To Swim Faster, You Must Train Faster

With runners, they must train fast to become faster. Current research shows that the same is true for swimmers. Long swim training sessions actually inhibit power development.

Physiologist Dave Costill says:

“Most competitive swimming events last less than two minutes. How can training for three to four hours a day at speeds that are markedly slower than competitive pace prepare the swimmer for the maximal efforts of competition?”

To optimize strength and power, swimmers need to follow an exercise program out of the water that closely mimics their actions in the water. In other words, swimmers need to go workout in the gym too!

Research has proven that there is no speed advantage gained by swimmers continuing to do high-volume swim training (long practice sessions).

Swim coaches continue to do high-volume, low-intensity training no matter what research has proven.

The disadvantages of high-volume swim training are:

1. Depletion of glycogen muscle stores which hampers performance.

2. Fatigue and depletion of fast-twitch muscle fibers which reduces force production.

Sport-specific strength training should be combined with high speed swim training to improve swimming times. Here are some strength exercises for swimmers:

Arm pull down exercises:

Cable rotational front and back pulls: boosts forward propulsion by training the internal rotator cuff muscles by replicating the arm ‘pull down’ through the water.

Rear pulls: promotes balanced strength around the shoulder joint by training the external muscles. This technique avoids shoulder injuries and helps train your core stability skills.

Medicine ball single arm overhead throw: develops the power of the latissimus and pectoral muscles to improve the rate of force production in the shoulder by accelerating the arm hard. The focus is on producing the power from the shoulder and pulling across the body as you do in the crawl.

Swiss ball body pulls: helps to develop core and shoulder strength. A closed kinetic chain movement where the moving limbs remain in contact with a fixed object, it is regarded as functional for sports performance. Uses the stomach muscles to support the spine, using a strong pull of the shoulder muscles to raise your body back to the parallel position.

Leg kick exercises

Hip extension and flexion kick: each leg is worked independently to increase the specificity for swimming. Mimics the upward and downward phases of the swimmers kick action, where the glutes and hamstrings extend and the hip flexors flex the leg at the hip.

Dive start and push-off turn: The dive start and push off turn involves dynamic ankle, knee and hip extension.

Barbell squat jumps: improves vertical jump performance by involving dynamic extension of the ankle, knee and hip joints and trains the calf, quadriceps and gluteal muscles. Helps you generate peak power by adding weight to the squat, so when you perform the jump squat with body weight only, the jump will be very fast and high.

Swimmers can also benefit from using sprinting exercises on the running track. A more diversified swim training program will improve swimmers' competition times.

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Level Sight Lines Are Needed For Many Sports

For an athlete to reach optimal strength, flexibility, balance and power, postural imbalances and dysfunctions must be corrected as much as possible.

One common postural dysfunction is called the Upper-Extremity Postural Distortion. This distortion is seen in a person with rounded shoulders (chest caves in) or a forward head posture as shown below.



Flexibility deficiencies with this postural distortion include tightness in the upper trapezius, neck muscles, latissimus dorsi and chest muscles (pectoralis major/minor).

Common injuries include headaches, biceps tendonitis and shoulder injuries. Important core stabilization exercises for this distortion include prone cobras and cervical retraction.

Athletes who depend on level sight lines to be successful should correct this postural distortion as soon as possible. Because the head is not in proper alignment, this affects players in sports such as baseball/softball, basketball, football, lacrosse, tennis, etc. Hand/eye coordination will be affected if the athlete's sight lines are not level.

We hear about the glamourous attributes that athletes need like speed, power, explosion, etc. all the time. I would argue that posture also needs to be discussed in the same sentence as the other athletic attributes. It is impossible to have optimal speed and power if you have postural dysfunctions.

Every athlete needs a postural assessment performed by a fitness professional. Then, steps can be taken to correct them.

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Work Your Hamstrings More When Doing Walking Lunges

There are few injuries as bothersome and harder to recover from than hamstring injuries.

