The Weekly Workout works like this, I post a work out. You guys give it a shot. As the weeks progress so do the workouts. If at anytime it starts to get too hard, feel free to go back to a previous week. Or if you don't feel like doing the same workout every day for a week, feel free to recycle in some workouts from previous weeks.
This set is designed to start your development and balance in the water. The kick used in this set is a small straight leg flutter kick with feet flexed. Make sure to move the water with both your "up-kick" and "down-kick". There's no interval on this set so take as much rest as needed and be sure to execute the movements flawlessly. Comment below to let me know how the workout goes and what you thought of it.
200 Choice
8x25 Kick on Side
8x25 Kick on Back
8x25 Kick on Stomach
8x 25 Kick on Side
200 Warm Down
Fast Swims!
Flash
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Technique Tuesday: The Head is Most Important
As with many sports there is considerable work done in all facets of athleticism to achieve the desired goal. It should be noted that in order to achieve the optimum result in technique, in particular, there must be a large portion of work done outside of the water as well.
The biggest challenge of swimming is maintaining proper posture/position/alignment/balance in the water. A common mistake, often instilled in younger swimmers and reinforced through tireless drilling, is improper head position. The mistake is allowing young and new swimmers to continue lifting their heads out of alignment and breaking the body line.
Your head dictates the direction your body moves through the water and is positioned in the water. When your body is placed in the water, the position your head directs will dictate how your body follows. If your body is laid face down, flat on the surface of the water, arms pinned at your side, and you tilt your chin to your chest as a force is applied to your body in the direction of your head you will begin to submerge.
The problem with a lot of coaching direction is generalized statements. "Lift your chin up", "Put your head back", "Put your chin down to your chest", and many others. The problem with these statements is a lack of clear distinct direction. Your head should never move your neck out of alignment with the rest of your spine. The best position you can maintain is trying to hold a straight line from the base of your skull where your spinal cord attaches, all the way down to the fused vertebrae (coccyx) in your pelvis. Now this task will be impossible because of the natural curvature of your spine, but by trying to maintain as long a line as possible here, you can extend your body vessel. The sensation will be to lead your body through the water by the top of your head. Your chin will not rest solely on your chest and you won't tilt your head back. Your head should be resting in a neutral position.
Head to your local water hole and try it out. Floating. Swimming. Drilling. It will feel vastly different from what you may be accustomed to. Make sure you try this with all 4 strokes. Remember this head position is key for all competitive strokes.
Fast Swims
Flash
The biggest challenge of swimming is maintaining proper posture/position/alignment/balance in the water. A common mistake, often instilled in younger swimmers and reinforced through tireless drilling, is improper head position. The mistake is allowing young and new swimmers to continue lifting their heads out of alignment and breaking the body line.
Your head dictates the direction your body moves through the water and is positioned in the water. When your body is placed in the water, the position your head directs will dictate how your body follows. If your body is laid face down, flat on the surface of the water, arms pinned at your side, and you tilt your chin to your chest as a force is applied to your body in the direction of your head you will begin to submerge.
The problem with a lot of coaching direction is generalized statements. "Lift your chin up", "Put your head back", "Put your chin down to your chest", and many others. The problem with these statements is a lack of clear distinct direction. Your head should never move your neck out of alignment with the rest of your spine. The best position you can maintain is trying to hold a straight line from the base of your skull where your spinal cord attaches, all the way down to the fused vertebrae (coccyx) in your pelvis. Now this task will be impossible because of the natural curvature of your spine, but by trying to maintain as long a line as possible here, you can extend your body vessel. The sensation will be to lead your body through the water by the top of your head. Your chin will not rest solely on your chest and you won't tilt your head back. Your head should be resting in a neutral position.
Head to your local water hole and try it out. Floating. Swimming. Drilling. It will feel vastly different from what you may be accustomed to. Make sure you try this with all 4 strokes. Remember this head position is key for all competitive strokes.
