Team SPORTinc

Please note the training schedule for the upcoming Chinese New Year holidays:

Saturday 13 Feb : Closed
Wednesday 17 Feb: Only the Masters swim training class will be open. No stroke correction class.

Saturday 20 Feb:  All classes will resume as per normal on

WISHING YOU A HAPPY & PROSPEROUS NEW YEAR!

SPORTinc is pleased to announce the start our Swim Squad Morning Sessions for dedicated  triathletes and masters swimmers.  This is for Elite and Advanced Squads.   

TUESDAY + FRIDAY 6am- 730am (we encourage our swimmers to arrive at 6am but please come even if you oversleep and can only get to the pool at 630am)  

Elite Squad: This is catered for dedicated triathletes/swimmers who are targeting to do under 25min for the 1.5km swim, under 30min for the 1.8km and under 1hour for the 3km.  These are estimated times and we be delighted to work with you to achieve your goals.    

Elite Squad Guideline: 10 x 100m on 1min 40sec intervals  

Intermediate Squad: This is catered for dedicated triathletes/swimmers who are targeting to do under 30min for the 1.5km swim, under 38min for the 1.8km and under 1hour 15mins for the 3km.  These are estimated times and we be delighted to work with you to achieve your goals.    

Advanced Squad Guideline: 10 x 100m on 2min intervals 

We guarantee improvements.   Come train with the best!  We have ‘ironmen’, ex-national swimmers and Olympians!  

Don’t procrastinate – contact us at info@sportinc.net for more information and tell us your goals!  The following are some races our swimmers are training for this year! 

I came across an article today (thanks San!) and I thought you all would find it an interesting read! The article is on Ryan Lochte (an American swimmer who has won multiple Olympic Games gold medals and holds several world records), and his training methods. Please have a read and you’ll realize why we spend so much time working on drills and leg kicks during our swimming classes, and how important it is to have proper swimming techniques i.e. head/body/hips/legs positioning.

Rgds, Gerald

A Swimmer’s Different Strokes for Success – New York Times

Gregg Matthews for The New York Times

Ryan Lochte, perhaps the best American male swimmer not named Michael (Phelps, of course), reveals some of his training techniques.

By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS

Published: March 20, 2008

RYAN LOCHTE may be the best American male swimmer not named Michael. At the 2004 Olympic Summer Games in Athens, he won a silver medal in the 200-meter individual medley, losing only to that Michael (Phelps, of course).

He also earned a gold medal as part of the 4-by-200-meter freestyle relay in Athens. And at the 2007 World Championships last March, Lochte shattered the world record in the 200-meter backstroke on his way to capturing a gold medal, serving notice for what may come at the Beijing Olympics this summer.

Lochte (pronounced LOCK-tee) swims 3 to 5 miles most days, sometimes even twice a day. Few non-Olympic hopefuls could, or would want to, replicate that kind of distance. But other aspects of the 23-year-old Lochte’s training (such as his use of fins and buoys) and routines (his dryland exercises) can be adopted by recreational swimmers or athletes, and perhaps even by parent coaches facing a rough patch with their teenage protégés.

Even though Lochte has been swimming since he was 9, he has not yet perfected his strokes. “I spend more time on stroke mechanics now than I ever have,” he said.

He also spends part of each practice slowing things way down.

“The only way to really work on technique is to swim very slowly and really think about every little thing that you’re doing,” he said. “How your body is positioned, what your hips are doing, the positioning of your shoulders and hands and feet.”

His coach is mindful, too.

“I always make sure that he’s very straight and streamlined off the wall,” said Gregg Troy, the head coach of the University of Florida men’s and women’s swim teams in Gainesville, Fla., and Lochte’s personal coach. Lochte, a former Gator, still trains with the team.

So Lochte tries to streamline underwater for at least 15 meters off each flip turn.

“If a swimmer pushes hard off the wall and remains streamlined underwater,” Troy said, “that means you’ll transition into your stroke with much more momentum. It’s almost as if you’re swimming downhill, not uphill. That’s very important.”

So is body position.

“I work a lot on staying high in the water, not fighting the water, moving with the water,” Lochte said.

To that end, he concentrates on keeping his belly above the water during his backstroke and he also frequently practices with a piece of buoyant foam (or pull buoy) between his legs. Using a buoy, Troy said, can be useful for swimmers, because “you start to feel proper body positioning, then you replicate that” without the buoy.

Grab the Kickboard

Perhaps the single biggest change in Lochte’s swimming routine from days past is the amount of pure kicking he does, sometimes with fins (his are standard, long fins) or a kickboard, sometimes without.

