Technical Suits

Technical suits have become common place at every swim meet level in recent years.  I have seen them at local recreation meets/summer league meets all the way to the highest level of competition.  I was at a meet recently and saw $4000 worth of suits in a 10 & under heat.  Yes you read that correctly…. that is $4000 worth of suits.  That value in suits in that one heat was more than the cost of my first car and possibly more than the cost of those swimmers parent’s first cars.

So now you may be asking why I am putting so much emphasis on the topic of “tech suits.”  After the 2008 Olympics when numerous world records were broken tech suits were given all the credit and became the “must have” item almost overnight. Yes, the suits those Olympians wore gave the swimmers a lot of advantages from buoyancy to reduced drag, but they have all since been banned.  This does not mean the suits that are out there today do not give you an advantage, but they are much different than what those in 2008 were wearing.  Today’s tech suits offer compression, reduced drag, water repellency, etc.

The truth is, despite the changes in tech suites, I still have “fights” with my swimmers and parents at almost every meet about which suit they should wear.  Here is the truth about tech suits and where I pull my rationale from…First, these suits are expensive. Second, you only have a couple of swims in your suit before it has become too stretched out, loses their water repellency and compression. Third, the advantage the suit gives an average age group swimmer is minimal.  At your non-championship level meets there is no reason to wear one of these suits.  A tight textile/practice suit is perfect.  You are not rested and probably had tough practices leading up to your meet.  So why waste the few swims you have in a tech suit in your less competitive non-championship meets?

The reality is for many swimmers wearing a tech suit is just a mental game. They get in their head that they need the suit to swim fast and without it they have no chance.  It is all part of this new mentality they get by simply putting on the suit.  I am a big believer that the swimmer needs to learn to swim fast and not rely on the suit. If they are successful without the suit they will be successful with it and their swimming becomes less about what they are wearing and more about the technique they have been working on.   

From my standpoint, a tech suit should be saved for meets when you are tapering, which for my swimmers would be three meets a year.  We have a taper meet normally at the beginning of December, and then we have Championship meets in March and July/August.  These are the only meets these suits make sense.  You want it to be a “special occasion” to wear the suit.  If you wear it to every meet there is nothing special about putting it on and any mental advantage you would feel is lost as a result of the redundancy of wearing it too often. 

Picking your suit

There are several different brands and styles of the tech suit.  However, before you choose your suit you should go to FINA and make sure the suit you are looking at is approved.  The suits now have a logo that says FINA Approved and looks similar to this:

 

Having this logo is really important as there are still a lot of banned suits out there and you do not want to be the swimmer wearing a banned suit. 

Once you find approved tech suits and are narrowing down your options make sure you try them on. The biggest mistake a swimmer makes is not having a suit that fits properly. Every suit is cut differently and you need to find what works best for you and your body. You also need to make a decision if you are going to wear a Kneeskin or traditional style suit.  And boys need to consider if they want a high waist suit or not.  Lastly, when considering a suit always remember “the most expensive does not always mean it is the best suit for you.” Just because one suit costs more than the next does not mean it will help you swim faster. It simply means it is more expensive. Price should weight very little in your decision of what to buy.

As championship meets are approaching if going the route of wearing a tech suit is your plan you need to start thinking about what you want NOW. Why? Because suit retailers cannot keep tech suits (especially the most popular ones) in stock around big meets. 

And my last and most important suggestion as you start to consider what tech suit to purchase is to talk to your swimmer’s coach. You are making a pricey investment and your coach will likely have some invaluable insight of what he/she thinks will best “suit” your swimmer.

Disclaimer:  These are my opinions and are not to be a reflection on anyone other than myself.

Managing Expectations

As the group I coach is getting older I have started having to work on managing expectations.  This is a very interesting and touchy subject with my swimmers and families.  As swimmers grow and mature the expectation of a best time every time in a race is impossible to achieve, but what they always seem to expect.  However, I look at each meet as a stepping stone towards their goals not  as a race for best times. 

