Friday Interview: Jenny Connolly

1. Please introduce yourself to the readers (how you started in swimming, education, experience, etc.).
I'm Jenny Connolly. I am a senior at the university of Tennessee. I'm majoring in Recreation and Leisure Studies and minoring in Psychology. I'm from Lafayette, Indiana. I swim 100 backstroke and 100 butterfly. I started swimming when I was 5, but started year-round swimming when I was 8. I have been fortunate enough to be on the National Team for a few years in the 100 meter backstroke.

2. What is your pre-race warm-up?
My pre-race warm-up depends on the race. I always have the same pattern I do though no matter the race. I always do about a 300-400 loosen. 300 kick. Then do some aerobic/build getting my heart rate up. Then some drills mixed in with perfect technique swimming. Then once I feel completely loose and relaxed, I do a few 25s or 50s pace.

3. How do you incorporate mobility training into your routine during the year and at a meet?
 Mobility training and flexibility is very important for my personal routine. I stretch my shoulders a lot and make sure they have full range of motion. Especially in fly. I believe if you can't get a full range of motion you will not be as fast as you could be. I stretch and work on flexibility before I get in the pool for my warm-up.

4. Do you follow any nutritional guidelines? What about at a meet?
Nutrition has been a very important part of my swimming career so far. I see my nutritionist a lot during the year and do bodpod with her so we can measure my body fat percentage. Doing the bodpod has helped me realize what eating habits need to change, improve, or stay the same. I have worked very hard at staying fit through the food I eat and what I put in my body. I used to struggle with my eating habits at meets. I do not have much of an appetite during the actual meet, but I have gotten used to eating a bar or some fruit chews during the meet for a good recovery snack in between races.

5. Do you take any supplements? 
I take a vitamin-d supplement and a multi-vitamin drink.

6. How do you incorporate strength training into your program?
Strength training has proved to be an important part of my training. I have gotten so much stronger and more fit through lifting weights and other dryland activities. Specifically my power in sprint events and my core strength.

7. Do you think backstrokers need different mobility or strength and conditioning? 
I think all strokes need some variations. From personal experience, I know that focusing on ab rotation and core rotation in ab exercises during dryland has helped my core strength and has enabled me to be more flexible and powerful in my backstroke races.

8. What exercises (dryland, drills, etc.) have most helped you become an elite backstroker?
Like I said earlier, I think doing ab rotation work and core stability has helped me to become an elite backstroker. Mainly yoga and balance exercises, along with ab exercises such as russian twists and oblique crunches have helped with core strength. Also at Tennessee, we incorporate boxing into our strength training. That has really improved my core rotation strength.

9. What aspects are you currently working on in your backstroke?
We are really focusing on underwaters and the last 25 of the 100 backstroke. Those are areas that I could use improvement and are making stronger.

10. What is the most common flaw between your good and elite backstrokers?
I think a common flaw between elite backstrokers is underwaters. At least for me, that is a common flaw. Some swimmers have that down. But I know that is the main thing I struggle with. But I think it is very individualized. Everyone has a weaker part and a stronger part of the race.

11. What are your goals and plans to accomplish these goals for the upcoming Olympic Trials?
I have a lot of goals for Olympic Trials. Obviously, the main goal is to make the Olympic Team. But I would be completely satisfied with my swims if I have a solid race and had fun doing it. I would also love to finally break a 1:00.00.

Thanks Jenny!

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Better Breaststroke

TAB
The difference between elite breaststroke swimmers and novice swimmers is immense. Unfortunately, many think elite breast swimmers are one of a kind, products of nature, not nurture. I feel breast is the easiest stroke to develop. Anyone with adequate flexibility, proper timing, ability to accelerate, and a straight bodyline (TAB) is capable of elite breaststroke.

Yesterday Swimming World Magazine published the Science of Performance: Breaststroke where I discussed TAB, make sure to read that article (and like it while you're there) first. This article provides support to TAB. Don't worry, there is a method to the madness! First and foremost, TAB will help poor breast swimmers become great. However, elite (sub 1:00 LCM) breast swimmers must have extreme ranges of motion (especially hip and knee external rotation, and foot supination (Jagomägi 2005)), but to do an adequate breastroke, to fake your way through an IM, all you need is TAB. 

Timing

Timing is the most important variable in breast. The breast glide phase is essential and if not used it is difficult improve. Many novice breast swimmers overlap contradictory phases. 

One study found poor timing: 

"was mainly caused by the superposition of their leg extension and the second part of their arm recovery, indicating a technique with no glide time between the arm recovery and the leg extension. In terms of phase duration, the recreational swimmers spent more time in arm recovery and in propulsive phases (Leblanc 2009)." 

"At the same given speed, recreational swimmers used no glide phase which increased the relative contribution of their recovery and propulsive phases. This was mainly caused by the superposition of their leg extension and the second part of their arm recovery, indicating a technique with no glide time between the arm recovery and the leg extension. In terms of phase duration, the recreational swimmers spent more time in arm recovery and in propulsive phases (Leblanc 2009)." 

Leblanc found these recreational swimmers did not have the skill to time their phases properly. Once again, timing is the most important variable. Being streamlined during the propulsive phases (arms and legs) is mandatory!

Acceleration

Takagi, determined deceleration is not acceptable! Learning how to accelerate is essential. Learn the dance early and make breast easier! Breaststrokers were analyzed at the 2001 World Championships and it was determined:

"The non-propulsive phase seems to be a key factor for better performance. The breaststroke swimmers must avoid rapid deceleration during the non-propulsive phase by adopting a low resistance posture and stroking technique (Takagi 2004)."

Too often swimmers move at the same speed. Accelerating through high drag phases is essential to maintain...bodyline!

Bodyline

Bodyline is the toughest to support with literature, but as legendary coach Jon Urbanchek said swim like "your head is in a cast with your neck and shoulders".

