stay relaxed and maintain technical excellence in pain, pressure and fatigue conditions is enhanced;
Mental toughness is a skill and like any swimming skill, it needs to be practiced every session, every workout, every day;
Mindfulness is an exciting new direction in mental skills training for competitive swimmers and is potentially the greatest leap forward in our ability to enhance mental toughness since George Thorogood’s immortal words!

Wayne Goldsmith

Super Starts: How to get faster sooner and leave your competitors languishing in the slow lane.

Wayne Goldsmith — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:56:54 +0000

Speed. Speed. Speed. And more speed.

It’s what swimming is all about.

There are no gold medals for the person who can swim the most number of 100s or the slowest 400 or even for the swimmer who has the highest heart rate.

Winning in swimming is about one thing and one thing alone….speed. You swim faster than your competitors…you win. Simple as that.

So if swimming is all about speed, what is speed all about?

Here are four really important things for every swimmer who wants to swim faster to think about:

In sprint swimming, most of the time it is the person who gets to their top speed in the shortest time who wins the race;
Getting to top speed in the shortest time means having a brilliant first 15 metres;
Having a brilliant first 15 metres means having an outstanding dive and underwater kick;
And having an outstanding dive and underwater kick means having a Super Start!!!!!

So….that means if you want to win more sprint races, you need to have a SUPER START and a brilliant first fifteen metres!

The First Fifteen is the critical Fifteen!

For a sprinter, where every fraction of a second can mean the difference between success and failure, what happens in the first fifteen metres often determines the outcome of the entire race.

Want to know how to develop a FFFFF – Fantastically Fabulously Fast First Fifteen?

There are five starting “zones”: five places where you physically and mentally ensure that your first 15 metres are so fast it looks like you are the Space Shuttle wearing a swim-suit!

Let’s work through the Five Starting Zones – The S.T.A.R.T. Zones:

STARTING ZONE 1 “SELF”: In the stands;
STARTING ZONE 2 “TAKE CONTROL”: In the marshaling area;
STARTING ZONE 3 “ATTENTION”: Behind the blocks;
STARTING ZONE 4 “READY”: On the blocks;
STARTING ZONE 5 “TAKE-OFF”: The first 15!

STARTING ZONE 1: In the stands;

Your Super Start really starts in the stands…well before you ever think about getting wet.

This is the “Self” zone – the moment when you put yourself and your needs first.

The “self” zone begins and ends with one question, “What do I need to do right now to make sure I am ready to race?”

For some swimmers that means stretching. For others that means jumping up and down. For some swimmers this “self” zone means putting a towel over their heads and having some quiet time with their own thoughts and emotions.

Whatever “self” means to you, Zone 1 is all about switching your brain on to the business of fast swimming.

Think about the Space Shuttle.

The computers are all on line and ready to go long before the engines begin to fire up to blast off into orbit.

Zone 1 is where you switch your “computer” on, get it on line and begin the countdown towards take off!

STARTING ZONE 2: In the marshaling area “TAKE CONTROL”;

Once you get called to the marshaling area, it is all about you taking control.

Taking control of yourself, taking control of the marshaling area, and taking control of your competitors….Starting Zone 2 is about taking control and making the race your own.

Taking control in Starting Zone 2 comes from the two Big-Bs of pre-race management:

Breathing: Breathe slowly, deeply and with purpose. As a guide aim for 5 breathes per minute. That’s four seconds to breathe in, four seconds to fully breathe out and allow yourself four restful seconds of relaxation before breathing in again;
Body language: Moving into and around the marshaling area with confidence, calm and control: head up, shoulders back and using strong, slow, deliberate movements….make it look like you own the marshaling area;

This is what real “psyching-out” is all about. You don’t have to say anything. You don’t have to put anyone else down.

Through controlled breathing and strong body language in the marshaling area you can “blow the minds” of most of your competitors and you will have defeated many of them mentally without the need to even get in the water and race.

STARTING ZONE 3: Behind the blocks “ATTENTION”;

Behind the blocks in Starting Zone 3, the focus now shifts to “attention” – that is, paying attention to the things that matter, paying no attention to the things that don’t and…..knowing the difference!

The key here is to understand the difference between Thoughts, Words and Actions.

Most swimmers will wait until their thoughts become actions, e.g. uncontrollable nervousness, before they do anything about them.

In the Attention Zone (Starting Zone 3), the aim is to recognise your thoughts but only pay attention to the ones that can help you swim fast: letting all the others just flow through your mind without taking hold.

For example:

THOUGHT: “I am feeling really nervous”.

RESPONSE IN STARTING ZONE 3: “I note I am feeling nervous” – but that’s where it ends. You “hear” the thought, you recognise the thought, you note the thought but just as soon as you notice it, you allow it to drift off without paying it any real attention.

This ability to pay attention to thoughts without judgement and without allowing them to become words or actions is the cornerstone of real
mental strength and emotional control for every swimmer.