“Kicking stabilizes the body,” Troy said. “You achieve correct body position far more with the legs than the arms.”

Leg muscles require far more oxygen than the arms do, he added, so the legs “must be fit” or a swimmer risks early exhaustion.

“The amount of kicking that most elite swimmers do in practice has gone up at least 20 percent in the past few years,” Troy said.

He said that coaches used to have athletes kicking less because “it takes more time in the practices to kick than to swim,” so you get “less overall swimming volume.” But most of them have come to realize that less volume with more kicking produces world records.

Building Muscle

Unlike many young swimmers, Lochte did not work out with weights in high school. His father, Steven Lochte, who coached him for five years when Ryan was a teenager and who remains the head coach at Daytona Beach Swimming, a competitive swimming club, didn’t believe in it for such a young person. “You should wait until the bones are fused and skeletal growth is finished,” Steven Lochte said.

Now the 6-foot-2-inch Ryan Lochte turns up, if not avidly at least punctually, in the weight room at the University of Florida pool complex. “Three times a week,” he said, “for an hour and a half, two hours.”

Using free weights and machines, he concentrates on his shoulders (which have tendinitis), his legs and his back. “I was already pushing myself in the pool as hard as I could,” he said. “So I had to find another way to make pushing myself possible.”

Before every pool session, Lochte (below right) and his Florida teammates pass around the medicine ball, do multiple sets of push-ups and 500 abdominal crunches.

“Ryan does probably 30 to 45 minutes of core body exercises three times a week.” Troy said. For mortals, “20 minutes probably twice a week should be fine.”

Bring It On

“I love competition,” Lochte said. “I always have. That’s my idea of fun, to compete against your teammates, to compete in races, to compete against yourself.”

Competition was necessary, in fact, to keep him engaged during practice as a teenager.

“He’d coast through the easy parts” his father said, sighing even now. “But the minute I said we were going to do time trials or races, he’d be the first one in the water.”

Now, Lochte is his own best rival.

“Every day in practice I like to see if I can maybe kick an extra meter farther underwater than I did yesterday or beat something that I did before,” he said.

He also advises setting attainable goals, perhaps one of the more overlooked elements of a fitness regimen.

“After the 2004 Olympics, I went and sat down in my coach’s office and we listed all the goals I wanted to meet before Beijing,” Lochte said.

On the list was setting a world record, and defeating Phelps, at least a few times. Done and done.

The moral: Even if you’re a fitness swimmer, incorporate competition and goal-setting into your routine. You don’t necessarily have to sign up for races, but aim to reach the far wall a smidgen faster than you did the day before, or try to break a minute in the 100-meter freestyle, a good benchmark for speed. Lochte’s best time in that event is 49.04 seconds, a mark he set Saturday at the USA Swimming Sectionals competition in Orlando, Fla. He said he would like to bring it down to 48.2.

“There’s a lot of doing the same thing in swimming,” Lochte said. “I’d go crazy if I didn’t race parts of it.”

“Of course,” he added wickedly, “it helps that I usually win.”

This is the first in a series featuring Beijing Olympic hopefuls, who will offer training tips and fitness advice for recreational athletes.

We look forward to getting you doing your best ever swim in Western Australia ironman at the end of the year!

Our Open Water Swim Programs are crafted for both beginner and seasonsed swimmers/triathletes:

Program (1) Beginner Triathletes : Tips on how to swim in the open water including proper dive in, navigation, drafting, threading water etc. and Practical application of the tips and techniques of open water swimming. We recommend beginners and those with little open water swimming experience to join our pool sessions prior to attending our open water sessions.

Program (2) Seasoned / ‘More’ Competitive Triathletes : Program cathers to seasoned and more experienced triathletes who will be competing in upcoming triathlons – whether you will be racing 1.5km (Olympic Distance), 1.8km (half-ironman) and 3.8km (ironman) swim distances, we will get you sufficiently ready. Be prepared to swim intensively both at the pool and in our open water session (which will be led by one of our ex-olympian swimmers). Swimmers in this category should be able to complete a 1.5km open water swim in less than 35mins.

The Pool Sessions will be conducted together with our Masters Swim Academy – but with certain drills and sets crafted for swimmers who register as Open Water Swimmers.

Call or email us for more information – limited capacity.

SIGN UP NOW! For more info on fees, click here.

Read about our program in the Straits Times.