This terminology makes many swimmers tense their neck from all sides. I agree with his concept, but it is essential to keep the chin tucked (cranial, not cervical flexion).

Keeping the chin tucked allows the swimmer to activate the muscles in the front of their neck more than the side of their neck (O'Leary 2007). Luckily, these muscles in the front of the neck have less ability to alter the collar bone and disrupt the shoulder.

Activating the muscles on the side of the neck may (no research) lead to fatigue of shoulder muscles, increasing the risk for injury. During cervical extension the strenocleidomastoid (SCM) and upper trapezius fire, both muscles greatly influential on the shoulder and overactive in swimmers with shoulder pain (Hidalgo-Lozano 2012).

On a side note, don't clench your teeth. This activity inhibits the deep neck flexors and forces the SCM and upper trapezius overact, potentially leading to shoulder fatigue and injury risk (Falla 2006).

Moreover, keeping a long spine activates the core musculature, keeping the bodyline straight. With the chin tucked and abdominals braced, a straight bodyline occurs due to increased activation of internal/external obliques, as well as all abdominals (McGill 2009). Bracing decreases spinal movement in response to unanticipated perturbations and increase posterior to anterior stiffness, compared to addominal drawing-in (Vera-Garcia 2007).

These a few of the reasons I teach bracing, which I train with the march exercise. The idea is not to have everyone walking around flexing their core, but to teach a straight bodyline and maximally contract their abomdinals.

TABing ain't easy baby
It is easier said than done. Make sure you practice these techniques, working on one part at a time for maximal results. The next Science of Performance for Swimming World will address dryland methods to improve TAB.

References

1. Jagomägi G, Jürimäe T. Anthropol Anz.The influence of anthropometrical and flexibility parameters on the results of breaststroke swimming. 2005 Jun 63(2):213-9.
2. Leblanc H, Seifert L, Chollet D. Arm-leg coordination in recreational and competitive breaststroke swimmers. J Sci Med Sport. 2009 May 12(3):352-6. Epub 2008 Mar 20.
3. Takagi H, Sugimoto S, Nishijima N, Wilson B. Differences in stroke phases, arm-leg coordination and velocity fluctuation due to event, gender and performance level in breaststroke. Sports Biomech. 2004 Jan 3(1):15-27.
4. O'Leary S, Falla D, Jull G, Vicenzino B.J Muscle specificity in tests of cervical flexor muscle performance. Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2007 Feb 17(1):35-40. Epub 2006 Jan 19.
5. Falla D, Jull G, O'Leary S, Dall'Alba P.Further evaluation of an EMG technique for assessment of the deep cervical flexor muscles. J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2006 Dec 16(6):621-8. Epub 2005 Dec 15.
6. McGill SM, Karpowicz A. Exercises for spine stabilization: motion/motor patterns, stability progressions, and clinical technique. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2009 Jan 90(1):118-26.
7. Vera-Garcia FJ, Elvira JL, Brown SH, McGill SM Effects of abdominal stabilization maneuvers on the control of spine motion and stability against sudden trunk perturbations .Exercises for spine stabilization: motion/motor patterns, stability progressions, and clinical technique.J Electromyogr Kinesiol. 2007 Oct 17(5):556-67. Epub 2006 Sep 22.
8. Hidalgo-Lozano A, Calderón-Soto C, Domingo-Camara A, Fernández-de-Las-Peñas C, Madeleine P, Arroyo-Morales M. Elite Swimmers With Unilateral Shoulder Pain Demonstrate Altered Pattern of Cervical Muscles Activation During a Functional Upper Limb Task. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther. 2012 Jan 25. [Epub ahead of print]

By G. John Mullen founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration, head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club, and creator the Swimmer's Shoulder System.

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Shoulder Pain Serratus Anterior

The serratus anterior contributes more to shoulder pain than any other shoulder muscle. Numerous studies, dating back to the early '90s have identified this muscle as a large contributor to shoulder pain, unfortunately many coaches and swimmers have never heard of this muscle. How do we expect shoulder injuries to decrease, if one of the most influential muscles in shoulder pain isn't even heard of by the coaching community?

This article will discuss the serratus anterior in detail, then discuss the role of the serratus anterior in healthy swimmers and injured swimmers.

Serratus Anterior

Origin: Lateral Surface Ribs 1-9

Insertion: Medial border scapula

Action: Protraction Scapula, Down Rotation, Stabilize medial border of shoulder blade (review these actions on our basics page).

Healthy Shoulders

The serratus anterior is highly active in healthy shoulders. This muscle moves the shoulder blade during overhead movement, preventing impingement of the rotator cuff muscles. The serratus anterior also provides should blade stability, an essential component of healthy swimming. Here is the research on the serratus anterior in healthy swimmers.

Free

Pink 1991, discussed muscle activation during freestyle:

"The results show the three heads of the deltoid and the supraspinatus functioning in synchrony to place the arm at hand entry and exit, the rhomboids and upper trapezius to position the scapula for the arm, the pectoralis major and latissimus dorsi to propel the body, the subscapularis and serratus anterior as muscles with constant muscle activity, the teres minor functioning with the pectoralis major, and the infraspinatus active only to externally rotate the arm at midrecovery (Pink 1991)."

Fly

Pink 1993 found in butterfly:

"The serratus anterior helped to pull the body over the arm by reversing its origin and insertion...Overall, the serratus anterior and the subscapularis maintained a high level of activation throughout the stroke; thus, these muscles were highly susceptible to fatigue and vulnerable to injury (Pink 1993)."

Breast

Even in breast, considered a "non-stressful stroke", Ruwe 1994 found:

"Both the serratus anterior and teres minor muscles in the swimmers with normal shoulders consistently fired at or above 15% manual muscle test throughout the breaststroke cycle and were thus subject to fatigue. Based on these results, exercises for the breaststroke swimmer should be directed toward endurance training of the serratus anterior and teres minor muscles while balancing the internal and external rotators of the shoulder as well as the deltoid and supraspinatus muscles (Ruwe 1994)."

It is clear in three of the strokes (no studies on back), the serratus anterior is highly active despite its unfamiliarity on the pool deck. How does the swimming community neglect a muscle which activates during the entire swimming stroke?

Painful Shoulders

Healthy shoulders are easy, but painful shoulders are a different animal. Despite all the supposed variation between shoulder injuries, one muscle is continually discussed in swimmer's shoulder. I think you can guess which muscle, but let's hammer the point home...Serratus Anterior!

Free

In painful shoulders, Pink 1991 et al. determined:

"The teres minor and serratus anterior revealed significantly less muscle action throughout pulling as they respectively failed to balance the humeral rotation and did not reverse their origins and insertions to pull the body over the arm. Also, the subscapularis and infraspinatus displayed increased activity in the painful shoulders as they depressed the humeral head to avoid impingement. There were no significant differences between the two groups in the rhomboids, pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi, or the anterior and middle deltoids. From this information, accurate preventative and rehabilitative exercise programs for the competitive butterfly swimmer can be developed (Pink 1991)."

Scovazo et al. in 1991 found many muscles with improper firing patterns, once again the serratus anterior was on the list:

"The purpose of this paper is to describe the patterns of activity of 12 shoulder muscles in painful shoulders, and compare those patterns of activity with normal shoulders. The results show significant differences in 7 of the 12 muscles. Those muscles included the anterior deltoid, middle deltoid, infraspinatus, subscapularis, upper trapezius, rhomboids, and the serratus anterior. There were no significant differences between muscle activity patterns of normal versus painful shoulders in the latissimus dorsi, pectoralis major, teres minor, supraspinatus, or the posterior deltoid. This information will contribute to the development of muscle conditioning programs to optimize performance and prevent injury, as well as develop programs for scientific rehabilitation strengthening (Scovazo 1991)."

It appears the serratus anterior is a mandatory muscle for swim coaches. However, it isn't the key to the equation; it is only part of the puzzle. In the Swimmer's Shoulder System, I discuss all the muscles required to improve muscle strength:

1. Lower Trapezius
2. Middle Trapezius
3. Serratus Anterior
4. Deep neck flexors (longus colli and capitus)
5. Supraspinatus
6. Infraspinatus
7. Teres Minor
8. Subscapularis 

If you don't strengthen and improve the timing of all these muscles your shoulder injury prevention program is INADEQUATE!

Injury Prevention

Speaking of injury prevention, let's look at the research specifically in swimmer's shoulder.

In 1993 Glousman stated:

"The importance of serratus anterior muscle activity to stabilization and protraction of the scapula has been consistently reported. The muscles about the shoulder act according to their mechanical qualities and are function- or sport-specific. A thorough understanding of the mechanics of the normal and pathologic shoulder constitutes the foundation for training and rehabilitation strategies."

Wadsworth in 1997 had the most significant and impressive results/analysis, read this whole abstract:

"Athletes with shoulder pathology consistently demonstrate abnormalities in scapular rotator activity, suggesting that muscle dysfunction is a factor to consider in the aetiology or recurrence of shoulder pain. However, one important measure of the coordinated activity between the scapular rotators, their timing or temporal recruitment pattern, remains undetermined. The purposes of this study were to 1. provide normative data on the temporal recruitment pattern of the scapular rotators in freestyle swimmers, 2. determine the effect of a unilateral shoulder injury on this pattern, 3. determine whether these effects extend to the non-injured side, and 4. determine the effect of injury on the consistency (variability) of muscle recruitment. Surface EMG data for the upper and lower trapezius and serratus anterior were recorded bilaterally from two groups of competitive freestyle swimmers during controlled bilateral elevation in the plane of the scapula. An injured group comprising nine swimmers with unilateral shoulder pathology and a control group of nine non-injured swimmers were included. Temporal data determined for the onset of muscle activation for each muscle were then compared between groups using an ANOVA and a one-sided F test. The results of the study indicate that in non-injured swimmers, upper trapezius is activated 217 ms prior to shoulder motion, followed by serratus anterior activation 53 ms after motion commences. Lower trapezius was not recruited until 349 ms after shoulder motion, when the arm had attained 15 degrees elevation. In injured swimmers, all three muscles on the injured side displayed significantly increased variability in the timing of activation (p < 0.05), whilst the serratus anterior was significantly delayed in its activation on the non-injured side (p < 0.05). Skill hand preference was shown to have no effect on muscle recruitment. The findings of this study indicate that a relationship does exist between shoulder injury and the temporal recruitment patterns of the scapular rotators, such that injury reduces the consistency of muscle recruitment. They further suggest that injured subjects have muscle function deficits on their unaffected side (Wadsworth 1997)."

The Wadsworth study hammers the point of muscle timing. Improve muscle timing for the scapular rotators and rotator cuff muscles for injury prevention. If you aren't including muscle timing in your preventative program, you might as well have your athletes take a hammer to their shoulder!

Hold on

Despite all the evidence about the significance of the serratus anterior, there is still some confusion. Just because the EMG studies suggest the serratus anterior is highly important for shoulder health and swimming, one must acknowledge the methods for obtaining the EMG activity were not ideal. The most ideal method for measuring EMG is via fine wire needles, not surface EMG. Fine wire EMG studies allow minimal cross-talk.

Even with fine wire EMG, some argue against the accuracy of EMG. Some argue finding the EMG of the exact muscle is meaningless, because it is important to understand how the muscle moves with other muscles, not in isolation.

I feel, the movement pattern and muscle timing is essential, but learning muscle activation is the first barrier before gross strength. Some argue against isolation exercises of the serratus anterior and I agree isolation is not ideal, but one must learn how to fire the correct muscle to enhance the neural control and muscle strength. However, I only include one serratus anterior exercise in the Swimmer's Shoulder System, realizing more functional exercises (pull-up, push-up) achieve greater serratus anterior activation, while forcing coordination and muscle timing between the rest of the shoulder musculature.

Conclusion

It is unfortunate the muscle most directly correlated with shoulder injury is unknown on pool decks. The serratus anterior is a muscle every coach and swimmer should maximize muscle strength and timing for injury prevention and swimming optimization. Lastly, remember muscle strength and timing are two of the variables in the equation. Sometimes strength and timing become inhibited by improper muscle length. If the swimmer does not have ideal muscle length, pseudoparalysis ensues, putting the swimmer at risk for injury.

Make sure you and your team is improving the three variables for shoulder injury: muscle length, strength, and timing (LST). Be ahead of the curve and start preventing and improving injuries with the Swimmer's Shoulder System today, a systematic approach to improving muscle length, strength, and timing keeping swimmers in the pool!

References:

1. Glousman R. Electromyographic analysis and its role in the athletic shoulder.  Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1993 Mar;(288):27-34.
2. Pink M, Perry J, Browne A, Scovazzo ML, Kerrigan J. The normal shoulder during freestyle swimming. An electromyographic and cinematographic analysis of twelve muscles. Am J Sports Med. 1991 Nov-Dec;19(6):569-76.
3. Scovazzo ML, Browne A, Pink M, Jobe FW, Kerrigan J. The painful shoulder during freestyle swimming. An electromyographic cinematographic analysis of twelve muscles. Am J Sports Med. 1991 Nov-Dec;19(6):577-82.
4. Pink M, Jobe FW, Perry J, Kerrigan J, Browne A, Scovazzo ML. The normal shoulder during the butterfly swim stroke. An electromyographic and cinematographic analysis of twelve muscles. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1993 Mar;(288):48-59.
5. Pink M, Jobe FW, Perry J, Browne A, Scovazzo ML, Kerrigan J.  The painful shoulder during the butterfly stroke. An electromyographic and cinematographic analysis of twelve muscles. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 1993 Mar;(288):60-72.
6. Ruwe PA, Pink M, Jobe FW, Perry J, Scovazzo ML. The normal and the painful shoulders during the breaststroke. Electromyographic and cinematographic analysis of twelve muscles.Am J Sports Med. 1994 Nov-Dec;22(6):789-96.
7. Wadsworth DJ, Bullock-Saxton JE. Recruitment patterns of the scapular rotator muscles in freestyle swimmers with subacromial impingement. Int J Sports Med. 1997 Nov;18(8):618-24.

By G. John Mullen founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration, head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club, and creator the Swimmer's Shoulder System.

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Amount of Neural Input In Swimming

Neural training is an often misunderstood aspect of training. From my experience, neural training is higher in swimming than any other sport, since swimming requires motion through a different medium, water! This medium is more dense than air, leading to more bumps along the road forcing an athletes to "feel" themselves through the water.

If you're a regular reader of this site, hope you're enjoying, you've heard and read articles on neural training (Forgotten Swimming Training Part II, Neural Trained or Athletic). 

However, I have not directly discussed how swimming uses neural training. This is because quantifying and defining neural training are difficult and just beginning to develop.

However, sometimes we must make hypotheses on past research to test and trial. I have hypothesized swimming uses more of the neural system than other sports, but an older study recently added to my argument.

In 1987 Neufer et al. trained swimmers 9,000 yards, six days a week for five months. Then, they split these swimmers into three groups

• Training group 1 (RT3): 3,000 yards three days a week.
• Training group 2 (RT1): 3,000 yards one day a week.
• Inactivity (IA): No swimming training.

The researchers found:
"Measurement of muscular strength (biokinetic swim bench) showed no decrement in any group over the 4 wk. In contrast, swim power (tethered swim) was significantly decreased (P less than 0.05) in all groups, reaching a mean change of -13.6% by week 4. Blood lactate measured after a standard 200-yard (183 m) front crawl swim increased by 1.8, 3.5, and 5.5 mM over the 4 wk in groups RT3, RT1 and IA, respectively. In group RT1, stroke rate measured during the 200-yard swim significantly increased (P less than 0.05) from 0.54 +/- 0.03 to 0.59 +/- 0.03 strokes.-1 while stroke distance significantly decreased (P less than 0.05) from 2.50 +/- 0.08 to 2.29 +/- 0.13 m.stroke-1 during the 4-wk period. Both stroke rate and stroke distance were maintained in group RT3 over the 4 wk of reduced training. Group IA was not tested for stroke mechanics. Whereas maximal oxygen uptake decreases significantly (P less than 0.05) over the 4 wk in group RT1 (4.75 to 4.62 l.min-1), no change in maximal oxygen uptake was observed in group RT3. These results suggest that aerobic capacity is maintained over 4 wk of moderately reduced training (3 sessions.wk-1) in well-trained swimmers. Muscular strength was not diminished over 4 wk of reduced training or inactivity, but the ability to generate power during swimming was significantly reduced in all groups (Neufer 1987)."

From my interpretations, the no change in swim bench strength indicates overall strength did not alter (swim bench isn't the best test (stay tuned for an article on Swim Bench) to find this, but we'll take what we got!). However, the large difference in tethered swim suggest, even though the strength didn't decrease the neural strength and "feel" in the water significantly changed.

Overall, this study didn't directly look at neural training in swimming, but I feel it's results suggest the large involvement of the nervous system, especially the "feel" associated with the sport.

References:

1. Neufer PD, Costill DL, Fielding RA, Flynn MG, Kirwan JP. Effect of reduced training on muscular strength and endurance in competitive swimmers. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1987 Oct;19(5):486-90.

By G. John Mullen founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration, head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club, and creator the Swimmer's Shoulder System.

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Music and Swimming Performance

"If music be the food of love, play on."

-William Shakespeare

Music impacts many areas of swimming, whether blasting music in weight room, listening to motivational tunes before a race, or tolerating whatever the synchro team is playing for the seven thousandth time to practice routines. Music makes can make us feel good and distract us from unpleasant tasks, but can science help refine our uses of music to aid performance?
 

