Dropouts & Workouts

I came across two interesting blog entries recently that made me think and raised more questions than answers.  The two blogs are from Swimming Science and Verne Gambetta.


The first article from Swimming Science talks about dropouts.  In particular, it calls swimming a "survival" type of sport and instead of looking at the failure of the program to retain athletes, the coach blames the swimmer for not being tough enough.  It also cites the reason's for dropouts as "having other things to do" which is true with everything, so I don't by that one, rather, I look at the next couple of reasons as pretty important which are "lack of fun," and "perception of failure."

In the next article from Verne Gambetta, he talks about the "Strength & Training Wasteland," referring to thousands of toys in the weight room, different programs, and youtube video's.  It seems to me that it is easy to make any exercise more difficult, and pride ourselves by working harder than the other team, but do we get in the way or our athletes performance? to try to be tougher.

How do these play off each other?

1.  How much "fun" is being had at practice?  I am coaching my 8 year olds little league baseball team and I hate to admit, baseball practices are a lot more fun for the kids, and even a little for me.  What can we learn from other sports?  I think we can do better.  Is it more important for the coach to walk away happy that his team worked harder than any other team or that the individual walks away knowing they improved and are part of something bigger.

2.  How important do your athletes feel to the success of the team and to their own future?  I think most athletes don't think that their contributions matter unless they are on the A relay.  Coaches need to work to change that.  Being around triathlons quite a bit, I find swimming is such a valuable skill that most adults would love to be better at and understand more.  I was an average swimmer at best, yet lead the pack in most triathlon swims.  Swimming is a skill as good as gold, when it comes to healthy living and enjoyment of life.  How can we get kids to look into the future?

3.  Are we just making it too hard, to soon, and too often?  Granted, there is a time and place for hard work.  Are we always trying to make it tougher, and sacrificing the fun and the learning opportunities for our kids? As Dr. Rushall writes, “[t]he canon that "if hard work leads to good performances, harder work will lead to better performances. The number of young people who have  been turned-off by swimming  training following that tenet, is likely to be much greater than one might care to admit.”  Let's be more creative, and scientific, before we just make last weeks dryland set harder than the week before.  

New Blog for Summer Workouts

I have created a new blog,  This Blog is meant to help college swimmers (especially my own) train over the summer.  I know club coaches will cringe at this, however, I have swimmers doing anything and everything over the summer.  Some  are working at camps, some are working 60+ hours a week, some are traveling, taking classes, and only a select few have the time to train with a club.  In fact, I have had very successful swimmers (Division III All-Americans) who have swam like crazy all summer and some that stayed in shape on their own or even a little cross training.

I will post workouts Monday - Friday.  Each day, the main set will be meant to take about 45-60 minutes, and I will leave the warmup and cooldown for you.  The weekly schedule will look like this:

Monday: Aerobic Endurance - steady effort, making sendoff's, low rest, some decent yardage, good blend of free, kick, and stroke:
Tuesday: Legs/Speed Work:  some good work with the legs, all types of kicks, and a few kicks for time and maybe a timed swim
Wednesday: Technique Day - I will try to throw some drills and idea's at you, even post some video to show you what I'm talking about.  Keep HR low, should be a fun, exploratory day
Thursday: Threshold - Equal part work to rest day, solid effort, more rest than Monday, but assigned to times.  I use the pace charts from T2 aquatics.
Friday: Speed Work - creative sets to maximize speed and end the week on a positive note.

Suggestions: 
*Feel free to do some cross training from time to time on Monday's and Thursday's.  Some Running/Biking/Hiking is what the summer is all about. 
*Lift weights on a regular basis
*feel free to up the yardage or adjust sendoff's/equipment/reps to fit to your time and facility
*Be consistent, it will pay off, there is no off-season for an athlete.
*Post Comments on workouts, it's always good to get feedback

Value of Education

With May 1st behind us, college deposits are in for next year, and now we have a rush of soon to be seniors starting make college visits to find the best fit for them.  Here are a few things to think about as you start making one of the most important decisions you will make.


