Stress management is sports

Stress is experienced when an individual feels that they cannot cope with a situation with which they are presented. If an athlete is in a stressful situation then their athletic performance, whether this be in competition or in training, will be effected. The coach can limit the effect on performance of competitive anxiety by assisting the athlete to identify an appropriate coping strategy.

There are many aspects of an athlete's life that can be stressful at certain times. This may arise because of commitments in the areas of work, study, sport or family/social life. When commitments in a number of areas coincide then the effect can be stressful which may result in commitments being compromised or in worse case situation their health being affected. You need to consider these areas when planning your annual training program. By planning we can reduce the level of stress that we (as a swimmers or a coach) will encounter.

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Effects of training on heart rate

The number of times your heart contracts during each minute is your heart rate. Actually, both the right and left sides of the heart (the ventricles) contract simultaneously, but these two contractions count as one beat. The left ventricle of the heart fills with blood from the lungs during its rest period between beats. When the heart beats, it pumps that blood, out to the muscles. The right ventricle fills with blood returning from the muscles during the rest period and then pushes that blood out to the lungs.

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Test set for evaluating changes in anaerobic power

The purpose of test sets for anaerobic power is to evaluate changes in an athlete’s rate of anaerobic metabolism. A small number of very short repeats should be used so that acidosis and its slowing effects on anaerobic metabolism will not cause interpretation errors.

The best repeat distances are 25 and 50 m. The whole set should be between 100 and 300 m in length. The rest intervals should be long to allow for the elimination of much of the lactate that is produced during each swim. It’s better if you use send off times of 2 to 3 min between 25s and 2 to 5 min between 50s. Athletes should be encouraged to swim easy during the recovery periods between repeats to assist in clearing their muscles of lactic acid. Some examples of repeat sets for monitoring changes in anaerobic power are 8 x 25 m on a send off time of 3 min and 6 x 50 m on a send off of 4 min.

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Tips to cope with cold water in open water races

A lot of open water swimmers hate the cold, both the cold air and especially cold water. There many people out there that they don’t go near the ocean until it gets up around 20 degrees C. Cold water can not only be unpleasant and draining, it can also be dangerous. If you’re training at temperatures under 20 degrees Celsius, it's always best to do it with a partner, just in case.

There are many triathlons where cold water is part of the challenge—especially the early-season ones in April and May. What can you do about cold water, other than be uncomfortable, get an ice cream headache, and use up lots of your body's energy just trying to stay warm? Here is a list of tips to minimize the negative effects and the uncomfortable feelings that can result from cold water swimming.

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Difficulties during stroke changes

Making stroke changes is difficult, especially for younger swimmers. Alexander Popov’s coach, Coach Gennadi Touretski, once said that it took Alexander about 100,000 m of focused swimming to take a minor change in his freestyle. Coaches may sometimes feel that they don’t have the necessary knowledge, or that his/her swimmers don’t have the ability, but this is not the problem. Coaches real challenge in helping his/her swimmers to improve their stroke is to keep them focused until the good skills become habitual and then continue to reinforce and polish those good habits. They have to realize that many barriers stand in the way of positive change.

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FINA thinking of changing breaststroke rule

FINA, in a move believed by some as a way around introducing underwater cameras in disputes and appeals, may relax the rules on breaststroke to allow multiple dolphin kicks at the start of races, according to former 1500m great Vladimir Salnikov.

Now the president of the Russian swim federation, Salnikov today tells the Russian swim community that breaststroke swimmers would be allowed to take multiple dolphin kicks during the first 15m of races. Currently, rules allow one kick, with many using more but getting away with it because officials on the deck cannot see through the splash generated by the dive at the start of races. The one-kick rule will remain in place at turns, when there is no splash to block the view of judges on the poolside.

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Nutritional tips for swimmers

Many swimmers and coaches wonder what they should eat before, during and after their workouts. Proper nutrition can make a big difference in their performance, endurance, speed and energy. The key is to experiment and find out what works for them and their body because different swimmers require different nutrition. Here are some basic guidelines to keep in mind during the week and during a swim.

General nutrition tips during the week

• Swimmers need a diet rich in carbohydrates for lasting energy. Choose whole grains and whole wheat as much as possible for maximum benefits.
• Consume lean meats daily to help rebuild and strengthen your muscle cells. Refrain from fast food and fried foods, which are unhealthy, do not provide adequate nutrients or energy, and take a long time to digest.
• Do not consume soda, desserts and other high-sugar foods. These will not give you lasting energy and will only make you feel tired once the sugar wears off.
• Toast with peanut butter, yogurt, a banana or whole wheat cereal are all good breakfast choices. These will give you lasting energy with plenty of carbs to burn during your swim.

