"What do YOU need to do to have a major swimming breakthrough?"

Anyone have a breakthrough recently? Anyone working on one? Tell us about it. What was it? How'd you do it? Ande Yes. It started at the end of the last season. I was looking at my national cuts and noticed that I wasn't too far from the 50 breaststroke cut: 32.50 (LCM). That moment I decided that the following season it would be my goal to make the cut. I made a mental plan. After that I tried to figure out some things that I had to accomplish to achieve my goal: 1. Improve my technique 2. Get stronger 3. Recover better from workouts 4. Improve mobility and soft tissue quality Number 1 is an obvious choice. I started doing more drills in practice. Main thing I changed was my kick. I started using a narrower stance with my knees and immediately noticed a huge improvement. I counted strokes. I also started improving my streamline while gliding but also off the walls. I still have a lot to change though. Number 2 has played an essential role so far. I got back to the gym and resumed weightlifting and I feel much stronger and powerful, especially off the turns. Using mainly compound movements: squats, deadlifts, pull ups, ovh pressing, glute ham raise. Number 3 was also very big for me. I overtrain very easily. I think this is because I'm generally a very bad sleeper. At the end of the previous season I was so tired I went 3 seconds slower than my best in the 100. So I decided I would nap during the day and it has worked wonders so far. I also promised myself that I would listen more to my body. I used to push myself extremely hard at least 4-5 times a week. That resulted in exhaustion very quickly. This season I'm taking it slow and steady and backing off when necessary. Number 4: I started foam rolling more often, especially the adductors (which I used to strain very easily) and the IT Band. My knee pain is pretty much gone and my legs feel much looser when kick. I have yet to suffer an injury despite swimming much more breaststroke than in previous swimming. I also made a commitment to improving my hip mobility and started doing Diesel Crew's Essential Hip mobility at least 3 times a week. Essential Hip Mobility Movements / How to Warm-up for Lower Body Workouts / Feel Better, Move Better - YouTube It's all paid off so far. In my first SCM meet, swimming in old FS-PROs and in a very bad pool I dropped a full second off my 50Br and another second off my 100. I hadn't improved those times in months. This past weekend I swam the 100 and dropped 2 more seconds. Oh, and my split was less than a tenth off my 50Br PB. :) I'm hoping that next year I manage to hit my goal. Even if I don't, I've still accomplished things that I didn't imagine were possible for me and it has renewed my love for swimming.

Anyone have a breakthrough recently? Anyone working on one? Tell us about it. What was it? How'd you do it? Ande Yes. It started at the end of the last season. I was looking at my national cuts and noticed that I wasn't too far from the 50 breaststroke cut: 32.50 (LCM). That moment I decided that the following season it would be my goal to make the cut. I made a mental plan. After that I tried to figure out some things that I had to accomplish to achieve my goal: 1. Improve my technique 2. Get stronger 3. Recover better from workouts 4. Improve mobility and soft tissue quality Number 1 is an obvious choice. I started doing more drills in practice. Main thing I changed was my kick. I started using a narrower stance with my knees and immediately noticed a huge improvement. I counted strokes. I also started improving my streamline while gliding but also off the walls. I still have a lot to change though. Number 2 has played an essential role so far. I got back to the gym and resumed weightlifting and I feel much stronger and powerful, especially off the turns. Using mainly compound movements: squats, deadlifts, pull ups, ovh pressing, glute ham raise. Number 3 was also very big for me. I overtrain very easily. I think this is because I'm generally a very bad sleeper. At the end of the previous season I was so tired I went 3 seconds slower than my best in the 100. So I decided I would nap during the day and it has worked wonders so far. I also promised myself that I would listen more to my body. I used to push myself extremely hard at least 4-5 times a week. That resulted in exhaustion very quickly. This season I'm taking it slow and steady and backing off when necessary. Number 4: I started foam rolling more often, especially the adductors (which I used to strain very easily) and the IT Band. My knee pain is pretty much gone and my legs feel much looser when kick. I have yet to suffer an injury despite swimming much more breaststroke than in previous swimming. I also made a commitment to improving my hip mobility and started doing Diesel Crew's Essential Hip mobility at least 3 times a week. Essential Hip Mobility Movements / How to Warm-up for Lower Body Workouts / Feel Better, Move Better - YouTube It's all paid off so far. In my first SCM meet, swimming in old FS-PROs and in a very bad pool I dropped a full second off my 50Br and another second off my 100. I hadn't improved those times in months. This past weekend I swam the 100 and dropped 2 more seconds. Oh, and my split was less than a tenth off my 50Br PB. :) I'm hoping that next year I manage to hit my goal. Even if I don't, I've still accomplished things that I didn't imagine were possible for me and it has renewed my love for swimming.