 Right now we are in the heart of our training cycle for our Short Course season building towards our Spring Championship meets.  So as part of this training cycle I have sat down with most of my swimmers to discuss goals, their calendar (practice and meet schedule), and my plans leading into our championship meet.  During our discussions we talk about the opportunities to race at any upcoming meets over the next few months and what our strategies will look like during practice and those meets.  One of the most important topics that I discuss with them is my expectations for each meet.  I am not always expecting best times at every meet, but what I do expect to see are the skills we have been working on in training implemented into their racing.  A perfect example was over the past few weeks we have been working on our turns and under waters.  We had a meet this past weekend and that is what I expected to see my swimmers focus on during their race.  However, what I found was, despite what I have told them, some of the swimmers felt that if I am not expecting best times they did not have to put forth their best effort.  And this is completely wrong.  I am looking for each swimmer to give 100% effort during a race while also focusing on those skills we have been training to improve. 

Why do I not expect best times? Simple.  At this point in the season as we are not tapering for these meets.  These meets are meant to hone certain skills so when the big competition meets come up in the spring my swimmers are in the best shape and form they can be in. The goal is for everything to become second nature so come spring championship meets we are no longer worrying about turns and under waters, but concentrating on best times.

I know swimmers are not going to be perfect at every meet or every race but we are striving for that perfection in the long run.  

For more information on tapering check out: What to expect during taper  

Disclaimer:  These are my opinions and are not to be a reflection on anyone other than myself.

Who am I swimming for?

Over the years I have seen swimmers come into the sport, swim really fast at a young age, and they leave before they even graduate high school.  I have always found this an interesting phenomenon, though I am sure it is not limited to just swimming.  However, I believe this happens for a couple of reasons. 

The first reason is that these swimmers commonly develop strength at young age and they are much bigger and stronger than their peers.  They may not have the greatest technique, but they swim fast times and can do so on strength alone.  These swimmers eventually are caught by their peers because not only have they gained strength but do so while gaining better technique in order to be more competitive.   As a coach, I see this every year. I try to work with swimmers like this, but they are normally only successful if I can get them to buy in to the importance in developing their technique to go along with what is sometimes natural strength.  Yes, their peers do catch up to them, but they normally have started to work on their technique in order stay competitive.

The second reason is because they begin to see swimming as a job. Many times I associate this with the swimmer whose parents push them to the point where swimming is no longer fun.  This is the swimmer who swims because “Well my Mom wants me to.”  This same swimmer after a race comes up to me and says, “My Dad is not happy because I lost to (insert name).”, or “My Parent’s are upset because I added time.”  I have heard this more times than I can even count and it still makes my blood boil.  This swimmer is not swimming for them; they are swimming for someone else.  This is in my opinion one of the most difficult athletes to work with.  The only way they are motivated is by the repercussions of how their parent might reacts.  Over the years I have spent a lot of time trying to educate parents on expectations and explain in detail why we are doing what we are doing in practice and meets.  This is still a challenge as these parents believe they have their swimmers best interest at heart. I understand this, but parents have to learn and trust in the plan of their child’s professional coach.  Because despite what some parents think, the coach normally has their swimmers best interest in mind.  If the swimmer is only swimming to please their parent and not themselves they will only get so far.

The truth is swimming is very much an individualized sport.  You have to have the desire and drive to achieve the highest levels. Swimming needs to be something that you want to do. Yes, you swim with a team, but ultimately your success is not determined on how well your team does in a given meet like most sports. The swimmer spends hours upon hours immersed in water staring at the black line on the bottom of the pool.  You rarely hear anything else that is going on around you other than the thoughts in your own head.  I remember some days wondering how many tiles were on the bottom of the pool and trying to count them.  (I never found out the answer to that question, but it doesn’t mean I didn’t try to figure it out.) 

The question ever serious swimmer needs to ask themselves is… are you swimming for yourself or someone else? 

Disclaimer:  These are my opinions and are not to be a reflection on anyone other than myself.

A Swimmer's Diet

A swimmers diet is equally as important as their training.  Your diet plays a much larger role than most think in overall performance.  If you are not fueling your body properly throughout the day you can affect yourself more than you can imagine.  An improper diet can lead to tiredness, slow recovery and compromised immune system.  And improper eating during a swim meet is normally the #1 reason for poor swims and results. I just wish swimmers would believe me when I say they need to be constantly eating throughout the day. 

