TRAINING IN THE SAME WAY YOU WANT TO COMPETE

Based on the article of Olivier Poirier-Leroy (SwimSwam magazine)
Photo: Atletta SC at AquaLife

“The only way to win is non-stop perfection.” – Gennadi Touretski

In the summer of 2019, AquaLife  complex will host traditional Atletta Swim Camp with 4-time Olympic Champion Alexander Popov for young athletes (recommended age: children from 10 to 17 years old).

The world live legend of swimming, multi-Olympic champion and world-record holder Alexander Popov, which is coaching himself in frame of Atletta Swim Camp in AquaLife Sports&Hotel, had a special training practice worked-out by his coach Gennadi Touretski.

His technical excellence was such that he could regularly swim at world-record setting pace in training. He just trained the way he raced and he raced the way he trained.

In his daily routine was no distinction between swimming practice or swimming competition. And therefore Popov’s efficiency was developed with a relentless focus on technique in training. The effect of all those meters with perfect technique in practice was that by the time Popov got up on the block, he didn’t need to think and to worry about what he wanted to do. It was just a matter of diving into the water and letting his body do what it had done a million times in training.

The key is that practice isn’t separate from competition. Practice is competition.

There is frequently a disconnect between the way swimmers train and the way that they compete.

The technique they use in practice is different from the one they use in competition.

The way they attack (or don’t) the walls in training doesn’t match up with the turns they need to be successful in competition.

The streamlines a swimmer does during the main set doesn’t reflect what kind of streamlines they want to use on race day.

Even the mindset they have is different: in practice they are loose and unfocused. In competition they try to get super focused and mega serious.

Olivier Poirier-Leroy gives the following advice to the swimmers based on Popov’s  technique:

  • Prepare the same way for practice you would for competition.
  • There are no “meaningless” sets
  • Seek to improve your technique and effort at every work-out
  • Place focus on swimming at race pace
  • Don’t wait until race day to swim great