Garrett Weber-Gale Nutrition Videos (Repost)

Definitely worth an encore.  GWG gives great advice in both Series 1 & 2 below.

Here's Series 1 of GWG's nutrition videos:

Series 2:

Last 15m

 

Take a look at the last 30 yards - especially the last 15m - of Kristina Schneider's anchor leg (:48.74) of UNLV's 400 free relay at last night's Mountain West Conference meet:

.@UNLV_Swim_Dive wins the 400 freestyle relay by a tenth of a second!#MWSD | #BEaREBEL pic.twitter.com/PYMSVTYNMl

— Mountain West (@MW_OlySports) February 21, 2021

That's how we finish a freestyle race!

Sprint Freestyle Arm Recovery

From last year:

Gary Hall, Sr. won medals in Mexico City ('68), Munich ('72), & Montreal ('76) and broke world records in the 200 fly, 200 i.m., & 400 i.m.

Proper Push-offs

Now What?

As long as the City of BC continues operating the pool, we'll keep our little group in the water.

Whether it's in addition to our water work, or in place of it, below is a link to swim exercises y'all should be working on OYO.  Some will look very familiar, as this program is one I've taken things from these past few years.

Carmel Swim Club YouTube

Spring Dry-Land

Our high schoolers have incorporated various exercises to improve our strength and make us less prone to injury.

Use the month of March to begin working on the exercises in the videos below.

We will be doing some group dry-land training before swim workouts beginning in April.

Crawl Series


Chop Series


Hip Series


Various Planks (stick with the more basic ones)


Penguin Crunches


Legs Up Crunches


Superman

This Week, & More!

Last week's plan was filled with errors.  Hoping I can get it right this time around!

First, Week 19 Attendance:

MB - 3/71
OS - 2/58
MM - 2/54
LF - 1/32

Next, shave/taper info & schedule (click for enlargificationizing):

We'll be in pre-taper mode for another couple of weeks.  Intervals will get a little easier.  We'll need more intensity and better focus on details.

Monday

Swim 5:00-6:30

Tuesday

Swim 5:00-6:30

Wednesday

Swim 5:00-6:30

Thursday

Swim 5:00-6:30

Friday

Swim 5:00-6:30 (email workout)


Finally,  here is a link to the Garrett Weber-Gale nutrition videos posted last summer.

Two Articles on USA Swimming

First, some nutritional info here

Many young swimmers are caught in a desire to eat healthy, eat “clean,” and adopt a plant-based diet, worthy goals to be sure. However, ensuring that enough calories are eaten throughout the day can be challenging when school, training, social activities, and family life get in the way of planning meals and snacks. Without enough calories from food, physiological functions can go awry including metabolic rate, menstrual function, bone health, immune function, protein synthesis, and psychological health.

Next, the superstars in USA Swimming were honored at the Golden Goggles Awards.  Full article here

Olympic champions and world-record holders Simone Manuel (Sugar Land, Texas/Alto Swim Club) and Caeleb Dressel (Green Cove Springs, Fla./Bolles School Sharks/Florida), who led Team USA with standout performances at last summer’s FINA World Championships, took home Athlete of the Year honors on Sunday at USA Swimming’s annual Golden Goggle Awards.

This Week

New tarps are in and the large pace clock is in place.

We'll have a normal practice schedule Monday through Friday, but no local practice on Saturday (high school meet in Alief).

Check the ShAC weekly schedule to see about training with Gilbert & Karol in Houston.

Backstrokers, it's all about TEMPO!

Everything but the Kitchen Sink

First, athletes should get me their attendance numbers for the four (4) workouts swum while I was out of town.  Thanks in advance for getting that to me ASAP!

Next, ShAC is having some pool issues.  If you plan to drive up to swim Saturday, please check with Gilbert or Karol before making the trip.

If y'all haven't taken care of August lap swim fees, please do that right away.  I write checks to the City of Bay City each time and include the month on the memo line.

Now for the "dad" talk:

In the past, I've discussed social media, bullying, etc. with my high school swimmers.  Now that it's become very common for younger student-athletes to have greater access to the digital world than ever before, we need to address issues with them as well.

For many years, USA Swimming did a rather poor job of protecting athletes from predatory a) coaches, b) volunteers, and c) other athletes.

Thankfully, that has changed!  Misbehavior hasn't gone away completely, but things are much better now than twenty or thirty years ago.

