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DVD Transcription
Coaching & Training for Triathlons
Using the VASA Ergometer
By Coach Al LymanUSAT Coaches Clinic
March 24th
, 2007
USAT Coaches Clinic
March 24, 2007
Coach Al Lyman, CSCSCoach Al Lyman, CSCS
www.Pursuitwww.Pursuit --Fitness.comFitness.com
Coach Al Lyman:
It is a great pleasure to be here with you today. I was thinking as I was driving up
here this morning with Tim that this is actually amazing that Im standing in front of a
group of coaches talking about swimming on any level. Before I get started on my
presentation, allow me to take a couple of minutes and say about my background as a
swimmer. When I was ten years old I had a near drowning experience that was pretty
serious. The even sent some pretty serious fear through my parents heart as literally
someone had to come, pull me out of the water, and revive me. From the time I was ten
years old until I was thirty-six I wouldnt go anywhere near water any deeper than waist
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deep. Thats right, until I was 36, and Im 47 now. Its amazing Im standing here. I still
cant believe it. In 1995 I was watching the Hawaii Ironman with my daughter Erin, who
at the time was 9 years old and is now a junior at Boston University. I was watching
Mark Allen make an incredible comeback in that race as he chased Thomas Hellriegel. I
think I have the right.anyway, it was just an amazing race. and I looked at Erin
and said: I am GOING TO DO the Hawaii Ironman! And, she immediately laughed at
me. She only laughed because she knew that her Dad (me!) was the guy that never went
near the water. The family went to the beach and I went to the pavilion! I mean, I had
some serious issues with fear of the water, and of course much of it was subconscious,
and I didnt fully understand it. What I went through to become who I am today and
having accomplished what I have as a swimmer is an amazing process that I think has
really empowered me as a coach. Amazingly, I did end up qualifying for Hawaii at Lake
Placid and DID end up competing at and finishing the 2000 Hawaii Ironman, and.Ive
been back to that race twice since. So between January of ninety six when I couldnt even
go near the water without my heart rate racing to peak levels, to finishing on Alli Drive
four years later has been an amazing ride, an incredible experience for me. Again, thats
just a little tid-bit on my background. As for how I got here to this point where I am
talking to you today about the Vasa Ergometer.
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!Background Info: How Did I Get Here?
!The VASA Ergometer: What Is It?
!Triathlon Swimming for Novice & Experienced:! Introduction: Basic Concepts & Fundamental Attributes
!What Are The Challenges?
!Where Is The Focus?!SR vs. SL: Total Immersion vs. Maglischo
!Training on the Vasa:!Novice & Experienced
!Testing
!Sample Sessions: Novice and Experienced
!Summary: What are the Advantages?
!Q & A
Clinic Overview:Clinic Overview:
First I want to let you know that this is the first time I have gotten up in front of a group
and talked about the VASA Ergometer. Before I tell you how I came to this point of
talking about the Ergometer, I want you first to know that I dont work for VASA. Im
just an endurance sports coach who owns my coaching business. Now I have quite a few
athletes that I coach that have it and use it, but I am not here to sell you an Ergometer, or
to tell you that you should go buy one. Im just here to tell you a little bit about what it
is, and then how we use it, and we will see a triathlete, Tim Mather, come up and
demonstrate a few things on it as well.
To keep moving forward and give you an overview of what I am going to discuss, I will
start by talking a little bit about triathlon swimming. Triathlon swimming for novice and
experienced, just so we can all have a base that we can all agree upon. Some basic
concepts, concepts fundamental attributes. I want to discuss the challenges for swimmers
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in triathlon, as well as WHERE is the swimmer/athletes focus, how are they training,
what are they doing to become a better swimmer and then to prepare for their races.
Then I will talk about training on the VASA, what do we do? What have I learned in the
time that I was first exposed to it, starting using it myself and then as time progressed to
the point where I now have a number of athletes using it. What have I learned? How do
we train? We will look at some sample sessions, and discuss some ideas of how we
actually set up workouts on the VASA. I will talk about what I think the advantages are
for it. I believe that this could turn out to be one of the most powerful tools, short of a
heart rate monitor or a treadmill or a bike trainer, for a triathlete that weve seen come
along in a really long time, and the athletes that I coach who have one tend to agree with
that concept. This is a really powerful tool. We will have some time afterwards, I hope,
for some question and answer, but if you have any questions at all, any thoughts you
would like to share, please raise your hands. This is a very informal presentation.
Some Background Information:
!How did I get here?
!Summer of 2005
!Shoulder Rehab
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So, some background on how I got here: First of all in my development as a swimmer,
like many of you, I was exposed to a traditional Vasatrainer through the pool that I
swam at, which had a Vasatrainer on deck. I found that original Vasa to be a very
valuable tool, because even though I began the process of becoming a swimmer through
the Total Immersion school of swimming, and of course I attended as many workshops
and camps as I could, and read books and tried to learn about the sport as much as
possible, the fact was that I was beginning to understand the importance of stroke
technique and what I needed to actually do, and I found the Vasatrainer to be a valuable
tool to develop that stroke technique.
If we move ahead now to May 2005, something happened which changed some things for
me immediately. I had a pretty serious bike crash, having been hit by a car. The impact
sent me to the ground where I was knocked out cold and subsequently hospitalized. One
of the injuries that I suffered from that crash was a severe grade-4 AC separation of my
left shoulder. I refused to get surgery despite some recommendations to seriously
consider GETTING surgery, because I really believed my body could heal itself. That
was in May of 2005. In June 2005 I was in Lake Placid conducting a training camp with
athletes that I coach, and of course, Im trying to train as much as I can, and it was very
difficult to do because of the pain and instability of my shoulder, especially because I was
actively working on the process of rehabilitation. I was speaking to a coach that I know
who happened to be in Lake Placid at the same time and I was telling him that it was
probably about time for me to go buy a Vasatrainer because I really felt that it would be a
valuable tool for me to help rehabilitate my injury. He said what you really want is a
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VASA Ergometer. Have you heard about it? Its the latest thing that VASA has come out
with? You should take a look at it. I said to him that I dont have any idea what an
Ergometer is, but I will take a look at it. I really trusted this coach and I valued his input
so I decided to do some research on the Ergometer. Believe it or not I ended up just
throwing caution to the wind and ordering one for myself. A close friend of my who
happens to be a client said well if your getting one I will get one too. So in late June or
early July of 2005, we both got one together. This other guy is a pretty accomplished
swimmer, as he swam D1 at Syracuse University. For example, without doing much
training at all, perhaps two to three swim sessions a week of maybe eight to ten thousand
yards, he could swim an hour for an ironman swim without working very hard at all. So I
began to use the Ergometer at very low levels just to try to rehabilitate my shoulder, not
really thinking about it as a way to become a better swimmer or to increase my fitness but
really just to go through some basic swim strokes, and rehabilitate my shoulder by going
through some external rotation strength training for my rotator cuff, things to really
rebuild and return my shoulder to the point where I could really function and return to
swimming. A couple months went by and I began to progress on it and get a little bit
stronger and feel a little bit better. For about three months, I didnt touch the water at all
or do any swimming. When I finally returned to the pool and swam a few hundred yards
to try and get a feel for the water back, my shoulder felt a little weird but it felt ok. Low
and behold by the middle of the swim workout I was holding the same exact swim speed
or pace at the same relative intensity as I had before I was injured. At to this the fact that
before I was injured, I was using a swimming program that Monica Byrn had created for
me. So I was swimming a fair large amount, perhaps four to six thousand yards, and was
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really trying to get better. That included a fairly large amount of higher intensity stuff
too. Those of you who know Monica (she herself is a professional triathlete with
renowned swim strength) know shes a serious athlete and a serious coach. I was
pushing myself pretty hard. When I returned to swimming after having gone through this
injury and focused pretty much only on rehab, and I was swimming the same speed that I
was swimming, I was thinking, what is going on here? I didnt expect that at all. That
began this process of discovering what this Ergometer could do for me as a swimmer. So
thats really it. It began with rehab and then this realization that this was actually a pretty
powerful training tool.
Electronic Monitor Fan FlywheelDamper Door (resistance)
The VASA ErgometerThe VASA Ergometer
Tether
Handles
Swim Paddles
So this is the Ergometer here. Of course you can see the fan flywheel. The damper door is
the adjustment for the resistance on the erg. Those of you that are familiar with the
VASA trainer, it is pretty similar in terms of its setup, with the fan flywheel being the
major difference. The resistance that it provides really does feel like water resistance
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its actually pretty amazing. Now one thing I would really encourage all of you to do is get
on this and experience it. Feel what it actually feels like to swim on it. So you can get the
sense about what it actually is, and how it feels.
Calories
Power (average watts)
Pace per 100m Maximum Force
Stroke Length
(cm)
Average Force
(Rt & Lf)
The VASA MonitorThe VASA Monitor
Tim will demonstrate a little bit for us as we go along here. The critical piece of
electronics on the VASA erg that is pretty unique to it is the monitor. The monitor is
really what gives you all the feedback in terms of what your actually doing on it, such as
wattage or power, pace per one hundred meters, and then of course maximum power
maximum force, stroke length in centimeters, and then average force for right and left
arm. This data, in particular, was actually very important for me is I began to rehab my
shoulder, as I could actually see how much more power I was putting out with my right
arm versus my left arm. It allowed me to focus more on that weaker side and develop it
progressively. There are a couple of different views that we can see, the displays, and
there is a lot that you can do with this monitor in terms of setting up workouts, to
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countdowns you can look at the displays in a variety of different ways. There is a stroke
timer that will beep along and give you an idea about stroke length which is something
we will talk about a little bit later. There is a lot of information that you can gain from
this and there is a lot of information that I talk about with the athletes that I coach that
have it.
Efficient freestyle is summarized by thesetwo basic concepts:
You want to learn to REDUCE DRAGREDUCE DRAG
This means rigidly maintaining a relaxed and streamlined
position during every phase of the stroke.
Triathlon Swimming:Basic Concepts & Fundamental Attributes
**You want to generate MORE PROPULSIONMORE PROPULSION
This means leveraging your arm strokes by rigidly
holding relaxed correctcorrect technique in all distances
trained.
So, lets shift to triathlon swimming for just a moment and sort of come back and, I
guess, ground ourselves in what I think are important fundamentals, because it is really
important I think when looking at the value of the erg. Now if we simplify swimming and
look at basic concepts, swimming well is really about reducing drag, (rigidly maintaining
a relaxed and streamlined position during every phase of the stroke), and it is about
creating more propulsion (leveraging those arm strokes by rigidly holding relaxed correct
technique). Those basic concepts were introduced to me by a great swim coach, Haydn
Wooley. I think its good to look at what are we trying to accomplish as a swimmer.
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Those are the fundamental concepts. Obviously the VASA is about generating more
propulsion, that is really what we are talking about here. Its not obviously or even
necessarily about trying to become more streamlined. Ironically enough however, as one
gains functional strength and applies correct technique with the Erg, I do think flexibility
in the arms, shoulders, and upper back, will improve!
What are the three fundamental attributes that
every single good swimmer possesses?
#1- Efficient technical SKILLSand HABITS
#2- Very high levels of FLEXIBILITY (arms, shoulders,back, ankles)
#3- *SPECIFIC NEUROMUSCULAR STRENGTH
What is SNS?
It is muscular strength that is gained by moving
your body ONLY through the movement
patterns of an efficient swimmer: the right
technique!
What are the three, or at least what I think of as the three fundamental attributes of every
single good swimmer that we know of? Number one, they all have efficient skills and
habits. Number two they have high levels of flexibility, which is something that most
triathletes tend to downplay but is significant in swimming! For any of you that are
accomplished swimmers, you are well aware of this! Third, they have high levels of
specific neuromuscular strength. When I talk to athletes about strength they intuitively
immediately think, you know.bench press, arm curls, the typical kinds of strength
training exercises that we commonly think of. The reality is that when I think of
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swimming strength Im talking about coordination. Im talking about timing, and the
ability to hold a high elbow, especially at the front end of the stroke. That is where I think
the VASA really plays a significant role. And it is not just the VASA. I think, before I got
on the erg, I was using stretch cords and other forms of resistance to teach athletes to
bend the elbow and keep the elbow high and through the pull phase of the stroke and all
these things that we are talking about. Its about muscle memory. Its about teaching
coordination. Its about repeating it over and over and over again. So again, to reiterate,
neuromuscular strength is the muscular strength that is gained by moving your body only
through the movement patterns of an efficient swimmer. One of the things that I found
using the VASA during my rehab process was again very, very low levels of resistance
short duration, relatively high frequency, only trying to move my arm in a way that was
absolutely correct. Trying to retrain the muscles. Trying not to put any stress on the
shoulder, and rebuild strength around the shoulder was critical for my rehab. Something
the erg is really, really good for.
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Triathlon Swimming:What Are The Challenges?
For the Novice:
! Learn proper technique apply it consistently improve!
! Time! family, work, training: life commitments, 24 hrs in a day
! Open water: mass starts, chop, currents, chaos/mayhem
For the Experienced:
! Time! same as above
! Open water: same as above
! Commitment in training hours vs. the potential for
material improvement! Efficiency
! Race-specific muscular endurance, power, speed
Now that we all agree upon that. So what are the challenges for triathletes. In other
words, what are we actually trying to overcome to prepare for a race, because sometimes
we get hung up on debating this school of learning or that school of learning or, talk
about these are the steps that you or I need to go through. The reality is that when an
athlete comes to me for coaching and they say, for example, Ive signed up for Ironman
Florida and I need you to help me prepare for that race. What we are looking at is the
reality that they have to swim 2.4 miles in what could be difficult conditions. There could
be a lot of wind. There could be a lot of chop. There could be a strong current. So they
need to have the ability to get through that swim and continue on as though it was just the
warm up to their day. Now that being said, I want to first mention that for the novice the
basic challenges are, that they want to learn proper technique and then apply it
consistently so that they can improve. Obviously the other two major issues which I sort
of eluded to: one is the open water, that is a real challenge in our sport, and the other is
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time. One of the things that I found (I told you I entered this sport of triathlon by telling
myself that I was going to finish the Hawaii Ironman, and I was afraid of the water) was
clearly, I needed to go back to the water, to a pool, and swim a lot, e.g. frequently. I had
to constantly get myself closer to the water, and get in it! This wasnt the easiest thing for
me to do! So I found that for that first year or two that I was involved in the sport of
triathlon that I was going to the pool all the time. I was the guy who was always driving
TO the pool or driving home FROM the pool. I was always changing to get into the
water or to get out of the water. Sometimes I was only in the water for fifteen minutes.
My point is that this whole process of finding enough TIME to drive to and from and do
an actual swimming session is a major challenge for us as triathletes. We are all busy, we
all have jobs, and multiple levels of responsibility. We all know that going to the pool is
probably the most challenging in terms of the time commitment involved. For the
experienced athlete it can be very similar. Time and the open water, while probably a
different level, are the same challenges that exist. The other major challenge for the
experienced athlete, and this again I think applies to the VASA ergometer, is the
commitment of time necessary VERSUS the potential reward or improvement FROM
that time commitment. In other words, take a hypothetical athlete: this other athlete who
was my friend and client that bought an erg at the same time I did. If he swims an hour in
an Ironman and he runs four and a half hours, where do you think he should be spending
his training time? Probably more on the run, relatively speaking. In other words, a 1 hr
IM swim is better comparatively speaking, than a 4.5 hr run. If he got to the point
where he improved his run and perhaps his bike, he could go back and spend more time
on his swim to raise his level. What I found as a coach is that you reach a point in time
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where you have to contribute significantly more time in order to get relatively minimal
benefit. I think perhaps some of you who are very strong swimmers might have
experienced what it is like to try and go from a 55 minute to a 52 minute swimmer in an
Ironman. Or maybe for those of you who more closely represent the middle of the pack
athetes, perhaps a 1:15 to a 1:05. This takes a significant time commitment to go from
one level to the next. The question we always have to ask is, is it worth it? In other
words, is the time we are spending on something worth the potential rewards? Are we
being EFFICIENT with the time we are spending? Thats a huge challenge I think, for an
experienced athlete. How much time am I willing to commit for the potential
improvement in my swimming. I have thought of this in another way as well. I think my
experience having coached lots of age group athletes, that just between you and I as
coaches, most of the age group athletes that I have worked with that I think are solidly in
the middle of the pack in terms of swimming, most of them are going to be there for their
entire careers as triathletes. Thats pretty much where they are going to stay. If a 35 year
old athlete comes to me who is a 1:06 or a 1:05 Ironman swimmer, 5 years from now
they are probably going to still be a 1:05 or a 1:06 swimmer. They might have improved
by a few minutes, or slowed by a few minutes, but the hard reality, my experience as a
coach, is that they will likely remain about the same in terms of their basic ability.
