Wednesday, April 1, 2015

You Don't Need To Stretch?

Generally, I don't like articles and posts that attention grab with anti-stretching titles, but this one is good. Of course, anyone with half a brain understands that effective stretching, may incorporate isolation work, but like any kind of training, takes the interconnected whole into account.


Related Squat Rx Posts:

Sunday, March 22, 2015

Steve Pulcinella's Advice for Newbs

I've always liked Big Steve's rants. Just saw this one recently on a forum and, though it's nothing new, it's always good advice worth hearing again:

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

5 Squat Tips

Occasionally I do run across YouTube videos with solid squat advice (of course there's always Squat Rx vids!!) - this one gives five great tips. Enjoy!

Sunday, March 8, 2015

Stay Coachable

Me: "Hey Little Johnny, I'd like to see you try to maintain a four-beat kick here. When   you allow your feet to cross over like this..." *demonstrating a cross-over kick with my arms*, it's throwing your hips out of whack. You don't have to kick hard, you don't want to wear yourself out, just maintain..."
Little Johnny: "I think what I'm doing is fine.
Me: *thrown aback*... "Well, okay then! Carry on!
When I was young, I was always looking for a way to improve technically and tactically. Being 5'8" with short arms doesn't leave a lot of room for stroke inefficiency if you want to be a fast swimmer. Recommendations were always welcome, even if they weren't implemented.

Early in my career, my parents sent me to a training camp that did underwater stroke analysis and spent a lot of time and energy on drills to improve technique. I worked with coaches and more experienced swimmers to tweak and adjust form and training. As a teen, leisure reading included Doc Councilman's book "The Complete Book of Swimming", and a first edition of Ernie Maglischo's "Swimming Faster".

It was the combination of being coachable AND having competent coaches that made my modest successes possible.


It's interesting because, now that I'm back in the coaching business, I see so many athletes that take technical feedback as criticism. I've certainly had my share of dud coaches along the way, but I never felt I was above coaching and learning - even the duds had lessons to teach.

Perhaps somewhere along the way, in our quest to raise children capable of independent thought and critical thinking, we've raised defensive, cynical youths incapable of admitting ignorance and gracefully accepting assistance. Maybe I just expect the response to feedback to be a smile and a "Thanks, Coach!". Maybe Little Johnny was just having a bad day. Maybe I'm just all wet. I don't have answers here, just thinking out loud.

Related Squat Rx Posts:

Saturday, February 7, 2015

"Where are you?"

I've gotten a few emails and messages from people wondering where I've been and my plans for the blog. Here is the short version:

2014 was a good year, but autumn was rough and I didn't want to post fluff just to keep the existing trickle of traffic coming to the blog - call me crazy, but that's how I feel about most blogs and fitness sites. If I'm going to post at all, I want the posts to be thoughtful and meaningful.

I'm back in the coaching business these days (competitive swimming) and it has been great to coach a variety of new athletes of all ages and performance levels. I've been blessed with the chance to work, share, and learn with and from very competent coaches, AND get paid a reasonable wage for it - something that's been missing for quite some time. Swim coaching has added another level of busyness to an already very busy schedule, but I'm enjoying the process.

Having added another layer of busyness, I've done my best to keep my own training at an acceptable level. I am not in great shape, but I've been able to manage enough training that, given a few weeks, I could be back in "fighting shape".

In the coming weeks, I'll try to share some of my thoughts and insights about my coaching and maintenance training here on the blog.

Thanks for reading.

- Boris