Prevention of hamstring injuries is the best solution. Similarly, weak hamstrings can lead to other serious injuries, such as knee ACL tears. For example, female athletes tend to have weaker hamstrings because they use their quadriceps muscles more while walking and running.

See my post here for a detailed discussion of hamstring flexibility and strength.



The walking lunge can be a great strength and flexibility exercise for your hamstrings. The further you "lunge out" with the lead leg, the more your hamstrings are worked.

And, if you don't "lunge out" very far, your quadriceps will get more work than your hamstrings. The quadriceps get plenty of work with other exercises like leg presses, squats and leg extensions. So, why not use walking lunges to help out those hamstrings!

When you do your walking lunges today, don't forget about your hamstrings!

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General Training Guidelines For Young Athletes

Don't push a young athlete too hard or too fast! Teach them to enjoy sports! By the time a child is 5 or 6 years old, they are usually ready for some type of resistance training. The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) gives the following general guidelines:

1. If your child is apparently healthy, a medical exam is not mandatory. An exam is recommended for kids with known or suspected health problems.

2. The child should be ready to follow instructions and training guidelines.

3. The exercise environment should be safe and free of hazards.

4. The child should warm-up for 5 to 10 minutes before resistance training.

5. Children should be encouraged to ask questions about training and praised for participation.

The child should be emotionally mature enough to accept and follow directions from competent adult instructors. Here are some benefits of youth resistance training:

1. Increased muscle strength and endurance.
2. Increased bone density.
3. Decreased risk of injury.
4. Positive changes in body composition (less body fat and more muscle mass).
5. Improved sports performance, running speed and jumping ability.
6. Improved self-esteem and self-confidence.
7. Overall improved health.

For kids ages 5-9, bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, pull-ups, back extensions, crunches, squats, etc. are sufficient. To prevent injury and burnout, any speed or agility “drills” should be limited to fun games that require cutting, explosive burst, change-of-direction, jumping, bounding and jumping rope.

For kids ages 10-12, some light dumbbell exercises can be used with the bodyweight exercises and the speed and agility drills can be ramped up.


A YOUNG ATHLETE SHOULD NOT BEGIN A SPORTS TRAINING PROGRAM WITH PLYOMETRICS AND RESISTED SPEED TRAINING TECHNIQUES (WEIGHTED VESTS, SLEDS, ETC.)!

FOUNDATIONAL STRENGTH, CORE STRENGTH AND RUNNING/LANDING/JUMPING MECHANICS SHOULD BE MASTERED FIRST. FAILURE TO FOLLOW THESE PROGRESSIONS WILL SUBJECT THE YOUNG ATHLETE TO POSTURAL DYSFUNCTIONS AND INJURIES!

Beginning at about age 13, young athletes can begin a more serious program of sports conditioning. These athletes should not limit themselves to one sport, but should participate in as many sports as possible to enhance overall athletic skills.

In all cases, avoid over-training young athletes. Over-training will take the joy out of sports as well as break down their bodies. And remember, kids are not training to be the next Derek Jeter, Adrian Peterson or Tom Brady. They are training to be the best they can be!

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Build Lower Body Strength, Power And Balance--One Leg At A Time

Sometimes, too much focus is placed on leg exercises done with two legs. These two-legged exercises, like squats, are needed in your exercise program. But, one of the best physical indicators of athletic success is dynamic balance (rate-of-force production or power is the other).

Having dynamic balance means that the athlete is able to maintain her or his center of gravity over a constantly changing base of support. The athlete cannot have dynamic balance without muscular balance.

To achieve muscular balance in the athlete's lower body, one-legged exercises should be a big part of the athletic training program. These one-legged exercises can be performed as strengh or power (full speed) exercises.

One lower body exercise that should be in your program is one-legged step ups. This exercise is done one leg at a time to force each leg to work evenly. For example, you would do 10 repetitions with your right leg and then 10 repetitions with your left leg.



