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Volume, Velocity, and Rhythm If you follow the “Swim Media” like I do you’ve noticed that one topic never seems to go out of style – the topic of VOLUME TRAINING vs. VELOCITY TRAINING. For those who are unfamiliar with this debate, it goes like this: in one camp there are the proponents of VOLUME TRAINING, who believe that larger volumes of training are of irreplaceable value to the athlete. The VOLUME TRAINING athlete spends a large amount of time training, and when they train they swim a relatively high...
*Note from Coach Ray: While I agree completely with the content of this article, it should also be noted that a progressive approach to frequency, duration, and intensity should be constructed into a overall season, and even career of an athlete. No 10 year old should be training as frequently, long, or intensely as an 16 year old. This should be developed over time, and allows for the theories on Progressive Overload to take full effect- claiming the end results are greater than if a constant stimulus is used. Also,...
The Unkillable Lactate Myth There's no known connection between the lactate molecule and the processes that cause soreness. By Alex Hutchinson Published September 9, 2012 If you want to annoy a physiologist, say something along the lines of "Boy, I can really feel the lactic acid in my legs from yesterday's workout." This is one of those exercise myths that refuses to die, despite decades of research showing that lactic acid (or, more correctly, lactate) is more of a help than a hindrance during exercise. Over at Letsrun, physiologist Matthew...
Three Reasons to Love Lactate When you're fit, your body actually prefers lactate to glucose as a fuel. By Alex Hutchinson Published July 9, 2013 2005: Argh, I hate the burn of lactic acid in my muscles after hard workouts! 2010: What's that you say? Lactic acid doesn't cause muscle soreness? And it's actually "lactate," not lactic acid, that accumulates during hard exercise? 2015: I love lactate so much. I wish I could figure out how to produce more of it. It's funny how attitudes change -- but reassuring that...
Nurturing Resilience Raising children to be competent and caring. by Michael Ungar, Ph.D. Olympic Gold Medalists and Raising Resilient Kids Recent research on how elite athletes succeed is useful to parents who want to r Published on July 4, 2013 by Michael Ungar, Ph.D. in Nurturing Resilience In an article in Psychology of Sport and Exercise, David Fletcher and Mustafa Sarkar report on their interviews with Olympic gold medalists and how they cope under the incredible stress that accompanies elite level sport. There are some good lessons here for us...
Taking Pride in the Agony Posted by Glenn Mills on Nov 16, 2011 08:44PM (6,010 views) 1 1 1 Day by day, swimmers trudge on. They endure the thankless loneliness of training... the agony and pain that just keeps coming. The drudgery that goes along with the agony makes this one of the toughest sports, physically and mentally. Chasing a ball, or running around a track, or even hitting someone across the line from you, brings tremendous pain if you're training to be the best, but the mental part of...
Excerpts Balance intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for success By Costas I. Karageorghis and Peter C. Terry There are two main sources of motivation. Generally speaking, motivation can come from the outside, such as the motivation to win medals, receive financial rewards, and attract attention from the media. This is known as external, or extrinsic, motivation because it involves participation in sport for some kind of reward that is external to the process of participation. On the other hand, athletes who participate because they enjoy the process—that is, they find sport...
by Mike Boyle The Secret 10 Votes “I predict the sun will rise in the east. When it does I will then declare that I can control the movement of the sun.” The big secret is that there is no secret. I have been saying this for years. There is always a guy ready to take credit for someone’s combination of hard work and great genetics. I hate the money grubbers who always claim to have found the holy grail of training. All they have really found is a list...
Taken from swimswam.com http://swimswam.com/ At every level of the sport, swimming is partially an individual sport and partially a team sport. From the early years as an age-group or summer league swimmer through the collegiate and post-grad level, you compete as an individual, but for a team. Any swimmer will tell you that your teammates are the people you rely on to push you through practice when the pool is the last place you want to be. Every athlete is motivated differently. Some can train by themselves everyday and are...
