Swim Sci

A Beautiful Swimming Stroke

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:05:00 +0000

Beauty in the eye of the coach?

The definition and description of a beautiful stroke has always brought me great interest. Everyone has seen, saw and given a swimmer's stroke the descriptor of beautiful, but what makes up a beautiful stroke? Richard Seymour discusses in a 2011 TED talk how beauty is a feeling not a physical attribute. This description truly interest me. Is beauty in the eye of the beholder? Is it in the eye of a coach? Is it in the eye of the swimmer?

Nearly everyone has heard of the 1/16th rule or the golden rule of beauty. This rule suggest beautiful faces have symmetry between points on the face. Does symmetry relate to beauty in swimming? Has anyone watched Phelps swim the 200 free, is this stroke symmetrical?

Recently a research study attempted to disprove the golden rule. These researchers had people rate a group of individuals while only viewing half of their face. Then, another group of people rated these same individuals, but were shown their whole face. The ratings were nearly identical, suggesting symmetry is not nearly as quintessential as thought.

All of these studies analyze facial beauty. What is facial beauty doing on a swimming website up for a Reader's Choice Award (shameless plug, vote for us today!)? I'm sure everyone reading have views and opinions on physical beauty, but you also have opinions on swimming stroke beauty. Does a beautiful stroke equate to swimming success? Again, watch Michael Phelps' 200 free. Is his hybrid stroke symmetrical? I feel his stroke is asymmetrical, but beautiful. Therefore, symmetry appears irrelevant in swimming and facial beauty, but is this one man's humble opinion or the consensus.

Whether discussing faces or strokes, beauty is far from being quantified, but everyone has a view or opinion on the subject. I've heard coaches, most commonly college coaches, describe some swimmers as "10 yarders". This means the coach only needs to watch the swimmer race 10 yards to know they are a gifted/talented swimmer. What are these coaches watching? Are they judging a stroke on beauty or other characteristics? If they are rating a stroke on beauty, then why can't we all agree on a beautiful stroke?

Beauty and the Beast
Unfortunately, beauty isn't the end-all be-all. If anyone saw the movie Moneyball, then they know Billy Beane went on a whim using mathematics, not scouts opinions, to formulate a winning team with minimal salary. Is this possible in swimming? This view is opposite of the "10 yarders", but is now installed in nearly every Major League Baseball team. Is it possible to know an athlete's anthropometric and certain swimming specifics (ie 100 yard kick time) to decide which swimmers will be successful? Is a coaches (or scout for baseball) view on a beautiful stoke irrelevant?

Paralysis by Analysis
The novel Blink describes art kouros the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles. The museum bought a sculpture as many of the Getty's kouros felt the piece was authentic. Despite the purchase, many of the kouros felt there was something off with the sculpture. Later in the story, more kouros analyzed the sculpture. Of all the art kouros, one was able to tell with a blink of the eye that the sculpture was a fake. In this case, a split second decision, a "10 yarder" swimmer, was the best means to find the correct decision. This subconscious thought is valuable, but years of practice are required for fine tuning which doesn't guarantee the skill despite years of practice.

Wrap-up
I wish this piece could give answers about the art and beauty of swimming, unfortunately there is no consensus method to depict swimming beauty. More importantly, there is no correlation between a beautiful stroke and fast stroke. Some people are able to blink or use their subconscious to pick out an elite stroke. Others use mathematics and formulas to find elite swimmers. Realizing both areas are essential and provide insight is essential. Start looking at beauty, but attempt to quantify why it is beautiful other than "it's beautiful because I said so"! Looking for the answer will benefit the sport as the best answers to quantify a beautiful and successful stroke will be discovered and later be proved through scientific research. Remember, the artist are the people on the pool deck everyday; build the sculpture and the scientist can determine why it works.

By Dr. G. John Mullen, DPT, CSCS. He is the founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration and head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club.

References

Springer IN, Wannicke B, Warnke PH, Zernial O, Wiltfang J, Russo PA, Terheyden H, Reinhardt A, Wolfart S. Facial attractiveness: visual impact of symmetry increases significantly towards the midline. Ann Plast Surg. 2007 Aug;59(2):156-62..
Little AC, Jones BC. Attraction independent of detection suggests special mechanisms for symmetry preferences in human face perception. Proc Biol Sci. 2006 Dec 22;273(1605):3093-9..
Zaidel DW, Cohen JA. The face, beauty, and symmetry: perceiving asymmetry in beautiful faces. Int J Neurosci. 2005 Aug;115(8):1165-73.

Underwater Video Analysis Software Review

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:06:00 +0000

Now you see me, Underwater!

If you frequently read the Friday interview series, you’re sure to note the widespread endorsement of underwater video as the top training aid, ahead of lactate measurement, dryland, and recovery tools. Video analysis, from the coach’s perspective, is all about communication. Sometimes, all you need is a five second video from the deck to show someone they are crossing over with freestyle or backstroke. Other times, you need a more detailed look with software to measuring specific angles or to show off some “bling” to a triathlete enamored by the latest gadgetry.

Fortunately, with the advancement of video technology, the market is replete with video analysis software at all price points. I remember back to my junior golf and little league baseball days when this type of software was not available to the consumer and we’d analyze footage from the VCR by drawing lines on TV with erasable marker (though a couple times a Sharpie snuck in there)! Now you can perform the same analysis on your iPhone or Android for under $5.

Choosing video analysis software depends on two things: First is cost. Fortunately, highly capable systems are available as free downloads. We’ll cover the full range of cost below. Second is need. “Need” can also refer to coaching preference, as some coaches prefer to get into more detail than others. How much detail depends on individual athlete too: some athletes are satiated only by complete information, while others suffer paralysis-by-analysis with any mention of technique.

Below is a review of software with which I have personal experience. This is not a complete survey of the market, but should provide a glimpse into the more popular systems.

Dartfish
Arguably the best performing product on the market…and it better be for the cost. Widely used institutionally in sports and health care. Benefit of wide use is that if you think to yourself, “Wouldn’t it be nice if the software can do [insert feature here]?” there’s a good chance someone has previously thought of that and the feature is already part of the software or is currently in development. The leading companies like Dartfish and V1 Golf (discussed below) are constantly updating their software. Dartfish, like most of the companies, offers a free thirty day trial download to sample these features.
The drawback to Darftish is obviously the cost. If your team needs to sell boxes of do-it-yourself pizza kits to pay the gas to the State meet, Dartfish is probably out of the team budget. A sometimes forgotten consideration is the hardware requirement: Without a quality camera and equipment to keep your camera steady underwater, some of the advanced features become useless. Same applies with cheaper systems, but if you are paying thousands for Dartfish, I assume you want to utilize all it has to offer.
If you just want to point out obvious stroke flaws, you are better served with a cheaper system, although Dartfish does have advantages in user friendliness the ability to communicate with athletes by recording lessons, as in the demo video above. Technical support and continuing education opportunities are extensive but these come at a cost.

Biggest negative to Darftish…No Apple compatitibility. Sorry Steve!

V1 Golf
Don’t be fooled by the “Golf” title into thinking this is only a golf product. Yes, V1 has its largest footprint in golf instruction, but is also used by many other sports such as skiing, tennis, gymnastics, and baseball. There are a variety of options in the V1 menu:

Pro (starts at $1,295)
Home: Premium ($39.95)
Home: Basic (Free)
Apps for iPad, iPhone, and Android ($4.99)

We’ll first discuss the Pro version, which starts at $1,295 for a one camera license and one year of free tech support. Beyond a year you gotta pay more. With its recent involvement with USA Skiing, V1 has shown it is a capable system for tracking moving figures (golfers just stay in one place), though I probably give Dartfish an edge in that category.

If you have the financial resources, you can’t go wrong with either V1 Pro or Dartfish. Personally, I find V1 to have superior drawing tools, perhaps because these are the primary weapon of the video-based golf instructor. I have also found V1 easier for uploading and downloading videos directly from Youtube.

One way in which the V1 Pro version differs from the cheaper V1 options is the live-screen capture. For coaches doing private lessons, this can be a useful revenue stream, as it already is in golf and baseball. It can also be valuable in coaching professional athletes who travel extensively and need technical instruction while away from home. Likewise, if you can’t do personalized analysis during practice time, you can communicate with your team away from the pool. Here’s an example of how that it is done in a different type of “pool”…Yes, billiards is in the game of video analysis!
Also note the split screen option midway through the video, which is available in most software these days at all price points, but not in the Home (Basic) version of V1 Golf. However, as with Dartfish, if you don’t have quality hardware, many advanced features are useless. Unless you plan to coach remotely and utilize the communicative tools built into a Dartish or V1 Pro, you may find what you need in a cheaper system.

Retailing at $39.95, the 2.0 Premium is basically a stripped down version of the Professional edition. Don’t be fooled by the price, as there is no sacrifice in quality; just fewer features available. Compared to the Free (Basic) version, $39.95 buys the ability to play videos side by side and to record variable speed playback. Otherwise, the products are virtually identical.

The phone apps are a great buy at $4.99 but have limited use on deck for underwater analysis with an iPhone or Android, as you’d have to go through several steps to get the video into the device (that is, until iPhones and Android offer underwater video in their phones…). Best setup for deck analysis would be an iPad if you can remove the storage card from an underwater video camera and insert immediately into the iPad on deck. Even if you just have an iPhone, this is a cheap but potentially useful investment for breaking down starts, above-water video, and dryland exercise form.

Any sports video analysis apps on that iPhone?

Kinesiocapture
This is a relatively new product that I have not used for my own coaching, but have sampled. Overall it has gotten promising reviews from those using it in the sports performance and medical fields. Apple users rejoice, as Kinesiocaputre is ONLY compatible with Apple products. Versions are available for both the iPad and iPhone, priced at $299 and $49 respectively.

Several tutorial videos are available on the Kinesiocapture website detailing its features. As with most Apple-based products, Kinesiocapture rates high in aesthetics, interfaces nicely with Apple’s superior multimedia elements, and has an intuitive flow to its setup. Look for this product to get even better with updates in the next few years.

Kinovea
Kinovea is a free, open source system that is a well-kept secret, perhaps because they are based in Europe. Unlike the cheaper and free versions of V1 Golf, you can save analysis drawings that you make on the screen. You can’t record an entire lesson as with Dartfish and V1 Golf Pro, but you can save and share pictures as part of an edited video. For example, if you wanted to measure the elbow angle in a freestyle catch, you could measure this angle on the screen and save the image within a video, but you can’t save any voiceover.

Other features are relatively similar to other products on the market, though Kinovea does offer a split screen option, unlike the free version of V1, and is more advanced as a video editor (cutting and pasting clips). Personally, I prefer Kinovea to V1 for objects moving across the screen, but find V1 more intuitive for face-on views underwater, and stationary movements as in golf, hitting, throwing, or in-place exercises. One nice touch with Kinovea is that adding a watermark to your videos is simple.

Summary
These are hardly the only products on the market for video analysis, but all are well regarded. You might find that you don’t need any analysis tools. However, if you want to explore the options, quality software is only a free download away. If you want to spend more, you can find value at all price points from under $40 to several thousand. Always consider the quality of your camera and other hardware first before making any software investment.

By Allan Phillips. Allan and his wife Katherine are heavily involved in the strength and conditioning community, for more information refer to Pike Athletics.

Weekly Round-Up

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:52:00 +0000

Groin Kick Syndrome: Part III

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:00:00 +0000

Prevent GKS
In part I the process of GKS was discussed and in part II the errors in kicking were tackled. This part will give ideas for improvement and implantation on your team.

