Thursday, August 30, 2012

Addicted to Volume

This past weekend I just did my own trial with training volume by tackling the Ironman.  While I was successful, and there were positive things that came of my training and the race itself, I asked myself the same question many times.  Why are we addicted to Volume?

Our society is always looking for more.  Most high school swimmers brag about how far they swim or how many practices they do per week.  Our very successful cross country program talks with great pride how many miles they run per week, some up to 100+.  Many coaches keep track of how far they swim per week and per season, and feel a sense of accomplishment when it was a big week or year.  We are thrilled when our plate is piled with food.  Doctors and Lawyers are taught to value 80 hour weeks.  Even Starbucks isn't satisfied until they have a store on every corner.  Volume! Volume! Volume!

After training for the ironman, I get it.  There is a certain part of you that always wants more.  I am done doing Ironman triathlons, but I get why you can get hooked.  In fact, I think I walk a fine line with that addiction myself, as a small part of my brain is telling me to do another Ironman.  I also think it is not just Ironman triathletes that are addicted to volume. More is better is usually a common them in the way we were taught to succeed and the way we teach our students and teams to succeed.

Here are some suggestions that I use to not get caught up in the volume addiction:
1.  Learn to value how your body moves and how well it can move at a high level (very few operate at a high level when training for ironmans or marathons).  We can all get better at moving the way God made us and learning to feel what it is like to move fast and be strong.  In fact, it is being found that maintaining power as you get older is more important than aerobic excercise.  God made us in his own image, and the next time you are working really hard and the legs are burning, learn to appreciate that feeling, that is your body working at maximum capacity which is a beautiful thing and we should learn to appreciate that.

2.  Be consistent.  Verne Gambetta always says training is cumulative.  A lot of consistent normal workouts add up to a lot.  I believe this is one of the main reasons why I was able to train less than average for my ironman this past summer and still be successful.  It was the consistency over the last 20 years, not my training over the last 2 months.  Ask your athletes to be consistent all year long.  Don't stop and start things, whether it be exercise, work, devotions, be steady and consistent.

3.  Don't turn your back on the other parts of your life, they play just as important of a role to your success.  My student athletes usually don't see this concept.  They don't understand that they get faster by getting better grades.  They don't value sleep, even though this is when the body makes the biggest strides to become smarter, faster, and stronger.  They don't value the relationships around them enough and don't think others have an impact on their success.  Value your spiritual life, most people have a belief in God, yet don't value it enough to make it a bigger piece of the puzzle.  I have heard this from many coaches, "Compete as the whole person."  What you do in the pool, on your bike, or with your running shoes is only a small percentage of the training. 

As one that gets caught bragging about how far his team swam or even personally, how far I went on my bike on a given day, learn to value quality over volume, it will make a difference.

Hebrews 12:1
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Warmup to Move

Over the past 3-4 years, I have been influenced by several people, whether in person or by what they have written.  These people are Verne Gambetta, Mike Bottom, Jim Steen, and the staff at 8th Day Gym which is a crossfit gym here in Grand Rapids.

Lately, I have become increasingly frustrated in our team warmups.  It's not that the team is doing anything wrong as our warmups include 1000-1500 yards of easy swimming with various drills, kicking, and pulling and it looks as most swim teams do. I attended several workshops and workouts at a cross fit gym this summer and they warmup in a way that prepares them to move properly through the entire workout.  In other words, they were warming up how they want their body to move for the task at hand.  Another concept they teach is the most important part of the workout is how you warmup and warmdown.  How prepared are you for what the coach is asking of you and how are you going to process the workout and get ready for tomorrow. 

I asked myself, how am I preparing my team to move during warmups.  This got me to drastically change the way we prepare for practice.  If you look at a swim practice, there is a lot of rotation around the long axis (down through the top of the head), and most shoulder injuries occur when the hips and shoulders either don't move they way they were designed or they don't rotate at all.  How many times do you see swimmers on deck yanking on their shoulders against a wall and then get in and do lazy swimming during warmups with bad form or movement?  If you read Verne Gambetta's Blog about functional path training, you will find that dynamic stretching is the way to start most any practice.

We start out of the water with a couple different dynamic stretching routines that take 15-20 minutes followed by a shorter warmup in the water, but the team is much more prepared to move in ways to be faster and eliminate injury.

1.  Pole stretching - Greg Parinni at Dennison uses broom handles, and I used the same stretches except I use a  6 ft. 3/4 diameter PVC pipe filled with water and capped to do the same thing.  I found the PVC filled with water adds a little more weight, but is not heavy and it just feels better to me.  I think both work well and are cheap and easy to get for any size team.  The stretches using the pole are for shoulder flexibility, rotation along the vertical axis, and you can do some hip/leg swings.

*I will put up video soon, but your swimmers will appreciate being out of the water a little longer, able talk to each other, and still start the warmup process.

