Thursday, April 25, 2013

Kipping Pullups and Swimming

For those that have been caught up in the crossfit craze that is taking the fitness world by storm you have either seen the "kipping" pullup performed in the crossfit games, wondered what it is, or have seen it and called it cheating.  I think it could be a training tool that could help swimmers develop better underwaters, fly and breatstroke technique, and just their overall understanding of the kinetic chain.

First, there is a debate among many about how the "kipping" pullup is just cheating versus the "normal" pullup.  I am not going to debate that and feel that both can be used to achieve different goals.  I believe that once you figure out the kipping pullup, you will be able to do more pullups, however, it is not that number of pullups you can do that is important, rather, it is the learning to do the kipping pullup that will potentially payoff for a swimmer or any athlete.

The kipping pullup is a more sophisticated  movement in which you use your hips to generate horizontal force to vertical force.  Swimming is also a very sophisticated movement in which we are using different groups of muscles and forces in different directions to move us forward.  As I listen to the video's in the links below, I hear a lot of similarities to what we are trying to teach in the water.

In this first video, listen to the explanation on how the kipping pullup is functional and think swimming as you watch the athlete demonstrate the pullup.  There are plenty of similarities.

This second video is the best instructional sequence for those interested in learning the kipping pullup

I am always  looking for new ways to teach my swimmers to move better in everything they do, and I think teaching this method could help some of my athletes swim better, get them to understand how to tranfer power, and at the end of the day, swim fast!


Philippians 4:13

“I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (NASB)

Monday, April 15, 2013

Train Up a Child... Prov. 22:6

Proverbs 22:6
I was struck by a passage I heard this past Sunday in Church.


I believe this should not only apply to parents but to coaches as well.  It is unfortunate that we read headlines about the Rutgers Basketball Coach, we hear coaches yelling obscenities at players and officials, and we see coaches trying to take advantage of their influence with their players.


Three things I think every coach should remember:

1.  "Train Up a Child" - Instead of the phrase "Train a Child,"  many versions of the Bible use "Train Up a Child" which I like. I know their is a tough love model, and the tear a team down before you build them back up model, but coaches have to be careful.  When does tough love and tearing the team down stop Training a Child Up?

2.  "In the way he(she) should go" - All coaches preach how athletics and competition teach us life lessons.  This is where the rubber hits the road.  The decisions made (good and bad), the level of performance (high and low), and the outcome of the game (win and lose) are all part of the equation and how we handle them as coaches will be remembered much more than the outcome of the game.





3.  "He(she) will not turn from it" - Many of our athletes will be coaching their own teams and their own children someday.  I have seen a few of my athletes go on to be coaches and new coaches often repeat the things they learned from their coach.  It's scary to think about, but the way a coach acts will not only influence your current team, it will influence how they influence their team and children down the road.


Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Baseball and Fast Swimming

With NCAA Swimming concluding, and the opening week of baseball upon us, I have been thinking a little outside of the box about how swimming might take a lesson from baseball both in how we attract kids to the sport and how we perform.






As a parent, I see a lot of similarities between youth baseball and age group swimming.   A lot of time invested in the stands for a small amount of activity in the form of a 2 minute (or less) race or getting a chance to field a ball or take a swing, followed by some candy from the concession stand.  Why does baseball draw more kids than swimming?  I know we are exposed to it more, but I believe kids enjoy baseball more because there are more opportunities for success.  My own kids usually come back from swim practice with little emotion saying it was hard or ez, while they often come back from baseball excited about that one hit, or catching the pop fly.  In swimming are we giving kids opportunities to be successful?  Are we getting excited about the small steps?  What would be equivalent to catching that fly ball in swimming?  How can we recognize that and celebrate it?


As I watched the NCAA Swimming Championships, I noticed something that may change the way swimmers prepare in the future and we may have to take a lesson from baseball.

The University of Michigan and Coach Mike Bottom took home the trophy this year.  His philosophy is to be fast all year long.  Compared to an athletes best times, his team was consistently swimming faster than most collegiate teams all season.  Coach Bottom was consistently criticized for being "too" fast, "too" soon and even though they had the fastest seed times going into NCAA's, many of the teams, who swam slower all season due to "being tired from training" were picked to catch Michigan and win the title.


I have heard Coach Bottom say that in order to grow the sport of swimming, we have to show everyone our best stuff on a regular basis.  Nobody wants to come to watch anybody swim slow and tired.  Just like nobody wants to watch Justin Verlander throw 85 mph fast balls due to a hard workout the day before.

Now back to learning a little from baseball.  Swimmers are known for poking fun at other sports for being lazy and not working as hard, but should we be be proud of that?  Pitchers need to have their best stuff every 5th day, sluggers have to bat with power every day, and a fielder or base runner needs to have his top end speed on any given play.  To maintain that power and speed takes work and preparation.  What if swimming looked more like this? What if we could swim at our best more often?  I don't necessarily have an answer, but I like to think about the possibilities.