From my experience, tackling the first break down in any long chain reaction effect is necessary to improve the subsequent processes. The first step in the GKS continuum was leg spin. To improve leg spin, proper kicking biomechanics is essential. Too many swimmer rely on improving kick speed at fatigue causing fatigue and starting the GKS process. Increasing kick speed also decreases the amount of range of motion used during the kick, causing swimmers to use an improper motor program and decrease the amount of whipping motion.

Part II discussed the misconception surrounding kicking from the hips and locking their knees to kick like toothpick man/woman. Unfortunately, this decreases the quadriceps (quads) use for force production and forward propulsion. The quads are the strongest knee extensor and full activation is mandatory for a long distance per kick. Improving and maintaining distance per kick is essential to prevent leg spin and the GKS process.

Distance per kick is a subject rarely tackled with swim coaches, however if you asked any coach they would talk about the importance of distance per stroke. Kicking efficiency plays an important role in distance per stroke! Elite club and high school coach Chris Plumb hints at briefly discusses the importance of kicking efficiency in his beep, beep, beep, as his team uses tempo trainers to train dolphin kick tempo. During fatigue many swimmer's believe spinning their legs will get them from point A to B. However, this tempo will increase fatigue and be inefficient. Don't eliminate the whipping motion mandatory for an efficient kick.

Land Before Water?
Performing proper kicks on land is easier than in the pool. To learn a proper kick on land, the movement must mimic kicking as much as possible. Even though soccer kicking eliminates hip roll, soccer kicking is like kicking a soccer ball. Doesn't sound too absurd, but I'm sure some disagree, but think about it, when someone shoots a soccer ball, they will rapidly flex their hip, extend their knee and point their toes (plantarflex) to propel the ball forward. This is the same method used in the pool. One method to improve the kicking power and whipping motion is to have the swimmer perform kick backs on a soccer bungee provides an opportunity for the athlete to practice proper kicking on land.

Soccer Swimmer...

Once improved on land, the athlete must show improvement in the pool, as we could venture David Beckham may have a good kick but is unlikely to make and Olympic swim team. It is difficult to measure kicking efficiency, but a few methods are counting kicks in groups of four to determine your kick rate. This is possible with a board, without a board and rotating (like six kick switch) and with regular swimming. Once this number becomes constant, the athlete can try swimming at a desired pace with their ideal kick rate or they can perform descending kick sets with either decreasing intervals or decreasing the interval. and descend the amount of total kicks while staying on the interval. This concept of kick count could be valuable for swimmers who suffer from GKS. Remember, this isn't the only possible for GKS, but this link in the continuum plays a vital role.

Wrap-up
GKS occurs for many reasons. Try to tackle this flaw at the first step, not the step which occurs right before feeling like you were kick in the groin. Don't become a slave to the tag line of under training or wussy swimmers. Strive for answers to these complex questions while realizing the answer may be the result of many variables. Accept and embrace complexity, talking each subject one at a time.

By Dr. G. John Mullen, DPT, CSCS. He is the founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration and head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club.

Lats on Lats on Lats

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:12:00 +0000

Lean wit it Rock (or Roll) wit it

Backstroke is a unique stroke. Despite the obvious difference in orientation, backstroke is more than freestyle on the back. Elite backstroke swimmers have two typical stroke styles discussed eloquently by Russ Payne on backstroke: rocking or rolling. These vastly different styles differ by the degree or rotation and/or depth of the catch. These variables must fit the athlete's body type and muscle fiber preference forcing individualization and analysis for each swimmer. However, one constant aspect of backstroke independent of the swimmer's anthropometrics is the muscle used during the catch, the latissimus dorsi (lats).

The lats contract during in each stroke of each style of swimming. This is why swimmers have large backs. Line up ten elite swimmers and the ratio of shoulder width to hip width is huge, much larger than "regular Joe's" or even other athletes. This large ratio this is due to the size the lats altering the upper body to a 'V'. No studies have analyzed the activity of the lats during each stroke or the phase of each stroke, but from my experience and humble opinion the lats are used more in backstroke than any other style. This article will discuss the lats and the resultant kinetic chain movement in backstroke if used properly, like the elite backstrokers.

Lats on Lats on Lats
The lats stretch over the entire backside of the body attaching from the sacrum and thoracolumbar fasica to the inside of the humerus (upper arm) on both arms. This width of the lats resulted in its name, meaning broadest in Latin. The lats control shoulder extension, adduction and internal rotation.

Via Grant's Atlas of Anatomy

The lats also cause side bending of the body via the attachment to the sacrum.

Due to the high activity of the lats in swimming the lats are often tight. Unfortunately, tight lats have been shown to cause shoulder and low back pain (Arnheim 2007).

"Because the latissimus dorsi connects the spine to the humerus, tightness in this muscle can manifest as either sub-optimal glenohumeral joint (shoulder) function which leads to chronic pain or tendinitis in the tendinous fasciae connecting the latissimus dorsi to the thoracic and lumbar spine (Francis 1999)."

This information suggests lat stretching is necessary to improve lat length and decrease injury. I do feel lat stretching is beneficial, but in backstrokers, performing lat stretching until the cows come home is unnecessary. However, I feel lat length (at least in backstrokers) must be used during backstroke to prevent injuries and optimize reach, setting up the wiggle hips.
Wiggle Hips

I'm going to use Aaron Peirsol for this demonstration, but any elite backstroker will work. Until underwater swimming videos became readily available, everyone assumed backstroke moved in a straight line rotating forwards. This misconception was taught to numerous children and is still taught on many pool decks. Unfortunately, we have taught swimmers wrong for years, as the top backstrokers wiggle their hips side to side like they are shimmying to the Macarena.

I have yet to hear a reasonable explanation for this wiggle, but I'm making a case for the lats. As stated, the lats cause shoulder extension, adduction and internal rotation as well as side bending (aka lateral flexion) at the thoracic and lumbar spine via their attachment to the thoracolumbar fasica and sacrum. This side bending will connect one whole side of the body and bring the shoulder and hip together. Approximation of the shoulder and hips on one side will cause the spine to move from a straight line to a 'C'. This 'C' shortens the side of the pulling arm causing the hips to move lateral. This occurs on one side then the other, appearing as a wiggle.

The other side of the coin
If one side shortens the other will elongate and lengthen. Therefore, shortening on one side induces lengthening on the other side. Not only will this cause a longer, optimal reach, but will act as dynamic mobility lengthening the lats hopefully decreasing rate of shoulder and low back pain in backstrokers.

As you side bend left, the right shoulder elevates

Head Steady As with all stroke adjustments, the wiggle will be awkward. However, this move may be more awkward and complex than other stroke corrections as it requires self-correcting of the head to keep the head still. For example, if the spine from the thorax to the sacrum side bends to the right, then the head will follow unless it is corrected. The head must side bent left to resist this motion to keep the head still. Remember the head is piercing water before the rest of the body and for the body to enter through one whole it must be stable via self-correcting!

Wrap-up

Realize there are different types of backstroke in elite swimmers. However, the main muscle involved in pulling is the same whether you rock or roll. Make sure you're connecting your head during this strong whole sided catch to ensure the head is stable and leading the way to time improvements.

References

Arnheim, D.D., Prentice, W.E., Principles of athletic training. 9th ed. McGraw Hill, pp 570-574, 1997.
Francis, P., Applied anatomy and kinesiology, supplemental materials. KB Books., p 19-25, 1999.

By Dr. G. John Mullen, DPT, CSCS. He is the founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration and head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club.

Beep, Beep, Beep

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:11:00 +0000

Throwing up in the huddle...

Timing is everything. Finding a date for Friday night, getting a free sandwich, networking with potential colleagues – many opportunities in daily life can be attributed to time and space. One of the most famous football leaders of all time, Al Pacino in Any Given Sunday, may have put the coaches’ perspective on timing the best: “Because in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small. I mean one-half step too late, or too early, you don't quite make it. One-half second too slow or too fast and you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They are in every break of the game, every minute, every second.” Okay, so maybe Al read some great lines amidst smooth background music, LL Cool J getting amped, and flashy cinematography, but the half second too slow or too fast resonates with me.
To take a more scientific approach, consider timing in skill acquisition: the muscles fire at the right time and fire in the right order, this stimulates the correct number of muscle fibers, which in turn leads to athletic success. The Talent Code author, Daniel Coyle, talks about building superhighways of myelin-sheathed neural pathways in the skill acquisition process to lead to athletic superiority. If you take enough golf swings in a highly concentrated practice, and the timing of your swing becomes impeccable due to the myelin sheath around that particular neural pathway, you too could become the next Tiger Woods, in theory anyway.

What does all of this mean in terms of swimming? As swim coaches, we have some options in creating and building race ready strokes for our swimmers. On account of the cyclical nature of our sport, one of the most impactful ways to refine your swimmers’ stroke is to examine their stroke rate. Tempo (balanced with distance per stroke) is a crucial determinate in an elite stroke; you can develop athletes to swim at an individually correct rate. This is where the tempo trainer, a well-used tool at the Carmel Swim Club, comes into play. I defer to G. John Mullen on the science of what timing a beep to a stroke does to the body and brain, but to my observant eye, I see a remarkable difference in concentration when an athlete puts a tempo trainer in their cap. The tempo trainer objectively holds each swimmer accountable to a time or rate and as such is extremely effective. The beauty is, instead of the coach constantly droning, “go faster!” your swimmer is motivated to hit a pace or tempo more intrinsically – or at least by the beep in their head.

While you can use the tempo trainer in a multitude of ways, we use them most often at Carmel Swim Club in the following four modes:

Race Pace Tempo Training
Race Pace Time Training
Kick Tempo Training (Dolphin Kick and Breaststroke Kick)
Swimming with Intent

Race Pace Tempo Training
Many of you have seen the chart that was originally inserted with the Finis tempo trainers that lists a single cycle and three stroke cycle tempo minimum, maximum, and average for each event and each gender. We utilize a version of this chart that our assistant coach, Maggie Moss, generated while she was coaching at Indiana University from 2007-2008. Maggie updated the chart by looking at the top-20 all-time performances in each event on the USA Swimming website. The race analysis data offered for each event provides the minimum (fastest), average, and maximum (slowest) tempo within each performance. Maggie took that data from each of those performances and averaged each minimum, average, and maximum for a single cycle count and for cycles per minute. The results are distributed on the chart here:

While we realize these tempos are not necessarily going to be a perfect fit for our swimmers, this chart gives us a guideline for what to work towards. After all, if we want to develop elite swimmers, it is important to expose our swimmers to what the best of the best are doing. We encourage our swimmers to start with the average tempo for their event on the chart, and then we work with them to adjust the tempo up or down depending on how their stroke looks. At Carmel, one of our favorite ways to work this is in short bursts of about 15 meters or in a set number of stroke cycles during a longer distance. For example, we do a set long course (usually in preparation for blue sets) where swimmers do four to six 100s. During each 100, swimmers must pick 15 meters anywhere within the 100 to hit race pace tempo.

Race Pace Time Training
We call this type of training, “Beat the Beep” at Carmel. We look at a swimmer’s goal time in an event and set the tempo trainer to half the time it takes for a swimmer to swim 25 yards or one-fourth of the time it takes to swim 50 meters at the indicated pace. Here is an example: Say a swimmer wants to go 50.0 in a 100 yard event, or 12.5 seconds per 25. Half of 12.5 in 6.25, and thus you set the tempo trainer to that time. The swimmer knows the tempo trainer will beep every 6.25 seconds, so, right before a beep, the swimmer goes underwater in order to push off the wall precisely on a beep. Their goal is to “beat the beep” for the designated distance. If we are doing a set of 25s in this exercise, a swimmer will have to reach the 12.5 by the second beep (counting the beep when they depart the wall as the first) and then reach the 25 by the third beep. The pattern continues for whichever distance we choose to pace that day. To make sure we are effectively measuring pace, we have our swimmers go to their feet. “Beat the Beep” does not necessarily have to be for race pace training, but can be used for any kind of training in practice where having your swimmers hit a certain time is the goal.

