Coulda Woulda Shoulda

We have all had those moments.  Those moments when we wish we would've done something differently.  Those moments when we know we could have done better.  Those moments when we know we should have taken that opportunity when we had the chance. Coulda, woulda, shoulda.  One of the most overused excuses, but probably the most illegitimate.  You can throw around this phrase all you want, but it won't change anything. You're not Marty McFly. You can't hop in your Delorean and go back to any future.  The only time you can prevent that coulda-woulda-shoulda feeling is in the here and now. In the present.

Looking back on my competitive swimming career, there are definitely some things I wish I would have done different.  But I can't change anything about that now.

Going to more practices is often something looked back on that would have helped swimmers.  When a coach is putting in the time to provide two practices per day, or practices on weekends you should definitely take advantage of those times! Sleep is not a good excuse to skip morning practices.  Those are the practices that are going to lift you up and push your willpower until your potential is maximized.  Practicing twice a day also leads to better conditioning and as a result, a better taper.  It also gives you more experience in the water.  Getting familiar with the water, your stroke, your turns, and even your teammates are all ways to get the most out of your swimming season and going to more practices is something that will assure this.

Trying harder during tough sets is something people tend to shy away from.  I don't know if it is the fact that it looks daunting when the coach writes it down on the paper, or the fact that swimmers know that additional effort leads to additional pain.  But as the saying goes, "Pain is temporary, pride is for ever."  These are the sets that are meant to push you past your limits.  These are the sets that make or break you.  When you can push yourself through the toughest sets in practice, it will build your conditioning and better yet your character.  This is only something that can be done in the pool. You can't go to bed at night and wish you would have tried harder.  That won't help you to accomplish anything.

One of the most important things to remember when you are swimming is to have no regrets.  If you can swim with no fears and no regrets you will maximize your potential and achieve more than you could have imagined.  Take advantage of any practices and lessons your coach has to offer (even it is 6am optional practice and the it's 5 degrees outside!!!) and push yourself past your normal limitations during sets that would normally intimidate you.

Coulda-woulda-shoulda is not a good feeling.
Swim with no fear.
Swim with no regrets.
100% of the time.

You Buy Them Suits and Send Them To Practice...

...and what do they do? They don't learn a thing! Sure they might have gotten their butt kicked with a workout suitable for an Olympic swimmer, but how far is that going to get them? Not too many years ago, excelling in swimming (and sports in general for that matter) was all about getting big and strong and out-muscling your competition.  The best baseball players weighed a lot and could bash the ball around the park.  The best basketball players were seven feet tall.  The best swimmers were tall and broad.  Nowadays, if you want to be the best you have to out-study, out-smart, and out-technique the rest (and sometimes a little extra muscle doesn't hurt).

Why the change?  Why has almost every sport on the planet transitioned from a muscle-focused approach to one of technique and finesse? Personally, I like to credit slow-motion video replays and enhanced computer programming.  But the primary reason is likely that athletes finally realized that thousands of hours of hard workouts could only get them so far, while analyzing and altering technique slightly can take minimal amounts of time and lead to maximal improvements.

Today's world of swimming has brought science to the forefront.  To the untrained eye, it may be hard to notice.  But if you have any interest or involvement in the sport you know how much time (and $$$) is spent in developing new technology so world records can continue to drop like polar bears in a desert.  From extreme suits, goggles, and caps, to new stroke techniques swimming is a sport that depends on science more than most.  Have you ever seen the type of bikes that Tour de France riders use in time trials? Or their helmets and wheels? All of this is to save speed by being more aerodynamic and producing less drag.  Take a look below at World Champion Fabian Cancellara on his Specialized Time Trial bike:

 All of this attention is paid to aerodynamics in cycling, but it is even more important in swimming! I know you're wondering why so I'll go ahead and tell you.  Water is 784x more dense than air.  This means that being aerodynamic (or hydrodynamic as it is referred to in water) is 784x more important than being so on land.  Every movement you make in the water that creates drag is affecting you severely and slowing you down!


That is one reason that records keep getting broken.  Scientists, coaches, trainers, and swimmers continue to fine-tune their technique to reach these unimaginable times.  To get faster, Olympic swimmers spend hours analyzing their strokes, starts, turns, and finishes with their coaches to achieve maximum potential.


