Growth Mindset v COVID-19 Pandemic

"Just as we develop our physical muscles through overcoming opposition - such as lifting weights - we develop our character muscles by overcoming challenges and adversity." Stephen Covey

During these trying, and difficult times it is easy for anyone to simply throw in the towel and say to the world call me when 2020 is over, or go to bed and hope that there really is a "Rip Van Winkle" syndrome that will allow you to sleep through the rest of 2020. However these are not the best ways to deal with the challenges presented to us during the current pandemic. Besides, WHAT IF the pandemic goes on through 2021? From history, the Spanish Flu lasted from 1917-1919, with 1918 being the worst year of that pandemic. So it is possible that the COVID-19 Pandemic could last well into, maybe even beyond 2021.  Our objective is to confront the current pandemic with growth mindset, and help those athletes we as coaches might coach, teach, and lead to face the current state of affairs with a growth mindset perspective. 

In 1962 President John F. Kennedy made the announcement that we were going to go to the moon.

In this speech he outlines the reason for our goal to go to the moon. Please read his quote as it follows: 

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things,

not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to

accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

President John F. Kennedy, “Moon Speech”, September 12, 1962, Rice Stadium, Houston, TX.

I think this quote applies to the times we live in. If you substitute “swim” for “the moon”. If we will

look at these times as an opportunity to test ourselves, to use these opportunities to learn and grow.

When we are presented with challenges that test us, sometimes in very brutal ways we can either go

into hibernation mode or or look at as an opportunity to grow. Furthermore if we can respond in a

growth mindset manner we will become stronger and better. You have little, or no control over what

others do, but you do have control of how you respond and what you do. You can look at this time

as a chance to do what you love to do, like swimming, schooling, and a myriad of other things, or

you can throw your hands in the air and do nothing but sit on a couch and hope that the time passes

you by quickly. No one can tell you how to feel, or act during challenging times but you. You are

the master of your destiny. 

No one denies that these are challenging, and difficult times. However they can be the best of times if

you will look at them as chances to grow, get better, stronger, and improve yourself through doing all

you can. As coaches we have many choices on on to respond to coaching and training during these

times. For me it seems that there are primarily two choices. We can either look at these times as being

fatal to our programs, or we can look at these times as an opportunity for growth and progress. It gets

back to the battle between having and fostering a "Growth Mindset" or wallowing in the mire of

a "Fixed Mindset". I prefer to nourish a Growth Mindset. I believe we can fertilize the seeds of a

Growth Mindset during these times by developing positive, personal affirmations. Here is a good

example of something we can have our swimmers read, repeat and remember by repetition and

memorization. We can write and develop sayings

like:

“We choose to swim and workout at this time so that we will get better and prepare for the future. We do

this, not because it is easy, but because it is hard and because the goal is to use each day as an opportunity

for growth and development. We willingly accept and embrace this challenge to improve ourselves at this

time by doing all we can to practice the safe COVID guidelines, and stay healthy and help others around us

do the same. We are not willing to give up, or quit trying to become the very best of ourselves. We are the

masters of our destiny.”

In 1945 Robert Bush, age 17 left his school in the state of Washington and joined the Marines to do his part

in the war effort. After his basic training as a Marine Medical Corpsman he found himself in a ship headed

for his first combat assignment. He and the unit of men he was duty bound to take care of were headed to

Okinawa. The invasion of Okinawa took place in May of 1945 was a very brutal battle. This battle was so

brutal and horrific that there were more causalities than when the nuclear bombs were dropped over Japan.

At age 18 Private Bush found himself in the middle of this terrible conflict.

As his unit was endeavoring to take a hill the Japanese forces came out of their tunnels to repel the Marines.

Right at the start of the battle the Company's leader was shot and gravely wounded. In an effort to save his

leader, Bush went to his aid in the middle of the battle. After looking the wounded man over Bush told his

leader that he would be okay and that he was going to take care of him. The only way to do this was to

apply a pressure bandage and hook the company leader up to a plasma bottle. Bush recognized that he

had to save the man's life by standing up so that the attached bottle of plasma could supply the leader

with life saving plasma. So Bush stood up to get the life saving plasma to flow into the leaders body. In

the process of doing this Bush exposed himself to enemy fire. Despite being wounded by gun fire in his

arm several times, and having one of his eyes blown out by schrapnel from a grenade, Bush never let the

bottle drop. He later went on to save the lives of several other soldiers in his company before going to

the Aid Station to get help for himself.

It took courage and a growth mindset to do what Private Bush did to save his leader's life and the lives of

several others. As coaches we must teach our swimmers to have courage during this pandemic and to

do all that they can to take care of themselves like social distancing, wearing a mask in public, eating right

and getting the rest they need to sustain growth and insure proper health. We can become better and prepare

for the future without COVID if we work together and look at these times as a period of growth and

opportunity to get better.

"If you have a positive attitude and constantly strive to give your best effort, eventually you will overcome your immediate problems and find you are ready for greater challenges." Pat Riley

  

Part II My Experiences and Thoughts on Motivating Athletes to Be Their Best Everyday-What a good coach should be doing.

