Swimmers have recently asked about body weight movements, particularly isometric work (static muscle contraction). No equipment is required. Here are some of the benefits for swimmers:  

• Core and Postural Stability: Holding positions like planks or hollow-body holds builds deep abdominal endurance needed to maintain a tight, hydrodynamic body line in the water, which helps reduce drag (enemy #1 in the pool). This increased torso stiffness will improve force transfer between the upper and lower body.
• Enhanced Catch and Propulsion: Swimming relies heavily on holding a high-elbow position during the catch phase. Isometric training at specific joint angles strengthens the exact positions where a swimmer catches and pulls against the water, maximizing propulsive force.
• Enhanced Neural Drive*: Maximal short holds increase motor unit recruitment and neural efficiency, allowing athletes to produce higher force outputs quickly. *Neural drive is the electrical signal that travels from your brain and spinal cord to your muscles to tell them to contract and produce force.
• Joint and Tendon Support: Static holds strengthen tendons and ligaments around the shoulder joints, lowering the risk of overuse injuries. High-repetition shoulder rotations and pull-heavy training put swimmers at risk for tendinopathy. 
• Improved Muscular Endurance: Isometrics train muscle fibers to sustain prolonged tension, helping swimmers maintain stroke power and efficiency late in a race when fatigue sets in.
• Low Joint Stress and Quick Recovery: Because isometric movements involve no joint movement, they allow swimmers to build high levels of neural drive and muscle activation without adding heavy wear or excessive soreness.

However, there are some differences for sprinters vs distance swimmers. While there is an extensive list of exercises to choose from, I picked (1) in each category.  However, modify based on your current level of fitness and any specific physical limitations you may have.

Sprinters need explosive power so the focus is on high-intensity, short-duration holds rather than long, exhausting holds. Aim for 3-4 sets of each.

• Core Rigidity (Reducing Drag): Hollow Body Hold: Lie on your back, press your lower back into the floor, and lift your legs and shoulder blades slightly off the ground with arms extended overhead. Hold for 20-30 seconds. This mimics the exact streamline position under maximum fatigue.

• Catch & Pull Power (Upper Body Propulsion): Straight-Arm Band Hold: Secure a resistance band in front of you. Pull your arms back to your hips (the finish of the stroke) and hold the band statically against high tension for 15-20 seconds to build triceps and lat endurance.

• Start & Turn Power (Explosive Push-Offs): Isometric Wall Squat: Lean your back against a wall and lower into a squat until your knees are at a 90-degree angle (mimicking a turn) or a 120-degree angle (mimicking a dive block start). Press your feet hard into the floor and hold for 15-20 seconds of maximum effort.

Distance Swimmers will shift away from maximum explosive power to focus on high-endurance stability, fatigue resistance, and maintaining a good, hydro-dynamic body line. The distance swimmer will benefit from longer-duration, moderate-intensity holds to train slow-twitch muscle fibers and tendon resilience.  Aim for 2-3 sets of each.

• Postural Endurance (Maintaining Streamline Under Fatigue): Superman/Prone Arch Hold: Lie face down on the floor, extend your arms straight overhead, and lift your chest, arms, and legs slightly off the ground. Hold for 45-60 seconds. This builds endurance in the lower back, glutes, and rear shoulders, preventing your hips from dropping in the water late in a race.

• Shoulder Health & Rotator Cuff Resilience (Overuse Prevention): Wall Face-Away Shoulder Extension: Stand facing away from a wall, about a foot out. Extend your arms straight back and press the back of your hands flat into the wall. Push firmly against the wall for 30-45 seconds. This strengthens the posterior deltoids and triceps, balancing out the chest-heavy pull of distance swimming.

• Sustained Kick & Catch Stability (Rhythmic Efficiency): Low Hover Plank: Hold a standard forearm plank, but shift your weight slightly forward so your nose is past your hands. Hold for 45-60 seconds. Additionally, this builds the deep transverse abdominis endurance to link your upper-body pull with a 2-beat, 4-beat, or 6-beat kick.

Recently I was on a podcast with Chris Webb at Gain Swim talking about a number of things related to masters swimming and how to help club coaches better understand the masters athlete and the different ways a masters program can help their team.  Todays blog post was inspired by the podcast and 

There’s an old saying, those that fail to plan, plan to fail. If you want to build your program and more importantly keep your swimmers coming back, you need to set up the pool for a successful practice. This, combined with lane flow management, will lead to great workouts!  Here are three things you can do to help keep your practices safe, fun and challenging: 

