Contributed by Jesse Deucher, Techniq Group Strength and Movement Expert
Get introspective; find out what you know, what you don’t and how you can fill that gap.
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
We’ve come to the final installment of my blog series dissecting the state of strength training for swimmers! If you’ve yet to read Part 1: Does It Even Matter or Part 2: What’s Wrong With Strength Training in Swimming please go back and give those two articles a read as they provide context for this piece. The swimming community, has been with strength training; today’s article will provide some ideas of how we can move forward. If you clicked on this article anticipating a foolproof plan for your own strength training or that of your athletes I ask that you temper your enthusiasm as this piece is not a cookie-cutter program. As you may remember from Part 2, following programs meant for other people is part of what has gotten us into our current predicament. Every swimmer is unique. And whether you’re working on establishing your own training plan or developing a program for a group of athletes individual differences reign supreme. Instead, this piece is meant to push you to get introspective and find out what you know, what you don’t know, and where you can go to bridge the gaps.
If there is only one thing you take away from this entire series it’s this - swimmers are people first and athletes second. If you don’t address all facets of the athletes you work with you’ll be unable to establish meaningful connections with them and will find yourself tring to fit a square peg into a round hole. On the flip side, if you are a swimmer yourself you need to look at much more than just your training in the pool to maximize your success.
Photo by Victor Freitas on Unsplash
Before you can pick between a goblet squat and a split squat you need to consider a laundry list of factors that go into an athlete’s ability to train: Biological age, training age (in and out of the water), injury history, sleep schedule, nutrition, likes and dislikes, past traumas and triumphs and the list could really go on. By creating a bank of knowledge about an athlete that is driven by both breadth and depth you’ll increase your understanding of them as a person and be better equipped to coach them and adjust their workouts in a meaningful way.
You have a sense of what makes your athlete tick, but what about yourself? What are your strengths and weaknesses as a coach? How about your coaching style? I suggest you sit down and free-write on these topics. Giving yourself 10-15 minutes to generate unfiltered thoughts on the above questions can provide a new sense of clarity on where you are as a coach and what gaps may need to be filled.
Lastly, assess the raw materials you’re working with in the form of time, frequency, space, and equipment. How often and how long a strength training session will be, whether it comes before or after a pool session, and the quantity and type of equipment you and your athletes have at their disposal all play into program design. If COVID-19 has taught me anything about the nuts and bolts of coaching it’s that a bit of floor space and a backpack full of books can go a long way. Limited space and equipment is not a crisis, but rather another data point for planning your program.
With this global perspective under your belt, we can now learn about the biggest training bucket you’ll need to fill with your athletes. General physical preparedness. I know, I know, I’ve perhaps disappointed you again with the unflashy nature of this statement. It doesn’t matter if you’re training a nine-year-old novice or an elite collegiate athlete the bulk of your training is going to be to target their overall fitness and ability to produce work. General physical preparedness looks like getting your athletes to become competent in all planes of motion, build baseline strength and durability, improve their aerobic capacity, and get them into as many shapes as possible. Movement variability is the bedrock of athletic development and often the antidote to injuries of overuse.
But when are you going to tell me how to write my program? I don’t know you and I don’t know your athletes so any framework I give you will likely fall short. But I’ll leave you with this: know the why behind everything you put into an athlete’s program and make sure you can explain it to any parent or athlete that may question your choice. Why did you pick a kettlebell front rack squat instead of a barbell back squat? Why are you using eccentric training? Why a timed set verses a specified number of reps? Have a logical and reasoned approach ensures you’re taking that time to craft a program that is going somewhere. If you can’t explain to an athlete why you have him doing a movement or rep scheme it means you don’t have a good enough idea why it’s being implemented either. Just because is never a good reason. I saw it in a magazine or on Instagram is never a good reason. Meet your athlete’s needs and don’t sensationalize your training for the sake of being unique.
I hope these three articles have shed some light on why strength training is a critical tool for the development of swimmers and how as a coach you’re responsible for ensuring athletes are partaking in the nuanced and intelligent application of strength training. Because this blog was more philosophy than framework and you may, after reading it, feel that your program or your coaching knowledge needs bolstering attached is a PDF of resources to beef up your training acumen. Thanks for coming on this journey with me I hope it leaves you pondering past decisions and excited to delve deeper into this leg of athlete development in the future.
Strength Training Resources for Swim Coaches.
Jesse Deucher is a strength and movement expert.