Swim Coaching Brain » Swimming Coaching

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

Creating a Winning Swimming Club Culture – excellence, environment, everything, everyday, everybody.

Wayne Goldsmith — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:56:57 +0000

: Children Playing from Crestock Royalty Free Images

Every swimming team has a unique culture.

Some teams have a culture of fun, enjoyment, family and friends.

Some teams have a culture of hard work, discipline, dedication and training.

Some teams are based at schools, colleges and universities and their culture is a reflection of the culture of the institution.

The culture of some teams comes from their location, the ethnic background of the people in the team, the climate or the city they live and train in.

Every team is unique and every culture is special.

But for many teams, there comes a time when the coaches, swimmers, families and supporters decide they want to become a winning team. They decide to set some serious competitive goals and work together as a team to achieve them.

And to become a winning team requires the development of a winning culture.

What is a winning culture?

It’s about environment and opportunity.

A winning culture is one where everyone in the team – coaches, swimmers, families, staff – everyone – is committed to creating a performance focused environment. A performance focused environment provides the opportunity for the team and every individual on the team – to win.

Developing a winning culture doesn’t mean you stop having fun. It doesn’t mean that swimming isn’t enjoyable. It doesn’t mean that people can’t hang out and be friends.

It means that the primary goal of the team and everyone associated with it is the development of an environment of excellence for everyone.

How do you develop a winning culture?

Empowerment and ownership: culture comes from within:

A winning culture grows from within. It cannot be imposed from the outside. The culture of the team is something which comes from the team members: you own it: it is part of you.

With many clubs, particularly those older established clubs with long traditions, there can be an attitude of “this is the way we do it here” or “that new idea will not work here because we’re different”.

In developing a winning club culture these barriers to success must be broken down. The swimmers, coaches, officials and families need to embrace change and to seek to be the best of the best in all aspects of swimming. Everyone needs to be committed to improving and accelerating team progress – at the same rate and in the same direction.

Respect the history and tradition of the club.

Respect and remember the great performances of the teams and swimmers of the past. But also strive to progress and improve on them. The greatest honor you can do for any club is to make it successful.

Practical Tip One: Before the beginning of the season, bring everyone in the team together for a day of sharing ideas and opinions. Give everyone a chance to speak and share their views. Provide the opportunity for everyone to be heard with respect and dignity. Allow the current team members to feel their views matter and the club is theirs – they are the current custodians of the club – and they are the people who will lead the club into a successful future.

Winning vision – a statement of success:

“if you don’t stand for something – you will fall for anything”.

A Team Vision is a statement which represents the views and opinions of the team which clearly states “this is who we are, what we want to do, where we are going and what we want to achieve as a team”. It is your team’s trademark!

For example:

“our vision is to work hard together and to strive to provide every swimmer the best possible opportunity to achieve their best”.

“our vision is to be the leading swim team in the state by consistently working hard, encouraging and supporting each other and doing everything possible to ensure all swimmers in the team have the opportunity to achieve success”.

Practical Tip Two: Once the team comes up with a team vision, write it up on the team room wall. Have every swimmer write it down in their training diary. Get it printed on t-shirts. The closer you stay in touch with this vision, the more the vision comes to life. The most successful teams in world sport are frequently those who compromised the least on making their vision become a reality.

Winning culture values:

Having a great vision is one thing: bringing it to life is another.

Values are a set of words that team members develop to provide a guide on how to act and live and which help you and your team realize your vision.

For example:

Team vision: our vision is to work hard together and to strive to provide every swimmer the best possible opportunity to achieve their best.

Values to support the Team vision:

hard work (“work hard” from the team vision);
passion (“strive” from the team vision);
team spirit (“together” from the team vision);
unity (“every swimmer” from the team vision);
respect (“every swimmer” from the team vision);
excellence (“best possible” and “best” from the team vision).

These six words become the themes for the team for the season and the guidelines for everything the team does.

Practical Tip Three: Use the values as “code words” for team practices. For example, when things get tough towards the end of a hard set, team members can use words like “passion” and “spirit” to encourage and motivate each other. Living the vision means living the dream.

Winning culture behaviours and standards:

In a perfect world, everyone would live the team values, everyday. However, just as there are “road regulations” to provide a set of rules for people to drive cars and “laws” to provide a set of rules for how to live as part of society, swim teams need to have a set of team rules to provide a framework for how to act and behave at training, competition and other team activities.

Team rules or behavior standards need to be developed and enforced by the people the rules and standards apply to:

The swimmers: team rules should grow from the team vision and team values and be a practical set of guidelines for how the team will behave in a range of situations and circumstances.

For example:

Team value: unity.

Team rule: all swimmers will have equal opportunity to train and compete.

Team value: hard work.

Team rule: all swimmers who have committed to swimming at national championships next season must complete a minimum of seven sessions per week.

In addition to team rules, a set of consequences for breaking team rules should be developed by the team. These are a set of clear, fair, just, reasonable and equitable “laws” which the swimmers in the team believe best represent how they want to be judged and punished for breaking team rules.

For example:

Team value: respect

Team rule: all swimmers will show respect for each other as people and for each other’s property.

Consequence for breaking team rule: team room cleaning duties for two weeks.

Practical Tip Four: Form a leadership group from team members which can be elected by team members or selected by a panel of team members and coaches. The leadership group should consist of swimmers of varying ages and levels of ability so that the views of everyone are listened to, respected and represented. The leadership group needs to be empowered to make decisions, to implement team rules and to administer the consequences of breaches of team standards of behaviours. From leadership comes culture….from culture comes performance.

Living excellence – “not every four years……..everyday” (US olympic training centre motto):

Lots of teams come up with great slogans, team visions and cool team rules. But very, very few teams actually develop winning cultures. Why? Because words which say excellence are easy to come up with – what makes the difference is living excellence.

Practical Tip Five: Develop a team war cry or song which is based on the team values and triggers everyone to start thinking and acting like a winning team.

At the start of every training session, someone in the team should lead the team war cry and everyone joins in signaling the start of training and the commitment the team has made to each other and to excellence.

Keep it relevant – continuous improvement:

Winning once is tough. But a winning culture means you are working to ensure that winning is sustainable – i.e. the culture that you have created is a positive, winning environment which provides ongoing opportunities for swimmers and coaches to perform at their best season after season after season……year after year after year.

It is important that the team sits down at the end of every season and reviews how things went and makes a new commitment to improving, changing and progressing.

Why? Because success in swimming is a moving target. What works this season may not work next season. World records are always getting faster meaning that if you stand still…….you will be left behind.

Practical Tip Six: A simple way of reviewing your performance as a team is to brainstorm the season using three questions:

What are we doing that we should keep doing? or what is working?
What are we doing that we should stop doing? or what is not working?
What are we not doing that we could introduce to improve our performance? or what are some new things we can do that will work?

Ask tough questions, get honest answers and you will lay the foundation for a successful future.

Summary:

Creating a culture of excellence and developing a winning culture does not take a lot more money, facilities, time or resources;
It takes a common desire to work hard and to create an environment where everyone has the optimal opportunity to perform at their best – consistently;
It’s not for everyone – but for some, being part of a winning team which has grown from a winning club culture can be the stuff that swimming dreams are made of.

Wayne Goldsmith

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Top Ten Technique Tips for Every Swimmer

Wayne Goldsmith — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 22:56:55 +0000

: swimmer in swimming pool from Crestock Stock Photography

1. Effective propulsive movements in swimming go from SLOW to FAST.

In swimming, effective propulsive movements are SLOW to FAST.

In Fly, you reach long, feel the water, catch then accelerate through the stroke to recovery. Same in back. Same in breast (arms and legs). Same in free.

It starts with an effective feel on entry and a strong catch then…..throughout the stroke it is acceleration that makes all the difference.

2. The relationship between HIPS and HEAD is critical.

There is a critical relationship between the HIPS and the HEAD in swimming. Simply, when the head is up, the hips go down and if the hips are down three important things happen:

Hips down means you kick down – instead of back;
Hips down means your body is in an inefficient position;
Hips down means that your body is not streamlined.

Be aware of this relationship and keep your head and hips in the right positions.

3. SOFT HANDS and feel!

If someone gave you a rose and said, “feel this – it is so soft” – what would you do with your hands? Cup them tightly? Clench them into a fist? Force your fingers wide apart with lots of tension? Or……..would you relax your fingers and hands and wrist and gently feel the rose?

You can’t feel anything with tight, tense hands. To improve your feel of the water, relax and think soft hands.

4. Think tall – think long – think strong.

There is no doubt that objects that are long, tall, thin and streamlined move better through water than things that aren’t!

Streamline off every turn.
Streamline on entry at each dive and start.
Streamlining off walls is important but………….think tall and think long all the time!

Believe it or not, an awareness of being tall and long in the water is important. For example in breaststroke recovery, think tall and long as you stretch and reach forward – reach long…..then kick strong.

It is the combination of long and strong that produces the most efficient swimming movements.

This “tall” thinking and awareness really helps your body move and flow through the water.

5. The faster you want to go, the more relaxed you have to be.

Watch a little kid running. Now tell him to run as fast as he can…..what happens? He clenches his fists. He gets red in the face. He holds his breath. And he lasts about twenty yards!!

The faster you want to go, the more relaxed you have to be.

Speed is about relaxation – not grunting – not fist clenching – not tightening up – not breath holding – relaxation.

If you want to go fast, focus on staying calm, relaxed and moving easily.

6. The POWER Circle – POWER ON – POWER OFF.

Swimming has two primary phases – the “propulsive” phase and the “recovery” phase. For many swimmers, the recovery phase is actually an extension of the propulsive phase in that they don’t actually recover. The recovery phase is a time to relax and allow muscles to switch off in preparation for the next propulsive pull. Learning to do this can make a big difference to a swimmer’s ability to maintain a strong powerful stroke throughout a race.

Think POWER CIRCLE – POWER ON / POWER OFF. When the hands and arms are under the water and pulling it is power ON. As the hands leave the water to recover, it is power OFF.

The ability to turn the power off and relax during recovery is an important skill for all swimmers to develop.

7. Finishes – Head forward / Hips high / full kick / full stroke.

Good finishes in all strokes have four common elements: HEAD – HIPS – KICK – STROKE

Head – leaning forward towards the wall – as opposed to turning and looking at the opposition or the results;
Hips – high and in a strong position – to keep the body in a streamlined position and moving towards the wall;
Kick – still working and driving the body forward at the wall. In fly finishing with a strong down kick and in breast finishing with the feet accelerating all the way to a toes touch position;
Stroke – finishing in a long, strong, tall position at the end of recovery so that the body is streamlined and capable of reaching and stretching towards the finish.

Every finish in training is a race finish and should include these four elements.

8. Starts – Key words = focused thinking.

There are many distractions at the start of a race – noise, crowd, media, other swimmers, etc etc.

The world is not going to shut down for you – you need to “shut” the world down.

To do this, try the simple “key word” technique.

Find a word that means “start” to you – something like:

Power
Explode
Drive
Strong
Relax

Take a long, deep breath – and if you can, take 5 seconds to inhale fully. Then on the exhale, say your key word quietly to yourself, taking 5 seconds to exhale fully. Repeat this for about a minute, continuing to breath deeply and slowly (about 5-6 breaths per minute), focusing on the key word every exhale.

This does three things:

It gives you confidence and control over the pre race environment;
The slow deep breathing keeps you relaxed;
The focus word allows you to eliminate external distractions and focus on a good start.

9. Turns – tight.

Turns are an important part of swimming and invariably great swimmers are great turners.

Turns need to be tight.

Heels up close to the buttocks;
Legs tucked up and under the body;
Arms in close and held near the centre of the body.

Being tight keeps the body in an efficient minimum resistance position but it also allows the swimmer to adopt the “coiled spring” position.

Muscles can contract with greater power after being stretched and put under tension. By pulling the limbs in close to centre of the body, the large, powerful muscles of the legs, shoulders and back are placed on stretch.

Then coming out of the turn, the body can open up with power and explosiveness and use this elastic energy to drive off the wall and get back into fast swimming!

10. Consistency is the key.

The key to it all is to take the first nine tips and practice them consistently – every session – every day – every week.

Consistency provides opportunity – opportunity provides the talented swimmer with the chance to achieve anything.

We are creatures of habit. What we do repeatedly and what becomes habit, is what we do instinctively in times of fatigue and pressure, i.e. racing. If you practice doing things consistently well in training and doing things well becomes your “habit” under the pressure and pain of racing you will always come out on top.

Wayne Goldsmith

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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

How to Put Together a Great Championship Program – 50 ideas for a Positively, Powerfully, Perfect Program – Part One.

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:44 +0000

: Swimming Pool from Crestock Stock Image

Club championships programs are not easy to put together – after all, you are usually racing the same people you see day after day after day after day after day……. (you get the idea).

Many clubs lament that their Club Championships are not well supported and are generally disappointing in terms of attendance and commitment from swimmers and families. Well guess what??? It’s your – (as in the organisers of the event) – fault!