The 2nd session (open water session) will be this coming Saturday 5th September from 1030am to 12 noon at Tanjong Beach, Sentosa. This is an great opportunity for those looking to practice open water swimming under proper supervision or as a final tune up for next weekend’s TriFactor race.  The session will include:

– Tips on how to swim in the open water including proper dive in, navigation, drafting, threading water etc.
– Practical application of the tips and techniques of open water swimming
– 750m/1.5km open water swim

For those who did not attend the 1st session and would like to attend this upcoming open water session, please drop an email to gerald@sportinc.net with your details asap! Spaces are limited and registration is on a first-come-first-serve basis. Fees are $30.

Name:
Contact:
Age:
Swim timing of the last race (Sprint/OD/70.3/Ironman):

FOR SAFETY PURPOSES, PLEASE BRING A BRIGHT COLOURED SWIMMING CAP TO MAKE IT EASIER FOR US TO KEEP AN EYE ON YOU!

The meeting point is at The Shack on Tanjong Beach, which is a funky cool open beach bar (where KM8 used to be). Great place to chill and have some drinks after the workout!!!

COACHES
Gerald Koh
– 1x Olympian (1996)
– 2x Asian Games (1994 & 2002), 1x World Swimming Championships (2001)
– Multiple SEA Games Medallist (1991, 1993, 1995, 1997 & 2001)
– 1x FINA 10km Open Water Grand Prix (2006)
– 20km Open Water Swim from Batam to Singapore (2007)

Mark Chay
– 2x Olympian (2000 & 2004)
– 2x Commonwealth Games, 2 x Asian Games (1998 & 2002), 2x World Swimming Championships (2000 & 2005)
– 5x SEA Games Gold Medalist (1997, 1999, 2001, 2003 & 2005)

Desmond Koh
– 3x Olympian (1988, 1992 & 1996)
– 3x Asian Games (1990, 1994 & 1998), 1x Commonwealth Games (1998), 1x World Swimming Championships (1990)
– Multiple SEA Games Medallist (1987, 1989, 1991, 1993 & 1995)

Come join us and learn to swim responsibly and safely in the ocean! And spread the word to friends and family!

Swim With SPORTinc is happy to announce our third program, Open Water Swimming Clinics.  This is complementary to our existing (1) Masters Swimming Academy (training) and (2) Stroke Correction (Technique/Learn to Swim).

Why are we doing this:

We feel that many less accomplished swimmers and triathletes often do not get enough practice swimming in the open waters and thus underestimate the dangers of open water swimming. The aim of this program is to provide you with an opportunity to build open water confidence by swimming in open water under proper supervision.

Training in a swimming pool alone is not enough to prepare you for an open water swim, there are many other factors to consider when swimming in an open water race i.e. swimming in a tight bunch (and getting elbowed/kneed by other swimmers), not being able to see underwater, no lane ropes to keep you in line, no wall/lane ropes to rest on while adjusting your goggles etc.

We plan to conduct these swimming programs on a regular basis and aim to provide you with the tips and tools to overcome challenges you may encounter during an open water swim race (or first leg of your triathlon event).

Who should join: Triathletes who find open water swimming challenging and those who simply wish to improve on their performance.

Details of the Program:

Session 1:  29th August Sat – Pool Swim at ACS School Pool, 60 Barker Road (Tentative: 2-330 pm)

– Basic assessment of swimming abilities
– Tips on how to train for an open water swim (it doesn’t always have to be long and boring swim sets!)
– Stroke drills for proper technique, body positioning and maximum efficiency
– Demonstrations by Gerald and Mark

Session 2: 5th September Sat – Open Water Swim at Tanjong Beach, Sentosa (Tentative: 1030am-12pm)

– Tips on how to swim in the open water including proper dive in, navigation, drafting, threading water etc.
– practical application of the techniques that we have incorporated in the first session
– 750m/1.5km open water swim

2 fully certified lifeguards will be present at our open water swims.

Extra Free Pool Training Session: 2nd Sept Wed (7-830pm)

As part of the package, we are also offering an optional swim workout for free on 2nd September Wednesday from 7pm to 830pm .  Swimmers will swim with our regular Masters Swimming Academy group.

Fees and Registration

$60 per person for both sessions.  To request for a registration form or if you have further questions, please send us an email at swim@sportinc.net with the following details:

Name:                                            Contact:
Age:
Swim timing of the last race (Sprint/OD/70.3/Ironman):

Spaces are limited, and registration is on a first-come-first-serve basis.  Confirmation will only be provided for those who have paid in full.