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Common mistakes during the insweep of the armstroke in breaststroke

As you already know the armstroke of breaststroke is divided into four parts: the outsweep, the catch, the insweep, and the recovery. A few days ago I blogged on the common mistakes that swimmers tend to make during the outsweep of the armstroke (see here). Today’s post is about mistakes swimmers do and should avoid during the insweep.

The most common mistake that swimmers make during this phase of the stroke is to direct the hands forward. The forward speed of the body will drop off dramatically once swimmers begin to move the arms forward during the insweep. Consequently, they will either terminate the insweep early or they will waste time and effort performing a movement that is non propulsive. The forward and inward arm movement produces an outward and backward drag force and a forward and outward lift force. Swimmers are bound to decelerate when they sweep the hands forward during the insweep because any small forward component of force that may be produced by this direction of limb motion will be negated by the large backward component of the drag force they are also producing.

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Standardized repeat sets

A standardized repeat set is perhaps the simplest method of evaluating progress in aerobic capacity and prescribing training paces for swimmers. In order to complete a standardized repeat set swimmers need to swim a long set of repeats on short rest. The average speed for a set of repeats that requires between 30 and 40 minutes to complete should correspond closely to the results of a T-3000 swim (see here) and, therefore, to the individual anaerobic threshold speeds of athletes. The best repeat distances for sets like these are between 200 and 400 m because the estimated threshold pace will apply to the usual range of practice repeat distances. Once the repeat distance, number of repeats, and send off time for a standardized repeat set have been established, that set could be repeated periodically to test for changes in aerobic capacity. An athlete’s aerobic capacity has probably improved when s/he can swim the set at an average faster speed, and that speed is likely to be close to the swimmer’s individual anaerobic threshold pace.

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Effects of training on stroke volume

Stroke volume is termed the amount of blood that is pushed out of the ventricles of the heart with each beat.  A normal range of values at rest is between 60 and 130 ml per beat. These amounts can increase to between 150 and 180 ml per beat during exercise. These values refer only to the blood that is pumped out of the left ventricle. An equal amount of blood will simultaneously be pumped out of the right ventricle.

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Cool down phase in an aqua class

The cool down allows participants to slowly recover from the work they have done in the conditioning phase. If the last set ended with an interval, you will want to continue the active recovery exercise for a few minutes. Then you can have participants begin to go into slower, lower intensity movements. One way to do this is to repeat the warm up, perhaps in reverse order. Another option is to include a set of toning exercises. These can be exercises for muscular strength, or they can be abdominal and core strength exercises.

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FINA changes policy on FINA World Cup series

Two European rounds of the FINA World Cup, one set for Eindhoven and another in Berlin, are due to be staged immediately after the World Championships in Barcelona this summer to catch the wave of fit athletes in peak race form before they depart for summer breaks.

The World Cup series has longed suffered from poor attendance when it comes to attracting quality fields. Many rounds of the cup are largely domestic events with a sprinkling of world-class swimmers from leading nations either dipping in to selected rounds to test themselves at a time of training or taking on the series in pursuit of the $100,000 prize available to best man and best woman on a points score.

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Sunday's motivational quote 2

Krisztina Egerszegi's story

Krisztina Egerszegi was born in 16 August 1974 in Budapest, Hungary and is a Hungarian former world record holding swimmer and one of the greatest Hungarian Olympic champions of the modern era. She is a three time Olympian (1988, 1992 and 1996) and five time Olympic champion; and one of three individuals (Dawn Fraser and Michael Phelps being other two) to have ever won the same swimming event at three Summer Olympics.

She held the world record in the long course 200 m backstroke for almost 17 years (August 1991 – February 2008), after setting it at the1991 European Championships (2:06.62). As of June 2009, that time remains the European and Hungarian records. It is the oldest record on the European list, and the second-oldest on the Hungarian list—Egerszegi's former world record in the 100 m backstroke (1:00.31), set 3 days prior to the 200 m backstroke, is the oldest.

