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Mar 16, 2021
Plan D Training Part I
Sometimes training mistakes are made and the consequences must be dealt with. Sometimes everything is done right, then a swimmer gets...
Mar 9, 2021
Can't Coach It II- Dolphin Kicking Part II
The premise of the ‘Can’t Coach It’ series is that there are some skills that aren’t going to be impacted by words. You can’t really...
Mar 2, 2021
Can’t Coach It II- Dolphin Kicking Part I
Some skills are critical to performance yet resist improvement, particularly through coach-led initiatives. We often describe...
Feb 23, 2021
Save the Season Part II
In part I, we introduced the idea of ‘saving a season’, and the idea that the decision-making process for helping a swimmer turn around a...
Feb 16, 2021
Save the Season Part I
Sometimes, it’s just not going well. A swimmer isn’t progressing, they seem to be struggling, or they might even seem to be regressing....
Feb 9, 2021
Learning or Performing? Part II
In part I, we explored the differences between learning environments and racing environments. The following characteristics can describe...
Feb 2, 2021
Learning or Performing? Part I
There are two productive forms of training, learning and performing, and they are both critical for developing competition day...
Jan 26, 2021
Knowing Nothing
Ignorance is not bliss. For the coach, it can be incredibly frustrating. This is particularly true when you believe you SHOULD have all...
Jan 19, 2021
An Ode to Kicking Part VIII
In the first 7 parts of this series on kicking, we’ve covered a lot of different topics with kicking, investigating the nuances that may...
Jan 12, 2021
An Ode to Kicking Part VII
In part VI, we looked at the nature of kicking skill. In this article, we’re going to learn how to put that kicking skill to use for...
Jan 5, 2021
An Ode to Kicking Part VI
We’ve explored the rationale for including kick training, and we examined ideas for improving the fitness of the legs here. Of course,...
Dec 29, 2020
An Ode to Kicking Part V
In parts III and IV, we looked at the situations where improving kicking performance could improve swimming performance. We also looked...
Dec 22, 2020
An Ode To Kicking Part IV
In part III, we examined the situations where faster kicking abilities result in faster swimming performance, as well as the situations...
Dec 15, 2020
An Ode To Kicking Part III
In part II, we explored the ways swimmers can kick faster. In this article, we’re going to explore what determines if improvements in...
Dec 8, 2020
An Ode To Kicking Part II
In part I, we started our exploration of kicking and introduced the idea that one of the most important functions of kicking is to...
Dec 1, 2020
An Ode To Kicking Part I
Everyone seems to love kicking. ‘The legs build the stroke’ and all that. There seems to be a blind acceptance that kicking is really...
Nov 24, 2020
Component Construction
There was a Russian scientist by the name of Pyotr Anokhin and he had an idea about how systems in the body worked. He called it the...
Nov 17, 2020
Can't Coach It- Breaststroke Pullouts Part II
In part I, we explored the process of applying the ideas of skill acquisition to a specific skill, the breaststroke pullout. The...
Nov 10, 2020
Can't Coach It- Breaststroke Pullouts Part I
Everyone has heard the expression ‘you can’t coach speed’ or ‘you can’t coach height’. In the swimming context, a common one is ‘you...
Nov 3, 2020
Can Skills Change?
‘You can’t change a mature swimmer’s stroke.’ -Just about every senior age group and college coach I’ve always found this to be a...
Oct 27, 2020
The Most Stuf Part II
In part I, we talked about the idea of accomplishing as many performance objectives within a single set as possible. The key word here...
Oct 20, 2020
The Most Stuf Part I
Nabisco released a new version of the Oreo, ‘The Most Stuf’, which is obviously superior to its other version because it has ‘the most...
Oct 13, 2020
Stepping Back
Swimmers and coaches are greedy. They want to perform, they want to perform better than they ever have, and they want to do it all...
Oct 6, 2020
Principles Before Philosophy Part II
In part I, we explored the concept of foundational principles of fast swimming, and came to the following conclusions- Swimming fast is...
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