The more you put in the more you get out, is a comment one of my swimmers passed to his mate this morning in the pool. It got me wundering, how much is more? So today I have done a bit of searching around reading through some of my sport science text books, and have found it is perfectly alright to put more effort into your swimming water polo or triathlon. BUT!!! you need to make sure that you monitor its as you do not want to over do it. There is a whole complicated science to these things but as an athlete you don’t need the science, you need the basics. Here’s a list to helps you put more in and hopefully receive more out of your performance:

1) You need goals!!!These can be anything I recommend that you set out goals that are sports specific, are measurable, are achievable (without being too achievable) and are time bound. Having goals will give you something to reflect on after a performance or training. They will also allow you to measure your progress and change you plan depending on how well you are doing.

2) Positive Affirmation!!! Positive affirmation is positive thoughts, or positive self talk. (No you are not mad if you talk to yourself you are perfectly normal). Being positive releases chemicals in the brain that helps stimulate muscles, nerves and mental state. It is by far the best MORE thing to put into your training.

3) Right equipment!!! Having the right equipment is also very important, it is vital to the MORE aspect. The more assistance and technical aids you have to help progress your swimming, the more your swimming will improve. It will help your performance at swim meets and competitions, I can almost state my name on it. I do not allow my athletes to train without a full gear bag of training equipment. Your basics that you need will be: Kick Board, Pull Buoy, Hand Paddles, Flippers, Goggles and of course some swimwear. A really good place that I highly recommend to get your gear is SWIM GEAR COMPANY, (http://www.swimgearcompany.com) they ship world wide, their products are exceptional quality, so is their service, and what even better is their prices. Real genuine guys.

4) Squad Training or Buddy Training! Just as the two swimmers where having their philosophical debate in the water about effort vs performance this morning, you need some body to debate with you in training. Lets face it swimming is a lonely sport and is boring. If you have a mate he will help motivate you and challenge you in your swimming. It also gives you somebody to talk to during your rest periods, making your training pass much faster.

Those are my 4 most important points about swimming training and getting MORE out of what you put in. There are a whole lot of other ideas from nutrition to bio-mechanics, but I will go into more detail later on other blogs. Right now we are starting at the basics and will grow from there.