What do you think is the most IMPORTANT part of your diet?  Making sure you drink plenty of water.  NOTHING, I mean NOTHING replaces water.  And do you know how many times a swimmer says “but I am surrounded by water, why do I need to drink water?” Truthfully I just laugh to myself because that just shows how little younger swimmers get it. The truth is being surrounded by and swimming in water does not mean you get hydrated through osmosis. Swimmers need to drink more water than most people.  This is not just during training but throughout the day.  If you get dehydrated it will make you feel like you have to work harder and at the same time it will decrease your overall performance.  There are plenty sports drinks out their (ie. Gatorade and Powerade), but none of them replace water.  I tell my swimmers if they bring a sport drink to practice they should also bring and drink twice as much water.  I am not saying there are not advantages to sports drinks as they help replenish your electrolytes and also give you so much needed calories during training.  But sports drinks should never replace water.

As for the food you should consume…There are a couple of rules of thumb everyone should follow.  The first is to snack often.  Every hour or two you should eat something small.  Something like granola bars, fruit or nuts.  You should snack during training as most practices are longer than an hour.  Now I know some swimmers who if they eat during practice, they get sick to their stomach.  My suggestion is to try different things.  If all else fails this is a good time for a sports drink as it will help supply the energy needed to complete the workout.  At the end of workout it is just as important to consume something with protein to aid in your recovery as to hydrate.  This should be done within 30 minutes of finishing your activity.  That means if you have a 30 minute drive home you should bring something with you to eat at the end of practice.  You also need to make sure you are getting plenty of protein throughout your day as well.  

Now as we get close to a competition your diet should become comprised more of carbohydrates.  These include things like pasta, potatoes, fruits and breads.  This will act as your fuel during competition. One of the most common things I get asked at a meet is “what should I eat?”  One of my favorite things to suggest to my athletes is to eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  This gives them the protein to recover (peanut butter), the simple sugar for immediate energy (jelly) and complex carbs (bread) they need to sustain their energy.  Other great things are bananas, apples, cheese & crackers, granola bars, and trail mix. Food such as wheat thins, cheez- its and gold fish are not great sources of nutrition, but I see them all the time at meets with the assumption they are “carbs”.

But despite what you eat,  at meets hydration is still key.  I tell my swimmers I want to see them with a water bottle in their hands at all times.  I expect them to bring their water bottle with them when they are warming up, warming down and heading behind the blocks. 

Now the last thing and probably the most controversial thing I need to talk about are supplements.  Supplements are not regulated by the FDA.  What this means for you as an athlete is you can never know 100% what is in the supplement.  Of course there are two different levels of supplements.  There are your high risk (stay away from):  Muscle Builders, Weight Loss Supplements, and Mega-Doses and there are your low risk (use at your own risk): Carbohydrate drinks, Iron/calcium, and Vitamin D.  I always tell my swimmers when I am asked about supplements to talk to their physician as there are just too many variables involved and I would never want to be responsible for suggesting something that could be potentially harmful. However, the truth comes down to the fact that I am a big believer if you cannot get what you need out of the foods you are eating, you need to change what you are eating. 

Ultimately, I hope that if you get anything out of this it is that you need to eat throughout the day and drink plenty of water as those are probably the two most important things to starting a successful nutritional plan. But as a swimmer you are responsible for taking control over what you eat, how you eat and learning how to create/manage and prepare a proper swimmers diet.

Disclaimer:  These are my opinions and are not to be a reflection on anyone other than myself.

High School/Club Swimming

High School/Club Swimming

Swimming high school and club seems to present a challenge every year for those swimmers who choose to do both.  Every year I deal with conflicts between high school and club swim expectations and this year (though it is not the first) I was on both sides of the conflict. For many families this is a true battleground. 

When I first got into coaching I started as a high school swim coach.  I had absolutely loved my time as a high school swimmer and I wanted my high school swimmers to have the same experience.  My team had very few club swimmers but we had enough for me to learn what the battle as between high school and club swim.  High school swimming is all about the team, your school and fun!  Most schools cannot offer the type of training that can be done with your club because the lanes are congested and you have a large variance in abilities.  As a result, I worked with each of the club swimmers on my team to come up with a practice schedule that worked best for their training in club and also gave them the full high school swimming experience.  It was not easy for them all, but we managed to make it work.  Because of the requirements of club swimming I only required my club swimmers to attend one practice a week. Now this year I am an assistant coach of a high school team so the control I have is very limited when it comes to administrative duties. This year my high school team required 3 practices/meets a week.  In my opinion this can put a strain on your overall training, but the truth is it is not impossible to find a balance for both the high school experience and maintaining your club training.  Lately, I hear some schools expect even more from their swimmers and have varying expectations. Some of these expectations, which I will not mention specifically, in my opinion are beyond unrealistic and are actually detrimental to the club athlete. 