Now, Olympians aren't the only ones that can do this.  Anyone can use these types of techniques to improve their stroke technique.  Swimmers can feel the benefits and improvements to their stroke while they are swimming and therefore can somewhat analyze their own stroke.  By watching online videos (like on YouTube), young swimmers can pick up on certain things that can greatly increase their speed and efficiency.  One thing that is easy to do: take a simple video camera and video tape your stroke or the stroke of a friend. Then watch this and see what you are doing.  I can't count the number of times I tell a swimmer they are doing something and they don't believe me.  This is because it feels so natural to them that they don't think they are doing something wrong.  Then they watch it on video and can't believe it.  One example of this is I always harp on my swimmers to keep their heads back when they are swimming backstroke.  The natural tendency is to look towards their feet, and they swear to me over and over again that their head is way back in the water.  One of my high school girls found out she wasn't keeping her head back (even though she thought she was) when the newspaper had a big picture of her swimming backstroke...looking at her feet!  From then on, she believed me and kept her head back more.  Simple things like this can ensure excellent technique to provide maximum performance.


I urge you to take your swimming to the next level.  Take it beyond 10,000yd workouts and two-a-days.  Take the next step in your performance.  Study some video of other swimmers, study your own stroke, study the stroke of people in your lane.  It will help.  I promise.  But don't forget, you can't disregard hard workouts.  You have to have strength and conditioning (and those nasty two-a-days) and swim many tough yards before you will see amazing results.  Just make sure you incorporate that nerdy science stuff too!

What Muscles Do I Use When I Swim?

When it comes to an overall workout, there is nothing that compares to swimming.  Cardio, strength, and range of motion are all vital parts of swimming.  No one has ever done a full swim workout and got out of the pool feeling great.  It tears you down, wipes you out, and downright brings you to your deathbed.  But we keep coming back for more because the long term effects are incredible.  Increased lung capacity, endurance, flexibility, willpower, and strength. So exactly what muscles are you using during a swim workout? Well let's take a look!

Cardio Muscles:
                              

Two muscles that are VERY important to your body's general function (not to mention keeping you alive...I guess that's kind of important too) are the heart and lungs.  Yes these are muscles!  They are what are called "involuntary muscles" because you cannot control whether they are working or not.  Your heart pumps blood to all different parts of your body, including your lungs.  Your lungs take in all of that air your breathe and put oxygen in your blood.  This oxygen-rich blood helps your muscles perform to their maximum capabilities.  Ever had that sprint for the finish? You just put your head down, hold your breath, and swim like crazy for the wall.  The reason that holding your breath while trying to exert maximum effort hurts so bad is that your muscles are getting deprived of that oxygenated blood that they need to thrive. But you do it anyway right? Because holding your breath=faster swimming!

Freestyle Muscles:

All of the muscles that are circled in the picture above are muscles used when you swim freestyle.  There are 24 different muscles circled in this diagram. The ones that are circle in blue are more primary muscles that are worked and the muscles circled in black are the more secondary muscles exercised. Here they are in a list form: 

Arm: Thenars (hand muscle), brachioradialis (forearm flex muscle), flexor digitorum profundus (forearm extend muscle), biceps (sometimes referred to as GUNS), triceps, deltoids (shoulder muscle)

Neck: sternocleidomastoid (neck muscle)

Trunk: pectoralis, serratus anterior (side muscles), external oblique (outer ab muscles), rectus abdominus (abs), latissimus dorsi (back muscle), trapezius, spinus erectus (muscles that support your spine), teres major, teres minor, rhomboid major, rhomboid minor (all of these "major and minor" muscles help make up the shoulder muscles), gluteus maximus (rear-end muscles), abductor magnus (groin)

Leg: quadriceps, hamstrings, gastrocnemius (calf muscle), tibialis anterior (shin muscle), flexor digitorum brevis (foot muscles)

Funny how a lot of these sound like spells straight out of a Harry Potter book, huh?

Can you imagine trying to flex all of these muscles at one time?  Or trying to use weights to try and work out these muscles?  In the pool you use each of these 24 different muscles on each freestyle stroke! And if you think about it, since these muscles are on each side of your body, you have to double the amount and you are really using 48 MUSCLES!!! Some of the muscles are used when pulling, some when kicking, some when rotating your body, some when breathing, and some extra muscles you use when doing flipturns. Below is a really amazing video created by AnyBody that shows and highlights when the different muscles are used when you swim freestyle. This is unbelievable:

Backstroke Muscles:

The backstroke muscles are identical to the freestyle muscles except they are worked during different times of the stroke.  If you think about it, backstroke is kind of like freestyle on your back.  One thing about these two strokes that is helpful to remember is that - generally - backstroke stretches out your freestyle muscles and freestyle stretches out your backstroke muscles.  That is because they are both utilizing the same muscle groups, but in a different movement.

I would suggest trying out this easy way to stretch out during a cool down. You can really tell the difference! Below is another great video of what muscles are used when during backstroke:

Breaststroke Muscles:

The muscles used are about the same for breaststroke and butterfly as freestyle.  It is just a slightly different group of primary muscles used.  The primary muscles used in breaststroke are the hand, inner forearm, biceps, pecs, lats, groin, glutes, and calf.  One difference in muscle use during breaststroke is that there is a slight relaxation point of almost all muscles when the swimmer is gliding.  The only muscles used during the glide are the ones to old a streamline position.  This is one reason why sometimes breaststroke can be known as an easier stroke sometimes.  Below is another one of these awesome videos showing when different muscles are used during breaststroke:

Butterfly Muscles:

Once again, the butterfly muscles are roughly the same as the other strokes.  There are a lot of big muscle groups used in butterfly.  That is why it is commonly considered a very powerful stroke and can wear you down in a matter of 25 yards.  Pecs, lasts, quads, hamstrings, calves, shoulders, biceps, and triceps are all big-time power muscles.  Here is one more video of what muscles are used when during butterfly: 

Now you know what muscles are used, when they are used, and how some of them are used.  It should give you a better idea what exactly you are doing when you are swimming. Now you know why swimming is a harder and more all around workout than almost anything else you can think of!

And as a bonus, here is the video of all four strokes put together:

Take Your Pick

One thing I love about the sport of swimming is that it is constantly changing.  To keep up with new techniques can often take many hours of research, reading, and analyzing.  However, the easiest way to learn what new techniques work for you often come by testing them out in the pool.  Some tips and tricks are proven to be faster or more efficient, but some of them are personal preference and may improve Mason's swimming, but not Scott's swimming.

Something that has become increasingly more popular is the straight arm recovery.  It is used primarily in sprinters, while endurance swimmers are still hanging on to the traditional "bent-arm" recovery.

Bent Elbow Recovery

Generally, this is one of the first things that competitive swimmers learn. 

Benefits: keeping a high elbow during the recovery of the freestyle stroke prevents some strain on the shoulder.  It also makes for a very smooth and quiet stroke.

Drills: finger tip drag is a great drill to practice a high elbow recovery.  Every part of your arm from your elbow to your finger tips should be very relaxed while your arm is out of the water (hence the term recovery!) The only muscle that should really be working is your shoulder muscles to help rotate your arm forward.  To check if you are doing this correctly, when you breathe you should be able to see your hand pass right in front of your face.

Uses: any freestyle swim longer than 100yards, or if you have bad shoulders or struggle with shoulder issues

Straight-Arm Recovery

Benefits: keeping a straight arm during your recovery can lead to a quicker stroke.  It also means that your arm is going into the water fully extended so that you don't wast time extending your arm after it goes into the water as in the high-elbow recovery. 

Downfalls: using a straight arm instead of a bent arm can possibly lead to more shoulder troubles as it puts extra stress on the shoulder muscles.  These are mostly muscles that don't get used near as often as the muscles you use during a traditional bent-arm recovery so it is extra easy to feel the extra strain on your shoulders.  Another downfall of this technique is that it uses more energy and cannot be used effectively over longer distances.

Uses: sprints. Anything 100yards or less.

One thing to remember when using straight-arm recoveries is that you need to make sure you rotate your body quickly with each stroke.  You don't have as much time as normal to rotate your body to get a full reach because your strokes are faster and your arm is already entering fully extended.

Tips: if you think you're going to use this, you definitely need to test it out in the pool before a race.

If you watch the video below (NCAA Division 2 Men's 50 Free Championship) from about the 3:00 mark to the end you can see elite swimmers using the newly adopted straight-arm technique.  You have to look carefully, but you can definitely see them using it.  A couple of other things to note are the fact that they don't breathe, each pull takes them a long ways but at the same time their stroke rate is very high, and the fact that their starts and turns are phenomenal.  All of these things combine to make a great race and they all broke 20 seconds in this race.

Next time you get in the pool, go ahead and try these two recovery techniques out and see what you think.  Remember that the straight-arm technique should not be used for anything more than a sprint.  See if it makes you feel like you are pulling more water and increasing your stroke rate.  Let me know what you think!

POWER!

There are so many different parts to a swimming stroke.  It can generally be broken down to a kick and a pull, but those can also be broken down.

Today, I'm going to talk about the very last part of the pulling process.  It is sometimes referred to as the "finish" or the "follow-through".  It is the part of the stroke that entails the extension of the elbow and is dominated by the triceps.  It takes place between the bent elbow (underwater - half-way through the pull) and the finished stroke (fully extended arm towards the feet).  This movement is shown in the picture below.

Why is it important?  This part of your stroke - the extension of the elbow - provides you with a great amount of power and propulsion.  By now you know that propulsion-->more yards per stroke-->more efficient swimming-->faster swimming.  Many swimmers do not focus on this part of the stroke and their arm exits the water too soon. This wastes a lot of valuable water that needs to be pulled in order to get the most out of each stroke. Don't want to do that!

What strokes is it important for?  All of them!  This technique applies to all four strokes - butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle.  We talked about how it is important on freestyle already.  The finish of the pull is used every stroke in butterfly for the same purpose: propulsion. Only in butterfly it occurs with both arms on each stroke.  For backstroke, the finish of the stroke is the same movement, but you are obviously on your back.  The finish in backstroke is important for propulsion as well as to help rotate the hips.  In breaststroke, the only time that your stroke finishes all the way to the full extension of the arm is during the underwater pullouts.  If you focus on putting the majority of your energy into this part of your pullout, you will get the maximum distance without having to sacrifice any speed.

How can you work on it?  Focusing on finishing to the end of the stroke is the only way to perfect this technique.  A very good and effective drill to work on this is to think about brushing your thumb to the outside of your thigh at the end of every stroke.  This will ensure that you are finishing your stroke to the very end and not wasting any part of your pull.  It is a drill that doesn't sacrifice much speed so you can go ahead and do it whenever you swim.  After a while, like any repeated movement it will become a habit.


Here is a short workout.  It is designed to work on maximizing the effectiveness of your stroke.
Warmup: 200 swim, 200 kick, 200 pull
                4 x 50 build speed each 50 @ 15" rest
Drill set:  8 x 50 (2 of each stroke) @ 30" rest - focus on finishing to the end of your pull
                4 x 50 (1 of each stroke) @ 30" rest - maximum distance per stroke
Main set: 2 x 200 free @ 1' rest - count total amount of strokes; 2nd 200 take less strokes
Cooldown: 200 easy back/free
Total Yards: 2000
               

Leap Day Leaping

In honor of Leap Day, I figured it seems fitting to talk about leaping today. But before I get into that...why in the world to we have an extra day every four years? Well the earth actually takes 365 days 5 hours 49 minutes and 16 seconds. So someone decided to round that to 365 days and 6 hours giving us an extra 1/4 day each year. Instead of confusing everyone with an extra 57.4 seconds each day, we just wait until all of that "extra time" adds up giving us another day.  Did you know that on years divisible by 100 (i.e. 1900) the leap year does not occur? But if the year is divisible by 400 then the leap year does occur (i.e. 2000).

Enough history, let's talk swimming.

Why is leaping important in swimming? It plays a major role in two things. Starts would be the obvious scenario in which a swimmer performs a "leaping" motion, but the same motion can directly be applied to turns/push-offs.

Diving:
Diving off the starting blocks definitely requires a leap.  Generally, the further you jump off of the blocks, the better your start will be. However, this is only true to a certain extent. Check out the scenarios below:

The drawing is very rough but you get the point. The black thing is a starting block, the blue is the water, the brown spider-looking thing is the swimmer.  In this first scenario, the swimmer (let's call them Regan) falls into the water.  She dives head first but her angle of entry into the water takes her straight down to the bottom.  Once Regan realizes that she is too deep, she has the task of swimming all the way back to the surface before she can really begin her race.  All of this is the result of Regan not leaping.

In the second scenario, the swimmer (let's call them Maddie) leaps really far.  This gets Maddie out away from the wall and keeps her from going too deep, but the entry into the water is so shallow that it is almost a belly-flop. The first reason you don't want to do this is because a belly-flop will hurt! Then second reason is that your body hits at such a flat angle that your legs enter at a different spot than your head. This may not seem like to big of a deal but it is kind of like putting on the brakes when you hit the water and in a race you can't afford that.

The final scenario has the swimmer (let's call them Mitchell) leaps up and out off the block. Notice that the first movement isn't down and out, but a slightly upward movement along with the outward. Mitchell jumps far off of the block, but not too far like Maddie. This allows him to get out a ways before entering the water, but his entire body can still enter the water through the same small space allowing maximum speed forward and minimal time spent "putting on the brakes".  Mitchell doesn't go too deep in the water, but it is deep enough that he can use his underwater kicking to get him quickly to the surface.