The hanging leg should not touch the bench and you should lower your body under control. This exercise can also be done without dumbbells if the weight is too heavy.

Other one-legged exercises would be one-legged squats and lunges. Add more one-legged exercises to your training regimen.

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Improve Your Closing Speed To "Make The Play"

Have you ever thought Deion Sanders was beat by the receiver but by the time the ball arrived, Deion had an interception. That is closing speed! The ability to kick it “into another gear” to make the play. This can be practiced with run and sprints. Run and Sprints work this way:

Run and Sprints - Set a distance of 50 yards. Start out running and build up to near full speed at 40 yards. Sprint full speed the final 10 yards. The final full speed sprint is the "close."

Closing speed can also be practiced during acceleration speed training.

Most of the time, an athlete is not running full speed during the game. But sometimes, it is necessary for the athlete to accelerate to full speed (or near full speed) as quickly as possible in order to “make the play.”

Going back to the Deion Sanders example, he was able to accelerate quickly to make the interception. If you do a search on the internet and put in “closing speed” (on Yahoo), Deion’s YouTube video (closing to make an interception) will be one of the choices.

Playing speed is multi-faceted and the athlete needs all aspects of playing speed to be successful.

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Baseball Players' Speed Requirements

The speed requirements for baseball players are: starting ability, acceleration, stopping, cutting, stride rate, stride length, sprinting form and speed endurance.

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Most explosive movements occur after some other movement (swinging, sliding, etc.). Maximum velocity is rarely reached except in the case of hitting a triple, inside-the-park homerun or running down a long fly ball. Therefore, starting ability and acceleration should be emphasized during training.

The ideal baseball infielder or outfielder would possess all the necessary tools to play the game well. This would be known as a 5 tool player.

A 5 tool player has great speed, can field, throw, hit for average and hit for power. A modern day 5 tool player would be Alex Rodriguez. Not many players possess all 5 tools. If you can do two of these tools well (like hitting for average and fielding), you have a chance to make it to "The Show" (Major Leagues).

Following is a short list of some requirements of major league baseball infielders and outfielders:

1. Running speed in the 60 yard dash: 6.5 - 6.8 (good); 6.3 - 6.4 (excellent)

2. Home to first speed: 4.1 (Left handed batter), 4.2 (RHB) is good
4.0 or less (LHB), 4.1 or less (RHB) is excellent

3. Throwing velocity: Infielders, 82-84 mph (good); 85 mph or better (excellent)
Outfielders, 85-89 mph (good); 90 mph or better (excellent)

It should be noted that these fielders need good dynamic balance, agility and throwing accuracy.

Infielders and outfielders should use the offseason to improve strength, dynamic flexibility, dynamic balance, endurance, power and speed.

The focus should be on building full body strength and endurance that will aid the baseball player in improving power and speed. Maximum muscle growth (i.e. 1-rep max) is not needed for baseball players. A critical part of the strength program is strengthening and conditioning the throwing shoulder (see this post).

A sample offseason workout program for infielders and outfielders would be:

1. Full Body Circuit Weight Training (2 days a week). Interval aerobic training would also be done on these days.
2. Speed Training (2 days a week)
3. Plyometric Training (2 days a week)

In season conditioning would include split routine workouts to maintain strength gains made in the offseason. Split routines work the upper body one day and the lower body the next day. Speed workouts would be limited to 1 day per week at the most.

Other things being equal, a muscular, powerful athlete will outperform a fat, slower or skinny, weaker athlete. Sports Fitness Hut's Fat Blaster Athletic Power Training System will give you your "lean and mean" athletic machine!

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Improve Athletic Performance With Leg Circuits

I was working out the other day when a familiar question was asked to me: "How much do you max on the bench press?" My answer was puzzling to him: "I don't max out on the bench press anymore." Let me explain.

From my experience of playing football at the Division I level in college as a defensive back, a big-time bench press max had little to do with successfully playing the game.

And on the occasions that bench press strength came into play, such as taking on a tight end, leverage and body positioning was more important than bench press strength.

