Competitive Swimmer

February 2024

How does your team compare to norms of National improvement? Next month, you’ll know.

Over half a million worldwide swim times being analyzed by us : CS Subscribers get a head start next month

Subscribers: Analysis of Pan’s 100 WR

Competitive Swimmer

Dec. 2023

Intro

The Magazine For Those who Believe Swimming Faster is Fun!

40 Exercises

In Ten Minutes

In Steve’s SwimGym

Notice this fit swimmer is working not just on strength, but endurance. You can do many of these exercises with surgical tubing instead of isokinetics. We have almost 1,000 other exercises we’ll show in this Magazine as time goes on. The chart at right is part of Cool Coach Ai swim software, coming soon.

Mastercoach

Ray Looze

“My favorite thing is practice”

“We planned for our team to win the NCAA’s this year.”

“Bill Sweetenham is a genius. “

ALL the Russians are cheating”

“My breaststrokers who get DQed have a hitch as they are getting older.”

“The Chinese are cheating their asses off”

“”Our swimmers improve more than any other college team”

Swimfast Rotating swim Bench

Bud McCalister

Competitive Swimmer

magazine

Watch and learn. He’s impossible to ignore. He knows EXACTLY what he wants and so do his “swimmers”.

Predictor Sets

Bud McCalister’s Predictive sets differ from Bob Steel’s sets published in past issues of Competitive Swimmer Magazine. Predictor sets are motivating, can be frustrating, but keep swimmers on task in the sets and land exercises that lead to better tracks and increase the chance for great meet performance when it matters most.

Biomechanics:

The Scientific Study of Human Motion

State of the Art from the European College of Sports Science

Dean Boxall

CS Swimmer mag

The Art

The reason

The fun!

Dean Boxall

Phlex

Technique

Fitness

Readiness

Training Zones

CS is being trained by Phlex: details next month

Potentially intergrated to Cool Coach Ai version

What can be done?

For Swimmers

Lots can be done and this is a set of lifetime way to get better at something that doesn’t come as natually as you might think.

https://www.healthline.com/health/diaphragmatic-breathing#tips

Breathe

Or not to breathe

Get better at both!

New Arrival

EyeSwim Go Pro Version

Great Gift!

These really Work!

Competitive Swimmer

The Magazine For Those who Believe Swimming Faster is Fun!

20 most watched TED

Click the button :)

Depressed? Confused? On a plateau? Want to be great at swimming and life? We can learn from Tony, speaking here at The TED.

Competitive Swimmer

The Magazine For Those who Believe Swimming Faster is Fun!

The Genius of David Marsh. Listen to how he’s using the white board and asking the swimmers to write down their progressive test sets. Notice how he encourages them to be THEIR best tracks, not necessarily “Joe Schmoe’s”. Notice the use of touch pads and their bulkhead to get accurate times. Notice how the feedback is not just from coach to swimmers; it’s the swimmers against previous personal bests. And then, of course, notice the swim-off. Preparation for racing while in training. You might have to get creative to train this way, but you can make it happen. Thanks to SwimSwam for posting this video and doing the great work. Subscribe to their Site and Magazine just as you do with ours.

JUmp In The Pool

CS Swimmer mag

The Art

The reason

The fun!

Watch Reese’s feet

On the USA Swim Site (L) on left and you can see him dolphin in each stroke from the top at Pac 12's on (R)

King in the 50 breast at Worlds with top stroke coaches commenting

At the 2023 US Open 1 out of 7 Breast DQ’s in the prelims is a college swimmer, and all 5 men DQed were college age or older; and both women DQed are associated with universities. So all 7 might have gotten away with dolphining their breaststrokes in college.

?

Days until the 2024

oLympics

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Everyone can rise

with the Olympic Tide

Click the link above and join in the anticipation.

Train like Olympians.

You are defined by your spirit,

not by your talent

Train and race with joy

Celebrate everyone who loves what they

love and does their best to be their best

in and out of the Games, in and out of the sport

Be at peace, knowing you did your best each day

to swim faster, higher, stronger.

Play fair and love one another.

The Magazine For Those who Believe Swimming Faster is Fun!

