Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Blog”
The 2021 [2020] Tokyo Olympics are fast approaching and no one is approaching them as fast as 16-year-old David Popovici. He went from a deep swim nerd name to a gold medal contender to expectations of breaking 46 seconds (from some, not this author) in less than 6 months. However, will we see Popovici break a 100 free WR in …
The relay exchange is a critical component of relays. Subjectively, you can watch a great relay exchange and watch the superior relay start make a significant improvement over their competitors. Yet, the ideal swimming relay start technique has garnered minimal research. Like most aspects of swimming, research is often behind the elite swimmers. Coaches and swimmers are creative and can …
Caeleb Dressel’s 20.16 scm 50 free WR gave him now both short course records in the events (SCY and SCM). Mr. Dressel broke Manaudou’s WR last year and he was able to re-break the record on November 21st 2020 in the ISL bubble. For those who haven’t followed one of our analyses, these analyses are for fun and to spark …
Research investigating foam rollers, roller massagers, and other similar devices have generally reported increased range of motion (ROM), diminished perceived pain, accelerated recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage and augmented performance. This makes foam rolling for swimmers a pertinent topic for all swimmers and coaches. The mechanisms underpinning these significant ROM increases with rolling may be quite diverse. Muscle, fascia, and …
A young swimmer is over the moon with joy. He has managed to set his first three qualifying times in just a single weekend. He will compete in his category at the next nationals and do so in style. His coach showers him with praise. Buzzing, he walks over to the spectator seating where he is enthusiastically congratulated by colleagues …
Take home points1) Races and time trials are valid measurements of fitness, comparable to physiological testing protocols2) A combination of different swim tests is desirable as swimmers have different strengths and weaknesses3) Testing conditions should always be repeatable to ensure reliability Many swim tests are commonly used to assess fitness, whether to set a baseline, measure progress, or establish training …
On March 23, 2020 Dick Pound said the 2020 Olympics would likely be postponed. “On the basis of the information the IOC has, postponement has been decided,” Pound said in a phone interview. “The parameters going forward have not been determined, but the Games are not going to start on July 24, that much I know.” This came a few …
Six years ago, I wrote a very controversial piece for Swimming World suggesting that age-group and developing swimmers should take a 2-month break every year from swimming. In this article, I discussed how a two-month break would benefit swimmers physically and psychologically. I also hypothesized on a few reasons why a two-month break is unlikely in the sport. While typing …
“What are you doing during the shelter-in-place?” “Is your team practicing?” “Anyone have any Zoom practice ideas?” These are the common questions from coaches and swimmers. Clearly, coaches and swimmers are concerned about swimming detraining. I recently spoke with Dr. Rodrigo Zacca, Ph.D, a Postdoctoral Researcher of Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal who published a recent study on Effects of …
In this episode, Dr. John is joined with two leading researchers in shoulder injury prevention in swimmers. Dr. Boettcher and Dr. Ginn discuss their latest study on shoulder strength ratios in elite swimmers.