Obviously this is a HUGE generalization, and much of their potential for swimming
improvement is based upon where their bike and run ability is, in other words, where
should they be spending the majority of their training time and effort. So we have to look
at that time commitment and where we want to spend that time.
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Triathlon Swimming:Where is the Focus?
For the Novice:
! Understanding what to do vs. ability to execute...* See next slide
! TI school vs. Maglischo school:
What are the considerations?
- Transferring lie on your side and glide
- The reality of a triathlon open -water swim
- What about the kick?
Where is the focus? Now again two things I want to talk about, and again this is my
perspective. My experience. One of the things I found with working with beginning level
swimmers (and remember I as an adult was a beginning level swimmer so I have been
through this whole process of learning about how to swim) was that even though I could
get a novice level athlete to understand what they were supposed to do in the water, I
very often couldnt get them to do it or they couldnt do it, because they lacked either the
flexibility or the strength to do it. I probably should back up for a second and also qualify
my remarks by saying that BEFORE I worry too much about stroke technique, I truly
believe that we want to consider the basic fundamentals of swimming such as horizontal
position in the water, balance in the water, being relaxed, being streamlined, as a given. I
know its not a given for many novice triathletes and swimmers, but so you know I
wouldnt necessarily focus a lot on the front end of a swim stroke for an athlete who is
challenged in those basic areas. We are focusing on those aspects first and we want to
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make sure that we have an understanding of what they are supposed to do. When we go
to the next level and begin to think about stroke technique and how they can create more
propulsion, how they can have less dead spot in their stroke, how they can actually start
to move through the water, THATS when I at least begin to talk more about the front
end of the stroke and how they are catching and grabbing the water and/or pulling. Like
I said, even though I could get an athlete to understand what they were supposed to do I
couldnt get them to do it because they simply didnt have the strength or the flexibility to
do it. I dont know if you have had those athletes that you have worked with and your
talking to them and trying to get them to understand the concept of a high elbow and how
they need to be reaching over the barrel, or how there needs to be the sort of connection
with the water at the front end of the stroke. I found that many simply lacked the strength
or the flexibility to be able to do it. The erg has been hugely valuable for that, for novice
and experienced athletes, but particularly for novice. The other focus or issue that I see in
schools of swimming is the Total Immersion school versus the Maglischo School.
Now, Neil (Cook) is sort of nodding his head.I think it was February a year ago we
were both attending the USAT coaches conference in Colorado Springs. Ernest
Maglischo made a presentation at that conference. He is a very well known and highly
respected swim coach who has coached numerous national champions. He spoke at
length about how triathletes train, and talked about the Total Immersion school and the
whole idea that we theoretically should have a front quadrant stroke, that and we
should be long and gliding. He said he couldnt understand why triathletes were thinking
this way. He conveyed the idea that that approach or school of swimming and learning
comes from a school of pure swimmers that have strong kicks that allow them to keep
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that forward momentum and the inertia moving forward. Those pure pool swimmers
are also not swimming the in kind of environments that we, as triathletes, are swimming
in. So there are really two schools of thought there that are different. I tend to agree with
Maglischo, but of course as I mentioned earlier, this assumes that basic body position and
relaxation are essentially in place. I tend to think the reality is that in the open water, you
need to get your arms moving - you need to be putting pressure on the water and moving
forward. For example, a common drill used by many novices is where you are lying on
your side gliding and kicking with fins. This is perhaps an excellent drill to teach body
position, but how does it transfer to the open water? It usually doesnt and most often we
get shocked when we try to make that transference. The kick is the other obvious factor
as well. Accomplished and/or competitive pool swimmers tend to have very strong kicks
which remove any dead spot in a front quadrant stroke. I apologize because I know I am
making some assumptions that when Im talking about these aspects of swimming such
as front quadrant, etc., that you are all understanding what Im talking about. So I
apologize if any of what I am saying is creating more confusion or not making sense. I
do think that those are very important considerations to make for me as a coach and
working with the ergometer, because this tool helps us to focus on creating the strength
and skill that allow us to really improve in the water. Creating propulsion and creating
stroke rate directly applies to the open water and the challenges we face as triathletes.
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Ref erence: Haydn Wooley Future Dreams
This is kind of a nice slide which a great swim coach from NZ, Hayden Wooly, shared
with me. This gives us an overview of what we are talking about in terms of a high elbow
and what I would consider to be correct front end technique. At the top we have a
dropped elbow which results in a lot of slippage in the water and very little forward
propulsion. In the middle graphic we have sort of a straight arm catch/pull with a little bit
of slipping, and a little bit more forward propulsion, and lastly here we have a high elbow
that creates a lot more forward propulsion. We had a video I wanted to show you, which
we couldnt get working that actually has Tim (our guest swimmer who will demonstrate
the Erg) the very first time he came to a swim clinic that I did and we did some
underwater video taping. Tim had some good basic fundamental skills, good balance,
good streamlining, he was pretty relaxed, but one of the major errors in his stroke was
that he pulled with a nearly straight arm. As soon as I saw that, I said to myself instantly
that he is going to have shoulder problems if he keeps that up. That kind of pull really
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loads the smaller muscles of the shoulder such as the rotator cuff, putting all the stress on
the shoulder. He is NOT tapping into the larger muscles of the back. He is not swimming
efficiently either, because when his arm is right here he is creating a tremendous amount
of drag as well. I said, we need to fix that. We need to get him so his elbow is higher,
which in turn will create a larger paddle, and give him a much greater amount of
propulsion. He is going to be more efficient, and he is going to swim much faster, and he
will avoid stressing the shoulder and risking injury. Tim will tell you (and I will actually
give him a chance to tell you about it here soon), while we talked about this a lot it wasnt
until he actually got onto the erg and was able to practice that it actually made a mental
connection for him.
This (looking up at a slide of Grant Hackett) is the world record holder in the 1500
meters so this is an ideal that few of us can actually achieve, but I like to use this as a
model to teach people what they should be doing on the VASA. By the way, I do take
complete novices in terms of swimming and while we are in the pool working on balance
and body position, I get them on the erg with no other distractions, that is, no water, no
waves, no breathing issues, and we go through these kinds of swim strokes so that they
can get a sense of what they should be doing. We are also doing this on dryland in
front of mirrors, and also using stretch cords, so they get a sense of what they need to do.
I want them to get this idea right off the bat that what we dont want to happen is for
them to drop the elbow when they initiate the catch. When they do drop that elbow,
stress is placed on the shoulder and they dont tap into these larger muscles of the back,
we get shoulder pain and risk of injury goes way up, and of course we create a
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with 50 meters and he is at door level one right now which is the lowest level of
resistance. So we are starting at a low level only focusing on specific neuromuscular
movements that build correct strength. When we start learning what is correct and how to
use the erg correctly, we are able to take the water, the breathing, the other swimmers, out
of the picture. What I find as a coach is that if I am working with someone on the deck
and they are in the water about every ten or fifteen strokes they do one thats right
(correct) and I want to stop them right there and say, STOP!, that was correct, right there!
But I often cant, and then they go on and do the next ten or fifteen or even twenty
strokes incorrectly before doing one right again. They might be crossing over the
midline, or some other common error. Something is happening that is throwing off their
stroke. We all know there are several factors going into it and its usually not as simple as
it appears. Using the erg provides an opportunity for an athlete to stay at a low level of
resistance for a short duration of time and build correct strength. We have an opportunity
to learn and practice correct coordination the way that it should be. We can then progress
over time by adding resistance, duration, frequency and so forth. One of the reasons I
asked you to get on it either today or tomorrow at the expo is so that you get to feel what
doing a hundred meters on this actually feels like, in terms of the specific strength it
actually takes. Much more valuable in terms of strength I think as far as swimming goes.
