by Coach Mat | 10 Nov, 2018 | Fear, Mental Training, Motivating Swimmers, Muscle Tension, Overcoming Fear, Recommended Reading, Survival Instincts, Training Psychology
The Polyvagal Theory developed by Stephen Porges, describes the way the internal body states influences the brain and perception of the environment, and the environment (especially the social environment) influences internal body states. In my own words, there are...
by Coach Mat | 21 Oct, 2017 | About Coach Mat, Discomfort, Injury, Metabolic Training, Motivation, Overcoming Fear, Rehabilitation, Training Psychology
This is continued from Part 1… Improve Your Understanding Of Exertion Likely, some of you have been working earnestly on your stroke and your breathing, but it is still not coming as easy as you think it should be. You are getting to air, but it still...
by Coach Mat | 28 Mar, 2017 | Discomfort, Fear, Mental Training, Overcoming Fear, Survival Instincts, Training Psychology
Coincidentally, just after I published the previous article Swimming Past Your Perceived Limits, I happen to listen to a particular podcast called Habits, Mindfulness, Addiction from Michael Gervais’s Finding Mastery podcast series. On this episode page the...
by Coach Mat | 25 Mar, 2017 | Breathing Trouble, Discomfort, Fear, Mental Training, Overcoming Fear, Test Swims
I’ve had some version of this conversation with a few different swimmers recently and the scenario is something like this: a swimmer is wondering how to work through the strong discomfort she encounters when swimming up to a certain distance in set – say...
by Coach Mat | 8 Aug, 2015 | Fear, Kaizen (Continual Improvement), Motivating Swimmers, Overcoming Fear, Recommended Reading
This is a diagram I made to supplement my thoughts in the previous essay on Overcoming Swimming Fears. I just want to outline the subject in this post, while I can see the opportunity to expand a lot on each section of this diagram. Zone A – Personal Comfort...
by Coach Mat | 1 Aug, 2015 | Fear, Freediving, Lessons From Elites, Mastery Process, Mental Training, Overcoming Fear
You may have heard it said something like this: there is no courage except in the presence of fear. Fear is what makes courage meaningful. *** The day before the Bosphorus Cross-Continental Race, while sitting at lunch on the boat during our pre-race training and...