Introduction

For this Part II edition of my experiences I will be sharing the things I have learned from implementing the principles of Ryan and Deci's Self Determination Theory (SDT), Dweck's thoughts from her book on Mind Set and Angela Duckworth's writings and lectures on Grit into my coaching philosophy in motivating swimmers to be their very best. Each of these have influenced my approach to coaching. I hope to blend the writings of these three experts in a meaningful way so that it makes sense and helps provide some ideas that may help someone.

In a recent article/YouTube video, Coach Wayne Goldsmith gives a presentation about three things that good coaches do in their coaching (I referenced the link in my last post). Those three things are that good coaches 1. Listen, 2. Learn, 3. Love. 

Listen
He goes on to explain that good coaches listen to their swimmers and not just talk to them. I believe in talking with the swimmers and finding out how things are working for them. As a coach it is very helpful to have your eye on the swimmers and what they are doing in the water. I believe it is helpful to understand if you want a true assessment of the effects of your training it pays to ask questions like: How do you feel you did today?, How did you feel about that set?, What did you learn today?, Tell me three things that you feel you did good on?, Tell me three things you feel you could do better on next time?. These are just sample questions but they will allow you to get a feel for how the swimmers are thinking and how they feel about the practices. I recommend that you vary the questions you ask, and base it on what you are doing on any given day.

Learn
No one on this earth knows everything. It is very important, according to Coach Goldsmith that as a coach you be a "student of the game". Be a continual learner. Read, study, investigate, make phone calls to coaches who you feel can help you learn. Never be stagnate, but always keep growing and expanding. A coach who I highly regard and respect, and view him as my "Mentor", Coach Dick Hannula, once said to me, "Dee, the longer I coach. The more I realize I do not know all there is to know". Keep on learning.

Love
You must love what you do and love the people you coach for. Coach is fun and exciting. I love coaching because it is the same as teaching. There is no difference between coaching and teaching. All a swimming coach is is a teacher of a physical skill, while a classroom teacher is a coach of an academic or mental skill. The swimmers will know whether or not you love your job and them by how prepared you are for them, and by how you treat them in all your interactions. When the swimmers come in everyday they are just given the workout and spend the workout time constantly on your phone looking at FaceBook, or wandering the deck speaking with the other coaches or parents without looking at the swimmers or giving feedback they will learn fast how much you care about them. If you are the last one to get to the pool and you are the first one to leave they will learn how much you love your job. You must speak to everyone of the swimmers on a daily basis and be the first at the pool and the last one to leave. Be enthusiastic with the swimmers when you are explaining what they will be doing for their workout, and what goals you hope to achieve in the workout. 

SDT-Self Determination Theory
The three parts of SDT are Autonomy, Competency and Relatedness. Each of these basic psychological needs must be met in order to have optimal functioning. From the SDT website (https://selfdeterminationtheory.org/theory/) :

"Within SDT, the nutriments for healthy development and functioning are specified using the concept of basic psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness. To the extent that the needs are ongoingly satisfied, people will develop and function effectively and experience wellness, but to the extent that they are thwarted, people will more likely evidence ill-being and non-optimal functioning." 

The bottom line application is that as coaches we need to see that our coaching helps the swimmers to have a sense of autonomy, they feel competent and they feel related or connected to the team, the coach and the success of the team. Defined the three SDT needs are:

1. Autonomy: To have a sense, feeling, or belief that a person has control of their own behaviors and goals. Furthermore they have a sense of being able to control their own goals and progress towards those goals.
2. Competency: The belief, or feeling that the person can be successful and achieve some desired outcome. The belief that a person has that they can do something and be successful.
3. Relatedness: A feeling, or belief that a person is connect, or related to a coach, the team and its' individual members and the success of the program. A feeling that the person is cared about by the coach and the team.

To apply the principles of SDT the coach must allow the swimmers to have some say in their training and the events they do. The coach needs to give their swimmers a feeling of having a say in their training and progress. The swimmers must be taught and made to feel that they can achieve their goals and be successful in their pursuit of those goals. The swimmer needs to feel that the coach cares about them and their success in and out of the pool. The coach needs to be interested in the whole person not just the swimmer. As the swimmer comes to know that the coach is giving them a say in their training, teaching them the skills needed to be successful and he/she cares for them as a whole person, they will be more committed to their goals, their training and the team.

Mindset and Grit
I have put these these two together because they are connected. To have a growth mindset requires the coach to continually teach the swimmers to look at every opportunity, or experience as a learning opportunity. Daily the coach must use language that reinforces growth and effort, even if that effort is a failing effort. You must find a way to teach and reinforce what you want your swimmers to learn in a positive way. When correcting stroke technique, try communicating your feedback in a positive voice. For example say, "That was a good early catch with your right hand and arm. On this next 25 do the same thing with your left arm-hand entry in front of eye to ear-rotate until arm pit opens up to bottom of pool-catch the water with the finger tips down and elbow higher than hand." What we usually end up saying is "Don't do this...". The swimmers usually remember the negative instruction before the positive. As coaches we build grit in our swimmers by helping them to see that they can be successful by being positive in our instructions and helping see that goal attainment is a process. This process takes time and many trials. They can do the process but it will be one step at a time and one day at a time. Remember, "Nine-tenths of education is encouragement.", Anatole France. 

Part 1 My Experiences and Thoughts on Motivating Athletes to Be Their Best Everyday

Part 1 of this post will introduce this topic. It is long so I wanted to break it up into smaller, digestible pieces. I do not declare, nor do I believe myself to be an expert on this topic. I consider myself as a "learner" and hope that through sharing my experiences and writing about topics like this one, I will learn more and become a better coach myself. Please feel free to leave a comment if you wish to share your thoughts. Thank you.