STARTING ZONE 4: On the blocks “READY”;

Starting Zone 4 is the “ready zone”: on the blocks and ready to go. The three keys to success in the “ready zone” are P.R.E:

Position (i.e. body position, head position, feet position, hand position): Being in the best possible starting position (which you would have practiced over and over and over in training of course);
Relaxation: (continuing the controlled breathing you started in Zone 2 and the thoughts management technique you started in Zone 3);
Energy: Feeling connected to all the energy in your body.

Starting Zone is the connection zone: the zone where your mind and your body are connected together as one: a unified swimming owerhouse about to unleash everything you’ve got with power and precision.

STARTING ZONE 5 “TAKE OFF”: The first 15!

Bang! The gun has gone and the race is on!

The most important parts of Starting Zone 5 are the “three kicks”:

The first kick: Is the kick you do under the water after your dive. In fly, back and free that means fast, strong, powerful, explosive kicks to maintain the speed from your dive. In breast that means completing the underwater pull and kicks with flow, power and rhythm;
The second kick: Is kicking your body deliberately and with purpose towards the surface.
The third kick: And the most important kick of all is the kick you do to kick yourself into your first stroke on the surface: the breakout!

Speed over the first fifteen metres comes down to a simple equation:

How speed can I generate as I leave the blocks PLUS How much speed can I maintain under the water before I start stroking?

Or:

FAST FIFTEEN = Maximise Speed off the blocks AND Minimise Speed lost underwater.

If you got it right in Starting Zones 1-4, then Starting Zone 5 will take care itself!

After that, you’re on your own…but, if you have worked your way through the Five Starting Zones, and have got to your top speed faster than anyone else in the pool you have given yourself every possible opportunity for a great race, a fast time and a winning performance.

Summary:

In sprint swimming, the first 15 metres often determines the outcome of the entire race: the swimmer who gets to their top speed first most of the time will win!
The start is not just what happens on the blocks. The start begins in the marshaling area, continues to the zone behind the blocks, on to the blocks and over the first fifteen metres in the water;
Start the way you want to finish: if you want to finish first…start fast and go, go, go.

Wayne Goldsmith

Twenty Tips for a Tip Top Taper!

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:42 +0000

: Ladder in the sky from Crestock Stock Images

Tapering is fun, it’s fantastic and above all its about feeling fast fast fast.

It is the time when you feel light, loose and long in the water as your body regenerates and recharges after weeks of hard work.

And above all tapering is one thing – one simple thing that everyone already has in their possession but it is one thing most people use very often….common sense.

Think about it this way.

Imagine you were telling someone – someone who knew nothing about swimming, “I have been training for months and months for a big Meet coming up in two weeks”.

And then you told them, “And for the next two weeks I am going to change lots of things, get little or no rest, stress out a lot and worry about things that may not even happen, eat strange foods that I have never eaten before, buy some different swimsuits to wear on the day without trialling them and I will not spend anytime practicing exactly what I want to do at the Meet”.

They would probably tell you, “Well good luck with all that and here’s the number of a good psychiatrist!”

So how do you have a tip top taper?

Here’s twenty tips to turn tapering into triumph:

Try it before you use it! It is really tempting to buy a new suit or a new pair of goggles or some new sporting supplements to give you a special something extra for the big Meet. But time and time again, swimmers who have worked hard and trained hard for a Meet blow it all by reaching for a miracle over the counter super swimming supplement. Find out what works for you and keep doing it;
Don’t add anything new. Another taper trap is to add more work in the belief that if some training is good, then more will work even better. Taper is the time for the four Rs – Rest, Regenerate, Recover and Race - not the four Ms – More – More – More – More;
Work fast, work smart. Tip three is an important one. Taper is the time for speed: training fast to race fast. Once you start tapering the golden rules are: Decrease training volume but maintain training frequency and training intensity or if you like train fast, train often but train less;
No sleep-ins. Lots of swimmers (and their parents) fall for this one. Swimmers will often try to scam a few mornings off during taper by telling their coach they need the rest to swim at their best. Some swimmers – you know who you are – will even get their parents to push the coach for some morning sleep ins. Again the golden rules are….train fast, train often, train less;
New suit – old suit. It feels great to race in a nice new, fast suit but a new suit only works if you have done all you can do in training to make it go fast. A slow driver in a Ferrari is still a slow driver;
It’s all mental. Racing is 90% mental. So practice “mental tapering” as well as physical tapering. During your taper take time to relax, to do things you enjoy, get plenty of sleep, read a book, watch some TV and taper your mind as well as your body;
Dives and starts. During taper – more than any other time – every dive is a race dive – every start is a race start…..every dive is a race dive – every start is a race start……..;
Turns. And you guessed it…every turn is a race turn;
Underwater practice. To go fast above the water, practice going fast under the water. Practice the three big kicks of underwater speed at every opportunity during taper: Kicking fast under water in streamline, kicking fast to the surface and kicking explosively to the surface for the breakout stroke;
Easy speed. A feature of a great taper is easy speed – being able to move fast with little effort. ”Easy-speed” comes as your body recovers and regenerates as the training load decreases. Enjoy this feeling – it is what all the training is about;
Practice several warm ups. Practice your ideal pre race warm up several times during the taper. Be very comfortable with it – know it backwards and try to rehearse it in conditions which are as close as possible to actual race conditions. And practice a few “what-if” warm ups. “What if we get to the practice pool late and I only get five minutes to warm up” or “What if for some reason I can’t do a pool warm up and have to warm up on dry land?”: plans and back-up plans and back-up plans for back-up plans;
Practice several swim downs. And again….”what if they change the race schedule at the last minute and I don’t get a chance to do a full swim down?”. Don’t make the mistake of practicing for a perfect day – be prepared to deal with whatever can (and will) go wrong;
Fast Fuel. Eat “fast” foods – no, not the kind you usually eat. Plenty of fresh fruit, salads, vegetables and quality, nutritious, healthy food. You can’t put low performance fuel in a high performance machine and hope it will race fast;
Swimming bag check list. Make a check list of everything you will need on race day – goggles, cap, suit and back up suit, food, drink, something to read, two towels….write it down, tick it off as you pack your bag and leave nothing to chance;
Spares of everything. Ever had a pair goggles break on race day? Ever lost a suit? Your swim bag should be like Noah’s Arc…everything in two by two;
Don’t do anything dumb…Taper is not the time to take up bungee jumping, sky-diving or professional stunt work;
Relax. Take it easy. You’ve worked hard. You deserve to relax;
Recover. Help your body to help you by committing to a daily recovery schedule. Eat good foods. Drink plenty of water. Do some light stretching and most importantly……….;
Sleep. Sleep is the most under-rated but most important recovery tool at your disposal. And..an extra hour of sleep each night means an extra night’s sleep each week. If you have a three week taper, then by going to bed an hour earlier each night, you get three extra nights sleep to recover and be ready to race like you have never raced before;
Practise everything that can be practised. Perfect practice = perfect performance. As the Meet gets closer, make every aspect of your practice as perfect as the performance you want on race day.

It’s all mental – it really is.

Believe. Believe. Believe. It all starts with what you believe. Think fast, train hard, taper smart, race brilliantly!

The performance equation…..looks something like this:

A great training season plus a consistently professional attitude in and out of the pool plus a well designed and executed taper = Success.

It all adds up!

Wayne Goldsmith

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Motivation: 50 Tricks, Tips and Techniques or How to find the fire when the fire isn’t firing!!!

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:39 +0000

: The swimmer from Crestock Stock Photo

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.
If you are in a pace line (i.e. a line of swimmers) chase the feet of the person in front of you.
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!
Promise yourself a small gift or reward for improving your skills and drills – reward excellence in technique – technique is the key to swimming success.
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”.
Keep a training diary and write in it three things you improved each day.
Keep a PB record sheet on your wall. Watch how you improve over time.
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?
Link your seasonsby making your short course PBs this season your long course PBs next season.
Make it your aim to have your 100 yard kick time no more than 10 seconds slower than your 100 yard PB swim time.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Imagine you are finishing a race when you pass someone in the next lane. Thinking about it will ignite the competitive fires!
Think about how heavy you thought the weight was when you first started doing gym. How much heavier are you lifting now?
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.
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.
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!
Challenge yourself to turn (or start or finish) better than ever. Before you know it you will feel better and motivated to train hard.
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.
Ask a top swimmer (or successful athlete in any sport) what they do to stay motivated. Learn from them. Copy them.
Work hard – sometimes not thinking about it – and just doing it – is all the motivation you need.
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).
Get some support!!! Talk to some friends about motivation and every day support each other, encourage each other – motivate each other.
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.
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.
Shave down in training – no reason – it just feels great.
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.
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.
Believe anything is possible – never, ever stop believing that.
Buy yourself a new, fast swimming costume.
Switch your brain on to something else. Focus on improving in another area of your life – school, music, another sport……..success breeds success.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Try a new sports drink. Or sports bar. Or a new all natural diet. Motivate your “inside”.
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.
Form a triathlon team with two friends at school who cycle and run and enter in a local triathlon.
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.
Allow yourself to be proud of you. Look in the mirror and take time to realise what an amazing person you are.
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.
Play a counting game. Swimmers are great at these. Count tiles, laps, turns, breaths, strokes…………….you know the drill.
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.
Challenge someone much faster than you to a race at the end of training. Nothing motivates like a real challenge.
Smile. It is impossible to smile and not feel better.

Wayne and Helen

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Twenty Things to do NOW if you want to Win Gold at the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:38 +0000

: London Big Ben Tower from Crestock Stock Photo

1. Start training – today!

Every day – every session – every lap is an opportunity to improve something: your skills, your speed, your fitness, your technique, your pacing, your breathing control….get in there and start working towards London…. today.

2. Believe anything is possible.

Imagine Phelps on the blocks about to swim the first heat of his first event in Beijing. Can you imagine him thinking, “Wow – I don’t think I can do this. It’s going to be too hard. I will never beat the “Sptiz” record”. No way! Winning in London in 2012 means believing you can do it right now!