Kick Temp Training
Want to speed up or slow down a dolphin kicker? Put a tempo trainer in their cap. I believe the tempo trainer is effective for dolphin kick as it often informs swimmers that they are not kicking nearly fast enough (or as fast as they think they are kicking). One tradeoff of manipulating a swimmer’s dolphin kick may be a decrease in the size of the kick. It is therefore essential that the coach and athlete work together to ensure that the kick’s amplitude remains appropriate for each swimmer. We also find the tempo trainer useful in breaststroke kicking. The device helps hold the swimmer accountable to maintaining a proper tempo for practice. Again, you can play with the rate and adjust accordingly through a set, but it is important to keep a close eye on how the swimmer maintains the size of their kick.

Swim with Intent
I find one of the biggest challenges of being a swim coach to be getting swimmers to transfer great looking moderate swimming into race-hardened technique. The tempo trainer is useful to bridge great technique with race appropriate speeds. Use the tempo trainer to gradually transition moderate swimming into race pace swimming. It’s interesting to watch the swimmers manipulate their strokes and listen to them discuss where breakdowns are occurring as the rate increases. I recommend doing 25’s in groups of four or six and gradually increasing the rate until the preferred technique breaks down.

Wrap-up
Hopefully the information and suggested uses for the tempo trainers offered here helps get you thinking about how tempo work and different pace exercises can work within your program. The most important thing I’ve learned after working with these tools over the years is that they offer a guideline of where to begin with tempo. Work closely with your swimmers to figure out what works best with them. Encourage them to play with it, let them have fun and take ownership in communicating what happens to their stroke at different paces and tempos. Timing is everything, of course, but each swimmer has their own timing that works the best for them.

By Chris Plumb. He is the head coach of Carmel Swim Club in Carmel, Indiana. As Carmel high school head coach Chris has coached the team for the last 5 of their 25 consecutive women and 2 of the boys last 13 state titles.

Oscillating Oxygen

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:51:00 +0000

Oscillating Oxygen
A couple weeks ago we discussed Optimizing Breathing Patterns in a post that sparked quality discussion. Let’s take this post to consider what patterns are we actually optimizing? The word “pattern” implies orderliness rather than breathing whenever we feel like it. Other than a no-breath 50, every race can involve multiple patterns, so it important to understand what they are to count appropriately.

Counting breaths can be tricky!

The aim of this post is not to advocate for a particular strategy as the most optimal for all swimmers in each event. As we saw in the data from the Men’s 100m Free at Worlds, strategies among a homogeneous group can vary significantly. Further, we can’t tell whether an individual swimmer optimized their breathing strategy for a given race based on result alone. In this post, we’ll catalog some of the different breathing patterns available.
Terminology can get messy in this area so we’ll go ahead and define some terms up front.

No breathing = Self explanatory.
Same side = Every 2, 4, 6, etc. Breathing to the same side of the pool.
Alternate side = Every 3, 5, 7, etc. Alternate right side breaths with left side breaths.
Consecutive = Breathing consecutive strokes. Stroke and breathe right, then immediately stroke and breathe left. Never seen it before? Read on!

No Breathing

Obviously the only race for which this would be an option is the 50 free. Just about every competitive swimmer can actually do a no-breath 50, but some will breathe several times during the race. Big question is how much practice time to devote for developing this skill at race effort, both in the 50s but also for closing out longer events. To save one or two breaths, is it worth sacrificing velocity in practice to train hypoxia toleration? The current evidence, both in the literature and anecdotally, indicates hypoxic training does not improve fitness as was once thought. Might there be an alternate justification as part of a race rehearsal strategy?

The above might seem like a small point, but the 50 can be decided by a fingernail or less. Fortunately, the 50 can be practiced frequently which allows for the collection of more race and time trial data. Additionally, we know that respiratory demands can change during periods of anxiety. Hopefully the swimmer will have the mental state to keep their breathing under control, but last minute race adjustments are sometimes needed. This consideration applies for all distances. Air quality, particularly with older indoor natatoriums, can be inconsistent, which may also require calling an audible on race day to suit the conditions. The concern is less for the 50 than for distance events, but is still worth noting.

Sometimes you need to call an audible.

Same side breathing

Every two – is the preferred pattern for many swimmers in middle distance and distance events. Remember that energetics and respiration are duration dependent, not distance dependent. At the 1:45 mark in the 200m free, when the fastest in the world are done with the race, even a female hitting an Olympic Trials qualifier (2:03) still has nearly 20 more seconds of swimming to go! Although quantification of inspiratory muscle strength is not widely available, we do know that respiration ability varies by individual and should be treated as such. A dogmatic attachment to any single breathing pattern should be avoided.
Duration is not the only consideration for same-side breathing. Biomechanics play a role too. It’s hard to say whether a history of massive yardage breathing to one side ingrains a same-side pattern or whether preexisting physical traits lead a swimmer to favor one side (most likely it’s a combination of both). Regardless of the cause, there are some swimmers for whom learning to race while breathing to their weak side qualifies as a major stoke change; the kind that if it goes wrong could send a career into a tailspin. Look at muscle length, strength, and timing in the upper extremities before trying to force a pattern change. If a change to bilateral breathing must occur, it should be accompanied by the appropriate dryland work to support new demands on the other side of the body.
Asymmetry isn’t necessarily bad, just as a balanced stroke isn’t inherently good. Some of the most balanced strokes you’ll see are also pretty slow…just hang out with triathletes who worry more about bilateral breathing than the pace clock. One the flip side, I’ve been around veteran masters swimmers who would have preferred repeat 200 flys rather than take a single breath to their “off” side.

Also account for strength of underwaters. A swimmer who can perform more dolphin kicks off each wall may need to breathe more frequently between the flags to make up for the length of time and exertion underwater. However, the corollary to this is not automatically true: spending less time underwater does not require the swimmer to breathe less on the surface, although it may be a viable strategy for some.

Every four or more – This pattern is an option for selected parts of middle distance races, as well as in the closing stretches of longer races. Rarely is this the dominant pattern beyond 100m.

Every two mixed with every four – Multiple combinations are possible here, such as 2-4-2 or 2-2-4. Any of these strategies are analogous to alternate side strategies (described below) for swimmers whose weak side breathing is not race-ready. In other words, if you think an Every 3 pattern is a good fit for the swimmer’s respiration ability, but the swimmer lacks proficiency breathing to his/her weak side, consider a blend of every two mixed with every four.

Alternate Side breathing

Bilateral – Generally refers to every three strokes while racing. Although every five or every seven are also options, they are infrequently used as a dominant pattern. Two big concerns here: first is obtaining enough oxygen. Most would agree the ability to breathe to both sides is important and should be a part of training, but is not always appropriate for racing. Second consideration is whether it is compatible for the swimmer’s stroke. Swimmers whose racing freestyle stroke resembles a one-arm fly drill may have trouble, as will older swimmers who were never encouraged (or forced) to breathe to their weak side. Younger swimmers may be encouraged to breathe this way to establish balance, but may be freed from this restriction when race times become more important and event specialties emerge.

One side up, other side back – Pattern used by Ian Thorpe while racing. I’m not suggesting that because Ian Thorpe did it therefore you should too, but rather that it’s an option for those with sufficient balance to breathe to the weak side in a race but who need more frequent respiration. If racing head-to-head, this also allows you to breathe every two strokes while keeping tabs on a competitor.

Hybrid breathing - I used the term “hybrid” in the previous segment to describe a mix of same side breathing with bilateral breathing. I would describe hybrid breathing as this: breathing multiple times to the same side in an “every two” pattern, but then breathing every three to get to the other side, at which you breathe multiple times to that side in an “every two” pattern. A hybrid pattern such as this provides more oxygen intake and CO2 expulsion than bilaterally every three, but creates symmetry not found in breathing to the same side. If my description of hybrid breathing was confusing, just watch what Katie Hoff does in the freestyle leg of this video and you’ll see for yourself (around 2:45 is a good example)!

Every Stroke Breathing Quick…hide the kids before they realize you can breathe between the flags and the wall, and in the first stroke off the wall!

Breathing to both sides in consecutive strokes is not reserved for beginners who are afraid to put their faces in the water. Here is a great video with 1500m WR holder Sun Yang who not only breathes to both sides consecutively, but on occasion breathes on three consecutive strokes. Additionally, he practically takes his entire head out of the water to breathe and looks forward at the wall before his flip turn. How dare he swim so fast!

The modern trend has been to increase breathing in all races, especially distance events. Sun and fellow Korean distance ace Park Tae-Hwan have taken it to a different level in breathing consecutive strokes. Supposedly Kieren Perkins utilized this tactic as well, though it is hard to verify that claim with the absence of quality videos from the 90s.

Time will tell whether this catches on and whether it is appropriate for non-elites. Heck, we don’t even know if it is optimal for Sun and Park, but I have to believe the Chinese sports science machine performed their due diligence before settling on this method. What is promising about the tactic is that despite a clearly unbalanced stroke, Sun makes this tactic work with minimal disruption to his rhythm. Ultimately it will be up to coaches in the laboratory of the pool deck to experiment and determine for which swimmers, if any, this tactic is optimal. Personally, I think it has potential to become more widespread, though it could be a disaster when tried with younger swimmers.

Summary

Breathing patterns vary widely from not breathing at all to breathing every stroke. Hopefully cataloging multiple patterns in one place will aid coaches in deciding which pattern is most optimal for each swimmer in each event and in each segment of those events. Consider multiple factors from respiratory ability, fitness, technique, individual anatomy, mental state, pacing, age, and environmental conditions when deciding upon the optimal breathing strategy.

By Allan Phillips, he and his wife Katherine are heavily involved in the strength and conditioning community, for more information refer to Pike Athletics.

Weekly Round-up

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 15:02:00 +0000

Do squats damage your spine? by Charles Poliquin
Contreras Files Volume 2 by Bret Contreras read his Friday Interview: Bret Contreras
Anatomy of a speed drill by Lee Taft
Swimmers may not benefit from their usual competition warm-up by Swimmer's Daily
One arm cable press - Performance U style by Nick Tumminello (I suggest having the cable between the arm and the body to incorporate external rotator strength)
L-arginine improves recovery but not muscle strength
Training for the 400 meters: A retrospect by Jimson Lee 400 meters is the 100 meters of track, interesting comparison.
Random post by Elliott Keefer sounds like he's not convinced with thFS3
The two Mikes by Casey Barrett
10 Minute Solution: Knee Pain by Dr. John, DPT, CSCS
Dryland Tip: Self Soft Tissue Infraspinatus

Stats Saturday: Men's 50 Free Anthony Ervin

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 16:54:00 +0000

This past weekend in Austin brought a lot of interest to the men's 50 free (check out Stats Sunday: WR Comparison Men's 50 free). With all the "comebacks" for this upcoming Olympics, I will argue with anyone Mr. Ervin's is the most impressive. His 10 year departure and unorthodox career (a license tattoo artist) for an athlete is one of the most unusual in the sport. After his first retirement many whispers surround this young, talented athlete regarding wasted talent and laziness, but remember he did win Olympic gold in 2000 and is only 30 years old, putting him on the cusp of the age when men reach their peak strength.