In one of the leading studies to blend music with swimming, Hume (1992) used a music-based reward system to encourage productive behavior among a sample of age group swimmers, albeit a small sample of six. These swimmers practiced as part of a larger team, but only six were part of the study. Productive behavior included staying “on task” within a dryland conditioning workout. Unproductive behavior included talking to friends, stealing goggles, eating, doing handstands…just about what you might expect from 12-16 year olds! With twenty years having passed since ‘92 and ADD-type behavior becoming more prevalent with cell phones and other distractions, the pull of unproductive behavior is greater than ever in 2012.

Nonetheless, the results showed a significant increase in productive behavior and a significant decrease in unproductive behavior when music was introduced as a reward. Since all swimmers had similar music preferences, the study did not address whether pleasurable versus non-pleasurable music is superior. Music is clearly a valuable tool for coaches to reward good behavior, though you may argue that good behavior should be expected and not require a reward!

Authors note the limitation of this study as a dryland-only inquiry: “It would be ideal if musical reinforcement could be presented when swimmers are training in the water.…Advances in technology may soon enable swimmers to practice in the water with individually chose music that is clearly audible.” As we discussed in Learning to Unlearn, sensory reinforcement is a powerful tool not only for staying on task in the short-term but also for reshaping habits in the long-term.

Tate (2012) asked whether swimming with music via the SwiMP3 improved performance and/or enjoyment among competitive adult swimmers. This study was not a reward system, but instead looked at performance and pleasure in a swimming task. Using a test of 4 x 50m followed by an 800m time trial both with and without music, the swimmers’ 50 and 800 times improved significantly in the MP3 condition but the validated assessment questionnaire did not show any improvements in enjoyment.

Setting aside the limitations of technology (MP3 players aren’t cheap!), let’s consider whether these results are consistent with terrestrial sports, for which there is more research…Does music directly aid performance throughout athletics? The short answer: it depends!

Synchronous music, which is music coordinated with body movements, can improve performance for endurance tasks. Karageorghis (2009) found that both pleasurable synchronous music and oudeterous (non-pleasurable) synchronous music resulted in significant endurance improvements in a treadmill exhaustion test as compared to a non-music control. However, only pleasurable music elicited ergogenic gains, while none of the conditions aided Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE).

Similar results were found by Terry (2012) who studied a sample of elite triathletes while running on a treadmill to synchronous music. Both pleasurable music and neutral music improved blood lactate concentrations, RPE, economy, and oxygen consumption. Because both pleasurable and neutral music conferred performance gains, one theory advanced by the researchers was that the athletes’ ability to synchronize to the music was more important than the artistic quality of the music. Frequent Swimming Science readers might find parallels to use of the Tempo Trainer (“Beep Beep Beep”).

Nakamura (2010) also found that pleasurable music can improve performance but non-pleasurable music may hinder performance. In this cycling study, both RPE and subjective discomfort at a given effort level increased with non-pleasurable music. Terry (2012) found that neutral music offered fewer subjective benefits than pleasurable music among elite triathletes, although performance markers were similar. The real world applications for swimming may be reduced without SwiMP3’s, although ambient music over the facility loudspeaker between reps/sets could improve training performance, along with any music audible beneath the surface.

In the last few weeks, John has looked in-depth at warm ups, 'perfect swimming warm-up' and warm-downs, 'perfect swimming warm-down'. Although you don’t see many SwiMP3 players in the pool, music is an indelible part of nearly every swimmer’s pre-event and post-event routines. Eliakim (2007) studied adolescent volleyball players of both genders and found that music during the warm up may have a “transient beneficial effect on anaerobic performance.” There was no difference between genders.

 

However, in a timed isometric weight hold, Crust (2004) found that music played immediately before the task did not affect performance while music played during the task did improve performance. One way to reconcile these results is that the Crust study measured endurance, while the Eliakim study measured anaerobic performance, indicating that warmup music may help get athletes fired up to sprint but the effect of warmup music might erode as event duration increases.

More recently, Eliakim (2012) looked at the effect of music on cooldowns and found that listening to music during an unstructured cooldown from intense exercise resulted in higher volitional activity, a reduction in RPE, and faster lactate clearance. Subjects were given the choice how much to cooldown and took a greater number of steps with music than without. Lactate clearance was measured between three and fifteen minutes after exercise in three-minute intervals. Whether increased cooldown volume and faster lactate clearance are desirable goals will vary by situation, but know the evidence suggests that music can help manipulate these variables.

Conclusion

The effects of music on performance are fairly intuitive, but still worth noting to refine our concept of best-practices. Music is a tool to aid with discipline, performance, and habituation. Although most uses occur outside the water, our opportunities to use music in the water may expand with continued improvements in technology at more accessible price points.

References

1. Hume KM, Crossman J. Musical reinforcement of practice behaviors among competitive swimmers.J Appl Behav Anal. 1992 Fall;25(3):665-70.
2. Karageorghis CI, Mouzourides DA, Priest DL, Sasso TA, Morrish DJ, Walley CJ. Psychophysical and ergogenic effects of synchronous music during treadmill walking. J Sport Exerc Psychol. 2009 Feb;31(1):18-36.
3. Tate AR, Gennings C, Hoffman RA, Strittmatter AP, Retchin SM. Effects of Bone-Conducted Music on Swimming Performance. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Feb 23. [Epub ahead of print]
4. Eliakim M, Meckel Y, Nemet D, Eliakim A. The effect of music during warm-up on consecutive anaerobic performance in elite adolescent volleyball players. Int J Sports Med. 2007 Apr;28(4):321-5. Epub 2006 Oct 6.
5. Crust L. Carry-over effects of music in an isometric muscular endurance task. Percept Mot Skills. 2004 Jun;98(3 Pt 1):985-91.
6. Eliakim M, Bodner E, Eliakim A, Nemet D, Meckel Y. Effect of motivational music on lactate levels during recovery from intense exercise. J Strength Cond Res. 2012 Jan;26(1):80-6.
7. Nakamura PM, Pereira G, Papini CB, Nakamura FY, Kokubun E. Effects of preferred and nonpreferred music on continuous cycling exercise performance. Percept Mot Skills. 2010 Feb;110(1):257-64.
8. Terry PC, Karageorghis CI, Saha AM, D'Auria S. Effects of synchronous music on treadmill running among elite triathletes. J Sci Med Sport. 2012 Jan;15(1):52-7. Epub 2011 Jul 30.