I threw out a term in there that I want to explain.  When I talk about "entering the water through the same hole" it means that the entire body (fingertips, arms, head, shoulders, torso, hips, legs, and feet) is entering the water as if it was going through a hula hoop.  This creates less splash and maximum forward velocity.

Push-offs:

When you push off the wall after a turn, it is the same exact motion as jumping straight up into the air from the ground.  The harder you can push off (or in this case "leap") the further you will get on your push off and your performances will get substantially better.  Working on your push-off power outside of the water is simple.  You can do any number of jumping exercises.  Box jumps are a very good replication of the movement required to push off of the wall.  Performing any of the jumping exercises while in a streamline position definitely increases the likeness of the push-off movement.  

Since starts and push-offs are all about power and explosiveness, it helps to build up strength in the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves.  The explosiveness can be achieved by performing exercises at maximum effort. Jumping as high as possible on every jump and trying to use every single muscle in your legs will help to work on that explosiveness,

Leaping is very important in two primary aspects of swimming.  Starts and turns are easy places to save time in races without having to put in thousands and thousands of yards.  When it comes down to it, the more explosive you are off of the blocks and walls the better your starts and turns will be.

On a side note: swimming is very important to many people in the Boone community and is equally important  to millions of people around the world. Swimming is a lifelong sport and provides a sense of camaraderie that you will not find in any other sport.  Currently, the Boone school district is trying to come up with ways to save money on their new renovation project and one of their options is shutting down the pool for good.  This would more than likely eliminate the swimming program at Boone High School and would leave many kids wondering what they could have done.  We never want to leave kids wondering what could have been. As coaches, parents, swimmers, and friends are job is to give athletes a chance to evolve their talents and grow in the sport.  Hopefully this decision by the school board does not leave Boone without a swimming program.

What's the Catch?

Catch (kach) - verb/noun
   -v. - intercept and hold something
  -n. - the act of catching something

Always great when the word is used in its own definition, huh? These are some common definitions of the word  "catch", however when it comes to swimming the catch is something completely different. The catch is the part of your stroke at the beginning of the pull, one of the first movements after your hand enters the water.  Every stroke has a catch and it is equally important in all of them.

Why is the catch important? The catch sets up your pull and will help to determine the amount of water that is pulled with that stroke.  More water pulled = further propulsion forward = fewer strokes = more efficient stroke = faster swimming.

Freestyle

Freestyle catch

The catch in freestyle is made after the complete underwater extension of the arm.  You may have been taught to swim freestyle with a high elbow recovery.  Well high elbows are also a necessity when you are pulling the water. A good freestyle catch is set up with a high elbow.  When you're swimming, think about reaching over an imaginary barrel in front of you. In the picture to the right, you can see she has a high elbow and her arm is bent like she is reaching over a barrel. This will set up your arm to pull water effectively.  When you pull the water, you want to pull with as much surface area of your arm as possible.  This means the pull should utilize everything from pretty much your elbow to your fingertips. This will enable you to pull more water leading to a more efficient stroke.

Backstroke

Backstroke catch

The backstroke is almost the opposite of the freestyle catch in that in backstroke you want to have a low elbow in the water as seen in the picture here. This sets up the backstroke pull so that you can pull with as much surface area as possible. The fingers are pointed to the side of the lane, but slightly towards the surface of the water. The hand movement in the water is very shallow. This is so all of the water you pull is moving you forwards instead of up, and it also better utilizes the major muscle groups of the shoulder and arm.

Breaststroke

Breaststroke catch

In breaststroke, the catch is initiated after the arms are fully extended. At the full extension of the arms, the hands should be slightly apart. The initial movement of the arms is a lateral movement of the hands out to the side (as shown in the picture to the right). This movement doesn't do a whole lot in terms of moving you forward in the water.  This is the arm position that the catch begins. The wrists bend and the finger tips point towards the bottom of the pool and the elbows bend to about 90 degrees. This will set up the rest of the breaststroke pull. Remember: the goal is to move forward, not up.

Butterfly catch

Butterfly
The butterfly catch is very similar to the breaststroke catch. It is started with arms fully extended and the hands facing out.  First, the arms move laterally outward before sweeping back in toward the center of the body for the final pull.  At the end of the butterfly catch, the elbows should be in toward your ribs.







Every stroke's catch is extremely important.  It helps set up your arms to pull as much water as possible, making your stroke more efficient. This is an easy thing you can practice with every stroke in the pool. Soon your body will commit it to memory and it will become habit.