Introduction

When I was hired for my first full time head club coaching position I was hired by a club of about 100 team members whose abilities ranged anywhere from the little 6 and under swimmers to the Junior National and State qualifying level. I was hired to replace a very strong coach who was hired by a larger club which had Olympic Trial qualifiers, and even one Olympian who was also a World Record holder. My new club was located in a small town where the swimming team, not the football or basketball team won state titles year after year. Seemingly my hiring was of great interest to everyone and not just those in the swimming community.

After my hiring we moved to this town, and suddenly I found out just how important a winning swim team was to the community. Upon our arrival in town the attention began in earnest. I was interviewed on the local radio station, interviewed by sports reporters from three papers. The story of my hiring even made the front page of the sports section of the paper in the capital city of this state. I really did not feel the pressure until I went into the local grocery store with my family to do some shopping. As we were checking out, the clerk at the register stopped checking us out, looked at me and said, "Say aren't you the new head coach of our state championship swimming team?". He was both excited and eager to ask me questions as he finished checking us out. Needless to say the check out process felt a little longer than normal, and like I was getting checked out as well as our groceries. In the process of the "check out interview", it was the first time I felt like I had an entire community looking over my shoulder.

Not long after settling my family into our three bedroom apartment. I arranged to meet the swimmers for the first time prior to school starting and before we began our practices for the short course season. As I met with the team I had some very definite goals which I had written down-increase team membership to 125 members by the end of the short course season through providing a positive experience for team members, start a master's team that would help grow the sport and involve more of the community, set the stage to have swimmers get back to the National level meets-Juniors and Nationals, and finally move the club up to number 2 in the state, and win a state title for the local high school. I shared these goals with the parents and swimmers who were part of the program and then went to work.

In those days I had one assistant coach and we coached everyone on the team. Knowing that the success of the swimming program was very important to the community I felt that I needed to a establish a well organized and strong plan. Starting out with a new group of swimmers, especially the older kids, I believed that they needed a team meeting on a weekly basis to discuss what we were going to be doing each week and how we were going to get things done. At the the very first team meeting, I had each of them write down the answers to the following questions:

1. What do you want from swimming for this team?
2. What do I, as your coach need to do to help you get your number 1?
3. What do you, as the swimmer need to do to get your number 1?
4. What would happen if either you or I failed to do our part (see questions number 2 and 3)?
5. If you are willing to commit to doing your number 3 sign and date this document. After you sign and date it I will read it thoroughly and if I agree to number 2 I will sign and date it, and return it to you. If I do not agree I will speak with you and we will come to an agreement on what you believe I can do to help you.

Everyone on the team completed the assignment, even though this was not junior high or high school it was school-competitive swimming school. After I collected their responses, I took about one week to read through each of the documents. As it turned out, I had no questions. So I signed each one, made a copy and returned the original signed document to the members of the team in our next team meeting. Based on the feedback I learned form reading their documents I put together a plan for the year. I handed this out to the swimmers and we went to work.

It was a great first several months as we started our season together. I learned from them, and hopefully they learned from me. We went to a meet about every three to four weeks. Once the high school season began the meets were a little more frequent. During the meets I kept a very careful record of the progress of each swimmer so that I could review and evaluate the plan. The swimmers were really working hard and turning in some very fine early season times. At about four months into the season one young lady, who really liked the previous coach came to me and said, "Dee you are not not motivating me like the previous coach (no names here). I asked her what do you mean and she responded that she was not motivated by the way I was teaching and coaching her. I asked her what her goals were?

I knew what she had written down and I was wanting her to tell me what she had written down, hoping she remembered her goals. After thinking for a brief moment, she told me what she had written down on her paper and said, something that I will always remember, she said "But Dee, my goals do not motivate me. I want you to swear and cuss at me, throw a chair at me once in awhile. This is what the previous coach did and that is what motivates me." Being surprised I tried to calmly think of how to respond, and make this a teaching moment. After taking a deep breath I calmly asked her what job she wanted to work at once she was done with college. She responded and I then replied, " Tell me what do you think your employer is going to do to you if he/she has to swear, cuss or throw a chair at you to motivate you to do your job for the company?". She looked at me in a puzzled and thoughtful way and then responded with, "Probably fire my butt."

I told her I agreed and that I was trying to teach her and her teammates about how they needed to internalize there goals; and how she needed to keep these in front of her each time she got in the water. I told her that I would not swear, cuss, or throw chairs at her because I did not want her swimming out of fear but out of a desire to be her very best. Furthermore I stated that I would teach, coach, love, encourage and cheer for her to the very best of my ability. She walked away with some food for thought.

What I can tell you is that at the end of the short course season she achieved her goals and had a great year. In fact the entire team had a great year. In club swimming, the team placed second at the state short course championships moving up one place even though we were one of the smaller programs in the state. At the high school state meet we took first place for the men's team, winning another state title for the boys and community. The girl's high school team finished in third moving up two spots from the previous year. Additionally our club membership did grow to 125 and the masters team became active in our USS Club team and they were active supporters at our high school and club meets. The club swimmers in return supported the Masters swimmers in their meets. Overall I felt like we achieved a great deal that year in this small town and with this club.