His 10 years off appears to cause no more than a slight hiccup in his training. Ervin is still one of the best sprinters in the world as his ability to get into his catch and his high stroke rate are unfathomable. He is able find clear water better than any swimmer. Despite his good attributes, he still demonstrates flaws as the sport progressed towards underwater kicking he still hows a poor start with little to no underwater kicking causing early stroking. This flaw puts him behind the ball during every race and forces him to use a higher and faster stroke rate than his peers. In Austin he took 39 strokes, 3 more cycles than Cesar's 20.91and 2 more than Bousquet's 20.94 (Race Analysis: Cesar Cielo 20.91) . Sure this difference could be due to his slower overall time, or suits, but Adrian took 34 strokes and Bousquet 35 strokes. Taking two or more stroke cycles directly correlates his break out time of 2.48 seconds (nearly one second than Cielo's 20.91). These extra strokes will cause his body to transition from the creatine phosphate system (lasts approximately 10-15 seconds) to the glycolytic system earlier causing fatigue.

Ervin never competed during the reign of the hi-tech suits which eased fatigue and provide invaluable core stabilization during fatigue. These benefits would have immensely helped him, considering the suits made vast improvements of the last 15 meters during a 50 meter race. To demonstrate, 0.5 of the 0.6 difference between Cesar's 20.91 and his 21.52 from World Championships came during the last 15 meters as lactate and fatigue s settle.

Despite likely using all his creatine phosphate system, not having the hi-tech suits and having to use more glycolysis (producing lactate) than his peers, I still like Ervin's chances to make the Olympic Team. His catch and stroke rate unmatched.

Simple improvements with his start could make him above his peers, but I doubt this will be changed due to his age and lost time. Luckily, he is talented enough to make the team without this correction and I like his chances.

Bold prediction: 21.60 at Olympic Trials, placing him 2nd and making the Olympic team.

What do you think?

Friday Interview: Eric McGinnis

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:01:00 +0000

1) Please introduce yourself to the readers (how you started in swimming, education, experience, etc.).

My name is Eric McGinnis and I’m from Raleigh, North Carolina. I started swimming year round at 10 years old, mainly because my older brother, Matt, showed success at a young age and I wanted to be like him. I swam at the University of Kentucky and specialized in the 50 and 100 yd free. At UK I majored in exercise science and am currently a strength and conditioning coach for Spectrum Sports Performance in Winter Park, Florida.

2) What is your current training schedule?  
At the moment my training schedule consists of no swimming (laughs). I’m currently “retired”, although I am being strongly encouraged to make a comeback. I lift 5 days a week and am planning on entering my first Olympic weightlifting meet in the near future.

3) How do you incorporate mobility and stretching into your training?  
My warm-up routine always consists of soft tissue work (such as foam rolling or using other trigger point tools) and dynamic stretching. I stopped warming up with static stretching (holding stretches for extended periods of time to make the muscles relax) in college and started performing my static stretches after workout and at the end of the day. Currently, I do very little static stretching but I found that I haven’t really lost any range of motion. I believe this is due to the consistent strengthening that I do at full range of motion when training the Olympic lifts.

4) What is the weirdest training you've done throughout your career?
In the water it would have to have been the summer of 2008 going in to Olympic Trials. The volume of yards I did was INCREDIBLY low. The intensity, however, was almost always very high. Lots of land work incorporated with the swimming. I would have workouts where I wound dunk a basketball 10 times, run a 200 yd sprint, do a rope climb, then finish with a 50 meter sprint with fins and paddles. Not sure how much rhyme or reason there was to the specifics of the training, but it was fun and I had great results. That season I qualified for World University Games by placing 2nd at the U.S. Open in the 50m Free. I will say that recovering from that training was very difficult though.

5) What aspects of your swimming are you currently concentrating on?
Finding motivation to get back in the water (laughs). My younger brother, Zach, is lighting it up for Virginia Tech so I’m focused on supporting him. During his holiday breaks I got to help him with some start and turn work and I had a great time doing it.

6) What drills/activities are you doing to achieve this?
I’m stronger and more explosive than I was when I was in my swimming prime, so if I do make my way back into the water I should have something to work with. My current level of conditioning is lacking a bit, however.

7) In your opinion, what was the biggest adjustment you made in your swimming career (stroke biomechanical, training, dryland)?
I learned that I didn’t have to front load my season with aerobic conditioning to have a successful taper/season. Recovery is aerobic in nature so some level of aerobic conditioning is certainly necessary for sprinters. This can be achieved by cycling in appropriate aerobic work for the events being targeted. Coaches often forget that aerobic training and distance training are not synonymous. Aerobic refers to an energy system and is not movement specific. I believe coaches should avoid using distance training for aerobic benefit when targeting short distance events. Aerobic work can be accomplished in or out of the pool, and without useless garbage yardage.

8) Over the past few years, what is the biggest change you've made with your training?
I would have to say learning to know when I need to push it and when I need to back off. During any swim season I would get to a point around early December where I had little motivation to train, I would doubt myself, had issues dealing with all my stresses (school, relationships, practice, etc.), and mood issues. As I grew older and smarter I realized this was a classic case of overtraining, and it was very common for me. My taper was getting longer and longer each season in an attempt to dig me out of that hole. Swimming has a mentality that if you don’t train full throttle every day two times a day then you’re a sissy so it can be tough to avoid this. Luckily I built good relationships with my coaches and I was able to cycle in necessary recovery a little more often during my last couple seasons in swimming. I should add that my coach during my last year and a half of high school was actually really good about avoiding overtraining. He typically had a recovery week cycled every three weeks, which worked quite well.

9) What projects are you working on in and outside the pool?
This is my first year working for Spectrum Sports Performance. We have our own facility and we also work with some teams in the area, including Trinity Prep Academy High School and most of the Rollins College athletic teams. My primary responsibilities are coaching at Rollins, particularly running the Softball and Swim team strength programs. It has been a blast; I love working in the college setting. I’ve made the switch from athlete to coach. If I do decide to train again it will be part time. I’m committed to helping others with their own athletic endeavors. Hopefully I can bring something new to the table for swimmers and other athletes that wasn’t available to me when I was competing.

Thanks Eric!

Groin Kick syndrome: Part II

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:58:00 +0000

Kick Konfusion

Over the weekend many athlete's tightened up at the end of their races. Tightening up or groin kick syndrome is a multi-factorial result, but one potential mechanism was discussed last week with groin kick syndrome: part I. In order to improve this facet in your swimmers it is essential to understand the chain of events and give a method for improvement. Unlike many circumstances where one variable is the cause, GKS is multi-variable and halting events at the beginning of the chain will improve the subsequent variables.

Many coaches default GKS as purely a conditioning flaw or even worse a gauge an athlete's toughness. These two reasons do occur, but are not always the result. Looking for solutions is essential and relying on a $300 suit isn't the answer, as minimal differences were noted in Austin, TX with the new tech suits. I do not think these suits will make a noticeable change in times, but it will be hard to gauge. For example, if a swimmer improves 0.1 in a 10o free, was it secondary to the suit or training? This is a tough decision someone must make when you have a 13-year old girl spending $700 on a suit!

I feel the goggles are the only vast improvement, not sure how much but I'm intrigued yet disappointed it took this long for goggles to transition towards cyclist helmets considering more drag occurs in water than air. Then again, they are going higher speeds and their head is the first object to pave the way in new air, typically (hopefully) the arms are breaking new water and the head isn't leading the way.

Back to GKS, leg spin is the first step in the GKS continuum. Improving leg spin and distance per kick is the most influencial aspect for improvement with distance per kick. If this aspect improves, the rest of the continuum will follow suit. The best method to improve leg spin is to improve distance per kick (DPK). This unfamiliar topic is like distance per stroke, but measures kicking efficiency. From my experience, many coaches and learn to swim instructors are unfamiliar with the biomechanical movement of a kick. Unfortunately, no concrete evidence (that I've seen) has measured the kinematics of freestyle kicking, but underwater video can do wonders!

Kicking biomechanical confusion

"Keep your knees straight! Kick from your hips!"

These two phrases are constantly screamed at little kids on the pool deck. Unfortunately, straight knees are far from the reality in elite swimmers. Great swimmers typically do 60-80 knee flexion to propel themself forward with a rapid knee extension. I'm not suggesting initiating from the hip isn't important, but in reality swimmers use approximately 1/3 the amount of hip extension compared to knee flexion.

In the Club it's going down...kick

Flutter kicking is a whipping motion starting from the hip. First the core must stabilize to prevent excessive frontal and transverse movement, then the hip must begin to flex (for a downkick), then the knee extends and the ankle points (plantarflexes). This whip motion generates more force than kicking with straight legs like toothpicks. This downkick is the most propulsive movement in kicking and teaching swimmers to only kick from the hips takes out the most power muscles in the downkick the rectus femoris (RF). The RF is the only muscle which flexes the hip and extends the hip, having proper timing and use is essential to prevent step 2 in GKS, No Ro.

No Ro is the result of fatigue causing poor muscle timing. Studies on soccer players (Apriantono 2006) found a decrease in kicking velocity was due to poor kick coordination, they stated:

"slower peak lower leg angular velocity, was most likely due to a significantly reduced resultant joint moment and motion-dependent interactive moment during kicking. These results suggest that the specific muscle fatigue induced in the present study not only diminished the ability to generate force, but also disturbed the effective action of the interactive moment leading to poorer inter-segmental coordination during kicking. Moreover, fatigue obscured the eccentric action of the knee flexors immediately before ball impact. This might increase the susceptibility to injury."

Soccer kicking isn't identical to swimming kicking, as more hip extension is utilized in soccer, but the same process and muscles involved (in my opinion) results in many similarities.

Upkicking Ain't Easy Baby

A lot of coaches stress the upkick, feeling it propels the body forward. In my opinion, the upkick is less about propulsion, but more for balance and rhythm. If you only kick one way, your body can't perform the subsequent phase properly. For example, if you don't do a correct or full upkick, then your downkick won't be in the right starting position. These two phases need seamless transitions and if your body is stick downkicking, then you'll never achieve a whip kick. The upkick sequence starts with hip extension, then knee flexion and slight ankle dorsiflexion.

It is clear to see the end of the upkick is the beginning of the downkick. Finishing each phase fully sets up the body or the next kick by providing balance and rhythm.

Wrap-up

Next week I will discuss methods to improve the whip like motion of the downkick, forcing a rhythmic upkick and methods to measure and practice distance per kick (DPK).

By Dr. G. John Mullen, DPT, CSCS. He is the founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration and head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club.

Monthly Dryland Program: Phase II Intermediate Stabilization

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:32:00 +0000

If you missed the phase I program, start there first! It is essential to start basic and advance your stabilization exercises. Stability is the base of all exercises allowing optimal force production. See Monthly Dryland Program: Phase I Stabilization if you missed it and start there. This will be a monthly dryland exercise list compliments of the Center of Optimal Restoration (COR). If you want to receive information like this join the Swimming Science and COR e-mail list. Enjoy!

Phase II: Intermediate Stabilization

Muscle Strength
Remember the rules of low back stabilization. Make sure your back is stable as a rock!

Rules
1. Maintain the back position as instructed.
2. Do not let that position change AT ALL during the exercise.
3. Stop if the exercise causes 'your pain'.
4. Stop if can not keep the correct back position

HOH Curl-ups
-Lie on your back with knees bent. Lock your fingers together over your head. Flatten back before initiating movement. Do a curl-up,until the bottom of the shoulder blades come off the floor. Keep abdominals tight and back flat at all times. There is a great tendency to arch your back as your lift. Do not let this happen.

Side Plank with/without Rotations
-Lie on your side with your elbow bent and your feet together. Lift your hips towards the sky, with your shoulders and hips stacked on top of each other. This can be progressed by rotating your body towards the ground, tapping your hand and foot on the side of the floor you are facing. For beginners start with your knees bent and hold the plank.

Plank Rocks
-Roll out on ball or on ground on forearms with your legs extended. Move through the hips not through the shoulders. Make sure you keep the back rounded toward the ceiling, then rock through your ankles.

