I think looking at the resources, the author would say that the energy systems aren't really what you should be looking at.
It's important in reading and making our own sense out of such a text to better understand who Brent Rushall is.
His texts aren't always easy to accept among coaches, because he's been consistent over the decades in questioning how *we* (since I'm a coach) train our swimmers. And he's right I believe. As time goes by, stuff he's written a long time ago hasn't made as much sense as it does now.
For instance, he's complaining in this text that the technical component of most strokes is not developed in an optimize way. Who could state other wise? When we know that still in 2012, several high level squads (ie, for instance the varsity level where I work) do NOT offer any form of private coaching, not even targeted for their best candidates. No underwater video feedback. Coaching in 2012 resembles a lot to coaching 20y ago.
Brent Rushall is a lot dedicated to wake coaching world up.
The few key elements in this paper are:
- There's no such thing as freestyle technique. There's FS technique at sprint race pace, at mid d race pace, at distance race pace, etc
- All these techniques must be addressed
- They are often left aside (technically, it's hard to video feedback for a sprinter who's best 100 is 50sec flat, requires an extra effort trust me)
- Lactate shuffle in swimming is more of an issue (in a positive way) than in most other endurance cyclic sport
My opinion (which is worth nothing compared to Rushall's) is that they're still a need to fully train the anaerobic capacity. That said, what this paper suggests is that it should not be overdone, if one wants to avoid wasting too much sugar on that.
On a more philosophical note, I don't think US swimming world needs Rushall as much as the Canadian swimming world does. The medal count per capita is much higher south of our borders compared to here, where I must admit that coaching really sucks, even in 2012. And frankly, it's not about to change.
I think looking at the resources, the author would say that the energy systems aren't really what you should be looking at.
It's important in reading and making our own sense out of such a text to better understand who Brent Rushall is.
His texts aren't always easy to accept among coaches, because he's been consistent over the decades in questioning how *we* (since I'm a coach) train our swimmers. And he's right I believe. As time goes by, stuff he's written a long time ago hasn't made as much sense as it does now.
For instance, he's complaining in this text that the technical component of most strokes is not developed in an optimize way. Who could state other wise? When we know that still in 2012, several high level squads (ie, for instance the varsity level where I work) do NOT offer any form of private coaching, not even targeted for their best candidates. No underwater video feedback. Coaching in 2012 resembles a lot to coaching 20y ago.
Brent Rushall is a lot dedicated to wake coaching world up.
The few key elements in this paper are:
- There's no such thing as freestyle technique. There's FS technique at sprint race pace, at mid d race pace, at distance race pace, etc
- All these techniques must be addressed
- They are often left aside (technically, it's hard to video feedback for a sprinter who's best 100 is 50sec flat, requires an extra effort trust me)
- Lactate shuffle in swimming is more of an issue (in a positive way) than in most other endurance cyclic sport
My opinion (which is worth nothing compared to Rushall's) is that they're still a need to fully train the anaerobic capacity. That said, what this paper suggests is that it should not be overdone, if one wants to avoid wasting too much sugar on that.
On a more philosophical note, I don't think US swimming world needs Rushall as much as the Canadian swimming world does. The medal count per capita is much higher south of our borders compared to here, where I must admit that coaching really sucks, even in 2012. And frankly, it's not about to change.
