Sport Seasons
SPORT SEASONS
Winning, Intervals, Training, Seasons, Healing
Year round athletes doc published at my 10-year coaching anniversary
Allow me to present the most important document I made after ten years coaching
<< I never produced the web domain "CoachECoach" - it's a clever handle >>
In my younger days there was urgency with what I did
I felt I needed to achieve this, that and the other
Since I refer to having been a pro sports coach
It all started because my grandfather was a prophet
He told me things that came true years later
It amazed me how he was able to see them
There is no doubt that my son will think the same
If there is one thing I truly cannot stand
It's having to use a daily alarm clock
It's such a disruptive thing to do
I am however, motivated by using my own age as an alarm clock
It also motivates me to use youth as a wake up call to live my life
In time I find myself cutting out the clock in favor of completing the activity itself
Funny how the concept of winning changes for us in different stages of our lives
I used to want wins and now I just want to not have to use my alarm clock to wake up
Intervals and Progressions
Intervals are the best way to think about our activities
It implies we can scale upward and backward any time
This is true with regards to our effort, time or distance
A set of swimming intervals might be your own idea
That you can do "Six 100-yard lengths" of your pool
This idea is what might constitute your full workout
Intervals are a menu plan for your workout
Do you need to take a break for rest?
Or perhaps would you like to exert
A boost of stronger energy?
No problem - scale up or scale back based on your feels
What we recognize as "progressions" are changed intervals over time
Typically your progressions show a pattern of being able
To do more on say, the fifth or tenth workout instance
If you work out 2x weekly - 10 times is over a month
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When you're feeling it
It's frustrating when you can only swim to the wall and back once or twice
You might be too tired to continue and consider your workout as complete
If that's where you are with your progression - you will have to honor that
Honoring your progression is honest work - don't be lazy & don't be injured
It can feel embarrassing to cut short but it's not embarrassing at all and no one else cares
It's very important to take a more proactive attitude about the image of your current ability
As opposed to being self conscious about image of lifting small weight or finishing early
The truth is that it does not matter how far you go
Whether you jump in and do 1 lap or 5 laps or 20 laps
Let's consider your capacity goal - is to increase capacity
There is no shame for having a small amount of laps
There is no glory for doing a large amount of laps
The glory is getting to the end of your year successfully
Glory is getting to advanced age happily without injury
The all-important concept of basic progressions
Indicates there is no starting line and no finish line
Nothing is beyond your willingness to scale workouts, mood and training
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Ready to pounce - When you work with progressions you have a new way to achieve victory
Intervals are designed to provide bursts of alternating rest and activity
Everything in practice of all sports is based on progressions
First you run a mile
Then you run 2 miles
Your continued mission is to set a goal
When it's complete you'll set another goal
Don't shoot for goals that are too high or low
When you set up good goals and intervals
Doing so is unrewarding and unmotivating
Plus it is shocking and delightful to see how quickly we are ready for the next progression
That might be any interval depending on how you are using the concepts for your benefit
When doing things at intervals I find my output increases
It's almost unavoidable - When we do things, we quickly adapt to the activity
This creates a scenario of doing self-tasks and objectives more quickly and efficiently
In weight lifting, we are simply stronger during the "second set"
That's because the first set gets that muscle groups warmed up
If the task is 10 pushups we'll find the first set of ten requires a certain level of exertion
Then after a short rest - The second set of ten pushups is somehow easier to accomplish
If your self-designed workout performs four sets of 10-pushups
You may find that on your third or fourth day of doing this activity
You can easily do sets of 12-pushups with same energy or exertion
It can feel like when you do did the ten, on the first time you tried it
In this way we can find we have to keep changing or "scaling" our goals
Those changes or upgrades or updates are referred to as progressions
A progression is simply the idea that your goal has to get harder
You've hit your previous goal several times and now it's not as difficult
This is the power of conditioning and this is what working out is all about
Progressions can come about in a few weeks or across the time span of several months
If your workout is not becoming easier you may have started too high or you're just right
I personally enjoy undershooting capacity for a while first, to perfect form & avoid injury
High school sports run just about three months
That is generally considered a season change
For me after 3 months I might have aches and pains
Some people might swim inside pools during the winter
Then swim outside in open water in summer
Then do something else or rest in between
Because the water, current and sunshine or outdoor characteristics differ a lot
A season change represents a nice time to start over - keep things engaging
The body becomes accustomed which is nice but you become fatigued too
Specifically, it can be more tiring to swim in the ocean where there is a tide or current
It might be easier to track distance inside a pool where you are confined to your own lane
When you make a change there are things that need to be learned and new adaptations
To be a great swimmer you might proactively decide on a yearly schedule
You could gym-swim in the winter, go kayaking in rivers during the spring
Go surfing all summer, and take the autumn off for studio yoga - how fun!
Tae-Bo was a phenomenal invention because there was diversity in activity
Keeping this variety in your workout is what cross training is all about
I personally do not choose to be a single sport pedigree
I like to get really into several sports and take breaks
There are so many different sports out there and they all benefit from adaptation
That adaptation is a wonderful and inspiring process - We can do all things!
Building body and the knowledge and the practice is not done in a season
I enjoy committing some months to everyday swim and other months to no swim at all
The calendar year presents many opportunities to change what's on the workout menu
There is no way I'd still be swimming if I hadn't healed up most of last year's seasons
This year with good fortune, I don't have a massive injury that needs to be mitigated
I do occasionally get funny aches and pains like right now I have tennis elbow pains
Update: I made a few changes and it went away - was playing a lot of tennis
Paying attention to those things is not just important
It is beyond critical for our long term viability as athletes
I listened to and noticed my elbow - it wasn't a choice - it was needed
Bottom line I can enjoy my workouts happily without having to make a big production
That is because I do different things all throughout the year and stop if there is pain
Over the years, all those skills and conditioning and practice add up to a great thing
I attempt to use my swim stroke itself or my sense of goals and distance - to stay solid
I was concerned about aggravating the injury that was slow to leave me so I listened
My healing menu included a good 8 months of varied activities and therapy guidance
Some of the prescribed exercises were:
1) Lifting an empty box over my head
2) Connect my wrists with a strap then stretch hands up a wall
3) Pruning branches overhead was perfect therapy (found by accident)
A lot of what it took to rehab my shoulder
Could be thought of as intentionally using two hands
To lift large items to a spot over my head and back down
It unites my body into one effort as strong arm supports hurt arm
Pruning overhead branches was an interesting therapeutic anguish
Swinging a lightly weighted item was the other key exercise
It was from a device my sister obtained for me from an informercial
That tool and activity were particularly important for my shoulder rehabilitation
I would do the activity morning and night for 30 days then increase weight
In the end I had used three different weights over a period of 90 days
No one said injury rehab would be fast - it wasn't fast
Also it was rather mundane aside from the fact
That it was also extremely painful
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Use proactive activities for strength - do not frustrate yourself with unreachable goals
There are so many little "inside muscles" inside a shoulder
All of those little muscles comprise the complex nature
Of how the bent arm shoulder pulls to propel ourselves
Through water with or without training gear
Think about each active hobby as seasons that are 3 months apart
Now think about having entirely different hobbies on a seasonal basis
It might not always be swimming season but whatever it is, do it well