USC’s Macky Hodges

CS Parents

CS Coaches

CS Swimmers

Something for everyone

With the Stroke Coach

USC Beats Stanford

How to improve your stroke all through your career

The Magazine For Those who Believe Swimming Faster is Fun!

Full Stroke Coach Session

With American Record Holder, NCAA and US National Champion, Texas Longhorn and TST swimmer David Johnston and Stroke Coach Steve Friederang

All Four Strokes, real time interaction,

3 underwater angles. Unedited

VIDEO ON NEXT PAGE

This is a full hour plus session full stroke session where I focus on an athlete going through all four strokes.I discuss about what the swimmer does correctly and what can be improved. Please remember as you watch and do this yourself, that it’s a process and some of the things you prescribe might be beyond what they can instantly do and you leave some things out for another day. In this particular example, we have a swimmer who can do almost everything I ask, at least for a lap. He’s talented and tough, has speed and endurance. He’s open to improvement.

Johnston has two great coaches in Eddie Reese and Mark Schubert. Mark trusts me to time David’s stroke improvements with his meet schedule. For example, though I was dying to work with David’s stroke at the recent US Open, I left him alone to allow him to focus on racing. He was swimming a little sick and his races ranged from the 1500 to the 400 I.M., but dong video the whole meet I learned a lot I will share and with you in future issues.

This session was before that meet and laid a foundation for what we continued once he got back. He’s swimming appreciably faster now with lifetimes bests in the 200 free and I.M., kicking, etc. already this season with a lot more coming.

We hope you enjoy this window into this process and that it makes you a better swimmer or coach. One last thing is that David has his own GoPro and a holder I designed to hold it in the gutter so he can video himself at the local fitness club and in his own practices at the The Swim Team. I HIGHLY encourage swimmers do this. It makes my job and the job of the home coach a lot easier when the swimmer is engaged in his own improvement. I say the same thing about test sets which for David range from 25's short course to 60X100's long course, swimming, kicking, and pulling, stroke counts, and many challenges in between in all four strokes. Check back often as a subscriber to see how we are doing and send your own ideas and success stories to Steve@competitiveswimmer.com.

.

queen

A stroke coach’s favorite example of backstroke stroke mastery is honored in song on the next page.

JUmp In The Pool

CS Swimmer mag

The Art

The reason

The fun!

Click the image to see Part 1 of Wayne’s interview.

Wayne Goldsmith - Coaches - open your eyes and open your minds to...

Coaches - open your eyes and open your minds to the limitless beauty and inspiration around you.

I am in London and not for the first time. I had a "Galleries and Museums Day.”

Close friend and mentor Bill Sweetenham told me in 1993:

"Don't fall for the trap of making everything you do about sport and coaching. Take photos. Go to Galleries. Buy tickets to the theatre, to opera, to ballet, to concerts.... experience the very best of humanity, not just sport. Too many coaches travel but see nothing, learn little and experience only sport".

It has been perhaps the most important piece of advice I've been given.

Coaches love coaching and want to help their athletes be all they choose to be.

But remember to live, to experience true genius and to be inspired by more than winning games,

breaking records and being awarded medals.

Some random vids from the

2023 US Open!

Ideas and analysis coming in future editions of Competitive Swimmer Magazine

Competitive Swimmer

Chris nagy Stroke Session on Zoom

with Stroke Coach Steve Friederang

Live and unedited

US Open/Leadership Analysis

Strengths

Weaknesses

Opportunities

Threats

• Ran a good meet
• Great announcer
• Good Branding/venue
• Music good; announcer audible in much of the venue
• Good security
  

• Pool not open for training two days before the meet
• DQ’s seemed random with only two cameras and no accountability to swimmers and coaches.
• Schubert, Bowman and others at the Open question where the cameras are, who is manning them, and why coaches and swimmers can’t see the videos.
  

• Allow swimmers to warm down before interviews and awards
• Show the audience underwater video
• Score the meet by time improvement
• Mention world rankings more.
  

• Potential lawsuits for “secret” or political DQ’s from only two underwater cameras.
• Potential National Team Members might too fatigued to do well in events after not warming down before interviews and awards.
  

CS MAGAZINE

Data: As a Motivator, some ideas. (More in future issues)

Our example of using tracking for motivation this month is with TST’s swimmers, many of whom are taking a gap year or are post grad professional distance swimmers. I work as a mentor and stroke coach with and for Mark Schubert. I follow him all the time and he follows me about 68% of the time ( laughing).