Conclusion

In my next post I will write about my thoughts on how to build intrinsic motivation and help the swimmers to feel autonomy, competent, and related in an effort to strengthen a stronger growth mindset

Recommended reading and listening

The first two links are to talks that were given by Coach Wayne Goldsmith. The second link is to a TED talk by Coach John Wooden. Coach Wooden's TED talk takes about 18 minutes.

1.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MM-psvqiG8

2.  https://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/news/how-to-spot-terrible-coaches-three-signs-that-give-them-away/?fbclid=IwAR0p_po831T6X4GjIytdxJNaa5A-HJ51xGQ1yg

3.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mTLtaD6ZA8&feature=emb_logo

 

Mindset-Revisited. How having a growth mindset can help in challenging times.

Formula for success

When you want a thing bad enough to go out and fight for it,
To work day and night for it,
To give up your peace and your sleep and your time for it;
If only the desire of it makes your aim strong enough never to tire of it;
If life seems all empty and useless without it,
And all that you dream and you scheme is about it;
If gladly you’ll sweat for it, fret for it, plan for it,
Pray with all your strength for it;
If you’ll simply go after the thing that you want with all your capacity,
Strength and sagacity; faith, hope, and confidence, stern pertinacity;
If neither poverty nor cold nor famish nor gaunt
Nor sickness of pain to body or brain can turn you away from the aim
That you want;
If dogged and grim, you besiege and beset it, you’ll get it!
(Author unknown. Poem taken from talk by Elder Vaughn J. Featherstone, Acres of Diamonds, BYU Speeches of the Year February 3, 1974.)

I love this poem, whose authorship is unknown. There are a few versions of this poem but this particular version is my favorite and there is no author mentioned. I love this poem because I believe it to be the true definition of what it takes to develop a growth mindset and growth mindset practice-"Strength and sagacity; faith, hope, and confidence, stern pertinacity;". I believe that if you want to achieve anything you must get up and go to work. You must work to develop certain characteristics that will help you to achieve the seemingly impossible.There is nothing that is unachievable! Look at the progress in technology over the last 100 years. Man has walked on the moon, people own palm size computers, carry their telephones with them. Man has cured polio, and other childhood diseases. In swimming the Men's American Record 50 yard Free is under 18 seconds and the 100 Free is under 40 seconds. Few people believed that would ever happen. This is going to sound very simplistic, but I believe you can do anything if you will apply that one line from the introductory poem, and develop a "can do" mindset 

Introduction

For this post I wanted to share some thoughts about Mindset and the COVID 19 Pandemic situation. These are highly unusual times we are experiencing. Think about how we are having to live. We have been asked by our federal, state and local governments to practice "social distancing" which was defined as staying 6 feet apart from other people. In stores that we labeled as essential many of them have placed a worker at the front door where they count the number of people in the store and do not let anyone in until another leaves. Most of these stores have also put up plexiglass shields for their checkers to help prevent close contact between the customer and the employee. Other measures have been to require all customers, and employees to wear masks. Some businesses, like gyms that were allowed to re-open have to take patron's temperatures, clean and sanitize their weight machines after each use, limit the length a patron can train as well as requiring everyone to use hand sanitizing lotion after exercising. These are just a few of the "new" normal practices that businesses have resorted to in order to conduct business. Grocery stores and restaurants have mask wearing employees deliver food to your door, ring the doorbell and walk away but look back to make sure you get your food. The COVID 19 Pandemic has put most of us into some type of isolation in our homes, and certainly our personal lives. Due to these changes, and alterations in our lives we have become isolated from others. It could be a period of despair and fear, or it could be a time period of growth and progress. It all depends on how we are able to view the challenges of the times. At this critical time of seemingly isolation we need to have a "can do" attitude of growing and learning.

Application of Mindset

In her book, Mindset-The New Psychology of Success, Dr Carol Dweck makes the following statement, "...people can do a lot more than first meets the eye." (Dweck, 2016, p 72). Applying the principles of a growth mindset to our times mean that we should look at these times as an opportunity to grow and progress. We can foster and grow a character of determination by doing certain things. In her book Dr Dweck gives the following ways to foster, or grow a growth mindset:

1. Have a change of mind(set). Embrace change as an opportunity to grow.
2. Develop skills that will help us grow and foster our change of mind set
3. Focus on the learning process. If you fail to learn from some task then look at the task in another way and implement a "new" way to get it done. Learn from this new way.
4. Put forth an honest effort to embrace learning and growing in all areas of our lives.
5. Work through and show "grit" in all challenges. You must find a way to wear down your challenges and out last them, not the other way around.
6. Learn from your failures or mistakes. Take joy in the effort to do hard things and believe that if you persist long enough you can and will learn how to do hard things as long as your effort and commitment is continuous and never ending. I call this "continual, never ending process", or init's shortened form the "I can" method of learning. If at first you do not succeed, change your strategy and begin anew and keep trying until you find a way to do what  you set out to do. Remember how many times did Edison fail in developing his electric light? Remember the steps that were steps of success and keep them. Discard those steps that were not effective, add new steps and press forward in another attempt to do learn.
7. Treat mistakes, or failures as "temporary non-success". Everyone has heard the saying by the great scientist Albert Einstein that, "You never fail until you stop trying". When you make a mistake, or fail at doing something, re-evaluate and try again with a new tactic.
8. Take joy in the journey and the adventure to achieving your goals, regardless of how many ties you have to change a strategy or adjust an approach to tackle a problem.