By Allan Phillips. Allan and his wife Katherine are heavily involved in the strength and conditioning community, for more information refer to Pike Athletics.

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Weekly Round-up

1. Rotisserie Drill by Bill Rose.
2. My Pilates experiment by Keef.
3. Does pre-exercise static stretching decrease maximal muscle performance by Simic.
4. Cold Water Immersion for preventing and treating muscle soreness by Bleakley. Looks like I need to update, do ice baths work.
5. Great innovative core exercises by Empower.
6. Volume, velocity, and rhythm by Paul Yetter.
7. Sand Pulls with outsweep by John Mullen. Don't worry, I'll talk slower next time.
8. Press forward not down by Katie Arnold.
9. Why do we stretch by John Mullen.

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Shaving and swimming

Everyone loves taper. From pool decks in America to Australia and France, taper is the most fun for many swimmers (especially in Australia, man 47.1 is flying in a textile!). Allan Phillips wrote a great piece on the subject, tantalizing taper, which dived into many of the expected results with taper and hypotheses on taper.

This piece will complement his work and discuss shaving.

Shaving is a misunderstood aspect of the sport for participants and onlookers. It is a ritualistic concept, as rooted as excessive shoulder stretching and carbohydrate loading.
A study from 1992 by Johns et al. looked at the amount of improvement with taper and looked at the benefit from shaving. These researchers found:

"Swim power did not increase further with hair removal. In contrast, shaving significantly increased distance per stroke (P < 0.05) by approximately 5%. These data indicate that reduced training specifically improves swim power; however, removing exposed body hair after taper may additionally enhance performance capabilities by increasing distance per stroke (Johns 1992)."

An older study looked at the effects of shaving on breaststroke. The abstract does a great job reviewing their findings:

"Nine male collegiate swimmers (EXP) were studied 8 d before (PRE) and 1 d after (POST) shaving the hair from their arms, legs, and exposed trunk. A control group (CON, N = 4) of their teammates was also tested at these times but did not remove body hair. In PRE and POST, distance per stroke (SL), VO2, heart rate (HR), and post-swim blood lactate concentration (BL) were measured during a 365.8 m breaststroke swim at approximately 90% effort. Subjects also performed a tethered breaststroke swim with retarding forces of 6.27, 7.75, and 9.26 kg. The EXP group experienced a significant (P less than 0.05) reduction in BL (mean +/- SE: 8.48 +/- 0.78 to 6.74 +/- 0.74 mmol.l-1), a decreased VO2 (3.60 +/- 0.15 to 3.27 +/- 0.14 l.min-1), an increase in SL (2.07 +/- 0.08 to 2.31 +/- 0.10 m.stroke-1), and an insignificant (P = 0.08) decline in HR (174 +/- 5 to 168 +/- 4 beats.min-1) during the free swim. The CON group showed no changes in BL, SL, or HR. During the tethered swim, there were no significant PRE-POST differences in VO2, HR, or BL for either group. In a separate group of swimmers (nine who shaved body hair and nine controls), removing body hair significantly reduced the rate of velocity decay during a prone glide after a maximal underwater leg push-off. It is concluded that removing body hair reduces active drag, thereby decreasing the physiological cost of swimming (Sharp 1989)."

The mechanism behind shaving is still uncertain. Do athlete's improve from a psychological benefit, physiological, or combined result. I feel shaving improves both of these entities, but am excited to see it be a large player in the equation, because as a sport we need to hold on to our traditions!

These findings are significant and important in the sport and are part of the reasons large time drops are occurring once again at championship meets. The women NCAA meet had a lot of records, however prior to the competition there was little speculation about many records being broke. I feel this occurred because we expected and had experienced faster swimming during the year for the past three years, but with the ban of the hi-tech suits, athletes are once again having a large effect of shaving.

Approximately one year ago I said on Swimming World TV, that our times would catch the hi-tech suits sooner than anyone expected. If you ask me, we have caught up to the hi-tech suits. Many are going close to World Records at Olympic Trials and many hi-tech NCAA records went down over the weekend.

We won't see all the records fall, but the frequency of records being broken will occur at a similar pace as prior the suits. I've said it before, I liked the suits, but I'm glad the sport has reached the suits and expect the amount of records falling in the next few months, trust me records will fall!


References:

1. Sharp RL, Costill DL. Influence of body hair removal on physiological responses during breaststroke swimming. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1989 Oct;21(5):576-80.
2. Johns RA, Houmard JA, Kobe RW, Hortobágyi T, Bruno NJ, Wells JM, Shinebarger MH. Effects of taper on swim power, stroke distance, and performance. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1992 Oct;24(10):1141-6.

By Dr. G. John Mullen, DPT, CSCS. He is the founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration, head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club, and creator of Swimmer's Shoulder System. 

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Teaching Youth Swimmers

The educational system in the United States is broken. Unfortunately, I don't see them turning around and producing the caliber of student necessary to turn the United States around. Public school systems and private entities have tried many means to improve this gaping flaw, providing truth to the inverse knowledge theory, the more theories about a subject, the less that is actually known. This dilutes the successful trials making it harder to track what is successful.