Bridge Hold/March
-On the Swiss ball or chair get into a bridge position. Have your knees shoulder width apart and your hands on the floor for support. Straighten one leg, let it down and repeat with the opposite side. DO NOT LET YOUR BACK ARCH, OR PELVIS/SPINE MOVE IN ANY WAY. YOU MUST STAY ABSOLUTELY STILL.

If you have a Swiss Ball, make sure you follow these rules to prevent the low back from cheating.

Rules:
1. Starting Position: Hug the ball face down, with knees bent. Flatten your back as instructed. Tuck the chin.
2. In all of the following exercises, as you bring your arms up, you will have a tendency to arch your back. In order to target the scapular stabilizers and not cheat through the thoracic and lumbar spine, only perform the exercises with the back flattened.

Swiss Ball/3-Point Windmill (SB Windmill)
-Keeping the arms as straight as possible, bring one arm forward and keep the other arm behind. The forward arm should have the thumb up, the backward arm should have the thumb down. Lift both arms, thinking about bringing your shoulder blades together.

Swiss Ball/3-Point Y (SB Y)
-Keeping your arms as straight as possible (at 11:00 and 1:00), bring both arms in front, thumbs up. Raise the arms as high as you can, remembering to raise them only as far as you can maintain your starting back position. Lower the arms slowly and repeat.

Band Pulls

-While standing, obtain the compact position. Bend your elbows and have your palms facing the sky with your elbows next to your side, pull a band to rotate your arm outward. Slowly return to the starting position, MAINTAIN YOUR ELBOW POSITION!

Muscle Length

Rules:

1. Lie on the tennis ball focusing on the instructed areas
2. The more sensitive or tender the area, the slower you should go
3. Stop if the exercises causes pain
4. Perform for 30 seconds – 2 minutes

Tennis Ball Iliotibial Band (TB ITB)
-Lie on your side with a tennis ball under your lower thigh, on the bottom leg, just above your knee. Bend the top leg’s knee and place it flat in front of the bottom leg. Push through your top leg and forearms to move the tennis ball.

Tennis Ball Calf
-Sit-up with one leg straight and the other bent, then place the tennis ball under the outside calf of the straight leg.

Tennis Ball Pectoral

-Lie on your stomach and place a tennis ball on the upper, outer portion of your chest. Place the tennis ball as close to your shoulder as possible, with the ball still on the muscle. You may need to position your arm diagonally to allow your arm to relax.

Tennis Ball Midback (TB midback)
-Lie on your side and place a tennis ball under your back as instructed. Give yourself a bear hug, grabbing your shoulder blades, then roll on and off the tennis ball ten times. Move the tennis ball to the next level and roll again.

Kneeling Quad Stretch
-Kneel on one knee with your other leg forward with your foot flat on the ground. Use a table or chair to your side for balance and a pillow under your knee if padding is necessary. Line up your body over the knee that you are kneeling on. In this position do a pelvic tilt or 'tuck under' and you will feel a stretch in the front of your thigh. Common mistakes are arching your low back or leaning forward which negates the stretch.

By Dr. G. John Mullen, DPT, CSCS. He is the founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration and head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club.

Weekly Round-up

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 17:06:00 +0000

Why do I not like WTWL exercises by Mike Reinold. I think these exercises are appropriate, if you take the lumbar spine and the thoracolumbar fascia out of the equation as seen here.
Is movement self organized?
Philosophy by Dr. Docheff.
The Secret by Gray Cook.
Well Endowed by Casey Barrett.
Fall edition of the Journal of Swimming Research.
Rapid Weight Loss by Dr. John, DPT, CSCS.
Science of Performance: Return after an injury part III by Dr. John, DPT, CSCS

Stats Sunday: Lochte vs. Phelps 200 IM

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:43:00 +0000

I know I've discussed this topic before in Stats Sunday: 200 IM Comparison and a little in WR Analysis: Men's 200 IM, but I want to delve into more detail on the subject.

But, this race is the most anticipated race of the 2012 London Olympics. No other event has the two best swimmers in the world going head to head in one of their top event.

As I discussed in the 200 IM Comparison, Lochte utilized his underwater abilities on the back and free legs to limit stroke rate and beat Phelps. As you can see below Phelps took two more strokes (one cycle) compared to Lochte to the first 15 meters on the backstroke leg. This is visible below:

This two stroke difference is huge and directly correlated to the amount of underwater kicks spent off the first wall:

When these two top athletes race, minimal differences are evident. However, a two dolphin kick and stroke difference in the first 15 meters is a glaring difference. This is likely the reason for the quarter second Lochte beat Phelps on the backstroke leg in Shanghai.

Next Race
Unfortunately for R. Lochte, M. Phelps has just as deadly dolphin kicks, unfortunately he didn't have either the lung capacity, proper race strategy or aerobic endurance to complete the task. There is no doubt in my mind the crew at North Baltimore is addressing this issue, but I suspect it has not changed their game plan one bit.

Everyone knew Phelps was lingering around pool decks from 2009-2011, keeping his feel for the water with minimal training. In 2011 he started to improve his conditioning and nearly beat R. Lochte in a WR setting race. In my opinion, his loss was purely conditioning and poor race strategy. Lochte simply killed him off the first wall something Phelps didn't have the aerobic capacity or plan to perform properly. This correctable area will be corrected and adjusted by the time of 2012 and is why I feel Phelps' will get his revenge. Lochte will also have the 200 back just prior to the event, leading to achy legs going into the race.

This will be the most anticipated race of the next Olympics and I look forward to any new plans/tricks up the suits (does that sound inappropriate?) of both these swimmers!

By Dr. G. John Mullen, DPT, CSCS. He is the founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration and head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club.

Groin Kick Syndrome: Part I

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 14:33:00 +0000

"Fast feet"

"Get those feet moving"

"Bubble, Bubbles! My grandma could kick faster...and she's been dead for 20 years!"

These expletives are thrown around the pool deck more than a kickboard slicing through the air like a Frisbee. In swimming fast feet are associated with fast swimming, however fast hands don't always correlate with fast swimming.

In regards to the upper body, distance per stroke and obtaining a long reach desired for stroke efficiency and energy conservation, but distance per kick and kicking efficency are never (I don't say never often) discussed upon the pool deck. Think about it, if a swimmer can go as fast with less kicks, won't they save energy and become more efficient?

Kicking is essential for optimal swimming. More and more elite teams are putting higher volumes of kicking into their programs. This volume directly improves many swimmers, but every coach knows swimmers whom never become adequate kickers despite countless yards and frustrations while being lapped in practice by an all-star 12-year old girl with a huge magnum, bobble head.

I have worked with many swimmers who die at the end of their races. Fatigue is a multi-variable resultant seen at the end of a race. During every optimal movement screen I have the athlete perform specific movements looking for overactive, weak, long, and short muscles, but first of all I ask the swimmer where they feel they fatigue with the arms or upper body being the most common response. In my opinion, simply asking swimmers or knowing where the athlete fatigues is essential for improvement as are only as strong as our weakest link.

Poor Conditioning?
Arm fatigue is experienced by many swimmers at the end of all their races and most of the swimming society purely chalks it up to poor conditioning. Poor conditioning may be the cause, but from my experience, simply using more yards or improving arm strength does not improve the situation. Poor conditioning isn't always the answer! The more you put in doesn't necessarily make it correct! The person with their turn signal on for 15 miles isn't the most likely person to turn! The swimming community needs to make theories and hypotheses on how to improve a subject/problem once a strong background is obtained on the subject.

Athlete's to Blame?

Our sport constantly puts blame on the swimmers chalking poor conditioning or inefficient feel without attempting to find a solution to these problems. In my opinion, everything has a solution. The solution isn't the same for everyone and sometimes the rationale behind the answer is poor or inadequate, but an answer for everything is out there, but if you don't try you'll never find it!

Leg Lock

Now it is time to connect the dots between upper extremity fatigue and distance per kick. Too many coaches have tunnel vision, simply providing viewing a problem has a simple one variable algebraic equation. In my opinion, upper extremity fatigue in elite swimmers starts in two places: inefficient breathing/jaw relaxation and/or poor kicking efficiency, preventing axial hip rotation and more stress put on the upper body. These indirect hypotheses require deductive reasoning and an understanding of the connective chain, lets discuss how fast feet contribute to Fred Flinstone arms.

LLNFG

LLNFG is a horrible acronym to remember the Groin Kick Syndrome, but focus on the process rather than the name!

Leg Spin-->Leg Lock-->No Ro(toation)-->Fred Flintstone arms-->Groin Kick Syndrome (GKS)

Leg Spin: Many swimmers are conditioned at the end of a race to increase their kicking speed. This causes swimmers to spin their legs, not adequately allowing a fluid efficient kick. Kicking forward propulsion is controlled by hip flexion and knee extension, similarily to kicking a soccer ball. This motion allows whipping and energy transfer to maximize propulsion. Unfortunately, when the legs spin the fluid soccer like kick is replaced with an inefficient movement. A lack of efficient decreases the kicking economy while using more and more energy. The more energy consumed/used leads to leg lock.
Leg Lock: The legs contain the largest volume of skeletal muscle in the body. These monstrous areas consume a lot of oxygen and are unfortunately located far away from the lungs. This consumption leads to massive lactic acid build-up and fatigue in the legs locking them up and causing No Ro(toation).
No Ro: The strongest muscle in kicking is the rectus femoris (one of the quadriceps). This muscle crosses both the hip and knee joint allowing both motions for a fluid kick, hip flexion and knee extension. Once locked the rectus femoris prevents hip mobility. Without proper hip mobility the swimmer is not able to rotate their body properly, to use a hybrid or hip driven stroke. This result is disastrous and causes the athlete to swim like a brick in the water with high frontal drag.
Fred Flinstone arms: Once the legs are locked the body plows through the water relying on the arms for all forward propulsion. At this time, the arms start to spin, causing fatigue/lactic acid/decreased "feel" and Fred Flinstone arms. As the arms fill with lactic acid the bodies lactate levels rise above 10 mmol and the body enters groin kick syndrome.
GKS: Every post-pubescent swimmer has experienced GKS. It runs rampant in over-confident or naïve swimmers trying distances longer than their capacity. Once the arms and legs tighten and the bodies lactate sky rockets and the body becomes acidic with a massive pH drop. This poisonous shift is harmful for success and halts many swimmers at the flags as they try to get to just get their damn hand on the wall.

Warp-up

Like I said, every post-pubescent swimmer has experienced GKS and will continue to do so, but if you continually experience GKS and achieve Fred Flinstone arms at the end of the race, maybe adding 1,500 pull at the end of every workout isn't the best answer. Instead look at the beginning of the continuum...leg spin. The next installment of GKS will look at methods to improve distance per kick (DPK) and kicking efficiency.

By Dr. G. John Mullen, DPT, CSCS. He is the founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration and head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club.

Swimming Peri-Workout Nutrition

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:04:00 +0000

What, When and Why

Sports nutrition is a complex and hotly debated subject. Unlike resistance training and stretching, everyone eats, making a proper diet mandatory for success. At every Olympics the same countries are at the top, don't be fooled and believe it is secondary to talent. There is no coincidence the top countries have the top services to provide the athletes. One of these services is a nutritionist to individualize and specialize diets.

Despite this, typical sports diets are extremely complex and can cause unnecessary headaches. At COR we suggest the following program for those attempting to maintain or make slight muscular gains. If your goals would be best achieved with weight loss, read this post.

The goal of any nutritional program for athletes is to maximize lean body mass, energy during workouts/competition and speed recovery. The more lean body mass, the higher capacity for force production. The more energy, the more the athlete can work. The faster the athlete recovers, the sooner they are fresh for their workout/competition to make gains and prevent injuries. This program maximizes these three facets.