3. Challenge yourself – everyday

To win in London, you need to be thinking like, acting like, working like a London Olympian now. Many swimmers think they will “build” their performance over the next four years. In fact, it’s the reverse. Think, act, behave and be like the London Gold Medallist now.

4. Get enthusiastic

Be excited. Get loud. Be passionate. This is your dream. Get enthusiastic and make it happen.

5. And then infect some others with your enthusiasm

Attitudes are contagious. Is yours worth catching? Nothing will help you stay focused on achieving your dream more than the company of other people who are just as excited about it as you are.

6. Do some research – understand where your event (and the sport is going)

What’s the current world record in your event? What was it five years ago? Who won the Gold Medal in your event in Atlanta? In Sydney? In Athens? In Beijing? Learn as much as you can about the history of your event to help you understand what you may have to do to win in the future.

7. Improve your skills

There is no doubt that starts, turns, dives, finishes and underwater work have improved at an incredible rate in the past ten years – can you imagine where they will be in four years? Work on your skills every day. If you are swimming 50 – 100 – 200 metres make skills practice the core of your every workout, i.e. skills first….swimming strokes second! It’s that important!

8. Stay on top of changes in equipment, etc

Make sure you know exactly what is happening with changes in training equipment, supplements, training ideas, changes to suits, etc – do not be left “on the blocks” in the technology race.

9. Find a coach who wants to win in London as much (or more) than you do

You will need a coach to help you achieve your London goals. Find one who is passionate about winning – and wants to win in London. Together you will be unstoppable.

10. Plan

“Don’t fail to plan….you know the rest. You need to put in place a London 2012 plan. Include training, competitions and recovery time and don’t forget important stuff like school terms, exams, etc.

11. Be as committed and professional out of the water as you are in the water

When you are in the water – train like a London gold medal winner! But also eat like, sleep like, think like, dress like and recover like a Gold Medallist. The way you do anything is the way you do everything.

12. Get your family to come along for the ride

Ian Thorpe’s mum! Michael Phelp’s mum! How important are mums, dads, brothers, sisters, grandmas, granddads and friends to swimming success? Priceless.

13. Find something else – other than swimming – to be passionate about

The best swimmers can “switch off” – turn off their minds and enjoy other activities. Being able to switch off refreshes your mind, re-energises your spirit and re-vitalises your body. Get passionate about another sport or reading or going to the movies or music…anything you enjoy doing. What you do when you are not swimming – can often help your swimming as much as training or racing or going to the gym.

14. Improve your underwater stuff

Underwater kick is now the fifth stroke. (There is no doubt at some stage somebody will suggest underwater races). But until then think about what you do underwater as just as important as what you do above water.

15. Learn to deal with tough times

No Olympic campaign is easy. Sometimes you will be injured. Occasionally you will lose races. Often your muscles will be sore and you will always be tired. Learn to deal with the tough times and come through them tougher and stronger than ever.

16. Get tough physically

With the introduction of Semi finals you need to be able to race fast more often. Chances are you may have to go close to the world record in London just to make the semi finals and then break it to get an inside lane in the final!

When training gets tough – learn to love it. Enjoy the “burn”. The price you pay to be the best in the world is the hard work you do each day.

17. And even tougher mentally

What do all Olympic champions have in common? They are tough under pressure and calm and composed at competitions. Spend just five minutes a day working on your mental skills: relaxation, focus and control over emotional stress and you can do anything.

18. Clearly understand who you are.

Spend some time really thinking about who you are, why you want to win in the Olympics, what your strengths and weaknesses are and what you need to do to improve to be the best you can be. In the end, you have to do it your way – but you need to understand what your way is!

19. Race regularly

Embrace the race! There are opportunities to learn lessons through racing that you just cannot learn in training. Learn to love racing. Chase opportunities to challenge yourself in meets. Seek to race faster swimmers to extend yourself. Embrace the race!

20. Learn a lesson a day

Start a diary. Write down one lesson you learnt today. And every day, write down a new lesson – a lesson a day. Over the next four years you will have enough lessons to win ten gold medals.

Remember – mistakes are not fatal– mistakes are opportunities for motivated, positive people to learn, improve and progress.

So good luck in 2012 – I will be the first guy to come down and shake your hand when you succeed.

Wayne Goldsmith

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Mental Skills Training in Swimming – a new approach.

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:37 +0000

: colored brain from Crestock Stock Photography

What is your experience with sports psychology and mental skills training?

Is it meeting a psychologist or mental skills professional at an office and talking quietly about attitudes, anxieties and ambitions?

Or is it having a mental skills professional come to the training centre and do a “motivation” lecture or a mental skills training session on relaxation, focusing, visualisation / imagery and attitude?

Time to take mental skills training out of the office, away from the training room and into the pool.

How?

The Fourth Variable - Engagement:

In a recent post on my www.sportscoachingbrain.com site I talked about the fourth aspect of designing and developing training programs: Engagement.