The gap between educators and students is larger than ever. Once upon a time, people sat around a burning candle and read to get knowledge. Nowadays kids hop on a Xbox, use multiple finger commands, verbal commands with peers, while yelling at their parents to get them a sack of Funions. Many educators feel the ability to multitask is turning kids' brains into a pile of Flan, but educators need to catch the kids mind span and expand their mind.

Kids commonly receive the bulk of the blame for their motivation, but failure to motivate is a two-way street. In fact, I face more of the blame on the educators as child's intelligence has been steadily increasing since the 1990s...about the time of the video game surge. Educators must find creative methods to stimulate children who have high stimulation and reoccurring rewards in their life via video games

Education in swimming is facing a similar problem. Many swim coaches teach one-dimensional programs with minimal interaction and methods for learning. Swimming intelligence is essential for successful swimming and lifelong love of the sport. Unfortunately, many coaches use stale, obsolete methods to teach swimmers aspects of the sport.

Connecting the sport to the young, agile mind is difficult for anyone outside of their generation, but is possible to achieve. However, many coaches, similar to educators, are 'old school' and show minimal efforts to adjust towards trends in technology and learning. Bringing an interactive environment with short-term goals and rewards, similar to video games is mandatory. Building a system where teamwork and multitasking are commonplace to expand learning is difficult, but possible. Don't fear technology and video games; embrace the culture as it will become more dominant in the future. Learn more now and how to teach on these levels to improve the swimming knowledge of your team to build a sustainable successful system for the future.

What methods do you use to stimulate the Gameration generation?

By Dr. G. John Mullen, DPT, CSCS. He is the founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration, head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club, and creator of Swimmer's Shoulder System.  

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'Perfect' Swimming Warm-down

If you missed the 'perfect' swimming warm-up, read it already!

Warm-up research is minimal, warm-down is a different story. Vast research has looked at different warm-down speeds, lengths, and lactate level. As discussed in past pieces (check out Groin Kick Syndrome Part I), lactate is not the devil; the body's inability to convert lactate to ATP is a problem which leads to the fun acidic burning in your gut). If your body can improve this system, then you can tolerate more stress and improve workload and performance. Warm-down research is quite popular, whether Dr. G is pricking your ear or your buddy stabbing your finger, the result is almost always....you need more warm-down!

Make sure you know your individual plan and needs, but realize there are some generalities for everyone and if you don't have the available technology it shouldn't be held against you, even the late Steve Jobs won't be mad if you don't have the Blood Lactate Application.

We went over suggested Swimming Warm-Down durations before and concluded:

"Differences in opinions exist between warm down speeds and duration. One study determined swimming for 15 minutes at 55-75% of racing speed resulted in blood lactate retuning to below 2 mmol/L-1 (McMaster 1989). A more recent study have determined lactate threshold as an optimal pace for warm-down (Greenwood 2008). Toubekis 2010 found repeated sprints to recover best at a pace of 40% 100 free."

Despite the conflict in opinion on warm-down, one thing is clear; everyone needs a lot of warm-down. Just look at these suggested warm-down distances associated with their event:

Some things to note are different strokes elevate more lactate than others and sprinters typically need more recovery.

However, there is even research about passive recovery. Touberkis 2008 noted:

"Five minutes of active recovery during a 15-min interval period is adequate to facilitate blood lactate removal and enhance performance in swimmers. Passive recovery and/or 10 min of active recovery is not recommended."

These athletes swam at 60% of their 100-meter time and recovered within 15 minutes of the race. This mixed evidence, raises some conflict, which I feel is unable to explain at this time.

But these are purely based on blood lactate volumes and if you read me earlier I said lactate isn't the devil we once suspected.

The devil or forgotten Little Nicky for optimal race results is neural fatigue. This forgotten and unknown variable rises higher in events with high force production. Make sure the nervous system has achieved proper time to recover. If the nervous system does not recover it will not have adequate time to react and will fail...no good! It is estimated the neural system takes seven to ten times the length of the muscular system to recover.

Make sure you have enough time for recovery and are able to turn the brain off for optimal neural recovery.

Conclusion

Swimming recovery is essential after a race for neural and lactate improvement. The amount of active, swimming recovery should be around 60% of your 100-meter time and be performed for at least five minutes (typically much longer).

Next installment, will discuss what to do without a warm-down pool available...

References

1. Toubekis AG, Tsolaki A, Smilios I, Douda HT, Kourtesis T, Tokmakidis SP.Int J Sports Physiol Perform. Swimming performance after passive and active recovery of various durations. 2008 Sep;3(3):375-86.

By Dr. G. John Mullen, DPT, CSCS. He is the founder of the Center of Optimal Restoration, head strength coach at Santa Clara Swim Club, and creator of Swimmer's Shoulder System. 

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Overuse: The Cause of Injuries in Young Swimmers?

Take Home Points on Overuse: The Cause of Injuries in Young Swimmers?

Swimming places a high level of stress on the shoulder due to the high volume of shoulder rotations. Coaches should monitor stroke volume and intensity, along with symptoms for reducing shoulder pain incidence in the sport.

Baseball season is almost upon us.  Hope springs eternal for us fans of hapless teams like

the Baltimore Orioles! Spring also brings increased baseball injuries at all levels. 

What does this a have to do with swimming? Studying baseball is helpful because there is far more data on baseball than swimming (perhaps because a bad professional baseball player makes more than the entire U.S. Olympic swim team…). The correlations to swimming are not exact, but a shoulder is still a shoulder, whether it belongs to a baseball player or swimmer.  

Almost a year ago, Dr. John brought pitch counts to our attention and asked whether the concept can transfer to swimming, stroke count.  Little league kids have pitch counts based on age.  Some leagues have outlawed curveballs, although it’s a controversial move because research has shown no link between curveballs and arm injuries.  The pitch count concept has merit for swimming but may be difficult to implement with the exactitude of baseball.  It’s not that hard to count throws by the one and only pitcher on the mound.  Counting every stroke by forty kids churning up a 25 yard pool?  Not gonna happen.  

