No Progress | Mediterra Swim & Run

Engaging Practices Need Uncertainty

by Coach Mat | 19 May, 2018

In the Positive Psychology realm, ‘engagement’ (Seligman) is another term for ‘flow state’ (Csikszentmihaly) which I’ve written quite a lot about in a previous series of posts. An aspect of this engagement or flow is being absorbed in a...

The Tension Behind Relaxation

by Coach Mat | 28 Apr, 2018

A few days ago, on the Total Immersion blog, I published an essay on the necessary relationship between tension and relaxation in swimming. If you’ve been trying to be ‘more relaxed’ in your stroke, or trying to be ‘more powerful’ you may...

The Habit Of Exercise – Part 4

by Coach Mat | 18 Apr, 2018

This post is Part 4, the last of a 4-part series on The Habit Of Exercise. A cheat-sheet and stripped-down version of what I’ve done to develop a robust habit is provided at the bottom. Keep It Skill-Oriented Activities that don’t require much...

Why Is Superior Form Harder To Maintain?

by Coach Mat | 25 Feb, 2018

A member of our online training site, the Mediterra Swim Dojo, has been noticing that after a certain distance in a training set, his stroke quality deteriorates which results in his stroke count (strokes per length of the pool) going up uncontrollably. He asked a...

Four Step Training Progression – Part 2

by Coach Mat | 4 Oct, 2017

This continues from Part 1 of Four Step Training Progression… Customizing For Each Swimmer Let’s say two swimmers are working on the same skill at camp but have different starting points, because of where they are at in their neural control for this...

Four Step Training Progression – Part 1

by Coach Mat | 2 Oct, 2017

Inspired by what we just experienced this week at our distance training camp in Kaş Turkey, I wanted to share a bit how we set up our training at these kind of events. At swim camps we have a special opportunity to work with our swimmers for several consecutive days...