What it comes down to is that each swimmer needs to make a decision on what their expectations are for their overall swimming goals/expectations. 

One thing I noticed this year, and one of the biggest misconception about swimming, is that if you do not swim for high school you will never get noticed by colleges.  I am here to tell you that is completely untrue.  The truth is college coaches are paying more attention to what swimmers are doing at Sectionals, Junior Nationals, etc. What someone does in high school weighs very little on the college recruitment process and the truth plenty of swimmers swim for colleges without ever swimming on their high school team.  This does not mean the swimmers who swim in high school have no shot of getting noticed by a college, but the likelihood is very slim. 

The reality is club swimming is all about the individual.  Club swimmers are focused on much larger more individual goals than just swimming well for their high school team.  This does not mean they should not be able to get the enjoyment out of swimming for their high school and skip the whole experience;  they simply have different overall priorities.  As a result, I suggest that club swimmer take the time and discuss with both their high school and club coach their schedule, expectations and goals.  If reaching your goals is going to be hampered by swimming high school, which 95% of the time is not the case when both coaches have the best interest of their swimmers in mind, you really need to weigh your options.  I would never suggest not swimming high school.  I enjoyed it too much and think it is the experience that helped make me who I am.  But I also have to emphasize that you need to go into high school swimming with a clear understanding of what your overall goals and expectations are from the sport.

Disclaimer: These are my opinions and are not to be a reflection on anyone other than myself.

Setting Goals

It has been a while since I have posted.  I have been working on this post for a few months.  Now that High School Season is over and we are getting through Championship Season I should have a few more to post soon.  If you have ideas on things I should post please comment.  Also if you like what you read I would appreciate you sharing my posts.  

Swimming is a sport of delayed rewards.  What this means is that you put in a lot of work and do not see the results for weeks, months and sometimes even years.  This can be extremely frustrating and difficult to deal with.  One way I have helped my swimmers deal with this is through goal setting. 

Of course when I ask a swimmer what are their goals and they tell me, “Make the Olympics” or “Swim at (insert College name)” I cringe.  These are great long term goals that require a lot of hard work and perseverance to achieve, and when I am looking for goals I am also looking for ones that are more short term. Obviously these long term goals are what we are working towards, but to even hope to achieve them a swimmer needs to strive towards short term and intermediate goals.   I also do not like the long term goal that is so concrete.  The reason is a lot of the swimmers who say this to me are 13 or 14 years old.  In 4 years they may not even want to go to whichever school they picked.  I would much prefer “Swim in College,” or “Get a scholarship to swim.”  These are goals that are achievable and do not box you in.

Short term goals are goals that require a lot of work and I normally base them on the immediate swim seasons.  These goals can be to achieve certain cut times or break a certain time barrier.  I do not like to hyper focus on getting a certain time in one event but something broad like achieving a certain amount of cuts for a meet.  Every season I sit down with my swimmers and discuss these short term goals and what we need to do to achieve them. 

As we work towards our short term goals we will focus on more intermediate goals.  These are goals that you focus on day-to-day.  Every day you are at practice the swimmer should be focusing on the intermediate goals we set.  These goals normally include improving under waters, kick strength, technique flaws, etc.  These are what we spend hours focusing on during practice and they have a direct correlation to achieving our short term goals. 

This is a challenge because sometimes you get so focused on trying to achieve your short term goal you forget all about the intermediate goals you are supposed to be working and focusing on.  You always want that instant gratification and unfortunately with swimming you do not get that very often.  When you are younger instant gratification comes more easily because we are more likely to see time drops at more meets, but as the swimmer gets older those time drops come fewer and farther between.  I have seen some swimmers go years between time drops in some events.

Why are time drops more difficult to achieve as you get older? Let’s just say there are many factors, and I will probably not name them all.  The most common reason is everyone eventually reaches a point where they stop growing.  You see time drops all the time when you are younger because you are constantly getting taller and stronger.  You do not have any control on when you stop growing, so that is why focusing on the aspects you can control like the intermediate goals is so vital. 

I read an article earlier on Swimswam ( http://swimswam.com/swimming-sysiphus/) that gave a great explanation on swimming and some of the trials of trying to achieve your goals.  Just because you do not achieve them right when you are hoping does not mean it cannot be done.   Please take a moment and read the article.  I could not agree more with what it says.

