Jason Lezak

Former Member
Former Member
I read somewhere that Jason Lezak only swims 4,000 yds/meters a day. Has anyone else heard this? I don't see how an athlete of his caliber can get by on such little yardage. It seems like if he bumped it up some he could be faster than he already is. I swim more than that and I'm nowhere near as fast as him lol.
  • Lezak swims the 50 and 100 free. Why would he need to do more yardage? You can bet the yardage he does do is very high quality. Lots of very fast swimming. I imagine he does a lot of weights and/or other dryland, too. By the way, there's a short piece on Jason on USA Swimming's website today: www.usaswimming.org/.../ViewNewsArticle.aspx Here's a quote : “I might seem old to most people in the swimming community, but I still feel young, and the way I train allows me to continue to swim beyond 2008 if I choose to do so. I don't pound my body with excessive yardage, and I take very good care of myself.”
  • I read somewhere that Jason Lezak only swims 4,000 yds/meters a day. Has anyone else heard this? I don't see how an athlete of his caliber can get by on such little yardage. It seems like if he bumped it up some he could be faster than he already is. I swim more than that and I'm nowhere near as fast as him lol. Jesse: I would believe that he swims in the area of 4000 to 6000 and no more than that. This does not include dryland and weights in which he incorporates in his training. The reason I say this is because he swims for David Salo at Nova Aquatics and they train a little differently then say a club down the road called Mission Viejo. David Salo came out with a book that was titled "Sprint Salo" in 1989, detailing the type of high intensity workouts and why he feels a need to train swimmers this way in comparison to the traditional methods of the 1970's of more volume to build up the areobic base. Back in the late 1980's and early 1990's he was a guest coach and wrote a monthly piece for Swimming World magazine. A lot of his ideas were under fire because he wrote against traditional concepts of the day. Since then his ideas have been somewhat excepted but not by the traditionalists of say someone like Bob Bowman. I will provide a link with a story about this that I found called "Coaching To The Beat Of A Different Drummer". www.findarticles.com/.../ai_n14879156
  • I believe he also does a good deal of weightlifting and other dryland work. Here's a link from some time ago on his strength-training. www.bodybuilding.com/.../jasonlezak1.htm
  • The reason I say this is because he swims for David Salo at Nova Aquatics Perhaps more accurately, formerly of NOVA. Salo now coaches at USC. It's been a tough year for Salo, especially with his women's team. Several Olympic caliber athletes have chosen to leave the program (Weir, Jeffrey, Keller). It must have been a very drastic change in coaching philosophy at USC going from Mark Schubert to Dave Salo.
  • Didn't Sandeno come from there as well? How about Erik Vendt? That would make three that jumped ship for Club Wolverine. Yes, but I didn't include them because they weren't on the college team. I think Kalyn Keller actually trained with Bowman at Club Wolverine last summer, but then returned to USC to swim this season. Her leaving so late in the season is somewhat surprising gicen she's a senior this year. I would have thought she could have stuck it out for the team, but it's her decision.
  • Kirk, your right he is at USC now but I believe for about 6 months he coached both the USC and NOVA teams until they found a replacement. Jason Lesak believes in this type of training and he believes in David Salo and I guess his results speak and back up that type of training for sprinters. What people are suspect of is "Is this the best type of training for a Distance Swimmer"? These questions were asked many years ago about the high intensity training that was written and supported by David Salo. Since those days he has had many great olympic swimmers to back up his methods. However, I have read that some traditionalists have said, then why did Aaron Piersol stay at Texas instead of going back to Salo. Same with Amanda Beard, who trained with Frank Busch at Univ. of Arizona before the 2004 Olympics. Some coaches and swimmers still feel that the traditional methods of the past especially for Distance Swimmers should not be abandoned for the high intensity training methods that are supported by David Salo. One swimmer who I believe was converted to the high intensity training methods was Lenny Krayzelburg and he suprised a lot of people by making the 2004 Olympic team in the 100 meter Back after he was down for 2 years with an injury. He left USC and Mark Schubert at the time and joined NOVA and Salo for his comeback. I think its up to the swimmer and he has to feel what he thinks is best based on his age, experience, career, injuries, etc. Some swimmers like say Janet Evans would not like a high intensity program and would favor the traditional method. Some one like say, Natalie Coughlin, would favor the high intensity program and not the traditional program philosophy.
  • Speaking about Jason Lezak. A story on the USA Swimming site was up today about Jason and what the future holds called "No Shame in his Game". www.usaswimming.org/.../ViewNewsArticle.aspx
  • Even if Salo's training philosophy works well for distance swimmers it's got to be a hard sell for those who have trained for years doing mega yardage. Mentally it would be very difficult to give up the kind of training you're used to--and has worked in the past--for something so radically different.
  • Even if Salo's training philosophy works well for distance swimmers it's got to be a hard sell for those who have trained for years doing mega yardage. Mentally it would be very difficult to give up the kind of training you're used to--and has worked in the past--for something so radically different. Kirk: That is exactly why there was such an outburst back in 1988/1989 when the articles about High Intensity Training appeared in Swimming World and then the book came out shortly after. A lot of Olympic and NCAA coaches felt that the concepts were to radical and that the minimal mode would not lead to peak performance. Two coaches come to mine that lectured against this type of training. Doc Counsiliman did a presentation at ASCA called the "Oversimplification of Training" where he said that swimming will be headed in the wrong direction if swimmers and coaches adopt this type of training. Dennis Pursley, who was the National Team Director of the USA Team agreed and wrote against this type of training in his articles that followed Salo in Swimming World. I don't know if you were swimming for MSU at the time of this but a lot of swimmers heard a lot about this when it was going on and there were great debates at the time as to what was right. More is bad and less is better. Traditional coaches did not want to hear about this and wanted to stay in there traditional max mode of training.
  • Even if Salo's training philosophy works well for distance swimmers it's got to be a hard sell for those who have trained for years doing mega yardage. Mentally it would be very difficult to give up the kind of training you're used to--and has worked in the past--for something so radically different. How about someone who chooses the radically different training? Think of Morgan's (blainesapprentice) situation. A change may be all someone like her needs to get over the plateau hump and/or prevent massive burnout.
1 2 3 4