One of the concerns that I had when I got on it is that we know we need to rotate at the
hips. When we talk about swimming we have hip rotation and we have shoulder rotation
which are two major kinds of rotation. Obviously on the erg we are not rotating the hips
the way we would typically do in the water, and Im sure you might be asking (as I did at
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one time), isnt there a problem with that? Actually, what I have discovered (and again
your experience may be different, this is only MY experience as a coach) is that the Total
Immersion school in which most of my novice athletes have been introduced to
swimming through (and again I DONT want to hammer on Total Immersion because I
think there is a lot of value to that particular approach and school of swimming when it
comes to learning, relaxation, streamlining, and all of those things which are so valuable
and essential for success), butone of the things that I have found is that swimmers
come to me feeling that they are NOT rotating enough at the hip, and I usually always
find that the opposite is true and that they are rotating TOO much. Some of them are
learning that the belly button should be pointed at the side of the pool. In reality when we
watch elites, they are no where near that level of hip rotation. Again it is a learning
process, and I understand that, but a novice swimmer asks me if they are rotating enough
and they are going like this, and I say, I dont think there is a problem with not enough
rotation. I think there is enough hip rotation there. In fact, I find that there may be TOO
much because, they often lack flexibility in their upper body, and when you go to the side
your arm goes like that (across the midline). So we are trying to fix a lot of issues here.
So I havent found the lack of hip rotation to be a problem AT ALL, with most novices I
have worked with. In fact, alsoTim will tell you that we are actually rotating the hip a
little bit on the erg. Pressing that hip right into the pad. Some athletes will actually ad a
half foam roller so they are getting that hip rotation. I think you DO need to think about
that when youre on the erg. You actually need to engage the hip, think of your core as
leverage for this arm stroke as you rotate your shoulder forward and really engage the
upper back muscles.
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Triathlon Swimming:Where is the Focus?
For the Experienced:
! Practicing correct technique at varying resistance and
intensity (progressive overload) leading to improved:
Force
Muscular Endurance
Efficiency
Power
! Training to hold a HIGHER stroke rate:
More inertia
Less slowing down / speeding up
Save legs: leads to an efficient 2 -beat kick
Specificity of training: open water
Training on the Vasa:Novice
FundamentalFundamental functionalfunctional strength & flexibilitystrength & flexibility
improvedimproved swim techniqueswim technique
- Low resistance levels
- Short to medium durations
- High frequency
- Low to moderate volume
GOAL: Methodical - consistent development of correct
coordination and functional strength
Let me try to separate athletes out here a little bit and talk about both novice and
experienced. Obviously there are many who fit in between two extremes and across the
gamut, such as Tim, who really is somewhere closer to experienced, but yet has much
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room for improvement. In other words, when he came to me he wasnt a novice. He
could complete a race, he could complete a 2000 yard swim workout. He was probably
swimming somewhere around a 1:50 per 100 pace. In reality, he was a pretty solid
triathlete swimmer, but he obviously could be a lot better, and definitely more efficient.
For the novice swimmer I think of the VASA as a tool to increase functional strength that
then allows them to go to the pool and improve their swimming. I should say that I think
of it that way, the reality is that my clients taught me that through our interaction as we
developed some thoughts on how to use this cutting edge tool to improve. There arent
that many coaches or athletes out there who are working on this right now. Ive got a lot
of smart clients that I coach that are a lot smarter than I am and they began to teach me
these things as well.
For a novice athlete, weve found that its helpful if you build some functional strength
first using the Erg and then go to the pool and work on skill and strength together. So
again fundamental strength and flexibility together. As a note for those of you who are
beginning coaches working with swimmers, you need to emphasize the importance of
flexibility, and the fact that without decent levels of flexibility, you cant do the things we
are talking about or even come close to what a Grant Hackett does. Very few people can
do what he does at the front end, because they would dislocate their shoulder every time
they take a stroke! So its about fundamental technical strength that leads to improved
technique. For novices we are looking at very low resistance levels, short medium
durations, relatively high frequency and low to moderate volume. In their training
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sessions its a huge advantage with the VASA. For me, remember I was the guy
struggling to get closer to the water so I could learn, so every time I go to do 500 or 1000
yards it ended up being two hours of time. At the most I could do it five days a week,
working to fit in everything in my life that I needed to fit in. On the VASA for those
athletes that happen to have one, they can jump on it for 50 meters at a time, sometimes
multiple times in a day, so we have the ability for frequency in this learning process. And
again, were using very low resistance levels and we are focusing on perfect technique.
That is, methodical, consistent development of correct coordination and functional
strength.
Training on the Vasa :Experienced
EnhancedEnhanced functional strength & flexibilityfunctional strength & flexibility
refinedrefined skillsskills
muscular endurancemuscular endurance -- powerpower -- speedspeed -- staminastamina
- Low, medium, and high resistance levels
- Moderate frequency
- Moderate volume
- Large varieties of: stroke rate - power resistance
- Higher overall intensity: Swimervals
- Integration of total -body functional ST exercises
GOAL: Improved performance at goal race intensity
For the experienced most of the athletes that I coach that have the VASA that were
already accomplished swimmers were taking already a high level of functional strength,
were trying to refine it and make them more efficient and more powerful. Ultimately we
want to improve their muscular endurance, power, speed, and stamina. So we are really
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training them for their events. We have this tool that gives us instant feedback about that.
What is our wattage on any given day? Most of us are familiar with a power meter for a
bike, and we all know the value of a power meter. With it, we have empirical and
instantaneous data to show us if we are training at the appropriate intensity, and whether
or not we are improving. Well the VASA is giving us that as well. We clearly know at
x heart rate that if I can hold 1:40 pace and 40 watts on one particular day or week and
can do x amount better, and of course assuming that our form hasnt deteriorated, and
thats a big IF, then we know we have improved. Experienced athletes will use all
different varieties of resistance levels, moderate to high frequency, moderate to high
volumes, large varieties of stroke rates, power, and resistance, higher overall intensity,
and then well integrate total body functional strength training exercises as well. We use
the VASA now in a lot of different ways. We are doing some core conditioning we are
doing some body weight conditioning, we are on and off the machine.
Individualized Baseline Testing for
Intermediate / Advanced Swimmers:
1k Steady State
Done at preferred power/pace & SR.
Approx. 75% of max, or about half IM intensity
Avoids compromising technique for more power
1k Time Trial
Maximum effort
Best power/pace for the duration
Preferred SR
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One of the things I didnt elude to earlier that Maglischo talked about was this issue of
stroke rate and where should athletes be, because when we have a front quadrant stroke
and we dont have a strong kick, the issue of stroke rate becomes hugely important. Of
course, you can imagine what my kick is like, after having run for 25 years with all that
scar tissue in my ankle that has turned them into rigid boards that dont bend! Every time
I get on a kick board I go in the opposite direction than I am supposed to go!! I think that
many triathletes are like that who dont come from deep swim backgrounds. The idea
with a front quadrant stroke (as when we watch an elite level swimmer do it), there is that
period of time where there isnt a lot of pressure on the water but they have very
powerful kicks that help continue that forward momentum. When a swimmer comes to
me with a very pronounced front quadrant stroke and they have no real or effective
kick, and I say, ok, lets take the fins off, they dont go anywhere! They stay in place.
How are we going to transfer that to the open water, or to their races? Thats what they
came to me for. What we do is weve got to get their arms moving. Weve got to get their
stroke rate up, and that is basically the point that Ernie Maglischo made at the Coaching
Conference. He said triathletes need to train at much larger varieties: high resistance, low
resistance, high speed, low speed, and the Vasa Erg has been a great tool for that. We
have seven door resistance levels so we can work at a really high resistance and a low
stroke rate to build force and strength in a correct neuromuscular coordinated pattern. We
can also reduce the resistance to minimal and really get the arms moving to train a higher
SR. Its all about specific training. Increasing stroke rate. Variety is something we really
emphasize on the erg and I think most triathletes who typically swim in a pool tend to do
the same kinds of sessions at the same stroke rate and the same intensity over and over
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again. I believe that hurts them in how they are able to adapt and improve. Of course,
what also happens is what occurs when you throw a triathlete into a typical masters
swimming program and they have minimal levels of functional strength or skill, and the
coach says, ok we are going to do 8x 25 SPRINT on one minute! What does that
swimmer/triathlete do? They try to hang on for dear life, as the arms just start flailing.
There is no high elbow; there is no form, no technique, no nothing. For the rest of the day
their shoulders hurt! What did they end up doing that helped them learn or help them get
better? Nothing really. On the Erg, we are able to control that a little bit better because
all the athletes that I work with on this KNOW that technique is number one in terms of
priorities. Absolute perfect form. And, you can see it. For example, we will do a one
arm drill or whatever we are working on, slowly, progressively, only building correct
technique and strength.
We have also come up with a couple of baseline tests that we have found work well. So,
for reference, now I am transitioning a bit to talking about actually training on the
VASA vs. learning per se, even though they are nearly one in the same. So, I have
athletes, once they have established a basic level of strength and ability on the Erg, do a
couple of different baseline tests to establish where they are at on their ability. A 1K time
trial seemed like the obvious choice except that you could put an athlete on a device and
say you win if you go faster or harder than the next person and what do they do? They are
looking at a number, and as a result, theyll usually go so hard that their form suffers, and
they might even get hurt. So clearly that didnt work for me and it didnt work for the
athletes that I coach. We wanted a test that would give us a valuable number but that was
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done with correct technique. We went first to a steady state test. We do it at preferred or
self selected power or pace, and stroke rate. My experience tells me that it usually
comes out to be about half ironman intensity, I think. The major advantage is that it
helps avoid compromising technique, simply to gain more power. For the more
experienced athletes who I am confident in their strength and flexibility, we will do a
maximum effort 1K time trial. This test really establishes a baseline to gauge where
their progress is, and of course we are looking at a lot of variables throughout the time
that they are training on it.
* All of the below include a 30 non-active recovery ( nar)
between each set.
* Drills and Functional strength (RC) work are in addition
to the below
1. 6x 25 @ 15 nar, repeat. Total: 300m
2. 8x 25 @ 15 nar, repeat. Total: 400m
3. 4x 50 @ 15 nar, repeat . Total: 400m
4. 12x 25 @ 10 nar, repeat . Total: 600m5. 5x 50 @ 10 nar, repeat. Total: 500m
6. 16x 25 @ 10 nar, repeat , Total: 800m
7. 8x 50 @ 15 nar, repeat, Total: 800m
8. 4x 75 @ 15 nar, repeat, Total: 600m
9. 8x 50 @ 10 nar, repeat, Total: 800m
10. 4x 100 @ 30 nar, repeat , Total: 800m
Sample Progressions for Novice:
So, now we can look at some sample sessions for a variety of ability levels. These
sample sessions for a novice athlete are done at a very low level of resistance, a high
level of frequency, and usually a short duration. So, you are reading correctly, its literally
only 6x 25 at fifteen seconds non-active recovery. These are very short sessions, but the
point is that they know they need to do these WITH PERFECT form. Over time, with
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lots of frequency they begin to develop the functional strength they NEED to have, to be
able to transfer it to the pool.
As an aside, on the erg I should say that actually 100 meter pace that you get as a readout
on the monitor correlates with wattage and, it appears from some feedback from others
and in my own experience, is actually very realistic compared to real swimming. Rob,
would you agree, based on your experience, that when swimmers actually swim at a
relative intensity on the erg and get a certain feedback in terms of their speed, that when
they go to the pool it is pretty close?
Rob: Let me qualify that by saying that pace/100M is realistic to pulling, no start and no
turns.
Al:
Right, and remember also that it is meters, not yards. So, this is a sample of how I might
progress with a novice athlete. Basically we are increasing frequency, duration, and
cutting down on the amount of non active recovery, and over time, ultimately our goal is
to increase volume and intensity, using ONLY perfect form.
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Six Sample Sessions:Experienced
General Notes:
!Usually up to 3k, rarely above on average 1.5 -2k!Target for most: 3 quality sessions per week during build
!Frequently use 400 -500m as prelude to bike/run sessions
!Long indoor bike days: rotate VASA and bike trainer
! Incorporate RC (shoulder) / functional strength exercises
!As bike / run taper > VASA frequency / volume increase
!Mirror / videotape: watch and ensure perfect elbow position
! Incorporate slight HIP roll / rotation timed w/ shoulder rotati on
Technique / Muscular Cues:
!Where is tightness or soreness?
!Triceps / inner elbow / deep shoulders:
- dropping the elbow! !
!Upper Pecs, Lats, Upper Abs:- proper technique on! !
For experienced athletes, some athletes, like Tim, might do up to about 3K, believe it or
not, which is pretty significant on the Erg. Thats an hour of straight work on it. That
being said, we rarely go above that, and on average we are using sessions of about 1-2K.
In terms of frequency for experienced, for most we are targeting about three quality
sessions per week. When I talk about the advantages of the erg, there is a lot of
opportunity for frequent swim to bike transition, at least in terms of creating the feeling
of upper body fatigue, which many of our athletes dont have the opportunity to do too
often because it is very inconvenient to jump out of the pool and then onto your bike.
You all know that in racing that is a weird feeling and you know it is something that you
need to get use to, which is essentially doing all of that work with your upper body in a
horizontal position, and then shifting to the bike. For the ironman athletes that I coach
and even for the more competitive middle distance athletes, we are doing lots of frequent
swim to bikes with the Erg. We are proceeding those long ironman focused training rides
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with four to five hundred on the VASA. Fifteen minutes seems to be just enough to create
that fatigue and that feeling of what its like to come out of the water and then jump on
the bike. For long indoor bike days, we will rotate the VASA and bike training in an
effort to mix it up and keep it fun and interesting. Tim, do you want to jump on and just
show us a couple of the functional strength training exercises that we could do? As I
mention I use the VASA as primarily a strength training device at first. Now the VASA
folks could talk to you a lot about that, and of course their website is loaded with
exercises that you can do on the erg and that you can do on the VASA trainer. One of the
things that I did a lot of at first was external rotation exercises for the shoulder. Most of
us dont need a lot of internal rotation exercises because internal rotators tend to be pretty
strong already. This is what was really helpful for me was the rebuilding of the teres
minor and infraspinatus (rotator cuff) muscles that are responsible for keeping the
humeral head in place. This is an example of this exercise using it sort of like a cable
device. It is just something that is really valuable and we can use it in that respect. Using
handles rather than the paddles in this position, for these types of exercises, works pretty
well. There is a lot of functional strength training exercises you can do on this device and
actually swimming on it is in and of itself, obviously a very good functional strength
exercise.
For the athletes that I coach who live far away from me, I ask them to video tape
themselves and send it to me. Thats my biggest concern is that I am not watching them
swimming on it. So they are telling me they are doing great but perhaps their form isnt
as good as they SAY it is. Just like Patrick said earlier, hes wondering, are they building
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poor form or good form. Tim will show you that as he starts to warm up a little bit, he
gets a little bit of hip rotation as he initiates hip rotation timed with the shoulder rotation.
We are using technique and muscular cues too. This isnt anything that you all dont
know already. We are looking for any tightness and soreness in the inner elbow, triceps
and deep shoulders. It may be an indication if the swimmer is dropping the elbow or
using poor form. If we have soreness here then it is an indication that we are looking at
correct form.
Audience Question:
I noticed that Tim is holding his head up and thats not proper technique. Does it affect
you in the water?
Al:
Well you know it is an interesting topic that we were talking about actually a couple days
ago. It doesnt reinforce what we want in the water, which is to be looking down keeping
our head in line with our spine, but interestingly enough in the open water environment
you ARE going to be sighting, and you ARE going to have to look up. Not only that but
if youre in the aero bars your going to have to look up as well too. Tim actually thinks its
good training. In other words, as long as you are aware that you do NOT want to swim
that way when you are in the water, at least on a routine bases, it actually helps to build
strength.