Please visit USAS's Safe Sport page (here) and review policies and procedures with your child.

A recent addition to the program focuses on adult athletes (18 & up) on clubs with minor athletes.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the focus begin to shift downward to our HS-aged athletes within the next couple of years.

When it comes to Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter, chat rooms, emails, texts, etc., our young people aren't always aware that this "stuff" doesn't go away.

If y'all don't believe me, just Google "recovering Snapchat messages" for some "how to" help!

College recruiters check social media accounts and do not pursue athletes who display poor judgement in their posts.  Read Five Social Media Tips for Student-Athletes here

It’s no secret that college coaches are active on social media. According to a survey released by Cornerstone Reputation in 2017, 85 percent of college coaches pull up athletes’ social media profiles during the recruiting process. Of these coaches, who represent over 200 DI, DII and DIII schools across the country, 87 percent use Facebook, 79 percent use Twitter and 65 percent use Instagram to screen recruits and determine whether they would be a good fit for their team.

We must remind our athletes to pause and think before hitting "send" or "post"!

Also, they should take advantage of "block" or "unfollow" features to keep unwanted/inappropriate content at bay.

If Twitter awards medals for using "block", I should have a great shot at making the podium...

Finally, a quick butterfly turn tutorial:

Underwaters

I'm willing to bet that Giles Smith is the best butterflyer you've never heard of.

When you really, REALLY need a breath after a long underwater, experiment with Smith's technique - take it to the side.

Giles is normally a front-breather on butterfly, but sometimes takes a quick side breath when breaking out from underwaters.

Keeping your head low helps keep your legs up, right?

Watch Smith go :45.77 in the 100 SCY fly below.  He swam for Arizona in lane 5.  If you watch full screen, you should see him sneak in side breaths on a couple of breakouts.

100 LCM Free

Underwater view:

Titmus vs. Ledecky (edited)

Edit:  Ledecky has since scratched both the 200 free & 1500 free due to illness.

Titmus with a great kick and the race's fastest last 50 (:29.51) & Ledecky with 2nd slowest (:31.34):

Breaststroke: Then & Now

Much has changed in breaststroke over the years.

Are you taking advantage of those changes?

The first video is from the 1964 Tokyo Games, while the second is from the 2012 London Games.




Second video won't embed, but link is here.  Note:  Micah Lawrence is from Pflugerville.

In Tokyo, the guys were swimming the 200 LCM breast in the 2:30's.  In London, a gal took the event under 2:20.

While better blocks, lane ropes, gutters, etc. have made a difference, it's rule and technique changes that have been most important in the advances in breaststroke.

Pullout rules now allow us a dolphin kick (since '12 we've learned to take it before the pull).

Elimination of the "head must not go below surface" rule has allowed for tremendous improvement in distance per stroke.

We're now able to extend into the streamlined position after kicking in order to get that efficient speed we're always seeking.

We now know that a "clean" entry is much better than the flat belly-buster.

We take much more advantage of streamlining on starts & turns than in the past.

Check out underwater shots (4:44 in first video) to see how much we've learned about narrowing both the pull and kick!

Josh Davis

Rauch, Davis, Goldblatt, & Dusing all swam for Eddie Reese at UT.  Imagine having half the field in the Trials Finals from one school!

400 LCM

Underwater Breaststroke

A great drill, both on front and on back!

Front Starts (w/o wedge)

Showed this to my high schoolers this year.

One of the best videos on front starts I've found.

Dressel 200 LCM Fly

Check out Caeleb Dressel in the Atlanta Classic last month:



Splits:  :25.81-:30.53-:31.90-:28.86

Dry-Land OYO

I'm going to throw a lot out here and hope y'all can do this on your own.

Y'all have wheels & jump ropes and have been using them, right?

During high school season, our crawl series went well in the gym.  Unfortunately, the pool deck has gotten worse since we did our crawls there a couple of years ago.

We use the same Crawl Series as Carmel, Indiana:


Beyond our regular set of Planks, here are some variations (not so sure about last few):


Check your email for a Crunches checklist.

As with the planks, start out just a little on the conservative side and gradually build up.

Below are a few videos to help you learn proper technique.

Penguin:


Chair:


Legs up:


Superman:


Regular, streamline, and flutter kicking should be self-explanatory.

UT Swimming Strength Coach Trey Zepeda on crunches: