This is the latest article in my series called, "Dance with the Water", for Active.com.

Dance With the Water–Part 5: Coordination Building

In this "Dance with the Water" article series, we continue discussing the idea that an athlete must listen to the signals the water gives, like a dancer following the lead of their partner. Move to your own beat, and not in rhythm with the water, and you're bound to struggle.

In this column, I'll highlight the need to build coordination and movement efficiency in the water.

Ask a swimmer or triathlete how their swim session went, and you'll probably get an answer which tells how far they swam. If they are a more advanced swimmer, they'll probably also tell you a key set they did, on a send-off interval, or holding a certain average time.

This is good, because the athlete understands the fact that there are different aspects to training besides volume. Volume is simply how much swimming you're doing, while giving a speed and time interval helps to define the intensity.

Put another way, volume helps to show aerobic fitness, because an athlete must have some basic aerobic fitness to be able to swim a distance. Intensity will show the muscular fitness of an athlete, because the athlete must have a certain amount of muscular power and fitness to complete the intervals on a set time.

Read the rest of the article here at Active.com.

Coach Vance

Dance with the Water Part 4

Here is my latest article in the "Dance with the Water" Series, at Active.com.

Tennis Anyone?

In this "Dance with the Water" article series, we continue discussing the idea that an athlete must listen to the signals the water gives, like a dancer, following the lead of their partner. Move to your own beat, and not in rhythm with the water, and you're bound to struggle. In this article, we again highlight the concept of pressure and how it can make you faster overnight.

One of the more popular drills among athletes is the fist drill. Ask an athlete what the fist drill is for, and you might get a variety of answers. The main idea of the fist drill is to challenge athletes to use their forearms to catch water by greatly reducing the surface area of the hand.

The biggest problem with the fist drill is it goes against our natural tendencies and desire to swim with our hands open. So naturally an athlete begins to cheat and open their fist, even if just ever so slightly. But if we place a tennis ball in the hand of the swimmer, they have to focus on keeping the hand closed around the tennis ball.

Tennis balls are one of the most effective tools I have found in teaching athletes the concept of pressure in the water. Sure, sometimes my athletes get strange looks at the pool when they pull out the tennis balls, but they normally don't care once they see how fast they are swimming. The concept of pressure in the water can dramatically and instantly add speed to a swimmer!

Read the rest of the article here at Active.com

Coach Vance

Dance with the Water Article - Part 2

Here is the second part of my "Dance with the Water" series at Active.com, and I think you'll enjoy it. Please feel free to leave me questions here in the comments section, or email me.

"Dance With the Water–Part 2: Play Golf

In the first part of "Dance with the Water", we discussed the idea that an athlete must listen to the signals the water gives, like a dancer, following the lead of their partner. Move to your own beat, and not in rhythm with the water, and you're bound to struggle with your swimming.

The first step in listening to the water is giving it the chance to speak. The water loves to talk, especially over a game of golf. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. The water speaks a lot to athletes, over a game of swim golf.

Swim golf is played with the water, where athletes complete a single 50-yard or 50-meter interval and count the strokes taken within the 50, adding that number to the time it takes to complete the lap. For example, if you complete the interval in 45 seconds, with 40 strokes, your golf score would be 85 (45 + 40 = 85). Just like in regular golf, the lower the score the better the performance..."

Read the rest here at Active.com.

Coach Vance

Dance with the Water

One of the biggest reasons why I went from a non-swimmer to a pretty good swimmer in the sport of triathlon, is because I studied and understood the concept of swimming. It is also what I think has made me a great teacher of swimming, (yes, teacher, not coach), which my testimonials can attest to. Here is the first in a series of articles I am writing for Active.com, which will help to explain the actual concept of swimming. Look for parts 2 and 3 in the coming weeks.

Dance With the Water–Part 1

Here's a question to ponder: What one thing do you need to swim, besides yourself?

Yes, the question is very simple and not a trick question. The answer is water! So many athletes struggle with their swimming because they don't really consider the water.

When poor swimmers show up to the pool or begin to think about their swimming, they only take themselves into account, almost ignoring the water. Ignoring the water is like trying to dance alone to a song meant for couples. Swimming is all about the interaction of the human body and water, so we must better understand the water and what it is telling us before we can better assess our own movements within the act of swimming.

Have you ever been swimming and nothing felt right? You struggle to find your rhythm and your stroke doesn't feel smooth. Then all of sudden, you find your groove and swimming feels so much easier. It's like you can hold the rhythm forever.

Nearly everyone has had this happen to them if they've been swimming for any significant length of time. When this happened to you, did the water change what it was doing? No, of course not. It was doing the same thing the whole time.

What changed in those moments was your perception of and reaction to the cues from the water. The interaction of you and the water suddenly smoothed out. In that moment you were "dancing" with the water...

Read the rest of the article here at Active.com.

Coach Vance

ActiveTrainer.com Swim Training Plans

For those of you out there training and using ActiveTrainer, I have created some swim training plans with iPod/iPhone videos, which you can take to the pool with you, to help demo drills and skills.

The plans are written as two days of workouts and new drill introduction, (Mondays and Wednesdays), and then another fitness-based workout which combines the skills of the week into a single workout. Every other week has a fourth workout, which is optional or can be switched around during the week.

If you're a triathlete looking for swim help only, and want to do your own bike and run training, then these plans are for you. You can simply add these swim workouts to your training, and adjust as you see fit.

Check it out here under Triathlon or Swimming:
http://www.activetrainer.com/

There are three plans, Level 1, Level 2, and a combined one for cheaper of Levels 1 and 2.

If you use these, I'm sure you'll learn a lot, and improve your swimming!

Best of luck!

Coach Vance

Active Article for Open Water Swim Drills

Wrote this article for Active.com, after seeing some questions on their forums about open water drills and skills.

3 Drills for Open Water Swimming

By Jim Vance
For Active.com

One of the most common group workouts involves gathering with friends and heading out into the open water for a swim. When the weather is warm, this can become a weekly ceremony where athletes just enjoy getting out in the open water.

Most athletes will perform these sessions unstructured, with the focus being simple aerobic development and socializing. What these athletes are missing out on is a great opportunity to gain sport-specific skills for open-water swimming. This can easily be accomplished by giving the workout some structure.

Read the rest at Active.com.

Coach Vance

Tips for losing those last few pounds

As an athlete I knew my weight had a big influence on my performance, and so I was always monitoring it, and looking for ways to keep it down. This article I wrote for Active.com are some of the tricks and tips I learned from my experience. Enjoy!

5 Ways to Shed Those Last Few Pounds

By Jim Vance
For Active.com

If you're a serious athlete, or just one who monitors their weight consistently, a few pounds here or there can mean a big difference in confidence, attitude and especially performance.

Many athletes can go to the extreme by cutting out meals entirely or making a dramatic change in diet, which can actually have a detrimental affect on performance and, in some cases, even cause weight gain. If the body feels it is deficient in some nutritional areas it can horde and hold onto the things it feels it needs to conserve.

Read the rest at Active.com.

Becoming a Progressive Athlete

A new article of mine is up at Active.com...

Liberate Your Training: Become a Progressive Athlete

By Jim Vance, for Active.com

Stop for a minute to think about the training you're doing this week, and compare it with last week. Compare that with last month, and then last year. Do you see a distinct difference in the training you did then, and the training you're doing now? Check your training log for the past few years, and look at the differences in training. Are there any differences?

Many athletes find themselves doing the same training over and over, week after week, season after season. Whatever weekly group workout they can find, they might do simply for the sake of routine. Or they do it for the fact that it worked once to help create better fitness, so they think it will always continue to work.

The body must be considered a learning machine, much like the mind. If you repeated the eighth grade over and over again, your mind would never have progressed. Similarly, repeating the same workouts doesn't progress the body's ability to learn and adapt to physical stress.

Read the rest at Active.com.