More importantly, we should understand how and why baseball reached its conclusions. Overuse is a simple topic right?  Maybe…but if it’s that simple, why do we still have to talk about it? I used to think pitch count was a desperate attempt to manage a problem that no one could isolate.  Surely if we give everyone an ideal dryland program and perfect stroke mechanics, we could eradicate all injuries, right?  While this lofty goal may be achievable for mature swimmers on an individual level, kids are a whole different ballgame (no pun intended).

 
After reading more baseball research, it’s clear that pitching volume is the most robust predictor of injury in young pitchers, even accounting for instruction and conditioning.  That doesn’t mean shoulder prevention programs and stroke mechanics are meaningless.  To the contrary, better generalized movement and better stroke mechanics can create a buffer zone from injury, but baseball coaches and parents are blowing right through the buffer zone into mechanical breakdown.  I won’t say mechanical “failure” because the danger is not limited to the uncoordinated pitcher or novice swimmer who butterflops through fly sets.  Imperceptible perturbations in and around the shoulder joint can add stress and ultimately trigger pain.   
  

Olsen (2006) studied a group of adolescent baseball pitchers and found the injured ones (those who had surgery) threw significantly more months per year, games per year, innings per game, pitches per game, pitches per year, and warm-up pitches before a game.  Other correlations for injury included:

• being a starting pitcher

• pitching in more “showcases” (special talent recruitment games)
• higher velocity
• pitching more often with arm pain and fatigue
• used anti-inflammatories and ice more often

Overall volume is a common link with those factors, but pay close attention to the last two factors: “pitched more often with pain/fatigue” and “used anti-inflammatories and ice more often.”  Both these factors tie closely with the idea of volume as the culprit.  If the surgical kids pitched more often with pain and fatigue, and used anti-inflammatories and ice more frequently, it means they have identified the early warning signs of injury yet continued to press onward!
 
Injured kids were also older and heavier than uninjured kids. One possible explanation: More horsepower without coordination to match. Take a kid who grows three inches and puts on twenty pounds in a growth spurt. His brain still thinks he’s three inches shorter and twenty pounds lighter until his awareness catches up with his body. Maybe that gives him extra gas on his fastball (note that velocity was correlated with injury) and maybe it gives a swimmer more horsepower to move water and several inches of reach. However, added power also creates added burden on joints, connective tissue, and the neuromuscular system to control the power. 

With extreme volumes, the margin for error is much lower. Sound mechanics and dryland conditioning can help a boat withstand waves, but we shouldn’t be the ones to create unneeded waves ourselves!

One Solution: Diversification
Swimming is different than baseball, no doubt. Babies automatically develop the gross motor skills of reaching and throwing with minimal instruction.  In contrast, we don’t learn to manipulate the water unless taught. Once acquired, this skill is highly perishable. Taking several months off, as many in baseball recommend for pitchers, may not be desirable for swimmers due to the perishability of feel.  

Kids should be given freedom to participate in other sports to complement swimming. No one is asking aspiring college swimmers to play AAU basketball at age 17. To push kids beyond their injury threshold not only goes against the evidence for protecting young shoulders, it also runs counter to common sense. Just look at 10U and 11-12 top times in USA Swimming archives. There’s a frighteningly low correlation between early age group success and college/professional success. A similar trend appears in the formal literature, with Barininya (1992) finding that swimmers who began specializing at ages 12-13 spent a longer time on the national team and had longer careers than those who specialized at ages 9-10.  

The key is exposure, or “sampling,” as some call it. They don’t need to be good at another sport; and if you’re the swim coach and they have some talent you probably hope they aren’t! But they should have exposure, which is even more important in this era with the death of unstructured play. Furthermore, with many injuries coming via dryland training (Wolf 2009), a dryland base of movement competency will prepare kids for more intense work in high school, college, and beyond.

Look at the backgrounds of the sport’s best. Many had been exposed to other activities before focusing on swimming, with some later than others. This is hardly a scientific sample (pulled from a few USA Swimming national team biographies), but it lest any parent think other sports at age 10 will preclude a kid from a championship swim career, just show them this list!

Lochte – basketball (high school at that!)
Phelps - lacrosse
Coughlin - gymnastics
Moses - golf
Leverenz - soccer, ballet, gymnastics
Kukors - gymnastics, fast pitch softball, basketball, volleyball
Jones - gymnastics, basketball
Magnuson - basketball, volleyball
Grevers - basketball, water polo, volleyball, tennis, soccer

Conclusion
No matter how much we try otherwise, young shoulders have volume limitations. The

shoulder is a delicate joint.  Recognition of these limitations should not be confused with going soft. There is plenty of time for higher volume and more intense training, but in the interests of protecting young shoulders and preserving young talent for college and beyond, those days can wait. A blend of sound mechanics and dryland improvements in muscle length, strength, and timing can create a “buffer zone” beneath that threshold to improve a young swimmer’s resistance to injury. Let’s not encroach on this buffer zone by overloading the youngest athletes beyond their bodies’ capabilities.

If looking for more about swimmer's shoulder, consider purchasing the COR Swimmer's Shoulder System!

References

1. Olsen SJ 2nd, Fleisig GS, Dun S, Loftice J, Andrews JR.  Risk factors for shoulder and elbow injuries in adolescent baseball pitchers.  Am J Sports Med. 2006 Jun;34(6):905-12. Epub 2006 Feb 1.
2. Wolf BR, Ebinger AE, Lawler MP, Britton CL.  Injury patterns in Division I collegiate swimming.  Am J Sports Med. 2009 Oct;37(10):2037-42. Epub 2009 Jul 24.
3. Barynina, I. I., & Vaitsekhovskii, S. M. (1992, August). The aftermath of early sports specialization for highly qualified swimmers. Fitness and Sports Review International, 132-133.

By Allan Phillips. Allan and his wife Katherine are heavily involved in the strength and conditioning community, for more information refer to Pike Athletics.

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