One example of using tracking and posting data in practices is Will Gallant, this year’s NCAA mile champion. I had Will do race pace 50's for his mile while swimming with fewer strokes, or, while breathing on either side, etc. We use video in main sets and at meets, counting strokes and looking at relationships between cadence and splits, etc. Will is trying to improve his finishing kick.

The coolest thing about tracking in practice is the posting of the results. In this paradigm, athletes get to win the most important race -- the one against themselves.

Tracking helps them know, day to day, something only they have control over -- themselves.

Every time they kick, just by nature of a practice, Will might compare his kicking with two-time Olympian Marwan El Kamesh’s kicking. His off-the-chart ankle flexibility (well over 180 degrees) helps him to kick a 1:10 for 100 long course. David Johnston, Michael Brinegar, and Ahmed Hafnaoui are close, but certainly not Will. The practice question should be how much they have changed since September, for example. That’s the important race in practice, not just Marwan (who has been 9th at the Games twice and wants to win) beating his training partners, but racing for his own percentage improvement. Will Gallant, so far, is most improved in kicking of the people at TST we’ve tested. Win-win!

Over time we’ll show subscribers how to do this better. Some hints are in the next two pages.

It’s really not brain science: Just put swimmer’s names on the left column and “tracks” you deem important long the top. I used to do it with a white board and marker. That race can be WON by everyone in the training group, from the slowest to the fastest.

Data: As a Motivator

Steve’s Tracking system in Excel

UNC Tracking

Notice how the coaches have them track THEMSELVES,

during TST’s recent visit before the US Open. The engagement of swimmers in the tracking process is key Having a Phd in psychology as the associate head coach is genius!.

Thanks to coaches Mark Gangloff and Dr. Jack Brown again for the kind use of your pool when the US Open pool wasn’t open for pre-meet practice.

Data:

USA Swimming is trying. We should listen and encourage.

At The Swim Club, as a consultant, at aim is to empower motivation with data analysis. Coach Schubert obtained a white board that rolls around the pool where we can post tracking data. Tracking can be ANYTHING that can be measured. Coaches and athletes need to discover what tracking data means the most and when to track. We are flexible.

Tracking is NOT just predicative for race pace, though of course, that data might be more exciting. Rather, tracking can be made to examine anything we want to be higher, farther, faster, less strokes, etc.

In real life, nothing goes in a straight line. It would be awesome if every Monday every swimmer performed a faster average in 30 X 100s. But, there are many variables. You have to be ready to “fail forward.” Celebrate when tracking and you KNOW the new numbers will produce meet results for you, either right away or eventually. Rocketing with practice data is motivational!

Check out the way Todd uses data and works with his mentors.

(Continued) in all my lanes, a 30 minute swim, etc.

A set called “Critical Velocity” has swimmers doing as many hundreds as they can on an interval time that gets shorter each repeat. Swimmers attempt to make the interval for 45 minutes total time.

Max V02: I use a single interval and take the average of, for example, 3 x 400s. For swimmers who can swim fly with perfect mechanics and have balanced shoulders, like Mary T., I (and Denny Pursley) can do the set fly. Do 400 I.M.s too. This doesn’t predict anything but fitness and shifts in the middle-of-race average-velocities. It doesn’t predict 400 free or 400 I.M. for example because it’s just a PART of the energy spectrum. It’s kind of midway between the 200 and 800. So all swimmers strive to improve by a higher percentage. We track it and everything else over time and run correlations to see what’s strong, weak, and what’s working. We take noting for granted and what works for one might not for another.

This is what the NIH says in abstract form of a study: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27918660/

What do YOU think?

This is part of an ongoing discussion. MUCH more later on the relationship of training velocities, enduace, power, etc. and biomechanics.

we can learn from Tuna

GINNY ON “SCAFFOLDING” FOR SWIM LESSONS

Competitive Swimmer

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Good Smart Fun

Mark Rober

Proving once and for all coaches go anywhere with the hope of finding ways to learn and teach people to swim even faster.

Competitive Swimmer

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Techsuits

Mark Rober

Simplification of the chemistry behind those harmfully expensive tech suits that often fool us into thinking we are coaching and swimming faster in general than we used to.

