Train For Brain Power

by Coach Mat | 11 Dec, 2011

A lack of understanding of how the brain and body work together to learn new skills and achieve high performance can sabatoge our improvement. To help explain I’ll define two kinds of effort, and their result, the two kinds of exhaustion that we need to be aware...

Learning Requires Trust

by Coach Mat | 8 Dec, 2011

Continuing on with the topic of Challenging Normal, I’ll share a simple example of how even I, a swimmer quite focused on the details of my body and each movement, can develop a ‘blind-spot’, and greatly benefit from some outside feedback… In...

Challenging ‘NORMAL’

by Coach Mat | 5 Dec, 2011

Anyone who’s been swimming a while will have some sort of a ‘normal’ stroke- a pattern of movement that is accepted and so familiar that we are able to ignore it and think about other things. However, normal does not necessarily mean effective. What...

Go For Muscle Or Skill?

by Coach Mat | 19 Nov, 2011

I want to stimulate our thinking about the difference between focusing on building muscles (i.e. fitness) during swim practice versus focusing on building skill. Let’s take this example of the difference between a practice set using  paddles versus a set using a...

Pain Is A Messenger

by Coach Mat | 18 Nov, 2011

Pain is a messenger, not an enemy. First, I recognize that there are different kinds of pain, sending different kinds of messages: Some pain means healing or improvement is happening. Some pain is a warning that damage may come. Some pain is an alarm that damage is...

Training For Dry Land

by Coach Mat | 10 Nov, 2011

It’s a given that people seek out swimming to gain the benefits of physical fitness. In the TI Way we also recognize the benefits of mental fitness that our unique practice brings. More so, we realize that the skills we practice in the water can enhance our life...

Training For Dry Land

by Coach Mat | 10 Nov, 2011

It’s a given that people seek out swimming to gain the benefits of physical fitness. In the TI Way we also recognize the benefits of mental fitness that our unique practice brings. More so, we realize that the skills we practice in the water can enhance our life...

Rain Here, Rain There…

by Coach Mat | 9 Oct, 2011

I am on my way to Amsterdam tomorrow morning to conduct a private TI workshop for a few days. As if to prepare me for the climate change it started clouding up and raining today in Antalya. But this does not dampen the spirit of an Oregonian! No, this is my beloved...

How To Swim Like Phelps…

by Coach Mat | 27 Sep, 2011

Or  Popov, or Thorpe, or Torres, or [insert your favorite elite swimmer here]. Now that anyone can access video clips of elite swimmers in the middle of their winning races, there is a often a false assumption made when trying to extract technique ideas from those...

Who is a REAL open-water swimmer?

by Coach Mat | 11 Sep, 2011

Last week I met up with a couple from Lebanon. They heard about me in Antalya and invited me down to Kaş to give them an introductory TI lesson in the sea on their last day of vacation. I asked the gal if she liked to swim out in open-water. She started to explain how...