Fast Swims
Flash
Monday, February 22, 2010
Nutritional Coaching: Finding Your Burn
One of the toughest things to do, no matter what your lifestyle is, is eating right. The hardest part about your dietary needs is to evaluate (honestly do this) your lifestyle. Are you a physically active person? If so, how active?
If you're reading this blog, then more than likely you are an active living individual. In fact you're probably on the more active side of things.
Let's start by analyzing the different activity level groups. Please keep in mind these are MACRO SECTIONS. I am well aware that everyone is created differently and these are wide brush strokes. Even within each section there are more focused categories and sections. A swimmer's diet is grossly different from a wrestler's or figure skater's. There are also circumstances that may restrict an individual into a specific section, and I am aware and sensitive to those individuals. Again these are a generalization of the activity levels; low, medium and high.
Couch Potato: (CP) This group is characterized by a lack of physical activity. Hence the vegetable reference. As a result the caloric burn of this group is vastly less than their caloric intake. In fact the group's aerobic threshold is dangerously low. Significant weight gain, poor health, a decrease in energy levels and other symptoms may result from prolonged exposure to this lifestyle.
Moderately Active Society: (MAS) This group is characterized by the folks who have seen a really amazing international sporting event, like the Olympics, and have decided that they are inspired to "get in shape". They make the effort to show up to the pool, or gym, and get their heart rate elevated for no more than the recommended 30 minutes. This may or may not include socializing, warming up and most often times forgotten, the warm down (more on this facet later). The caloric in-take is about equal to the caloric burn and it may be a little more or a little less from day to day, so the ratio evens out to about 1:1. This group of people usually works out about once a day.
Active Athletic Lifestyle: (AAL) The final group are your most active group. The low end of this group may work out once a day, but they keep their heart rate elevated slightly more-so for an extended period of time. This group may eat relatively more calories than that of the MAS or CP groups, but their caloric burn is much higher as well.
These groups are generalizations at large.
As such, it should be noted that I went from an AAL to CP lifestyle and am now working on returning to the AAL. So that being said, it's going to be a long arduous process getting back in shape.
There will be more to come what to eat, when to eat it, and more... Stay tuned.
Fast Swims and Good Eats
Flash
If you're reading this blog, then more than likely you are an active living individual. In fact you're probably on the more active side of things.
Let's start by analyzing the different activity level groups. Please keep in mind these are MACRO SECTIONS. I am well aware that everyone is created differently and these are wide brush strokes. Even within each section there are more focused categories and sections. A swimmer's diet is grossly different from a wrestler's or figure skater's. There are also circumstances that may restrict an individual into a specific section, and I am aware and sensitive to those individuals. Again these are a generalization of the activity levels; low, medium and high.
Couch Potato: (CP) This group is characterized by a lack of physical activity. Hence the vegetable reference. As a result the caloric burn of this group is vastly less than their caloric intake. In fact the group's aerobic threshold is dangerously low. Significant weight gain, poor health, a decrease in energy levels and other symptoms may result from prolonged exposure to this lifestyle.
Moderately Active Society: (MAS) This group is characterized by the folks who have seen a really amazing international sporting event, like the Olympics, and have decided that they are inspired to "get in shape". They make the effort to show up to the pool, or gym, and get their heart rate elevated for no more than the recommended 30 minutes. This may or may not include socializing, warming up and most often times forgotten, the warm down (more on this facet later). The caloric in-take is about equal to the caloric burn and it may be a little more or a little less from day to day, so the ratio evens out to about 1:1. This group of people usually works out about once a day.
Active Athletic Lifestyle: (AAL) The final group are your most active group. The low end of this group may work out once a day, but they keep their heart rate elevated slightly more-so for an extended period of time. This group may eat relatively more calories than that of the MAS or CP groups, but their caloric burn is much higher as well.
These groups are generalizations at large.
As such, it should be noted that I went from an AAL to CP lifestyle and am now working on returning to the AAL. So that being said, it's going to be a long arduous process getting back in shape.
There will be more to come what to eat, when to eat it, and more... Stay tuned.
Fast Swims and Good Eats
Flash
Friday, February 19, 2010
An Apology
There are reasons and there are excuses. None of which are particularly good, aside from just being exhausted from work and passing out at a somewhat reasonable hour to make my work shift the next day. Part of the downtime with posts was I wanted to dump everything in my brain out on the internet all at once. I had no organization and not way to organize this information appropriately.
I have decided that in order to manage what I post about I will try to dedicate certain days of the week to specific topics. I look forward to creating a discussion about these topics and would love to have questions to discuss. Only through an open dialogue can ideas and philosophies grow to maturity. The layout of the postings will be as follows:
Monday – Nutritional Coaching
Tuesday – Technical Evaluation
Wednesday – Workouts to Try
Thursday – Critique of the Week
Friday – Sharks and Minnows: The Importance of Age Group Swimming
The categories should leave the forum open to discover and traverse the broad range of aquatic activities. A lot of the things discussed in one posting may be applicable to another activity, so be sure to read everything you can.
I look forward to getting back into the swim of things.
Fast Times!
Flash
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Into the Deep Blue
Well the question would be, where to begin in this section?
The obvious answer would be, the beginning. That's too far back. Let's jump in at the meat and potatoes portion.
I've been swimming for a good while now, and have been instructing and/or coaching swimming for a slightly shorter time frame. My competitive career began back in elementary/grade school, while living in MD. I was never one for football, baseball, or basketball. My eye-hand coordination wasn't all that great and my sense of balance on land could have used some work to say the least. In the water, I couldn't fall over and I didn't have to worry about catching or throwing. All I had to do was beat the guy next to me. Easy. Simple. And tons of fun.
As I got a little older, it got harder to beat the guys next to me since I aged up and was having to train with older middle schoolers and highschoolers instead of my age group for a challenge. When I went to middle school I tried out football. Failed miserably at it, and returned back to swimming. This time however, I joined a year round competitive team, Curl-Burke Swim Club. The site I trained at was in Middletown, MD and it was awesome. I still love my coach, Holly, dearly and am thankful for all of her insight and hard work.
The next year, is when I officially began the cycle of giving back to the sport. In 7th grade I was made an instructor for my site's CuBu Stroke School. As of writing this, I have been teaching swimming now for 12 years.
Upon moving states entering High School, I joined the local club team here Raleigh Swimming Association (RSA). The Head Coach at the time was none other than renowned swim coach, current Head Coach of the Marlins of Raleigh (MOR), Paul Silver. While swimming for RSA, I worked under Matt Schade, Paul Silver, Jozsef Nagy (multiple time Hungarian Olympic Head Coach, developer of the wave breaststroke, and Mike Barrowman's coach), and Dan Flack. I also began work for the City of Raleigh and taught swim lessons for them, as well as coached the Pullen Aquatic Center's summer swim league as both an assistant for one summer and the head coach for the next two seasons.
After High School I returned to the metropolitan D.C. area for university. There I studied a vast many things, including a lot about life. During my time there, I had the distinct pleasure of training under Head Coach Mark Davin, a couple different assistant couches, and one Beth O'Conner Baker. It was under the coaching styles of Davin and Beth, that I came to appreciate what slowing down and executing the stroke mechanics correctly can do for your over all performance.
Since this time I have changed my approach to teaching and training. I now focus more on the development of execution first, building a solid foundation on the ability to execute the range of motion correctly and then go from there. This is to reduce injury and prevent a distaste for any form of training.
I'd like to continue to instill a sense of enjoyment in training, as I saw and experienced during my time at Hargrave Military Academy working with the cadets. It's exciting for a coach to see the suggestions and technical changes made in training result in a significant change in the performance of an athlete during coaching. Especially an athlete at an elite level, helping a swimmer go from a mid :48 100 Freestyle to a :47 mid-high. It was during these opportunities I discovered, this is what I want to do with my life right now and possibly forever. This is where I want to be. On the pool deck. Making the distinction in a sport that is often dominated with the idea that power is needed more than finesse, and create functional training methods that develop a focus on movement not muscles.