Competitive Swimmer

One of the best and most fun Coaching Videos in our sport.

Dealing with difficult athletes

Or: Building and maintaining a fun successful team environment

Tips by,

Dealing with difficult athletes

Building and maintaining a fun successful team environment

Dealing with difficult athletes

Or: Building and maintaining a fun successful team environment

By The Stroke Coach Steve Friederang

Coaches have choices. Train to win long course or train to win starts and turns.

• Build foundational fitness and strokes with daily underwater video. Or, guess what’s happening underwater and sprint every day.

• Talk to our swimmers using Swimmunicators as they swim. Or, interact with swimmers on average of 2 minutes per hour.

• Build bulk. Or, build strokes.

• Win by talent. Or, win by preparation and execution.

Coaches have choices.

• Win by talent and recruiting.
  

Or,

• Win by preparation and execution.
  

Or,

• Win by all-of-the-above.
  

Notice this divide among teams. Those teams that win by talent, and those that win by training.

Sometimes the two are the same. Teams that prides themselves on the full preparation of swimmers can also have very talented swimmers, either home grown, or from other teams.

Distinguishing the divide is not too hard with a large statistical “n”. Example: Look at the data by collecting the times of team of 100 swimmers in their races of a 100 and 200 of a stroke. Double the 100 times and subtract it from the 200 times to get a norm. Well trained teams have lower “drop-off rates.”

Talent often makes a team or swimmer (in Michael Andrew’s case) look better. They beat you in the 200 I.M. because they have amazing talent in the 50s. By and large however, those who trained like Dressel are fitter.

Of course, in either case, attention to stroke and tracking at all levels of the energy spectrum, daily, is key to optimizing talent and executing when it matters.

Coaches have many choices.

Build bulk or build strokes.

By Stroke Coach Steve Friederang

Surprise! The fastest swimmer in history in the 100 free is lean.

Many coaches around the world have adopted the bigger is better theory.

Others have adopted the cross training theory.

There’s another theory: If you are over 3% off in the motion you wish to improve it won’t work very well. So pull ups for freestyle would be way off, though they might make you tougher. (Dr. Michael Yessis convinced me of this in grad school).

Popovici’s timing is simply superior to the people he beats. He presses on the water in a direction that propels him forward for more time in his stroke than anyone we’ve seen.

He also shows the water less form drag than his competitors too. Try to insert the need for bulk into the former two statements and think about how illogical it is, especially for long course swimming.

Strength training needs to be specific to the movements you need to swim faster IF your goal is to optimize your talent and success in long course swimming at all distances and strokes.

This season, many coaches have many choices.

Build foundational fitness and strokes with daily underwater video or guess what’s happening underwater and sprint every day.

By Stroke Coach Steve Friederang

There is no excuse anymore.

Coaches used to say their teams didn’t have the money for expensive video hardware.

Now, everyone’s iPhone is waterproof. Extra waterproof protection is cheap and easy.

Coaches make a good point that, while they are showing one swimmer his underwater stroke opportunities for improvement, the rest of the training group is being ignored.

But now, using EyeSwims or even partnering swimmers, swimmers can fix their own strokes. 5x50@1:30 gives most swimmers more underwater video feedback than most teams give in a year!!

A half hour a couple times a month showing the whole group ideal strokes is much of what the coach needs to do to empower mastery.

This season many coaches have many choices.

Talk to your swimmers using Swimmunicators as they swim, or interact with them the average of 2 minutes per hour.

By Stroke Coach Steve Friederang

Steve and Schubert

at The Swim Team,

the best distance

group in the world.

Coaches of all other sports interact with their athletes any time they need to.

Football coaches coach 60 minutes of a 60 minute practice. Same with basketball, gymnastics, even waterpolo!

But not most swim coaches. We speak (and usually only speak not listen) to our athletes about five minutes of a 60 minute practice and every time we speak, they aren’t moving.

So it’s no wonder so many of the athletes at the NCAA’s have stroke errors an average age group coach could fix.

Westchester and other teams require Swimmunicators for all their serious swim groups. Carle has produced Kate Douglass and Claire Weinstein by “coaching” them 60 minutes of each 60 minutes they were in the pool. To be on the team you have to buy and use a receiver.