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What babies can learn according to their age

The purpose of this post is to provide you with a broad idea of the potential that exists at various ages of baby swimmers. The following list is intended to reflect the skills and abilities of children with long term swimming experience who swim with ease and confidence.  Many factors weigh into a child's progress, such as comfort, experience, confidence, and frequency of practice, motivation, innate abilities and the attitude of the parents. Beginners entering a program would need to start with water adjustment and gradually acquire new skills in a sequential learning progression, regardless of age. For example, a 3 year old new to swimming would start with the first level of skills.

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Health and safety rules for master swimmers

As we get older we can still benefit from advice on how to get the most from our swimming. The ASA Masters Committee gives you some tips that may help swimmers aged from 25 to over 100, although they could be of benefit to swimmers of all ages!

GENERAL

• Know your limits. Have regard for your age and state of health. Do not try to emulate younger swimmers to the detriment of your own well being.
• Do not train or compete if you are ill or are feeling overtired or unwell, particularly if you have a virus infection.
• Do not swim within two hours of a heavy meal.
• Be responsible for your own safety and consider the safety of others, and immediately report any poolside/pool hazard to the lifeguards, or at a competition, the warm up Marshalls or the Referee. 

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Muscular endurance training for swimmers

Strength training can be viewed as a form of cross training (activities other than swimming that help maintain your conditioning) since it provides a different way to stimulate and challenge the body above and beyond what you achieve in the pool. However, when building muscular endurance, be sure to approach it in the right way. Muscular endurance refers to a muscle’s ability to generate a relatively high level of force repeatedly without fatigue. This is important in every swimming race, especially for distance longer than 100 m.

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Fast-twitch and slow-twitch muscle fibbers

There are, as you already know, two main categories of fibbers in the skeletal muscles of our bodies. The first type is known as slow twitch fibbers (or slow oxidative fibbers, or red fibbers, or Type I fibbers) and the second type is known as fast twitch fibbers (or white fibbers, or Type II fibbers). These two types distinguish one from another on how fast they can contract. Another important difference between them is in their capacity for endurance and power work.

Slow twitch fibbers have more endurance because they have a greater capacity for aerobic metabolism. They have more myoglobin (the substance that transports oxygen across the muscle cell), more aerobic enzymes that catalyze the release of energy during aerobic metabolism, and more mitochondria (the protein structures within muscle cells where aerobic metabolism occurs).

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Motivation in sports

Motivation is an internal energy force that determines all aspects of our behaviour; it also impacts on how we think, feel and interact with others. In sport, high motivation is widely accepted as an essential prerequisite in getting athletes to fulfil their potential. Howeve, given it's inherently abstract nature, it is a force that is often difficult to exploit.

Motivation is thought to be a combination of drive within us to achieve our aims and the outside factors which affect it. With this in mind, motivation has the following two forms, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation.

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Critical swimming speed test

Critical swimming speed (CSS) tests were developed by Wakayoshi and his associates to estimate the threshold pace for endurance training. The defined the critical swimming speed as the fastest speed swimmers could maintain continuously without exhaustion. Therefore, they believe that it represents an athlete’s maximal lactate steady state.

The procedure of determining the critical swimming speed involves swimming a minimum of two time trials from a push off, although three or more trials are recommended. Any combination of the following time trial distances have been recommended for this purpose: 50, 100, 200, and 400m. When only two time trials are used, the distances should be considerably different. There should be at least a 30 minute rest between swims. It is also recommended that the swims should be performed over a 2 or 3 days period, especially when the 3 or 4 time trials are used.

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How to draft in an open water race

Cyclists, race car drivers and open water swimmers all know the benefits of drafting and positioning. As swimmers take off in an open water race or triathlon and go from buoy to buoy, they create a conga line with seemingly everyone chasing after the person in front of them. Where ideally should you position yourself?

 It helps to know a bit about water movement.

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Ideas of goal setting for an age group squad coach (11-14 years old)

These are the most important years for creating future national level senior swimmers. With their training, swimmers are determining what level of athletes they will be later. During this time, there is gradual and progressive build-up in the intensity and volume of training. Also, coaches should begin to differentiate in the training groups between those swimmers who are more advanced, more committed, and higher performing, compared with the others.

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Pereira Quits Pro2016; New Coach For Cielo

Brazil's top two swimmers, Olympic medalists Cesar Cielo and Thiago Pereira, are heading in different directions amid denials that the Pro 2016 squad formed by the world sprint champion is about to fold.