My bench press max in those days was 400 pounds. A 300 pound max would have been enough to succeed. Power (how fast your muscles can produce force), dynamic balance and speed endurance are more important athletic traits.

The same principle applies to squats. Don't focus too much on your squat max. Leg circuits are a tried and true method to improve your athleticism, burn more leg fat, increase strength/endurance and improve heart health.

So, how do leg circuits work? The good news is that you only need 20 minutes! The better news is that you will have chiseled glutes, hips, hamstrings, quads and calves if you stay with it! You will also be more athletic and flexible in your movements. Athleticism wins games!

Since this workout is circuit-style, you also get the benefit of a great cardio workout. Do each exercise (10-12 repetitions) one after the other with little or no rest between exercises. Rest 2-3 minutes and do the circuit again. Here is a representative leg circuit program:

--Walking Lunges
--Bodyweight Squats
--1 Legged Glute Bridge
--Dumbbell Deadlift
--Reverse Lunges
--1 Legged Split Squats
--Front Step Ups
--Side Lunges
--Lateral Step Ups
--Transverse Lunges
--Leg Curls
--Calf Raises

Do less heavy weight leg work and add leg circuits to your overall athletic exercise program!

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Tight Hip Flexors Diminishes Athletic Performance

Great athletes dominate athletic movements with the hips, glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings. All of these muscle regions need to work properly or you will not compete on a high level.

The gluteus maximus is the largest muscle in the body. The anatomy of the gluteal region (gluteus maximus, gluteus medius, gluteus minimus) is shown below:



The glutes don't fire properly when the hip flexors (psoas, iliacus, tensor fascia latae, etc.) are overactive or tight. This can happen due to poor flexibility or prolonged sitting. When the hip flexors don't work properly, its antagonist (mainly the gluteus maximus) becomes weak.

This is known as reciprocal inhibition (when muscles on one side of a joint become tight or overactive, it shuts down the muscles on the other side of the joint).

When a prime mover (such as the gluteus maximus) becomes weak, other muscles (synergists) take over the function that the prime mover should be doing. Some injuries that occur because of inactive glutes are hamstring injuries, piriformis syndrome, knee ACL tears and low back injuries. Okay, enough of the technical stuff!


So, what do you need to do to fire up your glutes?! First, you need to understand why your glutes are not firing properly. They are probably not receiving the neural drive from your central nervous system.

So, it is probably not an issue of strength. Their are some exercises you can do to correct this problem. First, you need to lengthen tight muscles. The stretches are listed as follows (use self myofascial release with foam roller before doing these stretches):

1. Hip Flexor Stretch
2. Quadriceps Stretch
3. Bodyweight Lateral Lunges (for adductors)

Then, you need to activate (fire up) your glutes with these exercises:

1. Glute Bridge
2. Opposite Leg Opposite Arm Raise
3. Glute Kickbacks

Lastly, exercise the fired up glutes with these exercises:

1. Bodyweight squats
2. Lateral tube walks
3. Walking Lunges

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Athletes Should Train The Transverse Plane Of Motion

Traditionally, athletes have been trained primarily in the sagittal plane of motion. The sagittal plane is an imaginary bisector that divides the body into left and right halves.

Movements in the sagittal plane include forward-backward and up-down movements relative to the body and/or joint. Examples would be walking, running, bicep curls, leg curls and seated back rows.

Traditional training techniques (such as training with machine weights) have focused on the sagittal plane of motion. This is not an effective training technique if the other planes of motion are ignored during training.

Training in the transverse plane of motion is critical for athletes. The transverse plane is an imaginary bisector that divides the body into top and bottom halves.

Movements in the transverse plane are primarily rotational. Obviously, this will be a dominate plane of motion for many athletes. Baseball players (swinging, turning, pivoting, etc.), football defensive backs (hip rotations, quick turns, etc.) are just two examples.