Summary

These times can be times of great growth and development. We can find ways to help our swimmers grow, progress and prepare for the days to come when they will be back in the water. Experiment with means of communication and the computer. Look for opportunities to bring your team together via Zoom, Google Hangouts, anything that is "virtual" can be a great help in dryland activities, goal setting, team building. Have your team do a "drive by", or more precisely a "jog by" where members of the team would put a small in their yard where they could list one or two exercises to do. Then members of the team, one, or two at a time can jog by that team members house do the exercise, or exercises and then jog to the next house. You might choose 5 or six homes in close proximity and rotate this activity through the team so everyone gets to visit another team member's house. They could also do this over Zoom, or Google Hangouts with each member of the team assigned to lead an exercise.

You can build your team during this time period by looking at this pandemic as a chance to grow and learn, a chance to improve and get better. You can do great things by evaluating how you view challenges. 

Dryland Training for College Level Swimmers

Introduction

This post is a follow up to the last one on Dryland Training. If you read through the last blog you have probably surmised that I am not a big fan of weight training. I am not convinced that a swimmer should exclusively be in a weight lifting program only. I believe there is a place for weight training in college swimming, just not for distance swimmers. I believe that a hybrid weight lifting and dryland training program will be the most effective method to helping swimmers gain land strength that transfers to the water. However, for this to happen the weight/dryland training program must focus on strengthening functional movements and provide exercises that increase flexibility and land based endurance. I put this dryland training program in place for last season to help those who were not able to lift weights for various reasons. I am interested in hearing the opinions from those who read this post. If you would like to comment please do so at the bottom of the post.

BYU SWIMMING AND DIVING 

Distance Group Dryland Program 2019-2020 

Mission: To develop a better foundation of strength in order to apply more force and power in the distance swimmer’s respective events in order to have improved performance. 

Purposes: Create a dryland routine that does the following: 
1. Builds strength and enhances endurance training by exercises done in gravity 
2. Causes the muscles to work together synergistically 
3. Enhance anaerobic capacity and provides the foundation for speed in the water 
4. Prevent future injuries 
5. Train movements for greater functional strength in the water to compliment what is done in the water 

Methods: 
1. Plyometric exercises 
2. Running 
3. Medicine Balls, Dumbbells and Kettle bells 
4. Jump Ropes 
5. Calisthenics Body weight exercises 
6. Core work 
7. VASA Trainer and Ergometer 
8. TRX and 4 D Pros 
9. Active stretching 

Program Phases: 
1. September 5 to 28 Foundational Strength Phase 
2. September 30 to October 18 Basic Strength Phase 
3. October 21 to November 13 Strength Endurance Phase 
4. November 14 to 20 Recovery Phase 
5. November 25 to December 22 Strength Endurance Phase 
6. December 27 to February 10 Power Endurance Phase 
7. February 12 to February 19 Recovery Phase 

Program Outline 

Foundational Strength Phase September 5 to 28 
1. Focus: Core body work and body weight exercises-done in a circuit 
2. Use this phase to teach correct movements 
3. Specific Exercises (45 to 60 minutes in a circuit type set up) 

Basic Strength Phase September 30 to October 18 
1. Focus: Core body work, body weight exercises and foundational strength-swim specific 
2. Emphasis on correct movements that simulate in water technique 
3. Specific Exercises (45 to 60 minutes in timed sets and 2-3 rounds) 
a. Core work 
b. Running 
c. Calisthenics 
d. Jump Rope 
e. VASA Trainer and Ergometer 
f. Plyometric 
g. Medicine Ball, dumbbell and kettle bell 
h. Body weight exercises 
i. 4 D Pros 

Strength Endurance Phase October 21 to November 13/ November 25 to December 22 
1. Focus: Core body work and body weight exercises performed at the speed of movement needed to simulate swimming speeds-timed reps to train for the desired tempo for in water races 
2. Specific Exercises (45 minutes with more built in recovery between exercises) 
a. Core work 
b. Calisthenics 
c. Jump rope 
d. VASA Trainer and Ergometer 
e. Plyometric-using tubing and TRX bands with an emphasis on tempo of movement 
f. Medicine ball, dumbbell and kettle bell-with an emphasis on tempo of movement 
h. Body weight exercises 
i. 4 D Pros 

Recovery Phase November 14 to November 20/ February 12 to February 19 
1.Focus: Core body work with active stretching and maintenance exercises to protect the gains from previous phases 
2. Specific Exercises (40-45 minutes of exercises, tapering down to allow for more rest to help prepare the body to compete at the highest levels possible) 
a. Core work 
b. Light calisthenics 
c. Light tubing for stretching and muscle warming purposes 
d. Jump Rope for light cardio purposes 
e. TRX bands for technique purposes 
f. 4 D Pros 

Power Endurance Phase December 27 to February 10 
1. Focus: Core body work with body weight exercises performed at the speed of movement needed to simulate swimming speeds-timed reps to train for the desired tempo for in water races. 
2. Specific Exercises (40-60 minutes of exercises, with more rest built in to increase effort and insure proper technique is being used, timed reps for tempo purposes) 
a. Core work 
b. Calisthenics 
c. Medicine Ball, dumbbell and kettle bell 
d. VASA Trainer and Ergometer Plyometric 
e. TRX Bands and 4 D Pros 

Sample Schedule for Foundational Strength Phase September 5 to 28

Monday/Thursday 
1. Run 15 minutes 
2. Exercises done in a circuit (30 reps each exercise for 45 minutes) 
a. VASA Trainer 
b. Jump Rope 
c. Tubing Freestyle pull throughs (tempo focus) 
d. Planks 
e. Push-ups 
f. Jumping Jacks 
g. Crunch-Left/Rights 
h. Tubing-Bent Elbow Backstroke Twisters 
i. Streamlined leapers 
j. Crunch flutter kicks 

Tuesday/Friday 
1. Run 15 minutes 
2. Exercises done in a circuit (30 reps each exercise for 45 minutes) 
a. VASA Ergometer 
b. Jump Rope 
c. Tubing-Breaststroke Arms 
d. Crunch Accordions 
e. Reverse Push ups 
f. Lunge Leapers 
g. Crunch Trikes 
h. Tubing-Backstroke Clappers 
i. Burpees 
j. L/R Accordions 

Wednesday Morning-Off 

Sample Schedule for Basic Strength Phase September 30 to October 18

Monday/Thursday 
1. Run 15 minutes+5 minutes of stair work in Smith Field House 
2. Exercises done in a circuit (30 reps each exercise for 45 minutes) 
a. VASA Trainer/Ergometer 
b. TRX/4 D Pros: Reverse Pull ups 
c. Jump Rope 
d. Medicine Ball Overhead slams 
e. Mountain Climbers 
f. Tubing: Triceps Press 
g. Med Ball Partner Sit up and toss (Plyoball?) 
h. Med Ball “Speed” Triceps Press 
i. Tubing: Fly Recovery 
j. TRX/4 D Pro Accordions 

Tuesday/Friday 
1. Run 15 minutes 
2. Exercises done in a circuit (30 reps each exercise for 45 minutes) 
a. Med Ball Crunch Twisters (Plyoball?) 
b. TRX/4 D Pro Biking 
c. VASA Trainer/Ergometer 
d. Med Ball 1 Legged Chest Pass to partner (or wall) 
e. TRX/4D Pro Reverse V-ups 
f. DB Squat and throw to streamline 
g. Med Ball Partner Press and Pop 
h. Jump Rope 
i. DB Lunge and throw to streamline 
j. Med Ball Standing Left-Center-Right-Center Twisters 

Wednesday Morning-off 

Sample Schedule for Strength Endurance Phase October 21 to November 13/ November 25 to December 22 

Monday/Thursday 
1. Exercises done in a circuit (30 repetitions each exercise with stretching after the exercise, 45 to 50 minutes) 
a.  VASA Trainer/Ergometer 
b. Med Ball Push-ups 
c. Med Ball Pilate Toss w/partner 
d. Jump Rope 
e. Med Ball Traveling Push-ups (left-Center-Right-Center) 
f. Med Ball Pilate Toss w/Partner 1 up and 1 down 
g. TRX/4 D Pro Mountain Climbers 
h. Jump Rope 

Tuesday/Friday 
1. Exercises done in a circuit (30 repetitions each exercise with stretching after the exercise)
a. DB Lunges 
b. DB Breaststroke Squats to streamline 
c. Tubing: Free Pull Throughs 
d. TRX/4 D Pro Push-ups 
e. TRX/4 D Pro Fly Kicking 
f. DB Squats to streamline 
g. DB Shoulder Shrugs 
h. Tubing: Bent Elbow Backstroke Twisters 

Wednesday Morning-off 

Sample Schedule for Recovery Phase November 14 to November 20/ February 12 to February 19 

Monday/Thursday 
1. Exercises done in a circuit with emphasis on speed and exactness 20 reps each exercise 30 to 40 minutes 
a. Jump Rope-two foot or alternating 
b. Tubing with therabands 
c. TRX/4 D Pro Dives to Streamline 
d. Crunch Twisters Tubing: Choice of exercise 
e. Planks 

Tuesday/Friday 
1.  Exercises done in a circuit with emphasis on speed and exactness 20 reps each exercise 30 to 40 minutes 
a. TRX/4 D Pro Dives to streamline 
b. Crunch left/rights 
c. Tubing; Fly Recovery 
d. Push ups 
e. Tubing: Backstroke Clapper 
f. Jumping Jacks 

Wednesday morning-off 

Sample Schedule for Power Endurance Phase December 27 to February 10 Monday/Thursday 

1. Exercises done individually for decreasing reps with increase tempo-Reps 30-20-10 for 45 to 50 minutes 

a.  VASA Trainer/Ergometer (Focus is on goal splits times and tempo) 

b. Med Ball Crunch 1-2-3 

c. Tubing: Back Clappers 

d. DB Lawn Mowers to streamline reach 

e. Jump Rope 

f. DB Squat and Throw to streamline simulating dive off blocks 

g. Med Ball left/right V-Ups

h. Med Ball Crunch flutter kicks

Tuesday/Friday 

1.  Exercises done individually for decreasing reps with increase tempo-Reps 30-20-10 for 45 to 50 minutes 

a. TRX/4 D Pros: Butterfly Kicks 

b. DB Lunge and Shoulder Press 

c. Med Ball Combo Lift: Triceps Press-Shoulder Press 

d. TRX/4 D Pros: Mountain Climbers 

e. Med Ball Press and pop w/partner 

f. DB Shoulder Shrugs 

g. TRX/4 D Pros Push-ups (12-10-8) 

h. Plyoball Ab In and Out V-ups 

Wednesday morning-off 

Summary-the Goal of Distance Group Dryland Training Program

This dryland program is designed to be both flexible and adaptable to the individual needs of the student-athletes. Exercises, repetitions and other elements can be added or deleted depending on a number of factors. Rehab exercises can also be added to the program using tubing, VASAs and light calisthenics. The program can be used to teach important skills that will carry over into the water. Tempo can be trained on the VASA, VASA Ergometer and tubing exercises, streamline position can be taught and used on many of the medicine ball, dumb bell exercises and calisthenics. The program will help to improve, and enhance the aerobic and anaerobic levels in the student-athletes, as well as serve to provide the student-athletes with weight bearing exercises so very important to bone density, as well as using gravity to help with land base endurance that will help in water endurance.

Dryland Training Ideas

Introduction
For this blog I have chosen to provide a list of activities and exercises that I have used in my dryland training sessions done in the past. These activities and exercises represent just small number of the things I have done with my swimmers.

I am a strong believer in dryland, rather than the weight room for high school/club swimmers. At the college level I have come to believe that the weight room is good for some, while dryland or some type of combination of the two is best for college level/age swimmers. What I can tell you is that strength and endurance on land based activities does enhance in water strength and endurance, especially if the land based activities has a focus of functional strength.

For all of the dryalnd activities I have conducted. I constantly endeavored to make them so that they were all movements that would enrich, carry over and enhance in water movements. I have tried to follow the philosophy of Strength and Conditioning Coach Vern Gambetta. I believe that expecting the same tempos on land, and a nearly same movement on land and in the water translates into faster and stronger swimmers. For example, after we first started this type of dryland in Tacoma,Washington with my high school teams, girls and boys, at Wilson High School I saw a great deal of growth in the student-athletes. One girl's season saw the girl's team achieve 90% life time bests at the District Championships and then two weeks later at the state meet. In fact I can tell you that not only did those who shaved for districts have LTBs, those who did not shave also had LTBs. An added bonus was that at the state meet those who shaved at the state meet had LTBs in both prelims and finals. The same is true of the boy's team. The boy's team during their fourth year of doing the dryland program had 100% LTBs at state prelims to finals and they won their third in a row Washington State High School Championship, which represented Wilson's 28th State Swimming and Diving Championship in 40 years.

Here are are some of the dryland activities we did:     

Ladder Challenge 
Explanation: Start at 1 Rep each exercise and go up to 5 Reps, and then back down to 1 rep. When arriving at 5 reps make sure you are repeating 5 reps twice before going on to 4-3-2-1 rep for each exercise. If you complete 1-5 and 5-1 reps each exercise you will complete 300 total reps. If you can do 1-10 reps each exercise you will complete 1100 total reps. The goal is to complete a GOAL number of reps in 60 minutes

1. Uncle Rob's Push ups
2. Jumping Jacks
3. Breaststroke Squats
4. Russian Twists (left-right=1 rep)
5. Flutter Kicks-2 or 4 count=1 rep)
6. Mountain Climbers (left-right=1 rep)
7. Streamline Leapers
8. Streamline Lunges (left-right=1 rep)
9. Ballet Squats
10. Streamline Toe-raisers

Conclusion: If you start at 1 rep each exercise and go up to 5 reps and back down again you are doing 200 total reps. If you go to 10 reps and then down you are going to do 1200 reps total. Done fast this will help you increase your endurance and functional strength.

Ab Endurance Challenge
Explanation: For this challenge you will be doing a set number of reps in one to five AB exercises followed by a short run/jog. It is recommended that you start out small, maybe one or two Ab exercises and building into this challenge before starting with five different exercises. It is highly recommended that before starting you should have set a GOAL for the number of reps you want to complete in 60 minutes. Keep going for one hour, counting the number reps you complete at the end of 60 minutes.

1. Jog for 1/5th mile
2. 20 Reps Crunches
3. 20 Reps Accordions
4. 20 Reps Flutter Kicks-2 count
5. 20 Reps Russian Twists (Left-Right=1 rep)
6. 20 Reps Left/Right Crunches (Left-Right=1 Rep) then start with number again.

Conclusion: As you go through this challenge keep track of how far you jog and how many rounds you complete in 60 minutes. If you can complete 10 rounds in this challenge you will have jogged 2 miles and completed 1000 Reps

Upright Challenge
Explanation: For this challenge you will always be on your legs, no Abs in this one. It is similar to the Ab Challenge only you will be doing reps on your legs.  For this challenge you will be doing a set number of reps in one to five exercises followed by a short run/jog. It is recommended that you start out small, maybe one or two exercises and building into this challenge before starting with five different exercises. It is highly recommended that before starting you should have set a GOAL for the number of reps you want to complete in 60 minutes. Keep going for one hour, counting the number reps you complete at the end of 60 minutes.

1. Jog for 1/5th mile
2. 20 Reps Jumping Jacks
3. 20 Reps Squats
4. 20 Reps Lunges (Left-Right=1 rep)
5. 20 Reps Streamline Leapers
6. 20 Reps Breaststroke Squats-then start with number again.