Cesar Cielo

Thiago, Olympic silver medalist behind Ryan Lochte (USA) over 400m medley at London 2012, has left Pro 2016, the team formed by Cielo to prepare Brazilians for the Rio 2016 Games at home, and is being coached by Felipe Dominguez at the Academia Reebok. 

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Fluid replacement in swimming

Fluid replacement is just as important in swimming as it is in any other athletic activity. You may not think you sweat a great deal when you swim because the water quickly dissipates any excess heat your body generates, but in reality you do sweat, losing fluids in the process. In fact, swimmers lose approximately 120 ml of fluid per 1000 m of training at a moderate pace. This amount of fluid can be increased up to 160 ml per 1000 m when the training intensity increases. Swimmers who train for at least 5000 m per training session may lose up to 800 ml of fluid. All this fluid should be replaced before the next workout. While this makes sense, swimmers typically will replace only 30 to 70 % of the fluid lost during a training session when left to their own devices.

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Common mistakes during the outsweep of the armstroke in breaststroke

The armstroke of the breaststroke is divided into three parts, the outsweep, the insweep, and the recovery. During these parts swimmers can make mistakes that they should avoid. Today I’m going to list down the common mistakes that can be done during the outsweep of the armstroke. The mistakes that are more common during the other two parts will be described in the following days.

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The T-3000 test

The T-3000 test is a great non invasive method to evaluate the progress your athletes are making. It can be done in two ways. In the first method, athletes can swim for 30 minutes and record the distance covered. In the second, athletes can swim a 3000 m time trial. Whichever method is used, the effort should be maximum and evenly paced from start to finish. The results are then converted to an average speed per 100 m by dividing the distance swum in 100s into the time for the entire swim in seconds.

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Swimmer's ear

A lot of swimmers experience the discomfort the swimmer’s ear give throughout their swimming career. So, what is the swimmer’s ear and how can we prevent it?

Swimmer's ear is an infection in the outer ear canal, which runs from your eardrum to the outside of your head. It's often brought on by water that remains in your ear after swimming, creating a moist environment that aids bacterial growth.

Putting fingers, cotton swabs or other objects in your ears also can lead to swimmer's ear by damaging the thin layer of skin lining your ear canal.

Swimmer's ear is also known as acute external otitis or otitis externa. The most common cause of this infection is bacteria invading the skin inside your ear canal.

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Warm up phase in aqua class (deep water)

The warm up phase in a deep water class must accomplish two things. Participants not only have to make a body temperature adjustment to the colder temperature of the water, as in a shallow water class, but they also have to adjust to the unstable environment in deep water. An upright posture is important to maintain the spine in neutral alignment so that all the exercises can be performed safely. Good posture, however, is not automatic in deep water. Begin the warm up with a vigorous, short-lever move, such as knee high jog, while offering postural cues to help participants achieve neutral alignment. Teach them how to scull, which will help them stabilize. As they begin to feel more comfortable, you can begin to increase their heart rates in preparation for the work out. The entire warm up should take between 5 and 10 minutes.

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Belmonte building back to best

Double Olympic silver medalist Mireia Belmonte (ESP) is getting back on track after a period of disruption following her post-London 2012 expulsion from Sabadell. Now back in the fold in Barcelona with coach Fred Vergnoux, Belmonte took four wins at her club's first long-course meet of the year.

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Motivational quote of the day 1

Babies swimming underwater

Watch two videos I found in youtube with babies diving and swimming underwater. Babies (and their instructors) rely on ‘gag’ reflex to keep them safe from drowning.  This early reflex is a contraction or spasm of the glottis and the epiglottis evoked by something touching the soft palate thus allowing only something to be swallowed, helping prevent choking.  In baby swimming babies and instructors rely on this reflex a great deal until the baby can learn to hold their breath or close their mouth when submerging their face.

Enjoy!!!

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Results in for competitive 2012 T-30 challenge

The results are in for one of the most competitive ASA T-30 Challenges in recent memory.

With more than a 20 per cent increase in entries compared to 2011, the 2012 Challenge - in which individuals or teams swim as far as they can in 30 minutes - saw 276 competitors in the individual event.

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Foundational and swimming-specific strength

Strength training should be geared to developing the specific attributes a swimmer needs in order to race fast. Before listing a few of the strength exercises that can be used by swimmers I’ll help you understand two basic concepts of strength training. These are the concepts of foundational and swimming-specific strength.

