As described in the first part of this series, the creation of appropriate tasks is the first step when enhancing effective skill...

In Feedback, I argued that traditional feedback in the form of verbal instruction has several shortcomings, primarily that it impaired...

From business to sports, everyone talks about the importance of culture and building a strong culture. At that same time, culture is...

Without feedback, learning doesn’t happen. However, how we define feedback, and how feedback is used, might be moving us closer to...

Throughout the history of swimming, technical models have often been based upon the traits of the successful champions of the day. These...

I'd like to pose a question to move toward an idea that approaches technical development and skill acquisition from a different...

In the original Nintendo video game console, there were two buttons. There was a power button and a reset button. When it wasn’t going...

We’ve all coached the swimmer who consistently puts tremendous effort into their training and their races, yet that effort is not...

5 Simple drills to fix your freestyle! This is the type of headline you might see advertised in various articles and magazines, and for...

In part I, we explored two fundamental, yet somewhat contradictory skills that coaches need to be successful in helping swimmers improve....

There are two critical coaching skills that are complementary, yet contradictory. The challenge is that both skills are critical to...

Coaches, athletes, and humans all want it all, and they all want it all right now. As a result, they try to do it all right away. This...

‘Everybody counts or nobody counts.’ -Harry Bosch Often, coaches focus their attention on the ‘best’ swimmers, or those swimmers they...

In part I, we examined the concept of race-relevant training as opposed to race-specific training with the purpose of providing a...

How we think about training, and how we conceptualize the training process, is ultimately going to influence how we choose to design...

In a previous article, I described several ways in which small changes in communication can have a major impact on behavior, often in...

In part I, the concept that excessive training intensity can compromise the training process was discussed. While this should be no...

The harder they work, the slower they get. Unfortunately, this statement characterizes some of the swimmers we coach. In some cases,...

Practice makes perfect. A well-worn performance cliché. It sounds great until you consider that it doesn’t address the quality of the...

As technology has progressed, there are more and more options available to coaches and swimmers that claim to be the answer to everyone’s...

In part I, we started with the idea that each swimmers’ needs become more specialized as their performance levels and training histories...

If distance swimmers approach training in the same manner as sprint swimmers, results are probably not going to be optimal. The opposite...

The sport of swimming has a very rich tradition of hard work. Teams and individuals pride themselves on the ability to outwork the...

In Part I, we introduced the idea of bulletproof skills. Winning races comes down to executing skills when physical and psychological...