Coach Carle with

Douglas and Weinstein

This season many coaches have many choices.

Train to win long course or train to win starts and turns.

Long course is about a third more swimming than short course.

In short course racing and training the swimmer rests his or her arms and legs every 15 seconds or so. It’s like a circuit. It isn’t easier, just different.

Short course training and racing takes advantage of heavy weight lifting; squats for the walls and starts, for example.

Long course training and racing requires more endurance in the shoulder rotators (both sides), core, and hip and knee flexors and extensors.

Pacing is different, rhythm can be different; the mindset and preparation is different.

By Stroke Coach Steve Friederang

This season many coaches have many choices.

More choices in coming issues

CS Swimmer mag

The Swim Team,

Mark Schubert Head Coach

Going the

Distance

October 2023

Competitive Swimmer

The Magazine For Those who Believe Swimming Faster is fun!

Mark Schubert’s Olympic Preparation group in Southern California

2023 NCAA Champion Miler developing a finishing kick, earlier catch and more!

800 scm Record and top US time in 400 improving strokes for the 400 I.M.

Potential Mexican Olympian: Hammers practice; makes you laugh too!

Olympic Coach Mark Schubert has kindly invited us to help mentor his team with video, tracking, and SwimGym. He and other coaches and swimmers worldwide are showing us the way to become our best -- they are open to change, happy to be measured, and thankful. In this and coming issues, we’ll go beneath the surface, showing the efforts and results. Questions? Steve@competitiveswimmer.com

Goal Card used with ”Never Leave a Wall Without a Goal.”

Thirty-four events fill the LC and SC swimming program. There are four kicks and 4 pulls. Swimming has many other movement and energy components. The complexity can be overwhelming. My job is to simplify in terms of concentrating on one component at a time.

Card has performance goals and meet goal times, actual meet times, goal splits, meet splits, and track sets. It also has stroke counts. After each meet, or between events, you can watch video to figure out what went perfectly and what needs perfecting!

Data makes the process more engaging and fun. Put a lot of the responsibility for success on the one who wishes to be successful!

Want more? Want it in Excel Format so you can make changes and pass it out? Want direct access to the authors to share strategies?

Make sure you subscribe to the world’s only fully technical swimming magazine. We help you make swimming faster fun!

Stroke

Products

Articles

Interviews

Swim

Leadership

Dan Coyle’s book, The Culture Code, studies Navy Seals, NBAC when Phelps was there, and more.

Here he talks about leadership. There are many surprises. One main point is our need as leaders to be humble. Admit when we got it wrong. That is a step in getting things right.

As the principal of The Talent Code Academy, my kids helped me develop our process from the ages of two to the present. We re-thought everything regarding the way people learn. Eliza is seven grades ahead of her peers.

Listen to Dan and read his books!

Coaching I.M.

Will Gallant, the 2023 NCAA Division I champion (NC State) and Dyland Porges (Princeton) who we believe will make Mexico’s 2024 Olympic Team went 2nd and fifth at the recent Pan Am Championships in Chile. Here’s some of the stroke work I’m doing with them and for others and Mark Schubert at TST. The video at the meet was outstanding and really useful. I blurt out no one had tried to fix Will’s stroke -- I’m sure that’s not true! Sometimes you just have to let a swimmer win. With seven months to Trials I feel we can help these swimmers reduce drag and improve rhythm at the same time they are striving to out train the world in a group that Schubert says is tougher and faster than his legendary animal lanes. Can I help you? Let me know.

Contralateral

Steve prescribes isokinetic resistance to balance joints with Isaac . We clip the device to a backstroke pole. You can use tubing. Even tough swimmers are told to use it daily to be proactive against injury and gain leverage on the water.

Use a protractor to measure and track ankle flexibility, and 3 types of Fankles to improve plantar flexion. Then they track 400 and 100 kick times and improvement in the back half of races where legs can make a difference.

Video perfects!

Marwan has the most ideal early catch in the elite training group. He is open to improving his strokes, kicking, and turns. He enjoyed being 9th at two Olympics, but wants more!

at the elite Level

Mastery starts with a conversation

Marwan El Kadesh has already qualified for his third Olympic Games. He has been 9th twice! In this recent practice photo, he is discussing his turns with our publisher. I tell even the worst or best swimmer all we’re after is an inch (2.54 centimeters) per stroke.