An athlete also needs adequate training in the frontal plane of motion. The frontal plane is an imaginary bisector that divides the body into equal front and back halves. Frontal plane movements primarily involve abduction and adduction (side-to-side motions).

Abduction takes a limb away from the midline of the body and adduction takes the limb closer to the midline of the body. Some frontal plane movements would be side shuffles, side lunges and lateral bounces/bounding. Quickness and agility movements made by athletes require adequate frontal plane stability, strength, power, flexibility and balance.

Sport-specific training should focus on training athletic movements and not just muscles! The games are played with quick, powerful athletic movements.

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Strengthen Hamstrings With Romanian Deadlift

The hamstrings can be a major problem for athletes. It is best to strengthen the hamstrings and maintain flexibility to avoid injuries. A hamstring injury can plague you for months! Just when you think the hamstrings are healed, you can often reinjure them. The Romanian Deadlift is a great hamstring strength exercise.



1) Stand with your feet hip width apart and your knees slightly bent (at 20°).

2) Start position: Grasp bar with an overhand grip hip width apart. Your back should be straight in a neutral position. Don't bow your back!

3) Bending at the hips, lower the bar to approximately mid-shin height. Keep your legs stiff and your knees bent at 20° throughout movement. You should feel tension mainly in your hamstrings.

4) Return to start position.

Remember to keep your back straight. Bend at the hips. To help you do this, shift your glutes back as if ready to sit down. Your knees should not move forward beyond the toes. Keep your abdominals tight throughout exercise by drawing your navel in toward your spine.

Add this exercise to your routine! Your hamstrings will thank you.

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Muscle Imbalances Need Correction To Improve Sports Performance

Achieving optimal muscular fitness requires flexibility, strength, endurance, power, and speed.

These components should be included in an integrated sports training program. In some sports, such as baseball and tennis, the dominant side of the upper body develops more than the non-dominant side.

Other sports such as running, soccer, and cycling may emphasize the lower body more than the upper body. And, if certain patterns or muscular actions are performed repeatedly, muscles develop more in either the front of the body (football offensive linemen) or the back of the body (rowers).

Competitors in all sports benefit from an integrated sports training program focusing on 3-dimensional muscular balance. An integrated sports training program will help overall athleticism, prevent injuries and enhance performance.

Opposing muscle groups should be in balance. For example, the quadriceps group/hamstring group should be in balance (or the quads should not be significantly stronger than the hamstrings).

Female athletes, in particular, generally have lesser levels of hamstring strength because they dominate more with the quadriceps (when walking or running). Research has proven that inadequate hamstring strength contributes to knee anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries.

To avoid developing muscle imbalances or to correct muscle imbalances, you should do the following:

1) Have a postural assessment performed by a fitness professional. This assessment will indicate where your muscles are tight, weak or lengthened.

It will also indicate patterns of postural dysfunction called postural distortion patterns. Distortion patterns occur because the structural integrity of the kinetic chain (human movement system) is compromised due to the misalignment of one or more of its components.

2) Develop a comprehensive flexibility routine.

3) Weight training should focus on the total body to avoid muscle imbalances.

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Buettner Baseball's Interview With Mark at Sports Fitness Hut

Interview With Mark Dilworth, Owner of Sports Fitness Hut.

This interview was posted on Buettner Baseball's site, May 2, 2008.

A few months back I came across A gentleman by the name of Mark Dilworth online, who has a passion about fitness as I do for baseball. Mark and I have been keeping in contact for awhile, and after we got to know each other, I asked him if I could interview for my website.

Mark worked as a Certified Public Accountant for 14 years before he decided to make a career change to personal training. He has been training for 4 years and his clients include middle school, high school and college athletes as well as women and men who want general or competitive fitness.

I was particularly interested on his training for baseball players, especially for high school players.

Mark gave me some very insightful information.

RTBjr73: First off, thank you for doing this interview for me. Let's get right down to it. Can you briefly explain your background in physical fitness and as a Certified Fitness Trainer?

Mark: I grew up in an athletic family. Because of that, I have been physically fit all of my life and I'm grateful for that. I played all sports year-round from age 6 to age 15. When I started high school, I concentrated on football and baseball. In college, I played only football.

RTBjr73: Being a former NCAA Division I athlete, I assume that you have a pretty good idea with what needs a high school player's body needs to stay or get into top physical shape. Does a player need to have a fitness program all year around?

Mark: Because I played sports year-round for so long, I over-trained my body (looking back). Kids are starting highly competitive select sports programs much too early (some as young as 5 years old)! I see many kids burned out by age 12 or 13.

The fun of sports has many times been taken out of it. The kids have pressure to win! This is wrong! As for high school athletes, they can stay fit year-round. But the program needs to be periodized so that the athlete peaks at the right time (during the season)!

Periodization varies the intensity and workloads so the athlete doesn't burn out during training. Periodization also protects the athlete against over-use injuries.

RTBjr73: When I play baseball as a catcher, I notice that I pay a little more attention to flexibility. Does that sometimes go by the wayside with teenagers, where not enough attention goes into a workout regimen, say such as strength and speed?

Mark: Flexibility is crucial for an athlete, particularly dynamic flexibility. The mistake I see many athletes make is strengthening the extremities(limbs) before adequately strengthening the core.

All movement begins with the core and it is essential to strengthen it first. Adequate core strength will maximize extremity strength, power and speed. Also, many athletes want to rush the process and begin with speed and power training.

Speed and power training is full speed and will subject the athlete to injuries if the body doesn't have an adequate strength/core foundation.

And a final note, I built my athletic body without the use of performance enhancing drugs such as HGH and anabolic steroids! As a result, I basically have the same body I had in college because I didn't take shortcuts!

RTBjr73: For the sake of this interview, let's assume we are talking about a ball player between the ages of 16 to 18, and their bodies have matured physically at a standard rate. What are they ready for, as far as training and diet.

Mark: Almost every high school athlete I begin to train doesn't eat as an athlete should eat. A diet with the macronutrients (carbs, fats, protein) is critical for athletic success.

An athlete's diet should generally consist of 60%-70% carbs (fruits, veggies, whole grains, etc.), 20% fats (mainly unsaturated fats) and 15%-20% proteins such as lean meats, beans, nuts, etc. The athlete should not depend too much on supplements. They are called supplements for a reason. Get your nutrition mainly from food.

As far as training goes, a sports-specific program is best. THE ATHLETE SHOULD TRAIN MOVEMENTS, NOT JUST MUSCLES! A professional trainer can guide the athlete so that injuries are avoided. As I stated earlier, don't rush the process! I know from experience as a player and trainer that the athletic body building process works!

RTBjr73: Mark, I appreciate your time that you have given. Where can people go, to get more information about fitness programs and ideas?

Mark: Visit my sports training blog at http://www.sportsfitnesshut.blogspot.com/

RTBjr73: Thanks Mark!!

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Practice Running Mechanics With Butt Kickers

Fundamentals, fundamentals! If you fail to learn the fundamentals, don't expect to perform on an elite level in sports.

Some of the biggest games have been won and lost because a player executed or didn't execute the fundamentals of the sport! Have you ever seen a basketball player not get a rebound because she or he didn't "box out" the opponent.

A rebound could save the game in some instances. Has a ball ever rolled between your legs because you didn't get in position to field the baseball properly? In truth, all games are won by the player/team that executes the fundamentals of the sport best.

When it comes to sprinting mechanics, you need to practice the fundamentals every day. A good exercise to practice mechanics is Butt Kickers. You can warmup or practice full speed with this exercise.



The faster the running speed, the higher the heel on the rear foot should kick up (butt kick). When the foot leaves the ground, it should follow a path straight up to the buttocks. It should not flail from side to side. Review other aspects of proper running mechanics in this post.

Be a better athlete by executing the fundamentals properly!

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