In the article I suggested that in traditional programs, coaches write workouts in terms of the “big three” physiology variables: Volume of training (how much to do), Intensity of training (how hard to work) and Frequency of training (how often to do it).

However, this is old thinking…because it assumes that training adaptations are all about physical training and exercise physiology. Coaches and athletes know that there is another key determinant of training adaption…engagement - (how engaged the athlete’s mind is in the training activity).

The central argument is this. No matter how well designed the set and workout might be, it is the athlete’s approach and attitude to completing the workout that largely determines the outcome.

A brilliantly designed training set, sculptured perfectly in terms of heart rate, speed, volume and lactate levels, will not be performed optimally unless the swimmers have engaged in the set and are committed to performing the set to their full potential.

Competitive Swimming is not just swimming fast.

Remember that competitive swimming is not just about swimming fast – anyone can learn to swim fast.

Competitive Swimming is….swimming fast, with great technique and skills, under pain, pressure and fatigue.

If competitive swimming was only about swimming fast – then we would just train the body.

But…competitive swimming is about maintaining speed and technical excellence when the body is enduring pain, pressure and fatigue and it is the swimmers who can best integrated mind and body to work together in harmony in these conditions who prevail.

And it all starts with training set design and workout planning.

How can you integrate “engagement” with the physiology “big three” – volume, intensity, frequency?

Example:

Old way (physiology model):

Training set is 16 x100 metres (volume) on 2:00 minutes holding a speed of PB plus 10 seconds (intensity).

Enhanced Mind – Body way:

Training set is 16 x 100 metres (volume) on 2:00 minutes holding a speed of PB plus 10 seconds (intensity). Key mental skills learning (engagement) – At signs of fatigue, work with swimmers on relaxation under pressure and on breathing techniques to learn how to manage pain under fatigue and pressure conditions.

Find Opportunities to Enhance Mind-Body integration:

In every workout, there are opportunities to teach lessons which can make an incredible impact on the swimmer’s mental abilities for competition.

At times of pain, pressure and fatigue during workouts, opportunities emerge to teach swimmers life lessons and mental skills that can not be replicated in an office or classroom.

This is the key: we all want swimmers to master the mental skills necessary to compete successfully in the pool.

So it makes sense to shift our mental skills training focus into the pool.

If Gold Medals for 100 freestyle were handed out for winning a race around an office, let’s do our mental skills training in high buildings…..but it is all about mental skills mastery in the pool.

Optimal performance in any field of endeavour comes from the integration of the mind and the body working in harmony.

Next time you are writing a training program or training set add in engagement - the critical fourth dimension in training - and teach mental skills at every opportunity.

Wayne Goldsmith

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Physiology based Training Set Design in Swimming: There must be Another Way.

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:36 +0000

Walk on deck at any pool in the world on a typical Monday afternoon.

There it is – the old whiteboard over there at the end of the pool.

And what’s written up on the whiteboard?

Today’s training program!

“10 x 100 on 1:45 at 75%” or
“20 x 50 on 1:00 holding PB plus 5 seconds” or
“12 x 200 IM on 3:30 holding 2:50 or something similar.

You would think that swimming training, preparation and performance was all about the body wouldn’t you?

The Big Six.

The “Big Six” in swimming preparation and performance are:

Physical abilities;
Personality characteristics;
Playing (tactical) skills;
Performance abilities;
Pedigree (i.e. genetic makeup);
Preparation ((i.e. environment, family, culture).

Look at a set like 10 x 100 on 1:45 at 75% and evaluate it against the “Big Six”.

Does it measure up physically? Sure. It’s all there – volume, intensity, rest interval – all the usual suspects are represented but….

Does it measure up in terms of the swimmer’s personality and mental skills?
How does it fare as far as the development of swimming skills and stroke technique go?
What about the potential for this training set to impact on the swimmer’s ability to race well under pressure? To start? To turn? To finish? And to do it all at race speeds and race conditions?
How much does this set optimise the unique, individual qualities of each swimmer in the team?
How well does this set tap into the swimmer’s preparation environment, family structure and cultural background?

It’s hit and miss.

The fact is this.

The way most swimming workouts are currently written is a hit and miss approach. “Let’s give enough kids, enough work and some of them might swim fast”.

Those days are over.

Client Focused Swimming.

The world has changed. People – and for people read “parents and swimmers” are demanding three things from every service they pay for:

Individualisation -unique, tailored services for each individual;
Efficiency – they want more for less;
Quality- the Internet has ensured that everyone is an expert so they demand higher standards from the professionals they engage (pay) to provide services.

So, in other words, if your workout design does not provide the optimal preparation environment and opportunity for each individual in your team to achieve their performance goals in the shortest possible time, you will go out of business.

The Future.

Ask yourself this next time you are on deck;“Is this workout (and the consistent quality of my coaching), the best it can be? Does it provide the opportunity for each individual in the team to achieve their individual peak performance and realise their full potential?”

If not, chances are, you, your workout - and your overall workout philosophy need to change.

Engage the heart, inspire the soul, excite the mind, capture the imagination and unleash the genius inside every individual swimmer in your team and the blood, bones, tendons, ligaments, muscle and nerves will all come along for the ride.

Or, continue to rely on the “meaningless miles, countless kilometres and years of yardage” coaching philosophy: the “body first” philosophy to swimming coaching: the mass mediocrity approach to coaching large teams of young swimmers and start looking for a new career.

It’s your choice!

Wayne Goldsmith

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Last Race

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:33 +0000

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)

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Five New Ideas that will Change Swimming Forever.

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:31 +0000

They say that “success is a moving target”.

This is so true in swimming where new ideas, information and innovations are constantly being thrown up to challenge, inspire and stimulate the thinking of swimmers and coaches.

Recently a wave of exciting and challenging new scientific research has come forward which has sparked some new ideas and forced the swimming world to sit up and take notice.

Here are five new ideas that will change our swimming world…………..forever!

1. Stop Stretching in warm up before training and racing.

Some great new research has really challenged the way we look at stretching in warm ups before training and racing.

Seems that long hold static stretches are actually counterproductive to producing speed and power. Long hold (i.e. 10 seconds or more) static stretches switch off some of the mechanisms within muscles and tendons that help the body performance fast, powerful, explosive movements.

(Note: The exception to the rule is around swimming injuries. If you are injured but continuing to train and race follow the guidelines of your doctor or physical therapist).

The research also says that stretching is still really important for increasing the range of motion around joints and in injury prevention but that stretching should be done as a separate training session away from warm up pre training and competition – at least four hours prior to training or competition!

Another great option is to schedule a team stretching session immediately after workouts when muscles are warmed up and receptive to flexibility improvement training.

Far better options pre-competition are the more dynamic forms of stretching and warm up like jumping, skipping, walking, jogging, using long “drill type” strokes in warm up etc.

So incorporate regular stretching into your overall program but schedule flexibility training at times when it will not impact on swimming performance.

2. It’s not all about technique, technique, technique.

We have all read it or said it over the years: swimming is all about technique, technique, technique.

Researchers have discovered that the old excellence by excess system – that is – repeat a simple skill in training ad finitum until it is mastered is not the best way to improve skills performance in competition.

The idea is that learning skills is a continuum. On one end of the continuum is what is called Stability and at the other end Instability or Chaos.

Where the training environment is reasonably Stable (i.e. constant, unchanging, consistent, the same), the racing environment is Chaotic with swimmers having to execute skills and make tactical decisions in a very Unstable (i.e. rapidly changing, inconsistent, variable) setting.

The research suggests that doing more skills work in an Unstable environment in training, i.e. one that is changing, different and variable, stimulates a swimmer’s brain to learn how to execute those skills more effectively in racing.

With the Internet and the way we know kids are using it and seeking information, the presentation of skills and drills work the same way over and over and over again is counter productive to the learning process.

In practice this means getting rid of the old 40 x 25 one arm freestyle drills etc and instead focusing on achieving a higher standard of quality in each repeat and continuously changing the learning environment to stimulate the swimmer’s thinking.

Chaos drill theory means varying how drills are presented to swimmers to teach them to think and learn more effectively.

For example:

Old Way of doing Drill A, then Drill B, the Drill C:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA followed by BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB then CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC

Chaos Drill Concept:

ABCBBAACCCAAABBBABABABCBCBCAABCAACCCCAAABB etc.

Try it – use your imagination to vary the presentation of drills.

You need to follow a 5x5x5 philosophy – can you teach the same lesson using five different drills, presented five different ways in five minutes?

3. Physical talent is a poor indicator of long term success.

There is no doubt that swimming is a tough sport physically. But a lot of research across several sports tells us that athletes who succeed in the long term and at the highest level are not just physically gifted and talented.

Just as important are characteristics like:

Self esteem and self respect;
Independence;
Ability to maintain satisfying relationships, e.g. family and friends;
Ability to adapt and solve problems;
Ability to deal with stress and difficult times;
Being happy and optimistic – even in adverse situations.

What this tells us is that working hard in the pool and in the gym is important but no more important than working on mental skills development, emotional intelligence and self confidence.

Yet, in spite of this most swimming programs based their talent identification and development on finding physically gifted and talented athletes, preferring muscles to motivation and strength to stress management ability.

Coaches need to focus on developing the total athlete– and spend time each day building the personality and character of swimmers (in partnership with parents, families and the swimmer them-self).

4. Tapering to swim fast is a fallacy.

Tapering has been around as a concept for a long, long time. However, its importance in swimming has been overstated for almost as long.

The original concept of tapering was developed primarily for adult athletes in weight bearing sports like running and ski-ing. The majority of athletes in swimming are young and more importantly involved in a non weight bearing activity.

The concept is pretty simple. Athletes work hard in training. Just prior to competition they decrease an element of training – usually volume (i.e. the amount of training) they are doing to reduce fatigue and perform at their best.

The record books are full of stories about swimmers who broke records and won titles while still in full training. Swimmers have swum PB times at all phases of their training.

