Virginia Masters Swimming
Training
Weak Side Breathing
Being able to breathe to either side can be useful in both open water and pool swimming, and developing the skill can also correct some stroke flaws. Two Feel For the Water blog entries recently addressed this issue.
Strengthening Exercise for Breaststroke Pull
A recent dryland exercise of the week at Swimming World TV is an interesting breaststroke strengthening exercise.
New Year’s Challenge
Long, hard Dec 31 or Jan 1 sets are a tradition in many age-group and college programs…and quite a few master’s clubs have taken up the practice as well! Does your club have a tradition you would like to share with the rest of the LMSC?
Learning to Fly
Butterfly is a very challenging stroke; Cokie Lepinski and Glenn Mills provide some tips and drills on how to master it.
Taking Time Off
Allan Phillips of Swimming Science takes a look at some possible physiological and neurological reasons behind performance degradation due to time away from the water.
Shoulders: An Ounce of Prevention
The FINA Sport Medicine Committee, which includes VMST Coach Dr. Jim Miller as a member, has released an excellent video of exercises to help prevent shoulder problems.
Training for Longer Swims
The Red Mist Set, combined with regular monitoring of your threshold speed, can be used to improve your swimming endurance.
The Building Blocks of Swimming Fast
Did you catch it? VMST coach Dr. Jim Miller wrote a guest editorial for Swimming World, “Balancing High Volume: Building Blocks of Performance.”
Non-specific Dryland Training
Richard Abrahams shares his philosophy for dryland training in an article he wrote in 2009, Dryland Training: A Nonspecific Approach.
Block Training
Coach Fred Matheny describes the concept of block training, where several hard days of training are followed by several easy days of recovery.
Online Workouts at USMS
There are times when solo workouts are required; when that happens, you should head over to the USMS Workout Discussion forums.
Why Swim in Championship Meets?
We have a full slate of conveniently located championships coming up in the next year. Should you go to one?