Disclaimer:  These are my opinions and are not to be a reflection on anyone other than myself.  

Quality vs. Quantity

There is always a great debate in swimming of quality versus quantity.  Every coach and team has their own thoughts and feelings on this, but I am a big believer in quality. 

To start off, quality is all about learning to do things the proper way.  I believe this has to start from the very beginning.  This means when a young swimmer first joins a team they need to be taught through drills by focusing on how to swim smart.  What do I mean by swim smart? Do not recreate the wheel.  I am a firm believer in streamlines, jumping off the wall with power, and using your whole body when swimming. Yes, even during drills.

Any coach can give a kid sets to complete and just have them swim laps back and forth across the pool (quantity) and some swimmers will do fine in that setting. However, this form of coaching in my opinion does not hold a swimmer accountable for what they are doing.  I have been known to call these kinds of practices “Garbarge Yards!”  What I mean by this is that they are likely swimming yardage but in the process forming bad habits such as not holding their streamlines, breathing on break outs, not focusing on body position or head position.  “Garbage Yard” practices normally do not focus on the quality of the swim rather just yards. Think of this as a runner who simply runs to run and not a runner who runs to train for a marathon where they focus on stride, breathing and technique. 

By focusing on quality you can also prevent many swimmers from becoming injured. Most injuries occur when coaches just push the kids to get as much yardage in as possible.  Rather, when swimming for quality the simplest drills can help teach proper hand entry, kick and body position.  And yes, even when doing mainly drill sets the kids are being challenged.  Again, this challenge may not come at yardage but rather forcing the swimmer to focus on and implement technique. It makes them responsible in not only understanding directions that I give them but forcing them to be accountable and apply what I am saying each and every time. I find that focusing on quality keeps the swimmers, as well as me, engaged in what they are doing.  They are constantly being challenged and learning to swim smarter not further. 

This form of coaching can make my job more challenging, but it also makes it that much more rewarding.  It is also much easier to keep your kids progressing through the sport because they are more like to stay injury free, which becomes imperative as swimmer begin to add more hours in the water.   

Now, as you get further into the sport there is a point where your quantity needs to increase.  With an increase in quantity it cannot be at the cost of your quality.  There is no point in doing a long yardage challenge set if part of the way through your technique falls apart.  This is where even with quantity swimming I also expect them to swim with good quality and where implementing my coaching comes into play. As a swimmer, they need to create a strong base so when those long yardage sets are done the swimmer is set up to be successful. 

How can you create that strong base?  Personally, I start off every season focusing on “long axis” strokes. Long axis stokes are free and back which are the strokes that rotate around your spine.  With this focus, I break each stroke down to underwaters (jumping off the wall, streamlines, and underwater kicks).  Then I focus on kick strength and speed.  Your kick is your motor, it drives your body rotation and helps maintain your body position.  Lastly, I focus on body position.  I spend a couple of weeks teaching them stroke and technique breakdown by implementing them into all the drills and then working it into their swimming.  As we work on each stroke and continue to focus on specific technique I continue to add new sets that will challenge the swimmers, but still focus on the details. Don’t worry… I did not forget “short axis” or breast and fly, but I focus on those once a strong base is set on long axis strokes.  

Now just because I focus mainly on quality does not mean I do not focus on quantity.  Quantity at a young age I feel is a detriment to the swimmer.  If they are just swimming yards to swim yards they are not learning anything.  It would get rather boring for the swimmer and I see this commonly leads to them burning out at a much younger age.  But as a swimmer gets older and they have a strong technique base behind them the quantity does need to be increased.  This can be increased in a couple of ways.  The first is adding more practices in a week.  Many teams offer morning and evening sessions which makes getting in additional practices in easier. With the added days the quantity of yardage each week will increase.  I also will add longer sets with tougher intervals but I still expect smart swimming.  I never write a workout with in the intention of swimming “garbage yards.”

With all this said I am a firm believer in quality over quantity.  I know there are plenty of people who disagree with me, but in my experience those swimmers who swim for coaches who focus on yardage commonly get bored with swimming, are burnt out too soon or are injured too quickly in their swimming careers. However, I think there is room for both but never at the cost of quality.

Disclaimer: These are my opinions and are not to be a reflection on anyone other than myself.