Over a long career as a competitive swimmer, I have won a few and lost a few over the years. But, most of my favorite things about swimming have nothing
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One of the most important uses of drills is to change muscle memory. To maximize the effectiveness of drills I recommend changing your drill patterns around. No one of these
Managing pool chemicals can get confusing and more complicated than most non-pool professionals realize. Read on to bust some of the myths I hear all the time: Your pool uses
On a regular basis I cruise the internet, looking for swimming blogs, videos, educational material, articles, well pretty much anything. I have learned one important lesson that I want to
The dictionary defines resilience as the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. Resilience is an important concept for a successful multi-day meet. When you are training hard, your body’s
“Regular exposure to chlorine and minerals can cause lasting damage to your hair. Chlorine strips your hair of the natural oils that lubricate and protect it. Once the oils have
Swimming is constantly messed up by human’s unfortunate need to breathe. Think how much easier and faster we would be if we just didn’t need to breathe. Breathing, in freestyle
Muscle memory is a function of each muscle in our body. Each cell in our muscles remembers position and tension. These muscles allow us to make complex motions like walking
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The Value of Paddles
Paddles are my favorite training tool. They are great for teaching stroke mechanics and are also an important tool in training. For as much as I like paddles, it is
Many of you have heard from your coaches, or individual reading to work on your distance per stroke. Distance per stroke is generally defined as how far (space) you can
Last week when I sat thinking about the breaststroke for my blog, I struggled with what others will think about my emphasis on adduction (that is, the motion of squeezing
In the 60s, I remember hearing breaststroke called “rest stroke” and was often seen being used by ladies who did not want to get their hair wet as they swam
There are a few items I want everyone to understand about training snorkels: First, don’t go grab your standard scuba snorkel and use it as a training tool. Non Training
Paddles are my favorite training tool. They are great for teaching stroke mechanics and are also an important tool in training. For as much as I like paddles, it is
Bilateral breathing is a freestyle term made popular in swimming circles by Total Immersion, but the idea is much older. Pure bilateral breathing is when you breathe every third stroke
Race Pace Training or RPT has gathered a lot of attention over the last few years. But what does that mean and does it work? Let’s start with the first
Many of my triathletes over the years have commented to me: “Why should I bother learning to flip, I swim in open water. We don’t have walls”. I quickly responded
Do you skip the warm-up and jump in during the preset? You know who you are. Warm-ups and presets are not the same, each serves a distinct purpose. Here is
Really, pull buoys are not one size fits all. Don’t just grab anyone from the bin on deck and jump in. There is such a thing as the wrong pull
Pull buoys are a great tool. As a coach, I have my swimmers use them regularly, but I have seen many swimmers who are addicted to the buoyancy they provide
Distance freestyle the 5th stroke. Most folks talk about the four competitive strokes, butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. While not formally recognized, in reality, there are two freestyles, sprint and
Interval, interval, interval! Most of us have hear the old adage in real-estate; The three most important aspects of real-estate are location, location, location. In much the same way, for
Where to start? I always found writing the first sentence of anything the toughest part. I guess I should start by telling you why I’m starting a blog and a