by Coach Mat | 2 Feb, 2019 | Aging, Aging and Improvement, Competitive/Performance Training, Distance Training, Fitness Training, How To Train?, Long Distance Training, Sprint Training, Sprint Training, Strength, Too Slow
Why Be Strong? You certainly want your shape and movement patterns to be streamline and efficient to reduce internal and external resistance to moving forward. But even then, you still need strength, because it defines your body’s ability to do work. Even when...
by Coach Mat | 19 Jan, 2019 | Attention, Attention/Focus, Competitive/Performance Training, Distraction, External Feedback, Feedback Loop, Fitness Training, Internal Feedback, Mental Training, Neurological Training, Self-Coaching, Swim Watch
In order to plan the next cycle of practices for a swimmer working towards a particular performance goal, I need to see various kinds of data from both their objective measurements and their subjective measurements. We are, after all, training the whole person to...
by Coach Mat | 12 Jan, 2019 | Competitive/Performance Training, Design Principles, Fitness Training, Focal Point Training, Focal Points, How To Train?, Learning Methods, Neurological Training, Plateau (No Progress), Progression, Self-Coaching, Skill Mastery, Training Theory
Continued from Part 2… I’ve mentioned before that my wife, Gail, is an ‘occupational therapist’. Occupational therapists, as they are called in the US, help people learn (or relearn) how to accomplish daily tasks that their damaged brain lost...
by Coach Mat | 5 Jan, 2019 | Competitive/Performance Training, Design Principles, Distance Training, How To Train?, Long Distance Training, Marathon Distance, Metabolic Training, Open Water Training, Practice Series
Continued from Part 1. How Much Is Enough To Be Comfortable? When someone asks me a version of this question, I need to know a few things to help guide them toward an answer that is more suitable to their personal situation: How do you want to finish this event:...
by Coach Mat | 5 Jan, 2019 | Competitive/Performance Training, Distance Training, How To Train?, Long Distance Training, Marathon Distance, Practice Series, Racing Misery, Running
I am often approached by swimmers thinking about preparing to swim a much longer distance than they have done before – like 4K (Ironman tri), 5K, 10K or 20K, or even 40K (for the English Channel). I receive this question in various forms, and it essentially asks...
by Coach Mat | 29 Dec, 2018 | Competitive/Performance Training, Design Principles, Fitness Training, Flow State, Focal Point Training, Focal Points, How To Train?, Learning Methods, Neurological Training, Neuromuscular Training, Plateau (No Progress), Progression, Recommended Reading, Self-Coaching, Skill Mastery, Training Theory
It should be well understood that there is a process, and usually a long process we must follow in moving from a novice to an expert in the fundamental skills for an art or sport. There is a process or a path to follow, but there is not a single ‘recipe’...
