Training For Dry Land

by Coach Mat | 10 Nov, 2011

It’s a given that people seek out swimming to gain the benefits of physical fitness. In the TI Way we also recognize the benefits of mental fitness that our unique practice brings. More so, we realize that the skills we practice in the water can enhance our life...

Training For Dry Land

by Coach Mat | 10 Nov, 2011

It’s a given that people seek out swimming to gain the benefits of physical fitness. In the TI Way we also recognize the benefits of mental fitness that our unique practice brings. More so, we realize that the skills we practice in the water can enhance our life...

Rain Here, Rain There…

by Coach Mat | 9 Oct, 2011

I am on my way to Amsterdam tomorrow morning to conduct a private TI workshop for a few days. As if to prepare me for the climate change it started clouding up and raining today in Antalya. But this does not dampen the spirit of an Oregonian! No, this is my beloved...

How To Swim Like Phelps…

by Coach Mat | 27 Sep, 2011

Or  Popov, or Thorpe, or Torres, or [insert your favorite elite swimmer here]. Now that anyone can access video clips of elite swimmers in the middle of their winning races, there is a often a false assumption made when trying to extract technique ideas from those...

Who is a REAL open-water swimmer?

by Coach Mat | 11 Sep, 2011

Last week I met up with a couple from Lebanon. They heard about me in Antalya and invited me down to Kaş to give them an introductory TI lesson in the sea on their last day of vacation. I asked the gal if she liked to swim out in open-water. She started to explain how...

Guard The Heart

by Coach Mat | 10 Sep, 2011

I haven’t written about my practice times in the water for quite a while. I was focused on other things. But I felt it would be helpful to discuss my experience today because of how I had to give particular attention to my mind and my heart- to promote their...

Don’t Forget To Play

by Coach Mat | 29 Aug, 2011

Have any of us gotten so serious in our swim training that we have forgotten to play? Good swimming involves having a relationship with water. To swim well and swim long a swimmer needs to know the water intimately, to know its ways and how it likes to move and carry...

Headed to Poland

by Coach Mat | 20 Aug, 2011

I am looking forward to a week in Poland. I’ll be in Wrzesnia to co-lead a TI Coach training and certification camp 23  to 28 August. I am also looking forward to recovering my strength as well. For over a month now my strength has been dropping and I...

Overcoming Fear In OWS- The Mindset Of An OW Swimmer

by Coach Mat | 13 Aug, 2011

Overcoming Fear In Open Water Swimming The Mindset Of An Open-Water Swimmer By no means do I want to suggest that there is a Correct Mindset for an OW swimmer, and that others are wrong. With the variety of humans and sports out there, there are also a variety of...

Overcoming Fear In OWS- Familiarity With Your Self

by Coach Mat | 13 Aug, 2011

Overcoming Fear In Open Water Swimming Part 8 of 9 – Familiarity With Your Self Along this sub-theme of increasing Familiarity as part of the strategy for overcoming fear in OW, I would like to point you inward. As in the previous sections this also is not an...