Freestylin Life And Swim

In Episode 8 of the podcast, I spoke with Eli Danson regarding dry-land for swimmers.  We got into a wide range of topics specific to the subject and what we believe works best for swimmers.  We start off by talking about the most optimal way to structure an age group dry-land program (2:12); the value of developing strength on dry-land and its application to swimming (7:11); the value of developing power on dry-land and its application to swimming (9:05); the best way to structure dry-land for 10 & unders (hint - games!) (15:54); developing athleticism in swimmers (18:24); an upper body progression for swimmers to build strength and power on dry-land (26:50); the value of adding muscle mass to improve swimming performance at the elite level (37:22); and the difference between high school and collegiate athletes in terms of the amount of muscle mass needed for high performance (39:09); and much more!

Today I had a great conversation with Brent Arckey, head coach of the Sarasota Sharks.  We spoke about how his team was handling the Covid-19 situation (1:39); his story from successful age group swimmer to swimming for the University of Alabama to bagging groceries at Publix to eventually working his way up to coaching Ryan Lochte and several other high performing athletes at the University of Florida; to eventually becoming the Head Coach of the Sarasota Sharks (7:15); what makes a great coach (18:05); the lessons he learned from coaching 8 & unders and Olympians concurrently (20:26); what made the Sharks so strong from 2010-2014 (25:02); what they're focusing on to continue to sustain excellence (28:55); his incorporation of resistance training into their program (35:00); and what separates elite swimmers from the rest (38:11); and much more!

In Episode 6 of the Podcast, I spoke with Jesse Stipek from the University of Arizona.  Jesse and I had a fantastic conversation!  We talked about how he and his team were handling the Covid-19 situation (2:25); him growing up with Nathan Adrian and swimming together as age groupers at Tacoma Swim Club (11:00); his journey from swimming at Wisconsin to ending up coaching at the University of Arizona (15:06); working with Coach Rick DeMont and the perspective and life lessons he's learned from him (21:47); the application of his distance background to coaching sprinters (28:50); coaching Matt Grevers along with high-performing collegiate swimmers and working together to improve as a unit (31:48); what he prioritizes with his sprint group to help them improve in the water (40:20); the application of strength training to his sprinters and his group's weekly practice schedule (47:48); what makes the University of Arizona swim-team special (53:23); and what separates the Olympians he knows well (Matt Grevers and Nathan Adrian, in particular), from other athletes at that level (55:12); and much more!

In Episode 5 of the Podcast, I spoke with Steve Brown from North Carolina Aquatic Club (NCAC).  Steve and I talked about how his program was handling the Covid-19 situation (1:55); his experience as an age grouper, collegiate athlete, and young swim coach (6:24); what he learned from Larry Shofe while transforming Sarasota from a non-factor to one of the best age group swim-teams in the country (15:30); working with Rick DeMont and several Olympic athletes at the University of Arizona (29:30); the application of all of his knowledge and experiences to his current team in Chapel Hill, North Carolina (40:22); and so much more.

In part III of my conversation with Eli Danson from North Carolina Aquatic Club, we discuss his work with the advanced 11-12 group at NCAC, in which he transformed the group from having 3 11-12 JO qualifers to 21 in a two-year span (3:35). We then discuss his work with the high performance Senior group at NCAC, as well as with the UNC collegiate swimmers. We discuss topics such as transforming the culture of a practice group (4:58), the difference between "good" age group swimmers and "elite" (29:40)- from physical and mental skills to practice habits and a willingness to go the extra 1 to 2 percent; the importance of a great high elbow catch in and what goes into the process of leveraging the water at an elite level (44:34), and much more.