If people don’t want to buy the “product” you are selling, sell something else! If people do not attend your Club Champs – don’t blame the people – don’t blame other sports – don’t blame the economic crisis – change what you are selling!

If you want a really great Club Championship program, the trick is to combine the four Ps:

Performance – Club championships are- after all-about racing.
Parents – Get them involved and get them wet! This is the one chance all year to have some family fun.
Practice – Club Championships are not the end of the story….for many swimmers Club Championships are the beginning of the competitive season and it’s a great opportunity for practicing skills, strokes, technique, dives, starts, turns, finishes, warm ups, cool downs, stretches, race day diet, mental skills and other racing skills.
Party – have a really fun day with the families, friends and other fantastic people who make swimming the wonderful sport it is!

And, here are four really dumb things to avoid unless you want to have a really rotten Club Championship program – the four Cs:

Coaches – as in leaving them out of the planning of Club Championships. Big mistake. Coaches must be an integral part of the Championship program committee so that the program reflects what they are trying to achieve with their overall planning and periodisation strategy;
Change – as in “don’t change”. Some Club Championship committees just keep rolling over the same program year after year then wonder why people stop coming! Make it different, interesting, innovative and enjoyable by throwing in some new ideas every year;
Catering – as in offer junk food. Big challenge for all Clubs is to raise money for things like equipment, coaching fees, competitive travel etc. But try not to do it by taking the easy options like providing junk food at Club Championships which might be great for profits but sends the wrong messages to swimmers and parents;
Competition – as in don’t make it one! The greatest challenge in creating a great Club Championship program is balancing fun with fast racing. It is important that Club Championships are really enjoyable but make sure they also provide the right environment for real competition and challenge swimmers to produce their best. Don’t award frivolous prizes just for attending the Club Championships – it devalues the hard work and effort of swimmers who really want to achieve something.

Here are the first 15 of 50 ideas to help you create a Positively, Powerfully, Perfect program:

Radical relays – boys vs. girls, older swimmers vs. younger swimmers, dads vs. mums, coaches vs. swimmers………..millions of relay ideas.
Make sure your CLUB championship program mirrors the program of the next level meet, e.g. If the next level meet is your State Championships, try to make your Club Championship program the same – i.e. same events, in the same order – so that your Club Championships are preparing your team to be successful at the next level.
Have parents’ races!
Have parents and kids relays!
50s of each event.
100s of each event.
200s of each event.
Fin races. i.e. race fly, back and free with fins on.
What about throwing in some Kicking races?
Invite qualified, experienced State or National level race starters, judges and officials to make sure the quality and standard of your meet is the best it can be. And ask them for a written report so you can fine tune skills and techniques before your swimmers race at high level meets.
Change your Club Championships program and format EVERY year. Nothing turns off swimmers and families more than having to sit through the same races, in the same order for the same prizes year after year.
Make everyone welcome. Parents and families who are new to the Club and who are attending their first ever Club Championships should be made to feel like old friends and part of the swimming club “family”.
More is less………don’t be tempted to make the day longer just because you can! Families are busier now than ever and if you want them to keep coming back, make Club Championships enjoyable and short! Leave them wanting more.
Make awards relevant for age groups. Another big mistake Clubs make is to award the same medals, ribbons and certificates to 6 years olds as they do to 16 year olds. This is a guaranteed way to push your teenage swimmers towards other sports! How about DVDs as prizes? Or gift vouchers for cool clothing stores? Or Nintendo Games? Or gift vouchers for the I-Store (if you don’t know what this is, you are in real trouble). Or gym memberships? Or training equipment?
Combined events scores, e.g. add together each swimmer’s times for their 50s in each stroke and compare it to their 200 IM time. Whoever gets the 200 IM time closest to the 4 x 50s wins a prize, e.g. 50 fly time plus 50 back time plus 50 breast time plus 50 free time added together compared to 200 IM time.

See Part Two and Part three of this Post.

Wayne Goldsmith and Helen Morris

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

Flying into Fly: Five Tips for Swimming Brilliant Butterfly.

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:43 +0000

: Dolphins from Crestock Stock Photography

Is there anything better in swimming than swimming great fly?

When you get it right, everything seems to flow, arms and legs working in rhythm – no wonder they call it FLY – it feels like you are flying through the water: not swimming – but actually flying.

But like anything that looks easy and feels that good, it takes a lot of hard work to turn the basics of the stroke into the fundamentals of flight!