Fast Swims!
Flash
The obvious answer would be, the beginning. That's too far back. Let's jump in at the meat and potatoes portion.
I've been swimming for a good while now, and have been instructing and/or coaching swimming for a slightly shorter time frame. My competitive career began back in elementary/grade school, while living in MD. I was never one for football, baseball, or basketball. My eye-hand coordination wasn't all that great and my sense of balance on land could have used some work to say the least. In the water, I couldn't fall over and I didn't have to worry about catching or throwing. All I had to do was beat the guy next to me. Easy. Simple. And tons of fun.
As I got a little older, it got harder to beat the guys next to me since I aged up and was having to train with older middle schoolers and highschoolers instead of my age group for a challenge. When I went to middle school I tried out football. Failed miserably at it, and returned back to swimming. This time however, I joined a year round competitive team, Curl-Burke Swim Club. The site I trained at was in Middletown, MD and it was awesome. I still love my coach, Holly, dearly and am thankful for all of her insight and hard work.
The next year, is when I officially began the cycle of giving back to the sport. In 7th grade I was made an instructor for my site's CuBu Stroke School. As of writing this, I have been teaching swimming now for 12 years.
Upon moving states entering High School, I joined the local club team here Raleigh Swimming Association (RSA). The Head Coach at the time was none other than renowned swim coach, current Head Coach of the Marlins of Raleigh (MOR), Paul Silver. While swimming for RSA, I worked under Matt Schade, Paul Silver, Jozsef Nagy (multiple time Hungarian Olympic Head Coach, developer of the wave breaststroke, and Mike Barrowman's coach), and Dan Flack. I also began work for the City of Raleigh and taught swim lessons for them, as well as coached the Pullen Aquatic Center's summer swim league as both an assistant for one summer and the head coach for the next two seasons.
After High School I returned to the metropolitan D.C. area for university. There I studied a vast many things, including a lot about life. During my time there, I had the distinct pleasure of training under Head Coach Mark Davin, a couple different assistant couches, and one Beth O'Conner Baker. It was under the coaching styles of Davin and Beth, that I came to appreciate what slowing down and executing the stroke mechanics correctly can do for your over all performance.
Since this time I have changed my approach to teaching and training. I now focus more on the development of execution first, building a solid foundation on the ability to execute the range of motion correctly and then go from there. This is to reduce injury and prevent a distaste for any form of training.
I'd like to continue to instill a sense of enjoyment in training, as I saw and experienced during my time at Hargrave Military Academy working with the cadets. It's exciting for a coach to see the suggestions and technical changes made in training result in a significant change in the performance of an athlete during coaching. Especially an athlete at an elite level, helping a swimmer go from a mid :48 100 Freestyle to a :47 mid-high. It was during these opportunities I discovered, this is what I want to do with my life right now and possibly forever. This is where I want to be. On the pool deck. Making the distinction in a sport that is often dominated with the idea that power is needed more than finesse, and create functional training methods that develop a focus on movement not muscles.
Fast Swims!
Flash
The Professor
It's another exciting day in the state of North Carolina. The other night I decided to tell my dad, G.M., about the blog. His interest was immediately piqued and he was rather curious what I was doing with it. After the posting what is currently up, I would inform him they were up and running and as such he'd give a read.
Then it dawned on me...
Here's this guy with really great in-sight into what I'm looking to do. He has some great ideas on the stuff. AND he has access to the internet pretty much all day long. Why not just give him a spot in the coaching staff? Why not right?
So I have.
I look forward to his wonderful and genius insight into the technical development and conditioning. He can also act as a de facto mediator of the programs as well as keeping a realistic approach to what can be achieved, when I get in the water. He brings the old school with a fair bit of the new to the table and has been a great sounding board. His genius spans from: advance physiology to chemistry to weight training, and that's just the relevant stuff for this forum. It is my hope he posts an introduction of himself giving an idea of his philosophy and what he may hope to give and gain from this endeavor.
Then it dawned on me...