1. Writing the Workout - First, identify the type of session: Free, IM, Sprint, Mid-Distance, etc. Next, provide a general warmup of ~ 10 minutes and on sprint days even more. Masters have many different warm up needs (with some talking more than swimming!) so let them do what works best for them during the general warm up.  Next it’s time to get to work with a Pre-Set to help transition heart rate and/or work on a particular skill. Finally, write 1-2 main sets and enough time for a proper cool down.
2. How to Explain: WHITE BOARD- write legible, write BIG and use black, blue or other contrasting colors that show up best for aging eyes. PRINTED - another option is to print the workout in a BIGGER FONT so that each lane can have it for easy reference.  This helps those that cannot see the white board and swimmers whose learning style works best this way.  VERBAL - talk to the whole group at the beginning of practice followed by individual lanes and then specific individuals as needed–plan to incorporate all three. Highlight intervals, number of reps and lane order suggestions. Key point: make sure the lane leader knows what to do and give short cues to help with technique or questions about the set (ex. descending, building, fast walls, maximize streamlines, work underwaters, etc.).
3. How to Execute: VISUAL DEMOS - Often very helpful to have an experienced swimmer in the workout demonstrate technique or a specific drill. VIDEO - Seeing the correct way to do something via team email or social media provides ongoing feedback and reinforcement. Also, providing exclusive video of themselves when possible adds value and helps them understand adjustments for success.  Visual Demos are a great opportunity for peer coaching during practice and building team camaraderie while learning together. Lastly, MANAGE THE FLOW - This is what separates good coaches from great coaches and deserves a separate blog!  A great coach will monitor flow and make micro adjustments continuously–swimmer order, intervals, repeats, set objectives, etc. to fine tune the session, demonstrate active participation and maximize the swimmer experience. A fully present, engaged, high energy coach shows commitment to the team and sets the tone for a positive team culture.

By setting the pool up for success, your practices will run smoothly and swimmers will feel a sense of belonging to a community that keeps them coming back for more. What are you doing to set your team up for success and manage the flow in order to give your swimmers the best possible experience?

Nine years ago I was a body builder who was getting bored and injured. A chance encounter on
a beach prompted a pivot to triathlon. But first, I had to learn to swim. Coach Eric was
recommended to me by some local Masters Swimmers as a potential swim coach. Little did I
know, he’s that and so much more, after a single swim lesson I hired him as my multisport
coach. As barely a survival swimmer, Eric’s lessons, coaching, and encouragement got me to be
a middle distance triathlon capable swimmer.
All the while he was helping me to improve my bike and develop a run. In10 months he got me
70.3 ready.

Eric has continued to be my coach to this day, working around a full time job with on-call
responsibilities, a pandemic, a couple of injuries, and everything life throws at you.
Eric has this way of working with athletes that allows him to meet you where your are, and
where you’re coming from. He can adapt his very language to construct coaching prompts that
make sense in your terms and can apply to how you move and even think about your body and
it’s position in space. I am, self admittedly, proprioceptively challenged, Eric and I developed a
shorthand which not only allowed me to execute efficiently, but also to improve on my
proprioception.

As I approached my 60’th year I’d set an outlandish, to me, goal of qualifying for the Ironman
70.3 World Championship. Coach Eric was fully onboard and after a winter of intense training
swim, bike, run, and strength, I qualified in March 2025. In April I crashed my mountain bike and
fractured the lateral condyle of my left femur, that’s the outside knobby bit at the knee . So much
for running, or hiking, walking, standing, and even delivering any power on the bike.
Coach Eric teamed up with Physical Therapist Craig Depperschmidt to build a recovery plan that
would not just get me to Worlds, but would prevent further degradation and destruction of my
knee. The two of them worked hand in glove through my recovery and the additional challenge
of a rib injury along the way. Eric structured my workouts around Craig’s PT prescriptions and
they had me stronger and fitter than ever in time for Worlds in Marbella SP.
The course is exceedingly vertical so Coach Eric balanced the long and steep days in the
saddle with what my knee would tolerate and, together with Craig, developed a run strategy that
would be sustainable.

Endurance sport is at least as mental as it is physical, Eric is a master at keeping you focused
on the process and the progression and great at combatting the doubts, fears, and anxiety that
come along with training, racing, and recovery.
Just getting to the IM 70.3 WC was a win in my book. Crushing the bike and logging a PR half
marathon in the Main Event were the nuts and cherry, respectively, on my triathlon Sunday
sundae.

I never hesitate to recommend Coach Eric to anybody who expresses an interest in any of the
endurance disciplines, or even to people who express “I’ve been wanting to get back to (sport x) but can’t work out how.”
I always say, “You want to get faster? I know a guy who can train you smart.”

Check out this updated post on the Vasa Blog: https://vasatrainer.com/blog/how-to-swim-freestyle-better-overcoming-a-monospeed-stroke/

As we ease into 2022 I thought I would repost some quotes from an earlier blog in 2016.  Everyday is a gift!

I find myself reading more and seeking out quite time to just think... or not.  A good friend of mine had forwarded along some quotes he liked and I thought, why keep those to myself.

Below are some that have been around and others you may find new to you along with an original from yours truly.  I hope 1 or 2 of these resonate with you and be just what you needed at this moment in time.

"We all need empty hours in our lives or we will have no time to create our dream" - Robert Coles

"The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison." - Ann Wigmore

"Your attitude determines your altitude.  The better the attitude, the higher you will soar in all things you choose to pursue with a passion" - Coach Eric Neilsen

"Simplicity and harmony are the ultimate conditions to be attained in all things". - Horace Fletcher

"Draw a circle around yourself - invite people in or keep them out. We are the creators of our social geometry.  Calculate your volume". - Rachel Wolchin

"Don't limit your challenges, challenge your limits". - unknown

"The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential... these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence". - Confucius

"Believe those who are seeking the truth; doubt those who find it". ~André Gide

How competitive swimmers can maximize their time in the pool

Running Biomechanics with Bobby McGee (video)