The mental side

There is a chance that I have already blogged about this, but after so many posts I lose track of what I have and what I have not blogged about. As our pool is shut down to due a swim lesson swimmer pooping in the pool last night, I am going to be doing an all dryland workout. Yes, some of the swimmers will attend the workout at our other site, but I am going to offer an all dryland workout at our rancho-simi pool.

Unfortunately, I am all too familiar with these workouts as I began my coaching at the old Selma Pool, and that old pool had problems all the time, and we didn't have an alternative site for a few years. I learned from these workouts that you can actually get a lot done in the form of doing activities that you want to do, but you have a hard time finding a good time to put it into a practice where you extend dryland beyond its normal allotted time.

One thing I get to do is do breathing exercises. I did this my first season I was here, but didn't do it last year. This allows the swimmer to learn the skill of controlling breathe, and trying to get them relax their bodies. If a swimmer cannot relax while on land, then they probably can't be able to do it while in the water.

From the breathing exercises you can move on to Visualization. This visualization is both to help them create in their mind the feeling of going through their trained motions, but also to help them visualize positive moments, which make it more possible for positive moments to happen in their life. It is hard to do the first time you do the activity, but with practice it can be a great tool to keep positive energy in a swimmer.

The other aspect that I plan to do (other than traditional dryland of running and body weight exercises) is talk about the goals that I am seeing in their goal sheets that have been turned into me. The group has a hard time making long term goals. One year seems to be the trend of the long term goal. I plan to talk to them about looking beyond the one year, and look to 3, 4, or even 5 years down the road. They also show a tendency of being very conservative with the goals. Typically, I have to calm down swimmers goals, but with this group it seems as though I am going to have to pump them up.

Dreaming big is ok. The fear of dreaming big, is that you won't be able to achieve it, but without a dream that is big, the likelihood of doing something big is very small. Dreaming big though needs to have an appropriate timeline, and their lack of looking beyond 2 years makes this difficult. Don't be afraid of failing, set the bar high as it will allow you to do more than if you set the bar too low all the time. Dreaming Big can become demoralizing if you just stop there, but if you create appropriate short term goals along the way, the big dream can stay as that highest bar that you continue to move towards.

Swimming, like many other things, is highly driven by a mental state. These three exercises are all about the mental side. Change the motivation of fear to the motivation of positive thoughts and goals. The goals must be set by the athlete so that they can own it. It should not be done by a parent or coach. The motivation is driven from the swimmer not by: an award, compensation, or fear of what an adult may say or do.

Those that can develop their mental side of the sport will have the best chance of success in their career as a swimmer.