Five Fantastic Fly Facts:

Everyone’s fly will be different: everyone is unique. However, there are five consistent factors in all fast fly:

Long arms / fast legs: keep your arms, long, loose and relaxed and your legs moving with power, speed and strength;
Kick in both directions with power and rhythm: make sure your legs keep working in both directions with power flowing – Hips, Thighs, Knees, Shins, Feet;
Power on / power off: a fly fundamental – power on when your hands and arms are in the water, power off when they are out of the water recovering forward;
Breathe early, breathe low: keep up and down head movements to a minimum – push your chin forward to breath and keep it low and close to the water;
Slow to feel, accelerate through pull: keep your hands soft and relaxed and feel the water, then apply pressure and accelerate your hands all the way through your pull.

Now you have the fabulous fly fundamentals, let’s turn them into fast flying:

Five Fabulous Fast Fly Sets:

Fly Flyers:

Swim 6 strokes of fly (from a push start) at top speed without breathing. The aim is to go as far as you can on each stroke: Long and Strong. Have a team mate put a marker, (your pull buoy is a good marker) along the side of the pool to indicate how far you got in six strokes.

Now go back to the start and aim to get to the Six Stroke marker in only Five Strokes. When you achieve the “Six in Five” target, aim for Six in Four– i.e. the distance you went in six strokes achieved in only four.

Then……….Double Up.

Swim 12 strokes of fly at maximum speed from a push start and once again ask a team mate to mark the distance. Can you swim 12 in 11, then 12 in 10?

All repeats are done at maximum speed with legal underwater kick distance and with a push start.

Flyer Scorers:

Give yourself a Starting Fly Score of 15 for short course and 30 for long course.

Each Stroke is worth one point.

Each Breath is worth one point.

The aim is to get your Fly Score down as low as you can, for example:

Short course: Starting score = 15 – which could be 10 strokes and 5 breaths. You decide how your starting score is broken down.

Then aim for 14 – either by taking one less stroke or one less breath.

All Fly Scorer repeats are done at maximum speed with legal underwater kick distance and from a push start.

To make it really challenging, decrease the value of strokes and breaths, e.g. each stroke is only worth ½ a point so you have work harder to reduce your score.

Fly Kickers:

Kick a lap of fly (hands in long streamline, breathing as you need). Record the time. This is called your Fly Kick Base Time.

Now kick another lap of fly, this time with your hands by your side. Record the time.

Next lap is kicking on your left side. The following lap is kicking on your right side.

The final lap of the series is kick with your arms folded above your head and your hands holding their opposite elbows.

The aim of each lap of kicking is to get as close as you can to your Fly Kick Base Time.

All Fly Kickers are done at maximum speed with legal underwater kicking distance.

Fly Lappers:

Swim a lap of fly at maximum speed. Record the time. Double it.

Swim two laps of fly at maximum speed. Record the time.

What was the difference between the two times?

5 seconds or more – hey – were you asleep when you did this?
4 seconds – ok but could be better.
3 second – good 0 but keep working.
2 seconds – great.
1 second – fantastic.
Less than one second – Superstar!

Swimming fast is great: learning to maintain top speed for longer is sensational. Aim to keep your 2 lap time as close as possible to your 2 x one lap time.

Fly in / Fly out or FIFO Sets:

FIFO is a great way to improve fly, underwater fly kick, fly turns and even the starts and turns of your freestyle and backstroke!

The basic set is:

5 x 200 on 4:15 Freestyle with FIFO (i.e. Fly in from the flags / fly out from the flags).

So each 200 starts with a fast underwater fly kick (as always to legal distance), then steady freestyle to the flags. When you hit the flags it’s fly (no breathing) to the wall (aiming to get there is no more than 2-3 strokes), a fly turn, fast underwater fly kick back out to legal distance and then back into freestyle. Each 200 finishes with fly – again no more than two or three strokes from the flags at maximum speed and no breaths.

Variations:

Longer or shorter repeats (longer works better though);
More repeats;
Less rest;
Faster speed.

So in summary: Find five fun fabulous fantastic fast fly fitness factors…. and work on them every day!

Wayne Goldsmith

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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

Five Breaststroke Essentials for all Swimmers and Coaches

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:41 +0000

: Boys in Goggles from Crestock Stock Images

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

Republished by Blog Post Promoter

The Swimming Coach Score Card – a must for all coaches (and swimmers and parents).