Wisdom is Gold
Think of your education as an investment.  At Calvin College, like many other good schools, the rate at which graduates are getting jobs or getting into top Grad schools is quite high.  It seems like we upgrade our cars, phones, t.v.'s, and other simple things without thinking twice, yet I see a lot of families really have a hard time spending any extra funds on their college education.  Your education is not going to depreciate, it is one of the few things that is only going to keep giving you opportunities and opening doors in your life.  Save for your education, don't be afraid to invest in your future, and you will find wisdom is Gold.

Three biggest decisions that shape your life.
It has been said that the three biggest decisions that shape your life are your faith, the person you marry, and the college you choose.  It could be said that the college you choose will shape the first two, making it the most important decision that shapes your life.  When you think about it this way, your decision shouldn't be based on whether one campus is prettier than another, or you had a better tour guide, or you like the food.  When you visit, you need to talk to people and ask important questions.  Most schools can make a good first impression, it is up to you to dig a little deeper than that, because once you are on campus as a student, you don't get the red carpet tour anymore.

Surround yourself with people, not buildings.

The people on campus are going to make a bigger difference in your life than any of the buildings will.  How do the professors care about their students, how strong are the relationships on the team, how are those relationships built, and if you are going to a faith based school, how is that incorporated into the program so you can continue to grow.  If you are not going to a faith based school, are there opportunities to get what you need.  These are great questions to ask.  Sometimes things don't go as planned in college and almost everyone is going to struggle with something, will you have the people around you to get you through whatever life gives you during those four years.

Proverbs 8:11

New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ for wisdom is more precious than rubies,
    and nothing you desire can compare with her.

Half-Lived

This morning, I came across this reading, and it hit home with me so I thought I'd share.  It comes from the popular devotional by Sarah Young, Jesus Calling.

"Here and Now compromise the coordinates of your daily life. Most people let their moments slip through their fingers, half-lived.  They avoid the present by worrying about the future or longing for a better time or place."

Maybe this hit me because I'm in the early part of my forty's and time just became a little more important, maybe it's been the cold, wet spring, putting me in a restless mood, maybe it's the road of life that has been creating road bumps with the people I work with, coach, and in my community, Who knows?  The phrase "half-lived" is what caught my attention.


I am guilty of too many half-lived days lately, and looking back, it is not that I am not happy where I am, rather, I worry about results of things in the past, and what I don't know will happen in the future.  I need to enjoy each day as they come and the little things that come with each day.  Life is to short, don't "half-live" it.



A day lived to the fullest does not have to be spent on a roller coaster, in an exotic country, or even doing an ironman, it is the ability to notice the world around you, the people in your life, and contribute to making this world a better place, one day at a time.





 Matthew 6:34

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Kipping Pullups and Swimming

For those that have been caught up in the crossfit craze that is taking the fitness world by storm you have either seen the "kipping" pullup performed in the crossfit games, wondered what it is, or have seen it and called it cheating.  I think it could be a training tool that could help swimmers develop better underwaters, fly and breatstroke technique, and just their overall understanding of the kinetic chain.

First, there is a debate among many about how the "kipping" pullup is just cheating versus the "normal" pullup.  I am not going to debate that and feel that both can be used to achieve different goals.  I believe that once you figure out the kipping pullup, you will be able to do more pullups, however, it is not that number of pullups you can do that is important, rather, it is the learning to do the kipping pullup that will potentially payoff for a swimmer or any athlete.

The kipping pullup is a more sophisticated  movement in which you use your hips to generate horizontal force to vertical force.  Swimming is also a very sophisticated movement in which we are using different groups of muscles and forces in different directions to move us forward.  As I listen to the video's in the links below, I hear a lot of similarities to what we are trying to teach in the water.

In this first video, listen to the explanation on how the kipping pullup is functional and think swimming as you watch the athlete demonstrate the pullup.  There are plenty of similarities.

This second video is the best instructional sequence for those interested in learning the kipping pullup

I am always  looking for new ways to teach my swimmers to move better in everything they do, and I think teaching this method could help some of my athletes swim better, get them to understand how to tranfer power, and at the end of the day, swim fast!

Philippians 4:13

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (NASB)

Train Up a Child... Prov. 22:6

Proverbs 22:6

I was struck by a passage I heard this past Sunday in Church.


I believe this should not only apply to parents but to coaches as well.  It is unfortunate that we read headlines about the Rutgers Basketball Coach, we hear coaches yelling obscenities at players and officials, and we see coaches trying to take advantage of their influence with their players.


Three things I think every coach should remember:

1.  "Train Up a Child" - Instead of the phrase "Train a Child,"  many versions of the Bible use "Train Up a Child" which I like. I know their is a tough love model, and the tear a team down before you build them back up model, but coaches have to be careful.  When does tough love and tearing the team down stop Training a Child Up?

2.  "In the way he(she) should go" - All coaches preach how athletics and competition teach us life lessons.  This is where the rubber hits the road.  The decisions made (good and bad), the level of performance (high and low), and the outcome of the game (win and lose) are all part of the equation and how we handle them as coaches will be remembered much more than the outcome of the game.





3.  "He(she) will not turn from it" - Many of our athletes will be coaching their own teams and their own children someday.  I have seen a few of my athletes go on to be coaches and new coaches often repeat the things they learned from their coach.  It's scary to think about, but the way a coach acts will not only influence your current team, it will influence how they influence their team and children down the road.

Baseball and Fast Swimming

With NCAA Swimming concluding, and the opening week of baseball upon us, I have been thinking a little outside of the box about how swimming might take a lesson from baseball both in how we attract kids to the sport and how we perform.






As a parent, I see a lot of similarities between youth baseball and age group swimming.   A lot of time invested in the stands for a small amount of activity in the form of a 2 minute (or less) race or getting a chance to field a ball or take a swing, followed by some candy from the concession stand.  Why does baseball draw more kids than swimming?  I know we are exposed to it more, but I believe kids enjoy baseball more because there are more opportunities for success.  My own kids usually come back from swim practice with little emotion saying it was hard or ez, while they often come back from baseball excited about that one hit, or catching the pop fly.  In swimming are we giving kids opportunities to be successful?  Are we getting excited about the small steps?  What would be equivalent to catching that fly ball in swimming?  How can we recognize that and celebrate it?


As I watched the NCAA Swimming Championships, I noticed something that may change the way swimmers prepare in the future and we may have to take a lesson from baseball.

The University of Michigan and Coach Mike Bottom took home the trophy this year.  His philosophy is to be fast all year long.  Compared to an athletes best times, his team was consistently swimming faster than most collegiate teams all season.  Coach Bottom was consistently criticized for being "too" fast, "too" soon and even though they had the fastest seed times going into NCAA's, many of the teams, who swam slower all season due to "being tired from training" were picked to catch Michigan and win the title.


I have heard Coach Bottom say that in order to grow the sport of swimming, we have to show everyone our best stuff on a regular basis.  Nobody wants to come to watch anybody swim slow and tired.  Just like nobody wants to watch Justin Verlander throw 85 mph fast balls due to a hard workout the day before.

Now back to learning a little from baseball.  Swimmers are known for poking fun at other sports for being lazy and not working as hard, but should we be be proud of that?  Pitchers need to have their best stuff every 5th day, sluggers have to bat with power every day, and a fielder or base runner needs to have his top end speed on any given play.  To maintain that power and speed takes work and preparation.  What if swimming looked more like this? What if we could swim at our best more often?  I don't necessarily have an answer, but I like to think about the possibilities.