No Progress | Mediterra Swim & Run

Flow With Age

by Coach Mat | 21 May, 2016

It is possible I gained more of a mature athletic perspective a little early in life. I was injured at a young athletic age – first, both my rotator cuff tendons fell into severe chronic inflammation at age 16 which exiled me from the competitive pool for three...

When More Is Better

by Coach Mat | 16 Apr, 2016

When you can make time for more practices each week – with good design and focused effect, and in good balance in your other priorities in life – that is a very good thing. All things being healthy, practicing more often will give you a boost in...

Detecting Progress

by Coach Mat | 10 Apr, 2016

Some times, when discussing practice results with a swimmer, I get the impression that this person has a persistent expectation for improvement in one particular way, even if the practice set was focused on other metrics. Here is a common example: in the first stage...

Strengthen The Weaker System

by Coach Mat | 16 Jan, 2016

This is an addendum to the post Special Stamina Part 2. I encouraged certain swimmers to test for the weaker system in Test For The Weakest System. The next logical topic is about strengthening that weaker system. Which one is your weaker system? Can you handle the...

Special Stamina Part 2

by Coach Mat | 2 Jan, 2016

Continued from Special Stamina Part 1 Incremental Increase In Challenge Let me describe briefly how to adjust just one of these variables at a time to create a gradually equalizing and increasing challenge upon your performance systems… Intensity When the...

Special Stamina Part 1

by Coach Mat | 26 Dec, 2015

I received a request from one of you to talk about building stamina. Stamina is defined as ability to withstand hardship, to maintain strength over a longer period of time. I might add to this by saying stamina is the ability to be stronger than the hardship facing...