Tim:
I have a mirror in front of mine, so its natural for me to be looking up. And at first, like
you said, most people get a little messed up. But it does actually work the neck muscles
and upper back muscles for an aero position. It sounds like Im building neuromuscular
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memory but in the water, Ive never had a problem going back in the water and looking
down, swimming down.
Al:
What Ive found Neil, is that Ive looked at a lot of athletes relatively speaking and we all
know that for every action there is a reaction of some kind and Ive tried to interpret what
the movements on the VASA really mean. Rob may be able to elude to this as well but
what I do as a coach when Im trying to convey something to the athletes is we focus on
keeping it real, which is just like in the water we are going to bend the elbow, we are
going to keep the elbow high, we are going to lead with the hand, the fingers are pointed
down and we are going to pull straight back. We are not going to cross over at the
midline. We all know that crossing over at the midline, whether it happens to be a
flexibility issue or other issue, thats what tends to cause the feet to scissor and there may
be other issues that are going on as well. Tim has really good solid hip rotation that leads
his stroke. As a coach, all I am thinking about is, is there full extension (is this
happening) so that the hand is here so that weve got this paddle, and are we building
strength through the back here, thats going to create power for him as a swimmer, and is
he coming straight back and finishing. As long as those things are happening and I dont
see anything really funky here then I dont worry about any other aspects of the
movement. I know, because of the nature of the machine, that there is going to be some
movement of some kind, e.g. an action and a reaction. Now clearly, I have seen novices
or folks that I dont think are as accomplished as Tim is, where they are coming back and
they drop the elbow and the hand is here, and as a result they are clearly crossing at the
midline, so we know that automatically we are not putting pressure where we want it to
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be and that is going to cause a lot of funky things to happen to his swim, that are going to
create drag and keep him from going straight which is what we want to have him do.
W/up: 300-500m very easy, door at 1, SR=30, watts=30 -40.
MS: 5x 200m holding your TT test watts/pace. Alt door settings
this way: 2 - 1 - 3 - 2 1.
* Swim a VERY EASY door 1 recovery for 50m between each rep
* Hold the same watts through the entire 'set', but vary resistanc e. On the
door 1 settings, SR should be high, e.g. in the 40 -45 range), focusing on
perfect form
CD: 200m very easy
W/up: 200m nice and easy, door at 1
Drills: 12x 1 min, alternating one -arm-only drill with steady swim.
Take 10" non active rest between each 1' effort.
MS: 10x 100m w/ door at 2 like this:75 at EE intensity, and then 25 at UT/TP, then....
CD: change from paddles to handles for RECOVERY stroke
(e.g. flip over so that your legs are up near the top of Erg and do
8x 30" of "recovery swimming" w/ 10" of non active recovery,
then return to a normal position (keep handles in place) for 3 -5'
of easy cooldown swimming.....then stretch!
#1
#2
There is a variety of drills you can do on the Erg. I sometimes like to use the one-arm
drill for athletes for a variety of reasons. Ironically enough, we usually think of this drill
as a form or strength drill, but it also can be thought of as a flexibility drill for the non
active straight arm. For those of you who know athletes that are limited in their
flexibility, I can recommend that you have them do lots of kicking on their back in a
streamlined position. I will have them do two to three to four hundred yards of it at a
time, and as part of even longer sets. Thats great active stretching for the shoulders
and back. So, in order to develop some flexibility here if I think an athlete is limited in
their flexibility, I have them do the one-arm drill where that static arm is just staying
straight out and absolutely fully extended. So, its like active flexibility training for the
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upper back and obviously it allows him to focus on only one arm at a time. So every
single stroke he takes is perfect in terms of executing the stroke correctly
Audience Question:
This is a question about the under the water recovery you use on the Vasa, vs. a normal
over the water recovery: How much of that muscle memory is translated into the water
where your not, you know, normally doing it like that?
Al:
I can tell you my personal experience and the experience of the athletes that I coach,
because just like you, the lack of an over-the-water recovery was a question I had at first
also. I think we all understand that part of the over the water recovery comes from
rotation of the hip. We put ourselves in a position where we can recover this way. So if
we are not rotating a lot here at the hips, we dont want to recover over the water too
much, because it places too much stress on the shoulder.
What it comes down to is that fact that if we assume that there is horizontal position in
the water, and that the athlete is relaxed and that they understand the concepts of
streamlining within the limits of their flexibility, then whats holding them back from
improving? I think its strength. Not pure strength but neuromuscular strength. That is
what this tool does and it is also incredibly convenient and it allows for greater frequency
and duration and volume and all of those things that really build learning, that build in the
right neural engrams. Sure, when hes on the erg, it doesnt appear that what hes doing
when he swims on it is at all what he looks like when hes actually in the water, but the
key thing is that what hes doing is this building strength here, in the catch/pull phase
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under the water, and again, as you will see in the sessions Ill show you, we are doing it
and training and learning using lots of variety, e.g. high resistance, low resistance, high
stroke rate, low stroke rate, and during the course of a session hes getting a taste of
everything which is helping him improve. And, guess what: In an open water
environment, this is huge. For example, how many have you done a race where you had
athletes swimming up on top of you, had to round a bouy where you had to lift your head
out of the water to sight or navigate, and what happens when you stop stroking? You
know what happens, you stop moving! This tool helps us in that way.
I think Ive got four five or six sample sessions of many that, by the way, my athletes
have come up with just as many of these as I have, because when there is common
ground and lots of mutual respect and desire, people want to really share. They are really
excited about this tool. I wouldnt be anywhere where I am as a coach with the VASA
with out those folks that I coach who work WITH ME to figure it out.
This is a typical session five by two hundred is a main set holding your test wattage, or
pace. In this case we are mixing up the variety with resistance two one three two one in
terms of the door settings.
Audience question:
Do the athletes that you work with that are training on this as opposed to pool time do
they lose anything by not kicking?
Al:
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Its an interesting question, and one I will talk about that from a couple different
perspectives. So you know, we DO do some workouts where we do some flutter kicking
and for athletes who feel like it is a huge limiter for them we have them go to the pool
more frequently and do extended kicking sessions. In fact, with some advice and help
from another coach, I went through this period of time as a swimmer where I discovered I
couldnt kick and I thought well if I am going to swim well I need to become a better
kicker, there is just no way around it. Part of my problem or issue was that before I ever
got near the pool to try and learn how to swim, I had probably run 25 or 26 marathons
and ultras. So I had all those issues with my lower body in terms of a LACK of ankle
flexibility. In an effort to overcome that I actually went through a period of time where I
was doing 3, 4, and even 5 thousand yard workouts that were largely kicking only. I also
used one of those stretching racks that, you know, the zoomer guy sells, and I spent a
significant amount of time stretching my feet. You could ask my daughter and shell tell
you she used to sit on my feet and try to stretch my feet out and I was determined to
become a better kicker. I was kicking in the pool in every way under the sun. Similarly,
what I find with a lot of triathletes that go to masters programs is they do a lot of kicking,
usually on a board.
Conversely, what I find as an athlete is that when I get to a race, Ive got a wetsuit on
(with the exception of IM Hawaii or a race like St. Croix) and I find I dont kick much at
all. In fact, I dont want to kick very much at all. In fact, I really want my legs and feet
go along for the ride so to speak. When there are a lot of issues going on down here
around the legs and feet, whether it be scissoring or something like that, it usually means
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there is something going on up here in the front part of the stroke thats not ideally
correct. So again, every athlete is different and every person is unique. What I found
personally, was that all those hundreds or thousands of yards of kicking that I did didnt
really help me a whole lot, to be honest. I became a little bit better as a kicker and
swimmer, but it wasnt until I figured out that I have to get my arms moving that I
realized, thats where I needed to be as far as my swimming was concerned. I wasnt
going to change my ankle flexibility a LOT, e.g. I wasnt going to become Lenny
Kratzelberg, thats for sure! I couldnt lay flat on the floor and put my feet flat on the
ground like he can. You know elite level swimmers have that level of flexibility and
many life long swimmers do, but I just dont, and many triathletes that I know dont have
it either. My point is, if you drive 45 minutes to your pool, you change, you jump in the
pool, and you do a master swim workout where 35 percent of that workout is kicking and
most of that kicking is on a board, and then you drive home you just spent 3 hours and a
pretty good percentage of your time not doing anything thats going to help you in your
race!! Face the facts, its not really going to help you! At the very least, its not an
efficient use of your time. Now of course, is there value in kicking in a workout? Yes
there is, because just to be clear, I dont want to go TOTALLY to one side, to the
extreme, because if you kick hard and you develop some lactate as a result, and your
body has to process it, that IS valuable in your development as a competitive triathlete.
Its not a complete waste of time to do some kicking, butit is just that, for me as a
coach, Ive got an athlete who has a full time job and two kids and hes got a race coming
up in the near future. How are we going to get him ready for his race? Do we want him
spending three hours and a pretty good percentage of his time doing something that isnt
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going to help him in his race? I dont think so. With the Erg, its about JUMP ON, and in
five minutes you can get started on 1500meters of full-on, focused strength training for
swimming, that absolutely transfers to performance in the water. All of the athletes that I
coach that have this are PRing in their swims, and rarely going to the pool anymore. Sure,
most of them are pretty accomplished swimmers for the most part though, they do have a
pretty high level of ability, but still, thats a major accomplishment I think!
W/up with 200 very easy, then get into the main set:
(Note: start conservatively - decrease times for each 300, 200, and
100, e.g. start slightly easier than you feel you can hold, and then
finish at or around threshold intensity. Door at 2.)
MS: 1 x 300 (45" non active recovery).
2 x 200 (30 non active recovery).3 x 100 (do an easy 50 between each for
recovery).
CD: 100-300 easy - your choice,
W/up 200 -300m nice and easy, door at 1
MS#1: 2x 500m at your 'steady state' pace, door at 2.
MS#2: 4x 100m at UT (10sr, non active), while you adjust door
setting: #1: door at 4, #2: door at 3, #3: door at 2, #4: door at 1
Note goal for this set: hold at least your 1k TT pace, and even up t o about10-15w above test. These should be good and hard, yet controlled, e fforts!
MS#3: 4x 25m on 40sec. Goal: sprint pace! Highest watts withoutstroke deterioration!
CD: 100 easy door 1, and then stretch!
#3
#4
Lets review a few more sessions. Again, this is just an example of some variety in how
we might want to approach it. In reality, they are quite similar to regular swim sessions in
a lot of ways as we are trying to descend sets, and we are trying to mix in variety. Heres
4x 100 at a pretty high intensity, and this is 2x 500 at a steady state, or aerobic
intensity/ pace. Then moving to a set where the intensity increases and we are going to
use ten seconds of non-active recovery to change the door setting. The first one is at door
four which is a very high resistance and a very high intensity. Then we go to door three,
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then door two, then door one, with the same intensity, so at that last rep we are really
cranking stroke rate significantly. I want to emphasize every single person is a unique
individual and so not everyone needs to increase their stroke rate. Some people already
stroke too much too fast. So I try to look at ever person as an experiment of one and look
at what their particular limiter is and how this tool or any training tool we use can help
them improve their individual performance. Thats kind of what we are looking at. And
then as a last set, 4x 25 on forty seconds, which is a pretty high intensity sprint
pace/effort.
W/up 200 door 1 as 50 free, 25 fly, 25 breast, 25 fly, 25 breast,50 free.
MS: 500-400-300-200-100m.
*Note: Start at door 1 for the first 500, and then increase to door 2 o n the400. A s the workout evolves, increase intensity gradually, as w ell as
resistance on the 300 and 200. For the 100, make this a TT type effort,
door at 2. Shoot for your best 100, with one focus, and that is PERFECT
form. Do NOT sacrifice form in order to go faster!
CD: After the 100, do 200 very easy, and then stretch....
W/up: 200-300m. Relaxed, perfect form, door at 1.
MS #1: 12x 100m on enough time to change the door setting.
*Odd reps: TP and choice SR. Even: UT with high SR (40 -50?).
1-2: door 2 / door 13-4: door 3 / door 1
5-6: door 4 / door 1
7-8: door 5 / door 1
9-10: door 4 / door 1
11-12: door 3 / door 1
MS #2: 300m at steady UT
*done at door 2, focus= long, elbow over hand pulls from a perfe ct
catch. Goal: perfect technique when fatigued.
CD: 100m easy!, door at 1
#5
#6
Heres an example of how we might use something that looks like a typical swim
workout, where you might see free, fly, breast in a warm up, then a five four three two
one descending aerobic set. That is, steady state descending set with 30 seconds or so
of non-active recovery and again, increasing intensity so the way you would train in a
pool descending in terms of speed as intensity increases slightly. We are trying to build in
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this idea that we want to start at a conservative intensity and build throughout the course
of the swim like we would do in any thing that we are doing. Heres some more of the
same, with a very large variety.
W/up 300m all door 1 as 100 free, 25 fly, 25 breast, 25 fly,
25 breast, 100 free
MS:
1. 25 power wheel roll outs, 1 -2 mins bicycle kicks with
10lb med ball overhead in a lat pull down motion, 1 -2 mins
flutter and/or scissor kicks
2. 500m door 2 - targeting >40 SR and >70w
3. repeat 1
4. 500m door 3 - targeting >35 SR and >80w
5. repeat 1
6. repeat 2
7. repeat 1
8. repeat 4
CD: 100-300m, door 1, very easy w/ with perfect form!
Integrating Total Body Conditioning:
This is an example of a total body conditioning workout. Are any of you familiar with
that little POWER wheel? There are commonly two different sizes which we see, the
little power wheel and the larger power wheel. Im kind of a big advocate of those. I like
using them for concentrated strength and core work. This is a workout that an athlete that
I coach shared with me that he suggests and that he likes to use. It starts with a warm up
with a large amount of variety, and then goes into a set of 25 power wheel roll outs, one
to two minutes bicycle kicks with a ten pound med ball. One to two minutes of flutter.
Scissor kicks, and jumping on the VASA, targeting, for him, a stroke rate of forty and a
power output of seventy watts. Then he repeats this first set and comes back and does this
five hundred, but now hes lowered his stroke rate a bit but has increased his wattage.
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Now we are going to go back and repeat this first set. This is a really really challenging
workout! What I think this really eludes to which I think is important as a coach and as an
athlete, is this is about getting and improving our pure FITNESS. Sometimes I think
people forget (as they focus a lot on the numbers in terms of physiological data or
whatever) that improving is largely about simply becoming more fit, plain and simple.
Strong, resilient, fatigue resistance is an important factor in your or any endurance
athletes success. For example, lets say I have a gymnast come to me with the right body
type to be a triathlete and that person jumps in a race and bingo, happens to win their age
group by fifteen minutes. A gymnast has a very high level of flexibility, and very high
levels of functional strength. Conversely, someone might come to me and tell me some
information about their LT as being this or that, but that athletes is without that level of
PURE FITNESS that the gymnast has. They arent going to have the same potential for
success, simply because of that overall lack of fitness. Again, thats just a hypothetical
example, but I believe it is worth considering. So, this workout is great for fitness
building, and a great way to spend an hour in your basement in the middle of winter,
building strength.
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W/up 100m all door 1, choice stroke and drills
MS: at door 2.
Start at 1k build to 3k, 2 weeks out from goal event
* Intensity: Begin at best average steady test watts
* Surge to sprint pace every 200 to simulate jumping a pack
CD: 100-300m, door 1, very easy w/ with perfect form!
Race Prep ME Session for Experienced
This is an example of a muscular endurance session for an experienced athlete, say two or
three weeks before a key half iron race. We are going to start at 1K and progress over the
course of a couple of weeks up until about two weeks out from the goal race where they
are doing perhaps 3K. We might even, for athletes that are competitive at sprint or
Olympic distance, where jumping a pack is an important part of their success, we will
have them simulate that on the erg as well.
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Summary:
What are the advantages?
Time savings - convenience
Skill / Technique Learning
Frequency
Quality vs. Quantity
Measurable / repeatable (cycling power meter comp)
Variable resistance
Maintenance of fitness when ill or injured
Variety (stroke rate)
Progressive overload
Integration of other strokes
Opportunity to do frequent swim/bike and
swim/run combo sessions. (500m)
Ok, so while I have alluded to much of this already, lets discuss some of the advantages?
I think time savings and convenience is far and away the most important thing. As I said
earlier, a huge assumption on my part and I apologize for that, but I think that most of the
age group athletes that I coach are swimming about as well as they are going to swim, all
things being equal. So, as coaches we have to help them decide, where do we want to see
them spend their precious time the most? Most of them are either bike or run limited in
some way. Do I want them spending four to seven hours a week driving to the pool for
three hours of swimming where they spend a pretty good percentage kicking? Or, would
they be better off having them increasing their running or cycling frequency, and of
course we are balancing all of this in the mist of the fact that they have might have two
children, they have a full time job, they maybe run their own business, or whatever it is,
we all know what thats about.
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How you have your athletes spend their time is the MOST important thing that we do as
coaches, to help them maximizing training time and effort for maximum results.
Next, obviously there is skill and technique in learning. I mentioned that Ill take a
novice and put them on this and say, well, we are not there yet but this is what you
need to do with the front end of your stroke. And we will do it with stretch cords too, it
doesnt have to be on the VASA, but the Erg is great for that. Frequency, now we can
jump on this thing ten times a week, fifteen times a week. You know for type As like
Tim who want to constantly be working to improve. There is also the aspect of quality
versus quantity, and again that goes back to how we are spending our time in those 3-4k
masters workouts. What are we doing in those workouts that are directly contributing to
your success for your race? Thats our goal.
Remember when we take all this other fluff out of it, you or your athletes are going to be
standing, for example, on the gulf coast in the water, getting ready to swim two and a half
miles in perhaps a twenty knot wind, with perhaps a foot and a half of chop, with two
thousand of your closest friends! Thats our goal - thats our focus. Its measurable, its
repeatable, and we have variable resistance, which is hugely important, as I believe that
variety is key for learning and training effectiveness. One thing I havent eluded to at all,
which Rob mentioned to me way back, was that some coaches have found tremendous
value if they have a swim team, if a swimmer is ill or sick and cant get in the water for
one reason or another. Those coaches will have their athletes jump right on the VASA
and get a quality workout in at least in terms of muscle memory and functional strength
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as well. Another benefit is progressive overload, which is a term that I think we are all
familiar with as coaches, but we tend not to think about as much as I think we should.
This idea that its about incremental progressive overload is something we can do pretty
well on the erg.
Funny, very often the best thing an athlete will ever say to me is when they say, holly
crap, man.eight weeks has gone by and all the sudden, I feel more fit and stronger, and
this is what we are seeing as results hopefully, and it sort of snuck up on them and they
werent aware of it. That progressive overload is there but they are not always conscious
of it. Thats what we can do on the VASA. Also, obviously integrating other strokes and
the opportunity to do frequent swim to bike and swim to run sessions as well. The more
frequent we go from this (swimming on the erg) to the bike and this to the run, the easier
its going to be in terms of just being comfortable when we get to our events.
Contact Info - Questions?
CoachAl@[email protected]
* Thank YOU for attending!
* Thank you Rob and Karen at VASA!
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Ok, so thats it! Thank you! And, thanks to Rob and Karen.
Doest anyone have any questions or thoughts?
Audience Question:
You talk a lot about stroke rate, what stroke rate do you see for most of your athletes
1.2, 1.3, do you time them? I understand its different for different athletes on a whole,
what do you see most of your triathletes swimming at?
Al:
When we are talking about the erg I think the stroke length or stroke rate is strokes per
minute so on the erg most of them fall in the thirty five to forty range. What I think is a
good idea is to let people (and I do this with Cadence and Gearing as well) use self
selected stroke rate and find out where they like to be and are at. You then learn whats
comfortable for them, and that helps me learn where they may NEED to be as they
progress in their training. I think in the pool there has been a lot of emphasis on stroke
LENGTH which at some point, there is diminishing returns to that, because I do know
athletes that only take fifteen or so strokes to go twenty five yards, but their not going
very fast. There is that balance point that I believe we need to strike. Again, it comes
back to being triathletes! We are not pool swimmers and we are not competitive master
swimmers. We compete and train in an open water environment where it is physical and
where conditions are hard! It is not easy being in that environment. One of the our IM
races in this area is Ironman Lake Placid. Personally, I think it is idiocy that we put two
thousand people in that tiny little Mirror Lake. In my opinion, its just not big enough for
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two thousand people. Its really physical out there. Having been to Kona three times, I
can tell you that that is a really tough swim with competitive athletes that are trying to get
ahead of the guy next to him, so those are difficult conditions and sometimes we just
need to get our arms moving.
Audience Question:
I have another Question, is this your VASA?
Al:
No, its one that was brought here for this presentation, but I do have one at home!
Audience Question:
How do you use it as a business tool? Is it at your house; is it at a pool where they get to
rent it?
Al:
No, each one of the athletes that I coach, I think, nine in all right now, have one of these
that they have all purchased straight from VASA, not from me. I dont sell them, and I
dont rent them.
Audience Question:
Do you ever get panic attacks? Coming from your background of being afraid of the
water?
Al:
Sure, I did. Yeah. I think Ive come to grips with it, you know, I think I can handle it. I
had to go through some huge issues to overcome that. I think its the thing that has
empowered me more than anything as a coach because I have been places
psychologically, that most people have never been in terms of dealing with that
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environment. It is also incredibly empowering because I live on a lake now, and I
actually can go down to the water and I go jump in the water and Im the guy that
everyone around the lake recognizes as swimming around the lake. They all think I am
doing something pretty cool because I am out there swimming, but they dont realize how
powerful it is for me to be able to do that. This whole thing you hear about, you know,
facing your fears. Its all true, for me I am living proof of that, and Im here today
because of that. My first race, I started that Journey in Jan of 1996 and my first race was
a race in May called the Capitol City Triathlon, where the swim was in the Farmington
River in Connecticut. It was a sprint distance race in late May and the water was like fifty
five degrees in that Farmington river and there were probably about 120 people, and my
family is standing on the shore, and 120 doesnt seem like a lot to me now but at the time
it sure seemed like a lot. So the gun goes off, were out and going and of course Im in the
back and I panicked, flat out panicked, just trying to keep myself afloat and the guys
come over on their surf boards or kayaks, and they were asking me, do you need help?
Do you need to hop up? And, Im like, NO NO!, and I always tell people, if I had taken
their offer and jumped on that surf board, I would be selling insurance right now, not
talking to you, I can guarantee it!! But, I finished that swim. There were maybe only five
or ten people behind me. Now, the cool thing was that I could run around 16 minutes for
5K at that time, so once I was out of the water, I was like YEAH!, Im ready!!! I couldnt
wait to get after it. Yes, theres no doubt that I think I do deal with those issues all the
time. Man, for my first Kona, it was a tough swim without my wetsuit because my
wetsuit was my friend. ! As it is for many of us, it empowered me in new ways. Again
its a challenge and what Ive found and I think many of you have found it to probably, is
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that there are probably stories in this room that you could all share with me too. Perhaps
theres some issue that YOU had to overcome to get where you are today. Everybodys
got a story. The first time I was in Kona I was blown away by all of the people that I saw
and met that had a story - the people that were there, whether they be amputee athletes or
athletes that had overcome the death of a loved one. Everyones got a story. Everybodys
got an obstacle they have overcome. Thats what makes this sport really cool, because
you get surrounded by hugely positive people who just take negative events and turn
them into positive ones and it empowers them and it empowers everybody around them.
Thats what its about I think.
Audience Question:
I have two quick questions about using the machine. Can you get essentially
instantaneous feedback? So if you are teaching someone high elbow pulling and they can
see Max Force can you see that with a high elbow pull, thats X units of Max Force and
with a sloppy pull, thats X units of Max Force?
Al:
Good question. Unfortunately, they can get about the same amount of watts with poor
form as they can get with good form. So, I think with the monitors readout, the
information youre getting is not necessarily a good indication that your form is correct,
if that answers your question. At the same time, as the user gains experience and is pretty
sure of good form, I think we will see a higher num