More importantly – many, many swimmers who have had an outstanding taper, often do not swim PB times in competition or win titles!

Have a look at the NCAAs or the World Champs or even the Olympics. Every swimmer would have gone through a taper of some kind – yet very few do PB times at those competitions.

The main reason this occurs is that tapering may make the body ready to swim fast but it does nothing to get the mind ready to swim fast. Tapering does not improve a swimmer’s perception about their own ability. It does not improve their self confidence. It does not improve their resilience to pressure. It does not teach them to manage the stress of competition. It does not teach emotional control or composure in race conditions.

All it does is reduce fatigue levels – and people can race fast even when tired.

Tapering in swimming is over rated, over emphasised and just plain over as a performance enhancement strategy.

Bottom line: DE-emphasise the importance of the taper on performance and work hard to develop a balanced, total preparation– one that incorporates mental, technical, tactical and of course physical elements.

5. Squad Training is Dead.

Now this is a scary one. Squad training is dead.

Let me re-phrase that, Squad training to optimise individual performance is dead.

In the “old days” back in the 50s and 60s, coaches trained their teams as whole. Everyone did more or less the same program regardless of their stroke speciality.

In the 70’s we moved to training specialists – flyers did fly, breaststrokers did breaststroke and sprinters sprinted.

In the 80’s and 90’s we specialised even more – sprint specialists, 50 metre specialists, short course specialists, middle distance specialists etc.

Now we are in the age of the individual – and swimmers are demanding more and more individualised training and preparation.

Competition at all levels is getting tougher and the need for attention to detail with each individual is greater than ever meaning that the old “one size fits all” way of preparing swimmers is outdated and inappropriate.

What do we know about individuals in this century?

They are unique;
They learn differently;
They have different preferences for taking in information;
They prefer to take in little bits of information in a variety of forms rather than a lot of information presented the same way;
They want to have some ownership and engagement in the things they are doing;
They are motivated by different things.

So, given this, how does writing a single workout on a white board and presenting it to 100 unique individuals, with different needs, different learning styles and different learning preferences work? The answer is “it did work – but it is no longer good enough”.

In terms of producing great swimmers, the squad model has to change. Champions are unique. They are different They are special. They are typically A- typical. That’s why they are champions.

How can we treat all swimmers the same way and call it quality coaching?

Times have changed…and they will continue to change

Times have changed. It is no longer a coach driven sport – it is a partnership program: Coach, swimmer and family – working together to achieve success.

We have to change the old squad model and increase the attention to detail with each individual. We need to find ways to inspire young swimmers to take increasing responsibility for their own preparation and performance – and thereby helping the coach to coach.

This is THE greatest challenge to coaches and the sport everywhere. It’s not finding heart rate monitors or lactate analysers or video analysis equipment or copying the latest drill sets from successful programs – it’s finding new ways to inspire the hearts and minds of young swimmers to commit to the sport and realise their full potential.

And how will we do this? By treating every swimmer as an individual and providing them with the preparation environment that gives them the opportunity to succeed.

Wayne Goldsmith

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Ten Myths of Swimming.

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:30 +0000

The dictionary says:

myth (noun)

a traditional story of unknown authorship, ostensibly with a historical basis, but serving usually to explain some phenomenon of nature, the origin of man, or the customs, institutions, religious rites, etc. of a people: myths usually involve the exploits of gods and heroes
such stories collectively; mythology
any fictitious story, or unscientific account, theory, belief, etc.
any imaginary person or thing spoken of as though existing

There’s the Yeti.

There’s the Sasquatch.

There’s the shopping cart with four good wheels.

There’s the low fat, great tasting chocolate cake.

And there’s these….the ten myths of swimming.

MYTH 1: It’s faster under water.

It’s only faster under water if you are faster under the water. Just being under water does not mean you will move faster.

For example, if you swim freestyle at two yards per second pace, but only maintain a speed of 1.6 yards per second under the water – get to the surface!

MYTH 2: More training makes you a better swimmer

We’ve all heard about the magic numbers that supposedly guarantee swimming success, e.g. 50 miles a week, 60 miles a week, ten sessions a week, 20 hours of training a week, 3000 miles a year etc etc.

There is no evidence to say that 60 miles is better than 48 or 56 or 79. There is no solid research to support the idea 10 sessions is any better than 8, 15 or 127.

More training by itself does not guarantee success. There is no short cut or easy road to swimming success. It takes a lot of hard work, commitment, dedication and discipline. But, just adding more sessions and more miles is not the only answer.

Swimming fast is about PHYSICAL fitness and physical factors like strength, speed, endurance and power. It is also about MENTAL preparation, technical skill and tactical knowledge / execution. It is a balance between PHYSICAL / MENTAL / TECHNICAL / TACTICAL elements.

So hard training is important but it is not the only thing.

MYTH 3: Vitamins and minerals and supplements will make you a great swimmer

The word supplement means “something added, especially to make up for a lack or deficiency”.