2.  After our dynamic stretching with the poles, we move into some movements that get the heart rate up a little more, but more importantly continue to mimic the movements they are going to be asked to repeat in the water.  We rotate through 3 different activities.  We spar with boxing gloves (I got this from Mike Bottom) and the team loves this and I love how it translates to the water.  We use medicine balls (Verne Gambetta has a good routine to follow if you are new). On our recovery days we use a little bit of yoga/pilates combo that is fairly simple as yoga goes, but it is something the swimmers can memorize and repeat.

3.  Now we get in the water.  Here is the standard:
1 X 300 with open turns to focus on good pushouts and streamlines (your team should value these, what if your team started every day with 12 perfect streamlines?)
*I got this concept from Jim Steen - you need to warmup your walls
1 X 200 kick with a buddy
6-12 X 12's descending by 3's

*I may do another set to prepare them for a really fast main set, but after this, they are functionally ready to take on the challenge of most any set.

Monday, August 27, 2012

What I learned from the Ironman

This past Sunday, I completed my first Ironman Triathlon.  It went as well as I could have ever anticipated, and I learned many things which I will share in the future.

The one thing that is very fresh in my mind, is how much I learned to feel and appreciate God's world and the people in my life.  This event brought out many feeling or maybe accentuated them to a level that I don't normally experience in my daily life.  While not everyone  needs or should do an ironman (there are many challenges out there), I would encourage you to put some challenges and commitments in your life that teach you how to feel.  I know everyone has been hot, hungry, loved someone, etc... but when you add a little stress to the situation and put yourself to the test, those feelings become much stronger.  Yesterday, I learned a new appreciation for being tired and hungry.  I learned to appreciate and love my wife and family more.  One of the highlights of the day were when I would see them on the road, crossing the finish line with my 3 sons together, and hugging my wonderful wife at the finish.  I also was able to pray and talk to God throughout the day and every time I hit a low point, he came through in a different way in which only He could.

Whether it is your own life or you are coaching an individual or team, pick a good time to commit to a challenge and see it through.  I promise you will learn how to feel like I did.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Playing with Fire

Last winter, on our team training trip down to the keys, I watched the team that was using the pool after us get set up to swim.  The coaches lumbered over to the starting end of the pool, talking to themselves more than acknowledging anyone on the team, yelled at the team to get in the water for 10 minutes, and then proceed to apply the sunscreen as they oriented their chairs so they could maximize their sun tan.  I shook my head as the message that these coaches were sending the team was that their tan was more important than what the team was supposed to be doing in the pool.  I can probably guess how productive the rest of that practice was.

I was talking with my pastor a year or two ago about a study they were doing in our church to draw more young people to church and keep them there.  There was a group that went and studied many different churches with different worship styles.  Some had more guitars, some had more organs, some were contemporary, some were more traditional.  They then interviewed many youth and young adults as to what they look for in a church and they were astonished with what they found.  It wasn't a certain type of service or whether the songs were lead by guitar or organ, my pastor said, "Children are drawn to fire."  In other words, you have to have a fire inside, a passion that you preach from and act on.   It also has to be seen and felt from your audience.

The same can be said about your team.  To many times, we focus on what we are doing and not how we are presenting it.   I heard a coach tell me this summer that "my team doesn't train to do the mile, they don't like those sets."  It may not be because they don't like that type of training, they may see that you don't like it.  Are you excited about how the practice plan you wrote is going to affect your team?  Make sure you show it.  There are a lot of coaches, trainers, and fitness leaders (you can even take this to the business world) that can write good practice plans and workouts.  The best will lead the workout, sell the practice, care about the results they are getting from their athletes, and their athletes will know it.

Each coach is different and can use different strategies to do this, however, sitting in a chair, laughing with your assistants, walking on deck like it is a burden to be there while your athletes are being asked to really go for it is not the way to do it.  Be professional, dress professional, stand on deck most of the time, limit talking to your assistants during practice, and care about what is going on in the water.  Your athletes will respect you, and want to come back.

BE THE FIRE that your team, class, family is drawn to.

Hosea 7:6
Their hearts are like an oven; they approach him with intrigue. Their passionsmolders all night; in the morning it blazes like a flaming fire.

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Relationships - Pt. II

I talked about the importance of building relationships to team success in my first post and I want to expand upon that.  I was watching ESPN's all access coverage of Urban Meyer's football practice, and noticed how much emphasis he puts on the team coming together, or building relationships.  He had them taking naps together in the middle of the day, special activities on off days, and many other things that are meant to build relationships.  I know many coaches do this with their teams.  The question is, how do we know and what do we look for in our teams that can assure us that our teams are truly building relationships?  It is the coaches job to plant the right seeds.

I have noticed 3 things from my most successful teams.

1.  Teams that know each other, have intelligent conversations.  Yes, there will always be a little locker room humor present on any team, but listen to what your team is talking about.  The more they know each other, the more in depth conversations you will hear.  At Calvin, we have the privileged to talk and share our faith which is not easy to do.  When I hear the level of conversation go up, I know I am planting the right seeds and we are going in the right direction.

2.  Good relationships can withstand getting on each others nerves and holding teammates accountable.  It is one thing to see an athlete not holding up their end of the bargain, but to see their teammates not care and not say anything is even worse.  I smile when we can have a little conflict during a workout, and someone will call another out.  That is when I know that we are starting to care about our behaviors.  Don't think that a little conflict in the lane is bad, it usually is the start of something good.

3.  Teams that have strong relationships don't need alcohol to have a good time.  Pay attention to what your team is doing on the weekends.  If everything involves alcohol, your team is not going down the right path.  Alcohol gets abused by way too many teams with the hopes it is going to get them closer.  Alcohol is a privilege and should not be brought into the equation when building relationships. 







Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Eliminate Shoulder Stress, 3 simple thoughts


Every year it seems like I inherit a swimmer or two that seems to think that they are bound to deal with tendinitis and sore shoulders every year, it is just part of swimming.  I spend quite a bit of time at the beginning of each season teaching and convincing my athletes that swimming is not as shoulder dominated as they think, rather, the hips and legs should be the focus.  I will go more into this on another blog, but I believe swimmers get their power in the same manner as a baseball pitcher or golfer, swimmers just have a different anchor point.  We'll save the rest of that for another time.  I use 3 cue's to eliminate stress on my swimmers shoulders.

1.  Stack the shoulders.  One common theme in all swimmers that stay away from sore shoulders is that they don't stay flat as they get good shoulder rotation around the long access.  During the summer months, when we have age group swimmers practicing at our facility, there are two many swimmers swimming flat, and not being corrected.  It doesn't matter if the swimmer is swimming a T30 or a timed 50, shoulder rotation around the long access is very important to eliminating stress on the shoulder.

          

2.  Make sure the Elbow of the recovering arm is in line (same plane) as the shoulders.  As your recovering arm is out of the water, the elbow should be an extension of the two shoulders.  One cue I hear coaches tell young swimmers is to swim with high elbows, or doing the finger tip drag drill.  Both of these cue's will lead to stress that can be avoidable on the shoulders if the swimmer is swimming too flat in the water.  I like to stand at the end of the pool as my swimmers swim toward me and look at the line from bottom shoulder to top shoulder to elbow, and make sure they are in the same plane.  I also cue my swimmers on deck to stand up tall and raise their arms from their side over their head.  They will look like they are warming up for a ballet recital.   If their elbows are in line with their shoulders, they will notice the path of least resistance.  If you have them pull their shoulders back so their elbows are behind their shoulders, they will notice much more resistance.  This is how many swimmers swim if  they swim flat with high elbows!

3.  This may be the easiest fix.  Recover with the thumb leading the way.  I have fixed several kids that were plagued with tendinitis year after year, by just rotating their hand so that the thumb is leading the way.  I seem to get several swimmers out of high school that have their pinky leading the way or palm to the sky.  You can simply have them stand on deck again and have them raise their hands over their heads, first with their thumb leading the way, then their pinky and you will immediately feel the difference in the stress put on the shoulder.
*These are both very successful swimmers, and this is only a snap shot of their recovering arm. I am using it to show you the hand position I see in several swimmers that have inherited shoulder injuries from this.

I hope these cue's can help you with your swimmers.  

1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought aaprice. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Relationships - Part I

I thought that I would start my first blog with something that I really stress on our team and that is RELATIONSHIPS.  I believe to reach your true potential it starts and ends with relationships.  How well does the team really know each other?  How well does the coach know his/her athletes?  How well do your athletes know their professors?  How strong is your and your athletes relationship with God?

I start each season telling our team that the better we know each other, the faster we will swim.  It's really as simple as that.  When we know our teammates and coaches, we build trust, we build accountability, we gain resources, and support as we go through the season trying to succeed in the classroom, in the pool, and in life.

Building relationships takes effort.  Relationships don't get built by clicking like on facebook, or simply knowing a name and future career.  Coaches need to provide opportunities for teams to spend time together, and get to know each other face to face, not phone to phone.  At Calvin, like many other teams, we start off the season with a camping trip out to Lake Michigan.  This is a great time to get to know the new freshmen, tell stories about the summer, and learn more about our teammates than just their times and events.  This is  just the start of the process.  As a coach, make sure you look at your schedule and make sure there is time for your team to be together and not swim.  Community Projects, dinners, trips, study time, and other things away from the pool, play just as important of a role in the speed and success of your team as do the hard workouts.



My goal for the team is that by the end of the season they are able to look to our section of the deck and see not just Calvin warmups, but true friends, stories and experiences from the journey.  If your swimmers can do that as they get up on the block for their big event, they will have a great swim, because they will have something bigger to swim for than just their best time.  They will swim for the Team that got them to this point.


Philippians 2:5

New International Version (NIV)
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: