Thursday, September 3rd 2020

WARMUP
Team dryland warm-up, about 10 each

• Calf stretch
• Knee hug
• Quad stretch
• Single leg RDL
• Frankensteins
• Open the gates
• Close the gates
• Lunge and reach
• Heel/toe stretch
• Arm circles
• Dynamic squat stretch
• Horizontal arm circles

SKILL
Work on a skill for 10 minutes! What’s a “skill”? There are tons of things that qualify as a skill:

• Sport-related skills or drills (lacrosse, soccer, football, gymnastics, baseball, etc.)
• Throwing, catching, hitting, climbing, jumping, rolling, handstands, flips, jumping rope

There are tons of options, pick something to work on and practice it for 10 minutes!

CONDITIONING
4 Rounds:
30 backpack rows
30 backpack floor press
30 backpack overhead press
30 backpack deadlifts
30 backpack squats

Add weight to your backpack (shoes, canned food, weights, etc) up to 20lbs. If you have actual weights, you can use 10-30lb weights (dumbbell, kettlebell, etc). Your weight should be light enough that the 30 reps takes no more than 3 sets with quick breaks (3×10).

COOLDOWN
Stretch for 10 minutes

HELPFUL LINKS
Backpack Row
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbcCeguuv_4

Backpack Floor Press
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7_0bj3jFeA

Backpack Overhead Press
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjznPLR-mlY

Backpack Deadlift
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQyDaPdY4Mg

Backpack Squats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zLylOqFZE4

We’ve been talking a lot about the underwater kick in practice. Our kicks should be narrow but strong, and we should be kicking equally in both directions. Here is an excellent video by Gary Hall Sr. and The Race Club that demonstrates three different kinds of kicks and how efficient they each are. They use underwater cameras and a velocity machine to measure the velocity (speed over distance) of each kick.

Underwater Dolphin Kicks: The 5th Stroke
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY6GxQqAkuQ

If you haven’t watched the crossover turn video from last week, make sure to watch this one too:

The Fastest Backstroke to Breastroke Transition: Crossover Turn
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPrSVDBdaDM

Bonus Video if you are bored or liked the other two:
Freestyle Arm Recovery: Octane Levels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYFxa3PykdA

Thursday, August 27th 2020

Your homework for today:

• Read Monday’s post about crossover turns
• Do something physically active for at least an hour
• Stretch for 15 minutes
• Do something fun or interesting today!
• Get 8 hours or more of sleep tonight
• Bring a old t-shirt on Friday (one that you can swim in)

If you liked the video on crossovers by Gary Hall Sr. from The Race Club, they also did a great video about underwater dolphin kicks and how minor adjustments to your kick can make a big difference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY6GxQqAkuQ

Tuesday, August 25th 2020

WARMUP
Team dryland warm-up, about 10 each

• Calf stretch
• Knee hug
• Quad stretch
• Single leg RDL
• Frankensteins
• Open the gates
• Close the gates
• Lunge and reach
• Heel/toe stretch
• Arm circles
• Dynamic squat stretch
• Horizontal arm circles

SKILL
Work on a skill for 15 minutes! What’s a “skill”? There are tons of things that qualify as a skill:

• Sport-related skills or drills (lacrosse, soccer, football, gymnastics, baseball, etc.)
• Throwing, catching, hitting, climbing, jumping, rolling, handstands, flips, jumping rope

There are tons of options, pick something to work on and practice it for 15 minutes!

CONDITIONING
Every minute for 16 minutes:

Evens = 3-5 wall walks
Odds = 60 single-unders (jump rope)

Start a timer for 16:00, first you do 3 to 5 wall walks. Rest for the remainder of the minute. On the start of the next minute, do 60 single-unders or 30 jumping jacks. Note: You should only be doing 5 wall walks if you can do all 5 properly (getting to a full handstand and walking back down with full control.)
WALL WALK SCALE: feet up on wall, hold for 5 seconds = 1 rep
JUMP ROPE SCALE: 30 jumping jacks for odd minutes. You can hold light weights like canned food cans to make them more challenging.

RUNNING
10 sets: run for 1:20 (or run 300m)

Rest 1:20 between sets (1:1 work/rest)

COOLDOWN
Stretch for 10 minutes, especially calves/arches

HELPFUL LINKS
Wall Walk Demo + Scaling Options
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0yV_TbsY5c

Our team has been practicing crossover turns for a few weeks now. They are the fastest transition from backstroke to breaststroke during the individual medley. Here’s a helpful video from The Race Club by former olympian Gary Hall Sr. who explains the why the crossover turn is the fastest turn and demonstrates 5 steps to master it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPrSVDBdaDM

So they say it’s the fastest turn, but are people actually doing it at a high level of competition?

Here’s some clips from international competitions. See if you can spot any open turns or bucket turns.

Mens 400IM Final – FINA 2017 World Championships(skip to 2:03 for BK to BR transition)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEvSOEthRLE

Womens 2016 Olympic Trials (skip to 3:20)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwDaZd5r2JY

Men’s 200m IM Finals – Rio 2016 Olympics (skip to 2:37)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-XGSYnhUjg

Womens 200IM Finals – 2015 Pan Am Games (skip to 2:12)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3AhFgcDtNSo

Mens 200IM Finals – London 2012 Olympics (4:20)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTbbnhnnMQU

Womens 400IM Finals – London 2012 Olympics (4:59)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArKGCqlVbLQ

Womens 200m IM Finals – Bejing 2008 Olympics (skip to 0:37)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnpNLlxYkww

You will probably see that there are indeed some open turns at high levels of competition, but the majority of the field are doing crossover turns and very few (or virtually none) are doing bucket turns.