How Australian Swimmers Peak

Two of the most common features of the training programs of elite endurance athletes including swimmers and athletes are 1) the periodisation of training volume and intensity and 2) the transition from training to racing.

Periodisation can be defined in simple terms as the division of the annual training plan into smaller and more manageable phases of training. This approach permits one aspect of fitness to be the focus of training, while maintaining the others. In essence a periodised training program is really about being an organised and systematic coach.

The transition from training to racing is commonly referred to as the taper and is characterised by a reduction in the volume of training and the development of race speed. Both periodisation and taper lead to the peaking of performance necessary for high-level and international competition.

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How Much Swim Training is Right For Me?

(or How Cake Baking Can Help You Swim Faster!!!)

Without doubt the toughest question in swimming to answer is “How much training is right for me?”

Training has often been described as being like making a cake.

When you make a cake, you follow a recipe which specifies how much flour, how much butter, how much milk, how many eggs, how long to bake in the oven, what temperature to set the oven for – yummy I can almost taste it now! Read the rest of this entry »

The Masters Day: How to Manage Training Around Life and Life and Around Training

The greatest challenge for any masters swimmer is to manage training around life (or is it the other way around?).

Whilst it would be great to have the world stop so you could train whenever you wanted to, the reality is that work, family, study and other life issues are always going to be there – and therefore for the masters swimmer – life and training need to be balanced and managed.

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Speed Tips: Getting Faster as a Masters Swimmer

Many masters swimmers take up the sport of swimming for fitness. They start swimming a lap or two. Then three. Then they start aiming for their first 1 km or 1 mile non-stop swim. They may even join a masters team.

But, eventually they ask themselves this question: How do I get faster?

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Older, Bolder and Golder: Coaching Senior Swimmers

What if I told you that there was group of swimmers who desperately want to be coached, who manage their diet and health carefully, who are great at organizing their time, will give you 100% effort at all workouts and who are committed to achieving success?

What about having the opportunity to coach a team of swimmers where you have no discipline issues, who turn up on time, those who remember to bring their swim gear and enjoy every moment of their training?

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Top Ten Questions Asked by Masters Swimmers

Having worked with Masters swimmers all over the world, I am always being asked questions about training, diet and technique. Here are ten of the most common questions asked by Masters swimmers.

1. How much training do I need to do?

A great question. The answer is…as much as you want to!

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Speed versus Effort

Swimming is a simple sport.

Jump in at one end and get to the other end before anyone else.

In the most basic analysis, It’s a game of speed. Speed is the most crucial element in the sport. It’s fundamental. The swimmer who swims fastest, wins the race.

But is it really that simple? We know from biomechanical analysis of champions at major swimming competitions that the fastest swimmer doesn’t always win. Sometimes the fastest swimmer(ie the person with the highest swimming speed) loses the race because of inferior skills, turns, starts and finishes.
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Speed Development Workouts: Five of the Best Speed Workout Sets to Have You Burning Up the Lanes

Gennadi Touretski – coach of legendary Russian speedster Alex Popov once said, “Speed is the most precious thing in swimming – in the end it is what we are all about – it is what we are all trying to achieve”.

There are no gold medals or world records for the person who can swim the slowest or swim with the best technique or with the strongest kick or who wears the most expensive swim suit. There are no gold medals for the person who can lift the most weights or who has the best hairdo – winning is all about speed.

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Take the Perfect Performance Quiz If you Dare

All swimmers aim to swim the perfect race, that one race, the race of a lifetime where everything works to perfection.

Let’s see how you rate your last swim on our exclusive “Perfect Performance Quiz”.

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Ten Common Mistakes Made By Triathletes

Working with triathletes is a very rewarding coaching experience. Triathletes are on the whole committed, enthusiastic, work-orientated, goal focussed athletes who are a pleasure to coach.

Over the past ten years however, working with triathletes of all ages and levels, I have found that there are certain mistakes commonly made by many triathletes in their first year or two of training and competition.

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