Sometimes the last 15 yards of a race can seem like the worst pain ever!
When the pain of finishing a set or race becomes too intense, we often change our stroke to lessen the amount of pain. The peculiar thing is that we do this without thinking about it! An example of this would be the catch in freestyle. As muscle fatigue sets in on our forearms, a “slip” of our grip occurs. “Slipping” is when our hands move through the water faster than they can grip calm waters to propel us forward. Our hands are no longer fully extended resulting in reduced force, leading to a slower speed.
To prevent this from happening, we must focus on the areas of our stroke that fail once we experience this fatigue. Holding your stroke together (even when it is unbearable) will allow us to maintain our speed.
There are many things you can do in this situation:
1. Remain relaxed
2. Keep a constant tempo (don’t rush your stroke)
3. Focus on how relative the situation truly is. You can endure anything for 10 seconds!
The main point is that if we focus on things other then the actual pain of the set/race, we will be able to maintain our speed!
A confident athlete knows that they have trained as hard and as smart as they could. When it comes time to step up on the blocks, they will know that no other swimmer trained like they did. Having this simple mindset relaxes your nerves and puts you in a position where a goal can be achieved.
How do you become a confident swimmer? It all comes down to smart, hard training and preparation. You should be able to look back on the practice and believe that you swam a perfect practice.
The bad news: Compared to those who naturally excel at this stroke, the vast majority of us do not.
The good news: There is hope!
The biggest error that most of us commit when swimming breaststroke is making the assumption that since we aren’t ‘natural’ breaststrokers, we will never be fast. When we go into a race with this defeatist attitude, we have already lost.Multiple world record holder and Olympic gold medalist swimmer Ryan Lochte shares his thoughts on training breaststroke;
“Anytime I do breaststroke, I’m SPRINTING breaststroke…no matter what happens, I could be dead tired, but I’m just going to end up SPRINTING breaststroke, and now it has become one of my most dominant strokes.”
What can we learn from this? Working on our weaknesses can make us better swimmers!
…PERFECT practice makes perfect!
More often than not, we solely swim the yardage, and not the instructions that are included in the set. As a simple example, we will focus on a set of 4 x 100’s with 5 dolphin kicks off each wall. Wouldn’t it be much easier if we only had to do 1 dolphin kick? Of course it would! And we all know that on those last two lengths we have to consciously fight the urge to pop up and break out after 1 dolphin kick to relieve the pain of oxygen deprivation. Each swimmer has to make the decision to endure the pain or to cop out. It is a simple matter of short term vs. long term benefits.
| Short Term Benefit | Long Term Benefit |
| 1 Dolphin Kick | AIR! | None |
| 5 Dolphin Kicks | None | Better Swimmer |
So which do you want more? Air now? Or to be a better swimmer in the long run? Logically, we would all choose to be a better swimmer in the long run, but only those who weigh the short term vs. long term benefits will complete the set correctly. PERFECT practice makes perfect.
…SPOILS THE WHOLE BUNCH!
Chances are you have trained, or currently train with a bad apple. First of all, what is a bad apple in terms of practice? A bad apple is a swimmer who rarely tries, disrupts practice, and complains about sets. Just like the fruit, the swimmer’s “mold” will spread to others, leading them to question whether or not they are prepared to work hard on a set, or whether they want to be at practice in the first place. Quite possibly the worst bad apple is the swimmer who never trains hard, yet through raw natural talent is always able to get up and go at big meets.
On the flip side of the coin, being around a person who trains hard and looks forward to the upcoming physical and mental challenge can also be contagious. Associating with these individuals, you will notice that your effort level increases, focus and concentration becomes tighter, and eventually the challenge of bettering yourself becomes enjoyable!
The moral of the story is that to become better swimmers, we must mentally block those we recognize as bad apples, and fully understand that hard work beats talent over time. Consort with the good apples and you will experience nothing but success in and out of the water. Besides, it is a great feeling when you finish a set and are able to say to yourself in full honesty “I worked hard, and for that, I am a better PERSON!”
The most common injuries associated with swimming are shoulder injuries
These are a few of my favorite dryland exercises;
Tricep Dips on a bench/chair
Sit ups/Crunches
Leg Raises
Push ups
What is the difference between water and gator/power/acceler-ade?
5 x 200’s (Swim/Kick/IM/Pull/No-Free)
