Ryan Murphy is yet another in a long line of American backstroke dynamos. Murphy, who starred at Cal, took over from legends including Naber, Rouse, Berkoff, Grevers, and Peirsol. An NCAA champion, world record holder, and four-time Olympic champion, Murphy has collected a ton of hardware over the years in international competition. But despite Murphy’s […]

The hard work has been completed in practice. Now it’s time to put it all together on race day. Here are some proven strategies for executing under pressure.

Swimming is a physically demanding sport. The breathing, the timing of the strokes, the endless yards in the pool. The early morning swim workouts, the doubles, the five-day long swim meets. But the mental side is equally as difficult. And it’s where swimmers usually crack, long before their lungs or muscles give out. Whether it’s […]

Doing big things in the water is hard enough… But what makes it infinitely harder is when we bring a victim mindset to the pool. Instead of taking ownership of our swimming, whether it’s swim practices or how we perform on race day, we blame others, grow resentful of the success of others, and obsess […]

One of the classic pieces of advice I received from coaches during my swim career was to “expect the unexpected.” Which, for a lot of swimmers, sounds hokey… You want me to expect the thing that I don’t know is going to happen? If I could do that, I would play the stock market and […]

Every swimmer knows that self-confidence is hard to build, impossible to fake, and can be fragile. After all, we’ve all had that swim meet where the months prior saw you swimming out of your mind at practice, the taper went perfect, and you stepped up on the blocks feeling like a total rock star… Only […]

Improvement in the water can often feel maddening. Some days, we go to the pool, feel absolutely amazing through the warm-up and pre-set… And then tank the main set. Other days, we head to the pool, exhausted and crabby, swim bag dragging on the ground behind us… And somehow nearly go a personal best time […]

For swimmers struggling to master technique and performance in the water, the secret to unlocking faster swimming starts with mastering small habits.

Dreaming big with your goals is a lot of fun. Until you realize the other side of it—what might happen if you fail. Here’s a strategy to help you commit to big and scary goals in the pool.

Staying focused at practice can be challenging. And for a lot of swimmers, they get a little lost when it comes to focusing properly. Should I be focusing on how much agony I am in? Should I be focusing on my technique when swimming all-out? What should I be focused on during longer distance sets? […]