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Mental skills of a successful athlete

You don’t have to be a professional athlete or an Olympic champion to be a successful athlete. Nor do you have to have a room full of trophies, win a state championship, or make the front page of the sports section.  Successful athletes are those who feel that their sport is important to them and they’re committed to being the best that they can be within the scope of their limitations – other life commitments, time, finances, and their natural ability. They set high, realistic goals for themselves and train and play hard. They are successful because they’re pursuing their goals and enjoying their sport. Their sport enriches their lives and they believe that what they get back is worth what they put into their sport.

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How to monitor training

The effective administration of a swim training programme requires accurate monitoring of changes in both the aerobic and anaerobic performances of athletes to determine whether they are improving, and if not, why not. In addition, it is important to monitor training speeds accurately (that’s not really necessary if you coach development or age group squads) so that they will produce the desired effects. Blood testing is the most precise method for monitoring training available to coaches and athletes. This procedure, however, is not without pitfalls. Furthermore, most coaches do not have the equipment, funds, time, or expertise to use blood testing for these purposes. For this reason, other noninvasive procedures are needed for monitoring training. Alternative methods involve standardized repeat sets, monitoring heart rates, and rating of perceived exertion (RPE).

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Free radicals in exercise

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are chemically reactive molecules containing oxygen. Examples include oxygen ions and peroxides. ROS form as a natural byproduct of the normal metabolism of oxygen and have important roles in cell signaling and homeostasis. However, during times of environmental stress (e.g., UV or heat exposure), ROS levels can increase dramatically. This may result in significant damage to cell structures. Cumulatively, this is known as oxidative stress. ROS are also generated by exogenous sources such asionizing radiation.

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Tips for the pool to open water transition

If you're one of the many people who'll jump into the water this year to try your hand and legs at the growing sport of triathlon, the thought of open water swimming may loom large in your mind.

To help prepare for the transition to your local lake, reservoir, or ocean, noted swim coach Michael Collins offers these tips on helpful pool practice: 

• Close your eyes: Swim 8 to 10 strokes in the pool with your eyes closed, then sight above water. This will help you learn to swim straight without using the bottom of the pool as a guide. 

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Characteristics of top swimming programmes

Swimming programmes vary enormously in their culture and expectations. There are few programmes in each major swimming country that produce national or international level swimmers; these programmes are doing something better than the other programmes do. In these top programmes, the various levels are designed to develop the necessary talents, and swimmers are taught to expect to succeed at national levels. This is a culture of excellence and high performance.

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New brand for British Swimming

British Swimming has today launched its new logo and visual identity.

The organisation began the process of refreshing its visual identity at the start of 2012 with the aim of continuing its reputation as a modern and leading National Governing Body of Sport.

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Training cycles

The terms seasonal plan, annual plan, macrocycle, mesocycle, and microcycle can be explained as follows. The seasonal or annual plan is the plan for the year. The coach and swimmer identify the main competition for the year and put the plan in place for the swimmer to achieve optimum performance at the targeted competition. Coaches work backwards from the targeted competition to prepare the seasonal plan and assign each mesocycle and microcycle with the appropriate training emphasis.

Macrocycles are the blocks of work that make up the seasonal or annual plan. These cycles are generally 12, 15, or 24 weeks in duration.

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Make the best out of your backstroke start

Just as with the forward start (see here), there are several kinds of backstroke starts. Three basic types are the traditional start, the newer Japanese start, and the catapult start. In the traditional start, the hips are close to the wall and the shoulders close to the block, so the torso is practically vertical and the knees are bent to an extreme. The Japanese start is characterized by the torso angling slightly away from the wall and the head leaning back; this is the quickest of the starts. In the catapult start, the hips are away from the wall, the knees are bent only to about 90 degrees, and the shoulders lean in close to the hands, so the torso is angled into the wall. The catapult start is better for age groupers because the pressure of the feet is directed horizontally into the wall.

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The glycemic index

The glycemic index (GI) is a measure of how a single food will raise your blood glucose level and it’s a great way to separate good carbs from bad ones. A food that’s highly glycemic will be digested quickly and is absorbed immediately, sending your blood sugar level sky-high. The problem is that you crash quickly and end up feeling sluggish.

If you eat the same portion of a low-glycemic food, your body has to work harder to break it down. The benefit is that the sugar from the food will released into the bloodstream more slowly, giving you steady energy over a longer period.

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