Physiological | Mediterra Swim & Run

Self-Limiting Practice Sets

by Coach Mat | 16 Aug, 2016

I want to keep confronting the false notion that fitness training and technical training are two separate activities in the pool. Fitness and Technique are truly inseparable, and should be regarded as such in every practice activity. All repetitive movement is...

Be Present During Movement

by Coach Mat | 30 Jul, 2016

I’ve written a lot lately about mindfulness – since it happens to be a central theme in our coaching. Mindfulness is not just for perfecting the stroke and improving the experience, it is also about reading the subtle signals of the body you would not...

Remain In This Moment

by Coach Mat | 9 Jul, 2016

One nice thing about being back in USA is that we have pools that open at 05:00 in the morning, and I love early morning swims (and runs). Upon returning from Turkey last week, I went to my fitness club early one morning to find the pool was closed for repairs. They...

Sleep Your Way To Improvement

by Coach Mat | 2 Jul, 2016

I don’t know about you, but as I get older I find I cannot get away with the kind of crazy sleep hours I sometimes lived by in my younger years. My mental and physical capabilities really go down when sleep is poor. Despite pressure in our modern culture to...

The Root Cause Of Failure

by Coach Mat | 25 Jun, 2016

This could be considered Part 3 in a series following Practice As A Puzzle To Solve and Using Failure To Solve The Puzzle. Failure is a key ingredient in progress – it is something you actually want to provoke because it reveals more clearly where you need to...

Training In The Scarce Energy Zone

by Coach Mat | 4 Jun, 2016

This post was first published as Part 4 of the Swimmer Speed Curve Series, but I have got the impression that it was mostly overlooked as tail-end of that series. It is an important topic in the conversations I am having with my athletes, so I feel I should call more...