Conclusion: As you go through this challenge keep track of how far you jog and how many rounds you complete in 60 minutes. If you can complete 10 rounds in this challenge you will have jogged 2 miles and completed 1000 Reps

Endurance Challenge 
Explanation: For this challenge you are going to do a team run for 60 minutes to 120 minutes. This challenge might be in place of a water workout and would conclude with a team activity such as a team breakfast, or stretching session, or short water session with games. For this challenge you will need a safe jogging course that is easily followed. The team should run together and have two stops if you are jogging for 60 minutes-every 20 minutes, and 3 stops for 120 minutes-every 30 minutes. During these stops you should do a brief motivational thought and some type of exercise for a 10 minute period of time. Feel free to adjust the number of stops and what you do during this stop.

Team Record Challenge
Explanation: For this challenge you will select one exercise and perform that exercise for the entire time. For example you wight set a time frame of 20-30-40-60 minutes. You could also select two exercises and do 10 minutes of one and 10 minutes of another up to 20-30-40-60 minutes. At the end of the time period calculate the total number of reps performed by each person and that becomes your team record for that exercise until you try it again. It is important to remember that when doing this challenge you want to be ready for the exercise and the time frame. So do not start at 60 minutes of crunches unless you are ready for it. Here are some recommendations:

1. Crunches
2. Flutter Kicks
3. Jumping Jacks
4. Squats-all varieties
5. Mountain Climbers
6. Step ups using a step aerobics bench, or curb
7. Lunge Leapers
8. Squat leapers

Conclusion: As you go through this challenge the participants will begin to take pride in their accomplishments if you will share with them the number of reps achieved, and keep track of them for history. Then the next time you do this challenge you can point out that last years team did "this many reps, so today are going to break last year's record".

Team Challenge
Explanation: For this challenge you would need to divide up your team into smaller groups-by stroke, by class in school, by age, by gender (have a boys v boys and girls v girls,or even a girls v boys). Take up to 60 minutes and give each team an exercise, or series of exercises and see who can complete the most total reps in the allotted time. Some recommendations:

1. 2-3 teams of 10 members-can be two teams of 10 boys and 2 teams of 10 girls. Five team members would be doing the exercise(s) and 5 would be counting the number of reps. You could yell "switch" at certain time segments to have the counters become the exercisers. I have always liked doing two or three exercises and then switching half way through. At the end of the time period gather the total number of reps completed and add them together to determine a winning team. A good combination of exercises are:
a. Jumping Jacks and Crunches
b. Mountain Climbers and Flutter Kicks
c. Step ups and Streamline leapers
d. Breaststroke Squat and Push-ups

Conclusion: This challenge is a great way to bring your team together and have them work with, and get to know new people. You can always keep track of the winning team's total and that could become your team's team record for those exercises. The next time you do this challenge through that number out as the number to beat.

Summary

I believe in a well thought out and programmed dryland session. I believe that the ideal dryland set up is to have in done three to four times a week. In doing this you must be creative and alternate your exercises to keep things fresh and boredom out. Being creative is very important. In addition to building strength and endurance the dryland can help you bring your team together and create a great culture of pride, hard work and togetherness.

At Wilson I was fortunate to have a good friend, Chris Luther who was exceptionally helpful and a key part of our success. He once built for us sleds that held on person. To each sled he had two ropes attached that were used by a team of swimmers to pull who ever was in the sled. Each sled was manned by 7-9 people. 6-8 would pull, 3-4 on each side, and one would ride in the sled to be pulled. As the Dryland Race Challenge started each team of pullers and rider were lined up behind a starting line and then Chris would sound his whistle the teams began their race. We raced around the school property which included a hill climb. After a certain time period Chris would blow his whistle and then a puller would slip into the sled to become a rider and the rider became the puller. We did this until each team had completed one to two trips around the school property. Everyone had a chance to pull and ride in the sled. It was great fun but it was also a great challenge to see which team finished first.

On another occasion, Chris brought several logs to practice. Each log was painted a different color. The color of the log represented the weight of the log. Again for a Team Challenge we divided the swimmers up into groups of 8 to 10 on a team. The groups were given a log based on their strength and size. The groups were then lined up behind a starting line and upon the whistle began a run around the school. There was one catch however. Upon the sound of the second whistle each team had to do 20 sit-ups as a team while holding the log. Upon completion of the sit-ups they had to get up and continue the run while carrying the log. There were usually 5 to 6 blows of the whistle so everyone completed 100 to 120 sit-ups as a team. This was a great activity and it helped to bring the swimmers together, as well as helped create a culture of working together to achieve a common goal.

These are just two examples of how you can use dryland to help build endurance strength and endurance that carries over into the pool, build a TEAM culture and a culture of working together to achieve a common goal.

Recommended Reading

1.  https://www.functionalpathtrainingblog.com/2009/11/suggested-readings.html. This website contains a "recommended" reading list of articles and books about function strength and endurance training.
2. Athletic Development: The Art & Science of Functional Sports Conditioning, Vern Gambetta. Available through Amazon and on Kindle
3. Gambetta method : common sense guide to functional training for athletic performance, Vern Gambetta, Gary Gray, Jimmy Radcliffe, Jason Soncrant