Strength Training | Mediterra Swim & Run

Don’t Work Against Your Own Motion

by Coach Mat | 21 Jul, 2018

I have been looking back at my notes from studying one of the books from The Pose Method of Running, by Nicholas Romanov, and ran across this quote on relaxation that had caught my attention previously. It adds another dimension to my thoughts shared in a previous...

How To Make Your Stroke Longer

by Coach Mat | 7 Jul, 2018

The universal speed equation is… Speed = Stroke Length x Stroke Rate If you want to go faster in the water you need to make stroke length (SL) longer without losing more than a calculated amount of stroke rate, or you need to make stroke rate (SR) higher without...

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...

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...

Why Do Sprint Work?

by Coach Mat | 14 May, 2017

A 46 year old swimmer from Azerbaijan has been working with me for some months through the Mediterra Swim Dojo, our online training site, to prepare for 10 km swimming this summer. Within the last year or so he’s gone from essentially a non-swimmer to a...

Priorities For Your General Conditioning

by Coach Mat | 6 May, 2017

Many swimmers wonder what kind of exercises they should do on dry-land that would help them with their swimming. I wanted to share with you what I do, what I have been doing for years, to maintain my joints for regular and varied activities, not just for swimming. ...