by Coach Mat | 24 Oct, 2020
I have a saying: “Power is important, but (in water) shape is more important than power.” I use it to persuade a student to be patient with our process of developing the frame of the body and the streamline shape before we focus directly on the propulsive...
by Coach Mat | 28 Mar, 2020
Here is a follow up to Your Body Composition And Strength Matter For Speed… Case Study of My Body Composition My body composition is quite lean, and I am on the more ‘compact’ side of males – 176 cm tall and only about 65 kg (143 lbs). I enjoy...
by Coach Mat | 7 Mar, 2020
Over the years I have worked with the widest range of bodies I can image – young and old, tall and short, large and small, very buoyant and very not, muscular and frail – all sorts. When one is working with a body at any of the extremes several...
by Coach Mat | 14 Dec, 2019
This is continuing from How To ‘Lift Weights’ In The Water – Part 1… The Primary Form Of Strength At this point in the essay, the main lesson for everyone is that stroke length is the foundation to speed and the better you are at achieving a...
by Coach Mat | 7 Dec, 2019
If you want to swim farther and/or swim faster, you have to be both more skilled, and stronger. Some people focus on just one or the other. But you can develop both of those together if you require both in how you go about your training. I trust you are already sold...
by Coach Mat | 28 Sep, 2019
Watching a nicely shaped boat cut across a smooth body of water is a wonderful thing to watch. Photo by Oleksandr Hrebelnyk on Unsplash Watching a nicely shaped swimmer cut across a smooth body of water is too! In moving forward most easily in the water, although...