Swim with SPORTinc Open Water Team

Gerald Koh (Swim Demo by Gerald)

– 1x Olympian (1996)
– 2x Asian Games (1994 & 2002), 1x World Swimming Championships (2001)
– Multiple SEA Games Medallist (1991, 1993, 1995, 1997 & 2001)
– Singapore Elite Representative at FINA 10km Open Water Grand Prix (2006)

– Gerald swam 20km from Batam, Indonesia to Singapore!!!! (2007)

Mark Chay
– 2x Olympian (2000 & 2004)
– 2x Commonwealth Games, 2x Asian Games (1998 & 2002), 2x World Swimming Championships (2000 & 2005)
– 5x SEA Games Gold Medallist (1997, 1999, 2001, 20003 & 2005)

Desmond Koh (Demo by Desmond)

– 3x Olympian (1988, 1992 & 1996)
– 3x Asian Games (1990, 1994 & 1998), 1x Commonwealth Games (1998), 1x World Swimming Championships (1990)
– Multiple SEA Games Medallist (1987, 1989, 1991, 1993 & 1995)

SOME DRILLS THAT WILL BE TEACH DURING OUR CLINICS

Sculling Drill – to get better feel of the water

Egg Beater – for treading water and keeping afloat

Check out the Hackett’s high elbows underwater.  I have constantly reminded several of you to focus on bending your elbows under water as opposed to deep straight arm underwater pulls!

Hi team, our coaches will be approaching you guys over the next few sessions to sort out your entries for the 4th Singapore Masters Swimming Championship 2009 which has been set for 29-30 August 2009.

The event will be held over 2 half day sessions at Changi Beach Club from 9am – 3pm. This year the organizers are expecting around 200 or more swimmers from Local and Overseas.  We would also like most (if not all) of our swimmers to in this event here in Singapore, participate and have fun!

“Singapore Masters is Open to All Overseas Friends.  Age group starting from 19yrs to 24yrs old as Junior Master and Masters 25yrs and Above. It aims to encourage Active and Regular Participation in swimming throught Fun, Fitness & Friendship

Age groups are as follows :  19-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54yrs etc..

Event : Day 1
400m Freestyle , 100m Butterfly , 50m Breaststroke , 200m Backstroke , 4x50m Medley Relay , 400m Individual Medley , 50m Butterfly , 100m Breaststroke, 200m Freestyle & 6x50m Corporate Relay

Event : Day 2
200m Breaststroke , 50m Backstroke , 100m Freestyle , 4x50m Mixed Medley Relay , 200m Individual Medley , 800m Freestyle , 4x50m Mixed Freestyle Relay , 100m Backstroke , 50m Freestyle , 200m Butterfly , 4x50m Freestyle Relay

Hotel & Lodging will either be in Changi Beach Club ( http://www.changibc.org.sg/ )itself or Changi Village Hotel ( http://www.changivillage.com.sg/ )which is only 10mins walk to the Event location.

Please visit website at www.singaporemasters.org for more details and chat with Gary, Gerald, Kenneth or myself at the training sessions.

Tags: swimwith sportinc, swimming, triathlons

Tags: swim, coach, singapore,

I am looking for someone  to adopt my stationary bike. It’s a couple years old but will still provide a great spinning workout. ‘Free’ to anyone who will love it and spend time on it. Kindly arrange for collection by 22 May 2009 – please email info@sportinc.net if you would like to start spinning at home! ]]> https://sportinc.wordpress.com/2009/05/17/looking-for-good-home-stationary-bike-trainer-brand-star-trac/feed/ 0 sportinc https://sportinc.wordpress.com/2009/05/14/extra-sleep-improves-athletic-performance/ https://sportinc.wordpress.com/2009/05/14/extra-sleep-improves-athletic-performance/#respond Thu, 14 May 2009 15:56:39 +0000 http://sportinc.wordpress.com/?p=336

“Very interesting research on sleep and Stanford swimmers’ performances… so please get to bed by 8pm for 10 hours sleep before our Sat am session guys and girls!”

ScienceDaily (2008-06-10) — Extending their sleep to 10 hours per day enabled Stanford swimmers to improve their 15-meter sprint times, reaction times, turn times and kick strokes. Alertness and mood also improved. Results agree with data obtained from athletes on other Stanford sports teams in this ongoing study.

Just some of the drills we focus on also at our Swim with SPORTinc Adult Swim Program. Every wed 7-830pm and every Sat 630-8am at 60 Barker Road, Anglo Chinese School Swimming Pool.