Peri-Workout (around workout) nutrition is essential to improve these facets. Follow these guidelines for optimal athletic nutrition. For all other meals, a more detailed consideration is needed, but in general at COR we suggest no white carbohydrates, while consuming lean protein, fibrous carbohydrates and fat at every meal occurring each 3-4 hours.

Pre-Workout

2-3 Hours Prior to Exercise

30-40 grams of a slow digesting carbohydrate like whole-wheat bread, yams, wild rice, beans, red potatoes and/or fruits to give long lasting energy for the competition.
30-50 grams of a lean protein like chicken breast or fish. Basically, a protein that’s low in saturated fats.
20-30 grams of a fibrous carbohydrate source like a salad to increase blood flow and oxygen to the muscles.

60 Minutes Prior to Exercise

100-400 mg of Caffeine. Can be from coffee or supplement (not recommended for pubescent athletes). Don't consume more than 500 mg (5 cups of coffee) within one hour, would result in a positive drug test.

30 Minutes Prior to Exercise

30-40 grams of a fast digesting protein like whey isolate supplement. Take this meal as a shake (Protein shake) and not an actual whole food meal because a whole food meal won’t get digested and utilized fast enough.
20-40 grams of a slow digesting carbohydrate like an Apple (low to medium Glycemic Index (GI)).
Branched Chained Amino Acids (BCAA's). Most BCAA's contain glutamine and citrilline malate which makes Arginine, so get a three in one (not recommended for pubescent or prepubescent athletes).
2- 5 grams of Glutamine to improve strength gains (not recommended for pubescent or prepubescent athletes).
5 grams of pure Creatine Monohydrate especially for swimmers to improve bone mineral density (not recommended for pubescent athletes).
2-5 grams of Arginine these non-essential amino acids is shown to increase blood flow to muscle fibers by increasing levels of nitric oxide. (Not recommended for pubescent athletes).
2-5 gram of Beta Alanine (BA) to boost intensity of workout. (Not recommended for pubescent athletes).

During Exercise

High carbohydrate (moderate to high GI) for exercise longer than one hour snack low in fat is beneficial like a carbohydrate gel pack.

Post-Exercise

30 Minutes After Exercise

60-80 grams of moderate to high glycemic index carbohydrate, like a fast acting recovery aide. This will rapidly replenish the glycogen stores in the body.
40-50 grams of protein, like a whey isolate supplement.

60 Minutes After Exercise

30-50 grams of moderate to high glycemic index carbohydrate, not in supplement form.
40 grams of lean protein like chicken breast or fish. Basically, a protein that’s low in saturated fats.

Wrap-up

These guideline are simple, but are the nuts and bolts to peri-workout nutrition. There is plenty more stuff, but if you perform all these tips you're doing better than 99% of the athlete's your competing against in nutrition! This improvement results in stronger, faster, healthier swimmers!

By Dr. G. John Mullen, DPT, CSCS. He is the founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration and head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club.

Optimizing Breathing Patterns

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:44:00 +0000

Dr. John and I share a keen interest in baseball statistics, a field that has hit mainstream culture with the popularity of Moneyball as a book and now a motion picture. Although I’m embarrassed to admit I have not seen Moneyball on the big screen (but I did see The Muppets on Thanksgiving!), most of the people who did see the movie could probably not identify Voros McCraken and his role in the empirical revolution. You have my respect as a true baseball stat geek if you can identify Mr. McCracken, the Ugueto Effect, and understand the significance of MORP. Enough baseball for now…on to swimming!

The thought process behind “Moneyball” thinking is similar to that of determining optimal breathing patterns in swimming events. Understand costs vs. benefits of each situation, and decide where to invest limited resources to gain the greatest return. Each breath in the pool is a limited resource that comes with a benefit (more oxygen and reduced respiratory or metabolic waste accumulation) but also carries a cost (loss of velocity due to impaired hydrodynamics). The same can be said for every single play and every single transaction in baseball.

In this analogy, we can view each freestyle stroke as an event with two possible choices: to breathe or not to breathe. Whatever decision you make for that particular stroke/event will affect subsequent events, though recognize that because of flip turns and the metabolic process, the cost:benefit calculus changes constantly. In baseball, for example, the expected value with each pitch, which is itself a discrete event, changes the probability of a certain outcome for the game. Modern statisticians with the help of advanced computer formulae are able to calculate the expected win percentage based on these outcomes, as this value is constantly changing during a game.

Dr. Mullen already provided a thorough review of the literature in his Inspiratory Muscles serie s and in an earlier post “Does Breathing Frequency Influence Inspiratory Muscle Fatigue.” Consult these other posts if you have not read them (and re-read them if you have!), but here is a brief summary on what we know from the literature on inspiratory muscles and swimming.

Inspiratory muscle fatigue occurs with restricted breathing. Yes, counterintuitive, but holding your breath adds stress on inspiratory muscles.
Breathing disrupts the stroke and slows you down biomechanically. Most coaches and swimmers know this via experience.
Inspiratory muscle performance can be improved via training, but is not to be confused with hypoxic swimming, which is a separate strategy.

One limitation of the research is that it hasn’t formally explored the costs and benefits of when to breathe at different points in the pool. Not all breaths are created equal. An extra breath mid-pool in a 400LCM free has far different implications than sneaking a breath off the final wall of a 100yd free. Additionally, the research has yet to account for hybrid breathing patterns (i.e. 2-2-3-3-2-2). I’m not mentioning this as a criticism of the literature, but rather to note that formal research is still relatively new and it has only recently established inspiratory muscle fatigue as very real and significant phenomenon.
The next step is to break this down further to determine at what point in races is it desirable restrict breathing, knowing we’ll incur costs of additional inspiratory muscle fatigue for the added benefit of improved hydrodynamics. Before that, let’s return to our baseball analogy and consider these two scenarios:

Let’s say your team is in the field. Bases loaded, tie game at 4-4, bottom of the seventh, zero outs, Albert Pujols at bat.
You’re still in the field. Leading 14-4 in the bottom of the ninth, two outs, bases empty, 0-2 count, Cesar Izturis (utility infielder) at the plate

With apologies to our international friends who may not be familiar with America’s Pastime…in which situation is the value of an out greater, and thus more demanding that you deploy your best pitching and fielding resources? Clearly, getting an out in scenario 1 is worth more than in scenario 2, in which a high school pitcher with a lefty catcher and lefty shortstop could still preserve a win for his team. The expected win likelihood in these situations is vastly different, and therefore requires different investment strategies by the manager. So how can we apply this to swimming?
Last week, USA Swimming released some interesting data from last year’s 100m men’s freestyle finals at Worlds.

Here is the actual race video for those interested:

In a fantasy world, we’d obtain real-time data on lactate accumulation, muscle fatigue, turning velocity, hydrodynamics, stroke technique, and turn technique to calculate the effect of each breath on the overall outcome. This data can help us optimize how many breaths to allocate for each leg, but also to determine where those breaths should take place. Fatigue (and pain!) develops in a non-linear fashion, so there are limitations to thinking in terms of only one breathing pattern, such as every two or every four.

Breathing strategies will be different for each swimmer, but counting these breaths per intermediate leg in the race is progress toward our goal of greater knowledge. Swimmers are traveling fastest at the start, and as expected, take the fewest breaths. However, for a swimmer taking two breaths in the first 25m and six in the second 25m, can we quantify or at least know with greater certainty whether this breathing pattern is optimal? For now, we’ll have to get by with the data that we actually have and make a hybrid of quantitative and qualitative judgments based on that data.
For me, few things stand out from the 100m free at Worlds:

The winner took the second most breaths in the race. As noted in the literature, overly restrictive breathing can induce IMF and waste product accumulation.
Only one swimmer (Hayden) had more than a two breath difference between 50s. This would suggest a consistent pattern is more effective than taking extra breaths at the beginning or end of the race.
Vastly different strategies in the first 15m off the wall, from four breaths (Adrian and Magnussen) to one breath (Cielo and Hayden). Although general rules may exist, individual variation is to be expected.

Although we can’t make any grand pronouncements for swimming as a whole based on one race of eight swimmers separated by less than one second, this data does reflect different strategies to achieve similar times, but we still don’t know who is maximizing performance. To determine who is maximizing individual performance, we’d need to calculate expected values of each breath in the pool, where the expected value is a function of inspiratory muscle fatigue, metabolic/respiratory waste products, O2 availability, turning proficiency, and velocity at various stages of the race.

One day a math whiz may gather up this info and create a model that allows coaches to specifically map out when and where breaths should be taken based on the expected value of the breath. Just as a baseball manager or general manager seeks to maximize the expected value with a given set of player inputs, a swim coach will maximize the expected value of performance (or minimize race time) by exploiting opportunities for speed and minimizing costs that impair speed. Understanding the actual costs and benefits of each breath will help refine this calculation.

Summary
Fortunately, we don’t need to haul around respiratory measuring devices, lactate meters, touch pads, 3d motion sensors, to gather meaningful data. It would be nice, but all is not lost! We can still gather valuable information with just clipboard and stopwatch. Research on inspiratory muscle fatigue is fundamental to the thought process. Individual observation of each swimmer can help coaches and athletes take this knowledge to settle on the best strategy to optimize the interrelationship between breaths in the race.

By Allan Phillips. Allan and his wife Katherine are heavily involved in the strength and conditioning community, for more information refer to Pike Athletics.

Weekly Wrap-up

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 14:31:00 +0000

Not much new around the blogsphere. Enjoy these couple articles and have a great week! Next week be prepared for Stats Saturday, how Ryan Lochte beat Michael Phelps and why Phelps will win in the next showdown.

Slow your tempo for strength gains by Charles Poliquin.
Looking for some unique core stability exercises...Shon Grosse.
Wondering how to spot overtraining syndrome, Dr. Lonnie.
Abdominal exercises do not effect abdominal fat by Vispute et. al.
Postactivation potential improves swimming starts by Kilduff et al.

Friday Interview with Thomas Lurz

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:18:00 +0000

1) Please introduce yourself to the readers (how you started in swimming,education, experience, etc.).
I swim since 23 years and I started swimming because my older brother started. I am 10 Times World Champ in Open water. Olympic Bronze 2008. I studied in Germany Social work.

2) What is your current training schedule?
I am Training for London 2012. So Hard Training in the water And gym. Around 100 km in a Week.

3) How do you incorporate mobility and stretching into your training?
Before every Training. I strech a Lot. Its Important.

4)What is the weirdest training you've done throughout your career?
15 km Free pull with paddles. Small ones for Fingers. All Out!

5) What aspects of your swimming are you currently concentrating on?
In general, its the olympics next Year. At the Moment I try to be better in the gym.

6) What drills/activities are you doing to achieve this?
3 sets with 20 reps in the gym. All muscles in Upper Body And legs

7) In your opinion, what was the biggest adjustment you made in your swimming career (stroke biomechanical, training, dryland)?
Training and Dyland work. When I Started Training a lot I got much better then before. But I mean with much around 3500 km in a Year.

8. Of the various sports performance testing you've done (underwater filming, blood lactate, etc.), what do you feel has been the most beneficial?
Just Training. My experience with this was always Good but you Need to Train a Lot And then improve. Too much Test also Cost Time And there you Cant Train during this time.

9) Over the past few years, what is the biggest change you've made with your training?
Made some chances espescially when i got older. More or different regeneration. Different Training Sets

10. What improvements need to be made to make Open Water swimming more mainstream (in the swimming and non-swimming community)?
Bring it to the Public. Better race courses. People Must be able to See the Race And the swimmers.