We deploy video in different perspectives: Video underwater from directly beneath, from the side, from the front and from the back. Then, of course, video from the surface.

Plus, we track swimmers’ strengths and weaknesses.

The “base” of this is Mark Schubert’s time-tested plans to improve the whole spectrum of fitness (from power to endurance). He’s known for tough long training with daily head to head competition. His reputation is well earned. as you’ll see in this and coming issues.

at any Level

Mastery starts with a conversation

In this video, we compare Marwan’s turns to that of the GOAT of turns, Caeleb Dressel. Marwan El Kadesh has a unique talent for a distance swimmer of exceptional ankle flexibility(190 plus on the protractor) . He’s kicked 3x100 flutters holding 1:12, (open turns and no pulling long course with a board in case you’re comparing yours!). There are sprinters who can beat that, but not many who were ninth in the Olympic mile. Most people don’t even know their kick times. But, Marwan asked to improve his turns.

Marwan’s turns could be improved and like any world class athlete, he’s willing to listen to advice and to strive to make improvements. In this video we see some things he can improve and we hope it helps you, both in process (learning anything and reaching for mastery) and product (a better turn!). In other issues we’ll talk about what we do to measure the force and distance of turns as well as the isokinetics, etc. we prescribe to improve jumping and arm power.

Phelps!

Talking about Family First at the ISHOF Induction

Great family sentiments and great celebration of one of the best athletes ever. A very real and fun speech by swimming’s GOAT!

The International Swimming Hall of Fame also inducted Bob Bowman and Cesar Cielo among others.

coach Convention in our next issue.

Team Meetings

With Olympic Coach Mark Schubert

Former National Team Director and winner of 53 National Championships Mark Schubert talks about Team meetings at... a live unedited team meeting at The Swim Team!

Want to see more of this particular meeting we presented at the International Hall of Fame Coach’s Clinic? Have questions?

Just ask: Steve@competitiveswimmer.com.

EyeSwim™ Stroke

Video

www.competitiveswimmer.com

Congrats!

Competitive Swimmer

On the World's first and only

Adjustable-distance Swim Towers!

From 2 to 10, to 15 to 25 or 50 meters.

You can also add LED clocks with sprint, endurance, and Tabata functions, a velocity meter that graphs on the coach's phone, etc. Pro CS Mag Subscribers save at least $100!

Call 800.999.0824

Competitive Swimmer

coming November 1

Build aerobic capacity once you build great strokes and then reinforce those strokes while building more fitness.

Critical Velocity Video

For Subscribers to CS Magazine

You in?

Steve@competitiveswimmer.com

Phelps

“What Matters Most”

Congratulations to Michael Phelps and coach Bob Bowman for being inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame. We were there and heard from the GOAT himself what matters most to him.

Phelps

“Show The World”

How to be the best --- if he hadn’t had this much talent, would this process, this education, been worth it? Yes! What you learn in swimming is so hard to learn anywhere else. If you ever go up against a (another) swimmer for a job interview, to get the attention of the love of your life, or to take care of that person when times get tough, what you learn in swimming whether your top race is as a B swimmer on the high school team or this guy, swimming with passion, setting goals, helping others and all that comes with it will teach you how to be ... extraordinarily successful and effective. This road is far more important than a medal. Win and define winning in your own terms. Thre’s only one Michael Phelps; and there is only one you. Both are equally important.

Are you a PRO subscriber?

If so, Cool Digital Swim Meet is yours for the asking. It gives points for how close you are to your best time; your place, etc. and can make a meet of anything that can be measured (push-ups) crab walks, head up fly, whatever. And it can make a close meet in about a second! So everyone's points matter on every swim. email:Steve@competitiveswimmer.com or call 800.999.0824

• The FUN part of the equation of "swimming faster being fun" is critical to the FAST part. These are ideas from coaches who contributed to Bob Steele's Games Gimmicks Challenges for Swimming Coaches book. Thanks Bob and coaches!
  

• One more from Coach Steele: Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble: Dump Apples in the diving well and have swimmers "Bob" for apples from under water.