The research around how effective supplements are at improving swimming performance is not conclusive. However these things are 100% conclusive for all swimmers:

Consistent training
Positive attitude
Staying strong during tough times
Honesty
Great technique.

Buy a few bottles of these things and you can’t lose!

MYTH 4: If you start out swimming one stroke well, you will always swim that stroke well

We’ve all seen the “child champs” – the nine year old superstar backstroker who seems destined for Olympic glory. However, rarely, if ever do “child champs” make the Olympic team and win Olympic gold medals in the same stroke they first showed talent in. Often, kids will be a good breaststroker at 8, then a good freestyler at 11, then a top notch backstroker at 13 before ending up an outstanding flyer as a senior swimmer.

As kids develop and grow, changes in their limb lengths, their proportionality (i.e. the relationship of their limb length to overall body size), their muscle mass, height and weight, flexibility and strength will all impact on their ability to swim specific strokes.

Advice – become proficient in all strokes, in sprints and in distance events, medley and at dives, starts, turns and finishes. Then, no matter what happens to your body, you are ready for it!

MYTH 5: Weight training makes you a better swimmer

Weight training, strength training, Pilates, Yoga, Spin classes, Dance classes etc etc can all help improve your swimming performance when used in balance with pool training and when integrated into an overall swimming performance program.

Just throwing around a few weights and getting stronger does not guarantee swimming success.

Question: Why would you take up a weight training program?

Answer: To improve your swimming performance.

So the key issue is to ensure that the weight program enhances and supports what you do in the water.

MYTH 6: Body fat makes you swim faster because fat is buoyant OR being super thin will make you a great swimmer.

Sports scientists used to talk about % body fat or skinfolds and about optimal body fat levels for swimmers.

These days the critical concept is YOIPS – Your Optimal Individual Performance State.

There is no magical skin fold number or mystical body fat level that ALL SWIMMERS must attain to be successful.

The YOIPS concept is that each individual swimmer has an optimal body composition for their peak performance which is unique. For some swimmers that may mean being a lean, mean swimming machine. For others, an extra pound or two may help maintain their general health and well being and allow them to train consistently and shedding any excess weight will lead them to illness and being sick.

The bottom line is – find out what works best for you and stick to it!

MYTH 7: Lane 4 is the fastest lane and the only one you can win from

World records have been set in all lanes.

World championships have been won from all lanes.

Olympic gold medals have been won from all lanes.

NCAA, National, State and Club championships have been won from all lanes.

Enough said.

MYTH 8: A successful coach makes a great swimmer

One of the big mistakes a lot of swimmers (and parents) make is to change coaches too often for the wrong reasons. A good reason to change coaches might be that you have moved states or gone to College and you need a local coach to help you with your swimming program.

A poor reason to switch is because another coach seems to have produced a stand out young age group champion and you believe that simply by moving to their program, you will experience similar success.

Coaches are important in the scheme of things. Their training, knowledge and experience are invaluable to help all swimmers improve their physical, mental, technical and tactical skills.

However, a swimmer with a great attitude, who works hard consistently and who seeks to maximise the impact of every training session will succeed regardless of the coaching, facilities or club environment – they make their own luck and drive their own success.

A swimmer with a poor attitude, poor work ethic and negative approach will not succeed even if they go and train with Michael Phelps’ outstanding coaching team!

Coaches and swimmers (and parents) form a performance partnership – together they can achieve anything.

MYTH 9: It will be all right on race day

Many swimmers have TWO BRAIN disease. It is a terrible affliction.

One brain is the one they use for training. It allows the swimmer to perform sloppy dives, slow turns and to always finish a few yards short of the end of the pool.

The other brain, the one they use for racing, only comes out at Meets and makes sure all the dives, starts, turns and finishes are perfect.

The problem is that over time the TRAINING BRAIN starts to take over the MEET BRAIN and that’s when things start to go wrong.

Train the way you want to race.

If you execute sloppy dives every day in training – you get sloppy dives at meets.

If you do slow turns every day in workouts – you get killed in the turns when you race.

If you stop a few yards short every repeat at training – you will lose most tight finishes in competition.

Train the way you want to race.

MYTH 10: The more money you spend on swim suits and equipment, the faster you will swim

You need high quality equipment to compete at the highest level but no amount of money will make up for missed training, poor skills, sloppy technique, a poor diet, a lack of quality sleep or a lack of self confidence.

Improve yourself first – physically, mentally, technically, tactically………then go and buy a fast suit.

If you are driving a beat up old car, with a broken down engine, bald tyres, a faulty gear box and low grade fuel, giving it a $5000 paint job doesn’t make it go any faster. Sure, it looks a lot better but it will not win any races.

There is a common theme about all these myths – that is that people are always looking for a system or a secret or something they can buy or do to guarantee success.

There ain’t no such thing!

There is however, something that can make a real difference.

Something that can make every session outstanding and every day something special.

Something that can take every opportunity and turn it into a performance advantage.

You!

Wayne Goldsmith and Helen Morris

Republished by Blog Post Promoter