Thanks Thomas

Forgotten Swimming Training Part III

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 03:45:00 +0000

If you missed part I or part II read it first!

The creatine phosphate system seems to be the theme on Swimming Science these past few weeks. Allan Phillips broke down specific types of resistance training necessary for different race lengths over the past few weeks, stressing the importance of the creatine phosphate system for every distance of swimming. This is the "forgotten" element of swimming. This series discussed this specific system and one method to stress the creatine phosphate and neural system. One forgotten aspect of this form of training is its ability to improve other energy systems.

The glycolytic energy system is the most used energy system in swimming. No race, even the 50 yards solely uses the creatine phosphate system. All races between 15/20 - 180 seconds utilize the glycolytic system, causing elevated levels of lactate. This excess lactate overloads the Cori Cycle and increases lactic acid and drops blood pH. This pH provides a fun, burning sensation in your gut every swimmer has experienced.

One method to improve swimming is to increase your lactic acid tolerance. Most athlete's have difficulties buffering more than 4 mmol of lactate in the blood. Working at with your lactate elevated higher than 4 mmol improves lactate tolerance.

VO2Max

Tabata in 1997 demonstrated that two disparate energy systems could adapt during the same exercise. One protocol involved 6-7 bouts of 20-s exercise with 10-s rest at an intensity equivalent to 170% of VO2max. The other protocol involved 4-5 bouts of 30-s exercise with 2-min rest at an intensity equivalent to 200% VO2max. It was found that physiological factors deteriorated in the last 10 s of the longer repetitions. The shorter interval taxed aerobic and anaerobic energy maximally. This investigation suggests that the duration of a work interval must be sufficient to employ maximal energy supply but should be short enough to prevent performance and physiological degradation. Luckily swimming has an automatic cooling system and allows periods of gliding, therefore it is suggested rest periods do not need to be as active. Simply performing a maximal effort with short rest will spike lactate production and cause improvements in VO2max.

Example set: 6x25 yards maximal effort with :20 seconds rest

No Lactate

Another method to improve swimming capacity is to have the swimmer work at distances shorter than 15 seconds, educing no lactate build up.

A study by Astrand and Rodahl in 1977 had athletes cycle for a 30-minute period. Subjects performed the same total workload with the same work to rest ratio in three different ways: 60 s / 120 s, 30 s / 60 s, and 10 s / 20 s. In the shortest work interval, blood lactate did not accumulate and glycogen stores were only slightly reduced by the end of the session. At the other extreme the longest interval produced excessive lactate accumulation and glycogen depletion. The middle condition produced an elevated but consistent lactate accumulation. The last condition utilized the same amount of work time, but didn't incur the lactic acid build-up. Performing a skilled movement with minimal lactic acid build-up is essential for motor learning and training the nervous system, as discussed in part II. Exercises that use work and rest intervals with these characteristics have been

labeled "ultra-short training" (Rushall, 1970).

Example Set: 1500 swim alternating 10 yards fast/20 yards easy.

Wrap-up

This series suggest that effective sprint training must involve conditions of proper biomechanics for proper neural learning. This may or may not increase lactic build-up, depending on the rest ratios. Current coaching practices do not facilitate the development of these patterns nor do they maximally adapt the appropriate energy structures that should be associated with sprinting in swimming races.

Variety must be introduced into the program by swimming different strokes and distances. The main role of the coach is to ensure that the speeds of swimming are maintained and technique features are emphasized to improve neural networks or to maximize the energy system.

Sprint swimming has long ways to go before velocity potential is obtained. The methods proposed in this series will lead, but are not the only tools for maximal sprint development. events will be performed better if more training can be accomplished at race pace.

This form of training must be started at the beginning of the season and progressed as throughout the season, utilizing periodization and tapering.

By Dr. G. John Mullen, DPT, CSCS. He is the founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration and head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club.

Duration Specific Training Part III: Distance

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:32:00 +0000

Read Part I and Part II if you haven’t done so. We covered basics about resistance training also relevant to this installment.

In Part III, we’ll explore how resistance training can be tailored to the energetics of distance events. As with training specifically for sprints and middle distance, it is important to understand how resistance training interacts with pool training.   Aerobic energy contributions in long distance events range from approximately 80% through over 95%.

As noted in part II (middle distance), using high reps to build aerobic endurance is a curious strategy. With tens of thousands of strokes in a single practice multiplied by decades of repetition, there is very little that resistance training can add to aerobic energy utilization in long distance events. High reps have their place for skill acquisition and localized muscular endurance to improve posture and body position, but you aren’t going to improve the aerobic system much, if at all, beyond the stimulus it already receives via 20+ hours per week of training in the water. The same can be said for taxing the anaerobic glycolysis system. It is often a challenge to tax this system efficiently in the water without pushing athletes over the edge. If anything, we may want to de-emphasize this system on land to encourage adequate recovery between workouts so swim workouts can retain sufficient quality.

From the literature, we know the relationship between stroke length and stroke rate is a robust benchmark to measure long distance fatigue (Zamparo 2005, Ribeiro 2010, Baron 2005, Alberty 2009). Stroke length tends to shorten, while stroke rate tends to increase as fatigue accumulates during long swims. However, Alberty (2011) found that velocity increased during a series of 400m repetitions in which swimmers were forced to reduce strokes in the final set. Swimmers had to either pull more water or find ways to become more hydrodynamic when the variable of increasing stroke rate was removed as a way to maintain or increase speed. Resistance training can play a role in developing an efficient baseline of stroke length and stroke rate, but there’s little to suggest that endurance specific resistance training will delay the onset of fatigue in a long distance event.

Having seen the limitations of taxing the glycolysis and aerobic systems on land, we again return to the creatine phosphate (CP) system, though it is important to understand when to test the CP system. Santhaigo (2011) and a team of Brazilian researchers examined the effect of a 14 week swimming program on the psychological, hormonal, and physiological parameters of international level female swimmers. Testing protocol included an 8AM test for anaerobic threshold and later a 3AM test for alactate anaerobic performance (creatine phosphate). Results indicated these female swimmers showed a “loss of vigor” (their words, not mine!) and increased testosterone levels during 3AM testing.

The Feres twins. Two good reasons to care about Brazilian swim studies.

While not directly related to resistance training, that study was nonetheless a worthy aside as it addressed both anaerobic threshold and creatine phosphate testing. Without adequate benchmarks, we don’t know if we’re making progress in training.

Perhaps the greatest return-on-investment with resistance training for distance events may come via flip turn improvements. To the best of my knowledge, the effect of dryland conditioning on turns for distance races has not been formally studied, but anecdotally, we know that improving turns can pay dividends in distance races (approximately 0.1 - 0.3 second improvements per wall). We’ve all raced against or trained with “that guy” who lags between the flags but somehow grabs half a bodylength lead off each wall without any kicking. Maybe you are “that guy”!

Many factors affect turns, from technique, aerobic conditioning, and mental toughness. Explosiveness also plays a role. The less time you spend in contact with the wall, and the more force you can transfer during the foot-to-wall contact, the greater your capacity to streamline far off the wall. A mere one inch improvement off each turn in a 1000 yd free is almost four feet, not to mention any gains from not having to actively propel for those four feet. Championships at every level are decided by less than that amount.

CP development is also needed for open water competition. Although open water events can approach 99% aerobic, CP can play a valuable role due to the importance of drafting. Sticking with the pack in response to a surge or surging yourself can make or break the race. A highly developed aerobic system is a prerequisite to utilizing a surge mid-race, but the difference between staying with the group and getting flung off the back can be a matter of seconds. The resistance training strategies are no different than for other events, but the total volume may vary based on the complexion of the overall training plan. It doesn’t take a lot to improve distance swimmers in this area, but this system should be addressed.

Exercise choice can play a role in how we target the appropriate systems. Many swimmers address turns with high repetitions of crunching movements since the flip turn is a form of a crunch. Without getting into the flexion debate, the choice of exercise is questionable for developing CP delivery in the turning movements. True, you are not fully resting between the walls while swimming, but a central purpose of dryland is to reinforce areas that aren’t fully addressed in the water. Unless we start competing in 10 yard hotel pools, even the fastest swimmers in the world get at least twelve seconds between each turns in a 1650.

One of those “Olympic sized” hotel pools

Crunches are thought to supplement for flip turns, but how often to do you flip hundreds of times in succession at the wall? If there is a specific weakness you are targeting and have reason to believe high rep muscular endurance will help your cause, then go right ahead. However, “that guy” who gets into and out of the turn quickly does so with explosiveness. Exercises like med ball slams and throws are a great practical solution, in part because having to pick up the ball forces you to take recovery between each rep. As Dr. Mullen referenced in Forgotten Swimming Training, Part II, coaches and athletes are often loathe to add extra recovery between reps/sets, but taking appropriate recovery is key to targeting the right systems. When CP development is the goal, recovery is what allows CP to replenish into subsequent reps.

Summary
If it sounds like I have been pushing CP development in this series, it is because I am. If we presume that each swimmer is training maximally in the pool, our first question with dryland resistance training is “what are we NOT getting in the water?” With distance swimming, one answer is creatine phosphate development. Training at moderate to high blood lactate levels in the water for extended periods is necessary for distance training, so we must remain vigilant as to the types of stress we add on land. All energy systems are important, especially during a general conditioning phase, but when we put everything together in one giant recipe, resistance training focused on CP is the spice that enhances a set of ingredients already heavy on aerobic development in the pool.

References

Zamparo P, Bonifazi M, Faina M, Milan A, Sardella F, Schena F, Capelli C. Energy cost of swimming of elite long-distance swimmers. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2005 Aug;94(5-6):697-704. Epub 2005 May 11.
Ribeiro LF, Lima MC, Gobatto CA. Changes in physiological and stroking parameters during interval swims at the slope of the d-t relationship. J Sci Med Sport. 2010 Jan;13(1):141-5. Epub 2009 Jan 1.
Baron B, Dekerle J, Depretz S, Lefevre T, Pelayo P. Self selected speed and maximal lactate steady state speed in swimming. J Sports Med Phys Fitness. 2005 Mar;45(1):1-6.
Alberty M, Sidney M, Pelayo P, Toussaint HM. Stroking characteristics during time to exhaustion tests. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2009 Mar;41(3):637-44.
Alberty MR, Potdevin FP, Dekerle J, Pelayo PP, Sidney MC. Effect of stroke rate reduction on swimming technique during paced exercise. J Strength Cond Res. 2011 Feb;25(2):392-7.
Santhiago V, Da Silva AS, Papoti M, Gobatto CA. Effects of 14-week swimming training program on the psychological, hormonal, and physiological parameters of elite women athletes. J Strength Cond Res. 2011 Mar;25(3):825-32.

By Allan Phillips. Allan and his wife Katherine are heavily involved in the strength and conditioning community, for more information refer to Pike Athletics.

Yearly Wrap-up

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 15:50:00 +0000

To celebrate the new year this edition will discuss some of the top five article series of the year, enjoy! These are in new particular order:

Race Club-Underwater pull series, read the latest installment.
Lots of great stuff from Ted Sayce, but his new rules of lifting abs for swimmers is our favorite. Read here.
Science of Performance, hand entry by Dr. John, DPT, CSCS. Read here.
Top 51 swimmers by Tom Willdrige, read 21 - 11 here.
International Society of Swim Coaches review articles, read here.

Thank you readers and Happy New Year!

Friday Interview with Aaron Wayne

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:41:00 +0000

1) Please introduce yourself to the readers (how you started in swimming, education, experience, etc.).
My name is Aaron Wayne and I'm currently a junior on the Stanford Men's swimming team. I started swimming at the end of my freshman year in high school. I started with water polo in the fall season and ended up also joining the swimming team in the spring because the water polo kids said I needed to get better at swimming. From there, I swam club for a summer club and then moved to the Terrapins Swim Team in Concord, CA at the beginning of my junior year where I truly developed into the swimmer I am today. I currently swim the 50 free and 100 free as primary events while the 200 free and 100 fly are my secondaries. At Stanford, I am studying biomechanical engineering.