Wayne Goldsmith — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 03:14:40 +0000

: Man with several telephones from Crestock Stock Images

Coaches – ever wanted to know how you rate as a coach?

Swimmers – ever wanted to know how your coach rates as a coach?

Swimming Parents – ever wanted to know how your kid’s coach rates as a coach?

Then look no further than….the Swimming Coach Score Card.

This score card is a little different. Instead of being awarded points, you lose points for poor coaching standards and mediocre coaching behaviours.

Are you ready?

OK – your starting score is 100 CCs – that is 100 coaching credits.

Take off 5 CCs if you have been late to training in the past month;
Take off 10 CCs if you coach from one end of the pool all the time and another 5 CCs if you ever sit down during workouts;
Take off 5 CCS if you have not given each swimmer in your team one on one quality coaching in the past week;
Take off 20 CCs if you have used a mobile phone during workouts while on deck in the past year (except in emergencies);
Take off 5 CCs if you allow swimmers to breathe inside the flags in free and fly;
Take off 5 CCs if you allow swimmers to finish poorly on the wall at the end of fly and breast;
Take off 10 CCs if you talk to parents, swim club committee, non swimming swimmers and pool staff during workouts;
Take off 20 CCs if you don’t take time to write down the work the swimmers actually completed during the session, i.e. as opposed to what was scheduled to be done;
Take off 10 CCs if you made up the workout on deck as the swimmers walked in to the pool;
Take off 5 CCs if you didn’t give each swimmer in your team at least five quality instructions and / or pieces of feedback during your most recent session;
Take off 100 CCs if you still throw kickboards, fins or pull buoys at swimmers to get their attention;
Take off 20 CCs if you don’t give each swimmer one on one feedback after each race they swim at Meets;
Take off 10 CCs if you don’t wear team gear to training and / or competitions;
Take off 5 CCs if you don’t attend Club Nights;
Take off 15 CCs if you don’t know the first name of each of your swimmers within 2 sessions of them starting training with you;
Take off 50 CCs if you don’t have an individualised plan for each swimmer in your team for the next two seasons;
Take off 10 CCs if you have never scheduled time to meet with the parents of each of the swimmers in your team (i.e. away from the pool deck and outside of training times);
Take off 30 CCs if you have not completed at least 50 hours of professional development, learning and personal improvement in the past year;
Take off 5 CCs if you don’t ask swimmers “how did that feel” (and really listen to their views) after they try new skills;
Take off 30 CCs if you don’t have an outstanding dryland program which engages the total commitment of every swimmer in your team;
Take off 10 CCs if you don’t include mental skills development activities in every session;
Take off 5 CCs if you didn’t smile at least ten times during the team’s last workout;
Take off 50 CCs if you smoke and or / drink alcohol in front of the swim team (i.e. junior swimmers);
Take off 20 CCs if you don’t regularly practice “performance under pressure” – i.e. making training more challenging and more demanding than any competition could be;
Take off 20 CCs if you don’t encourage and embrace recovery during and after every workout.

So, how did you do?

Swimming Coaches Scorecard key:

90-100 CCs: Wow – Amazing. Please stop reading this blog and my articles. Start writing your own – I want to learn from you O Coaching Master.

80-89 CCs: Outstanding work. Do they call you SUPER COACH? If not, they should!

70-79 CCs: Great stuff. Some things to work on but generally you coach like a basketball – plenty of bounce and well rounded.

60-69 CCs: Not bad. Keep working on the little things….the funny thing is that when it comes to poor coaching and the little things…there are no little things.

50-59 CCs: Danger – danger – warning – warning. You need to improve and fast.

40-49 CCs: How did you find this site? Were you looking for help to save your job? Or were you looking for Coaches Anonymous?

30-39 CCs: Have you thought about taking up football coaching? It’s still challenging coaching but at least there is no danger of people drowning.

20-29 CCs: Have you thought about another career? Something not too brain taxing where your unique skills will be appreciated - maybe an Economist at Wall Street? A Government Advisor on the Environment?

10-19 CCs: I think I need to type slower so you can read this….S.T.O.P. C.O.A.C.H.I.N.G!!!!

1-9 CCs: The only job for you I can think of for you is something that requires no skill, no brain power and no effort…Congratulations Congressman!

Zero (or less) CCs: Please return your coaching card to your national swimming authority. Do not go anywhere near water…ever. Stop bathing. Stop shaving. Ask for help when drinking a glass of water. The further you keep away from water the better for all of us.

Wayne Goldsmith

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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

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