Here's this guy with really great in-sight into what I'm looking to do. He has some great ideas on the stuff. AND he has access to the internet pretty much all day long. Why not just give him a spot in the coaching staff? Why not right?
So I have.
I look forward to his wonderful and genius insight into the technical development and conditioning. He can also act as a de facto mediator of the programs as well as keeping a realistic approach to what can be achieved, when I get in the water. He brings the old school with a fair bit of the new to the table and has been a great sounding board. His genius spans from: advance physiology to chemistry to weight training, and that's just the relevant stuff for this forum. It is my hope he posts an introduction of himself giving an idea of his philosophy and what he may hope to give and gain from this endeavor.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Water Aerobics: A Progressive Low Impact Workout Program
At my last job I was in charge of lifeguarding a group of sweet and very energetic ladies, who wanted nothing more than round arms and smaller waists. Not that any of them particularly needed either, they still set goals and wanted to work for them. Their insistence that I aid them in overhauling their work out program aided in inspiring this program. While in the introduction I mentioned swimming predominately, water aerobics are a viable and quite intense form of exercise in the pool.
The great thing about water aerobics is that it's low impact. While you do need load bearing exercise on a daily basis in order to promote good health, if you have certain joint or limb restrictions preventing you from exercising to your fullest, this sport is perfect for you.
It should be stated here, I have no formal training in water aerobics instruction. Everything I offer here are exercises that were already in use by the ladies and tweaked for full range of motion and more resistance training in order to promote a symmetrical muscle development. In designing the program I looked to Gym Jones for inspiration. The program in place was a static system allowing the ladies an opportunity to converse more so than work towards the goals they had set. Further more the idea that if you offer an exercise or workout you should be part of the process.
That being said, I devised a progressive system that was broken down into phase training. This is to create a dynamic system that was easy to remember for the ladies and possible to work for an hour a day. The exercises remained the same with the occasional inclusion of a new exercises thought of by myself and or the ladies. On more than one occasion I tried the program myself and found it incredibly difficult when the exercises are executed precisely.
The phases are devised to build upon each other. At the time of leaving the pool, I have only developed three phases and was working on a fourth. The breakdown is as follows:
Phase 1 - Athletic Base. This phase is paramount to the entire program. If a participant is unable to maintain a base athleticism they will not be able to sufficiently complete or participate in the following phases. It is crucial for all participants to establish proper muscle memory during the exercises in order to prevent injury and stimulate proper muscle growth. Failure to maintain excellent form in the execution of exercises can result in under development and preparation for later phases.
Phase 2 - Aerobic Threshold and Increase in Resistance Training. This phase is specifically designed to take the aerobic movement and resistance exercises drilled in the first phase, and expound on them. The aerobic movement is increased in distance and speed. The resistance exercises are changed from a purely repetition based approach to a mixture of repetition and interval work. In this phase we begin to track the number of repetitions during interval training on a schedule. This phase has proven to be the most difficult phase yet. Being able to maintain proper execution of range of motion while increasing performance is crucial. At the start of this phase, the interval training should be small repeating intervals, such as, three rounds of _______ for one minute. As the phase progresses and the athletes are able to perform the intervals with less trouble the interval becomes longer.
Phase 3 - Aerobic Threshold and Resistance Work to Lactic Acid Development. This phase is a natural evolution of Phase 2. As the athletes develop their abilities and performance in the workouts, the sessions begin to develop more and more into longer intervals or increased speed in a set number of repetitions. The goal in this phase is to continue the aerobic base and threshold work at the beginning of the sessions, but introduce resistance training in these portions. Making sure the athletes continue proper range of motion and correct execution in order to prevent injury. Furthermore, the interval work is extended even longer. It is not uncommon for sessions in this phase to extend beyond just an hour.
As with any exercise program, flexibility is key. One of the biggest points I made sure to emphasize with the group was maintaining full range of motion. It became rather common for me to remind the group that it was alright to sacrifice the number of repetitions in order to complete a full range repetition.
-Fast Swims and Safe Times
Flash
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