2) What is your current training schedule?
My current training schedule is:
Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Saturday mornings (Mon/Fri start with lifts).
Monday-Friday afternoons.

3) How do you incorporate mobility and stretching into your training?
Most of my stretching primarily happens after practice in the locker room or training room. I have read a few studies that show prolonged static stretching before a power test can reduce power output by up to 15%. A lot of my flexibility has been a result of swimming itself. Repeatedly forcing my body into the positions I want them to be in during practice eventually stretches out the muscles that need to be flexible. Most mobility exercises are incorporated into

3) What type of mobility and stretching do you incorporate?
I mostly focus on hamstring flexibility (the thing I struggle with the most). For mobility, most of the exercises I do are for middle/lower back and hip mobility. Other than that, a little bit of stretching for everything.

4) How do you feel resistance training differs between sprinters, mid distance and distance swimmers?
Resistance training for sprinters tends to focus on immediate power output while mid-distance tends to focus more on power endurance. Distance is even less power and more endurance. It's definitely a sliding scale between doing a 1 rep max and enduring an exercise for minutes at a time. All types are important for any swimmer but some should be used more than others to specialize for certain events.

5) How much aerobic capacity do you feel is necessary for a sprinter (50 and 100 meters).
It depends on where they are being swam. If the person is swimming at Trials and they have to swim it three times over three days, not much. On the other hand, I plan on having around 14 swims over the three days of NCAAs this year and need a large aerobic capacity to be able to recover efficiently and quickly in between events and sessions. Having a large aerobic capacity also helps me maintain my energy throughout the long meet.

6) What are the biggest differences between SCY and LCM distance races?
One thing I have learned in my time swimming SCY in college is turns, turns, turns. Turns are where most races are won or lost in college. Push offs are the second fastest point in your race to the start. Not perfecting this gives away too much ground to other swimmers.
For LCM, I'm still figuring it out but I've been focusing a lot on trying to build each lap. For me, LCM success has been all about stroke efficiency.

7) What is the weirdest training you've done throughout your career?
This might not be too weird but it was one of the more fun and creative things I have done. When I did club swimming, my coach has us out on the deck during taper and we were working on reaction time. We partnered up with someone close to our own age and stood a few feet away from each other. Between us, the coach placed a tennis ball. We put our hands on our knees and when the coach blew the whistle we tried to be the first to grab the ball.

8) What aspects of your swimming are you currently concentrating on?
One thing I have been working for a while is making sure my body rotation is symmetrical. I'm sure a lot of other swimmers can relate to my problem: I rotate a lot more to my breathing side and don't re-roll as much as I need to. I am also working on increasing the angle of my catch.

9) What drills/activities are you doing to achieve this?
Whenever I am trying to fix a part of my stroke, I always try to do it during sets. Anyone can fix their stroke before or after during drills but fixing these things during sets is where I have seen real improvement. Focusing on these things during warm up when there is no pressure is the easiest way to start. Sometimes my new technique is more fatiguing but I hold onto it no matter what even if it means possibly missing an interval. My personal opinion is that there is no reason to train with bad technique if you know how to fix it. If you do things wrong in practice, you're bound to do them wrong in races when you get tired. That being said, I occasionally do some one-arm and catch-up drills after practice to make sure I'm getting full body rotation.

10) In your opinion, what was the biggest adjustment you made in your swimming career (stroke biomechanical, training, dryland)?
The biggest adjustment I've made to my swimming is my head position. Throughout high school I always had my eyes looking straight to the other end of the pool. Since I've been in college, I've made the adjustment to where my eyes are now pointing straight to the ground. This has elevated my hips in the water and has made all four of my strokes more efficient.

11) Of all the testing sports performance testing you've done (underwater filming, blood lactate, etc.), what do you feel has been the most beneficial?
I think the most beneficial testing I have done would be under and above water filming. I enjoy doing lactate testing but don't think it is very beneficial since lactate is cleared from your muscles in about 90 minutes even without warming down. Filming has allowed me to see what my body is feeling. It makes me more aware of what my body is doing as I swim and allows me to easily visualize the changes I need to make to my stroke, turn, or start.

12) Over the past few years, what is the biggest change you've made with your training?
One of the biggest changes I've made to my training is realizing that everything in practice needs to be done as close as possible to how I expect it to be done at the end of the season in my races. I don't swim sets any more where I take an easy short cut, for example, not taking my race kick count off of walls for fast swimming sets. When I do this, swimming the race plans I want is second nature since it's the only way I do it. Practice makes perfect.

Thanks Aaron!

Dryland Mistake: Inverted Row Part II

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 20:25:00 +0000

Part I helped identify many of the problems associated with the inverse row. This installment will address proper form and simple adjustments to make the inverse row easier or harder. Just like bench press, the most important aspect of the inverse row is the set-up. Having proper set-up will help the right muscles perform the movement, while alleviating stress from unnecessary areas. Think about it, if you hang with your shoulders lose, you are stretching your shoulder ligaments, tendons, capsule, etc. This is disastrous for shoulder health and increasing one's injury risk. This hanging goose isn't the only problem. Often time people hinge their back, trying to get them to the bar. Unfortunately, this can stress the low back, leading to more mobility and instability of the low back...disastrous. Enough of the negative Nathan, let's get into the proper form.

Set up

Compact Position

To understand the set-up, it is essential to understand the compact position. The compact position is the most stable position for the shoulder blade. A stable shoulder blade will provide the upper body a sturdy body part to move. Similar to the low back, the shoulders need to be stable to allow optimal force production. However, shoulders have to be mobile in swimming for optimal force production. Therefore, which is necessary to address, you guessed it both! This exercise will address strength and begin with the compact position.

The compact position stabilizes the shoulder blade in the down and back position. Unlike the bench press where the bulk of the pressure should be placed through the upper back, the inverse row should stress the mid and lower shoulder blades. Check out this video to comprehend.

Abs tight, Glutes tight

One goal of the inverse row is to move as a unit. Unfortunately, many people sag their hips or thrust them through the sky. Moving as a unit, demonstrates control and stability. To maximize stability, it is important to tighten the abdominals and glutes. To tighten the abdominals, posterioly tilt your pevlis trying to bring your ribs to your pelvis. This may arch your low back slightly, but will keep you strong and rigid.

Next, squeeze those glutes. This will give a stable, rigid body. This exercise is not a undulation movement, but a linear movement to improve strength!

The Pull

Despite popular belief, the pull must be initiated from the shoulder blades. Bringing the shoulders together from the compact position will maximize contraction of the scapular stabilizers. This area is essential for shoulder health and prevention (read part III of 10 minute solution: shoulder pain). The shoulder blades should feel like they are trying to kiss, without wearing them as earrings. This will work the middle and lower trapezius, essential muscles for stability and upward rotation.

The Bend

The bend is where most beginners start in the inverse row. They try to initiate the pull with the elbows, opposed to their shoulder blades. This leads to weak, mobile shoulder blades. Remember, hold your shoulder blades stable to start, then start bending from the arms. Like in swimming, we are trying to achieve stable shoulder blades with mobile arms.

Make sure the bend causes your elbows to come next to your side, like in the bench press, not flaring the elbows laterally. If you move your elbows laterally, the anterior or front of the shoulder will be stressed and potential cause instability, the opposite of what we want!

Combo

At the top of the exercise, the shoulder blades and arms will move together. This synchrous dance will cause retraction of the shoulder blades in combination of elbow flexion. Activating the biceps and scapular stabilizers will bring you to the bar. Moving to the bar to your chest in a linear, stable movement.

Progression

Progressing this movement is as simple as making your body more horizontal, by putting it on top of a bench or adding a chain or weighted vest to your body. This addition forces the athlete to accelerate through a movement, beneficial in those swimmers with difficulties changing speeds.

Another way to improve shoulder stability is to have a partner tap their arms as they bring themselves to the bar. This simple addition improve shoulder muscle timing, an essential for shoulder health.

Regression

A regression is often times opposite of the progression. Have the athlete move their feet closer to the bar, orienting themselves vertically. This makes the movement easier, allowing scapular retraction to be felt, understood and progressed.

Wrap-up

This concludes dryland mistake: inverted row. Make sure your athletes are stabilizing their shoulder blades and keeping their core tight during this movement!

By Dr. G. John Mullen, DPT, CSCS. He is the founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration and head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club.

Forgotten Swimming Training Part II

noreply@blogger.com (G. John Mullen) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 02:09:00 +0000

This is a continuation of the forgotten swimming training, read part I here.

Neural drive is utilized in every sport, but more in swimming. Swimming is a unique activity, foreign to humans. After years of training, humans can develop a neural feel for the water. This feel is due to improved neural awareness. Unfortunately, holding the same neural feel for long durations is impossible, hence slowing down in a race. Working the creatine phosphate system will allow an athlete to work in a heightened neural state for longer.

Dr. Rushall stated “As with any complex co-ordination task once fatigue sets in, and perceived effort increases, the session should be brought to a close to ensure the athlete does not practice poor technique”. Using poor technique can lead to stroke flaws and decrements in performance, especially when performing race pace. If one is truly mimicking race conditions, the athlete must practice at their goal speed, unfortunately many practices don't allow sprint and middle distance athletes (50-200) to practice at their true race or goal pace.

Many practices cause a massive spike in lactic acid, a performance decrement when the body can not recycle it for fuel. During aerobic exercise, the body typically maintains lactic acid under 4 mM. This allow the body to transform this substance to ATP and energy. Unfortunately, if lactate levels reach above 4 mM, then lactic acid overloads, inhibiting the body from transforming lactate to energy. Michael Phelps is able to maintain a low level of lactic acid during a highly stressful event, making the exercise more aerobic, allowing him to swim for longer with less lactic acid (must be nice). This allows him to close races with extraordinary speed, but his lack of creatine phosphate utilization prevents him from being an elite sprinter.

Neural Training
Neural recovery is believed to take anywhere from 5-20x the work time for full recovery. This extreme duration requires long rest periods, scaring coaches from from the task. Many coaches are afraid of providing rest and feel every workout must break down the swimmer. This approach is necessary for some instances, but not every workout!

Many swimmers have poor power and strength due to poor neural firing, it is likely due to swimmer's never working this energy system! Here is an example neural set:

10x15 meter @3:00 rest
Luckily swimming has an automatic cooling system and allows periods of gliding, therefore it is suggested rest periods do not need to be as active.

Rushall believed a 1:1 work to rest ratio could be utilized in bouts shorter than 15 seconds and felt would benefit:

A greater number of strokes are executed in a standard period of time.
A greater amount of work is performed in a standard period of time.
It is probable that ultra-short repeats can be used each training day irrespective of the seasonal training period.
Greater swimming skill at sprint speed is attained.
Greater anaerobic adaptation is attained.
Aerobic adaptation is stimulated.
Fatigue levels are tolerable.

He later stated "In a brief test over a four-week period, a girl butterfly swimmer was able to tolerate two sets of 40 x 12.5 yards in 6.5 seconds with 7 seconds rest, five days per week without any apparent failing adaptation."

Conclusion
I personally feel the neural system needs more than a 1:1 recovery. I truly feel a 5-10x rest to work ratio will allow neural recovery and improve a swimmer's ability to swim all their races.

References

Rushall, B. An Ignored Scientific Component of Sprint Swimming. Swimming Science Bulletin. Number 28.

By Dr. G. John Mullen, DPT, CSCS. He is the founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration and head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club.