Google “fitness coach near me” and prepare to be overwhelmed by the results. If the definition of a coach is to train or teach an individual in a particular skill, then anyone can slap a label on and call themselves a coach. But what makes a good coach? What are the qualities of a coach that make them exceptionally qualified to instruct?

What are the qualities of a good Coach?

First, and most important, it is imperative that a coach has a strong background in and comprehensive knowledge of the basic science behind the movements they are teaching. For a barbell or a swim coach, that background includes anatomy & physiology, physics, biology, chemistry, and nutrition fundamentals. 

Additionally, a good coach will have experience coaching a lot of people, whether it’s working under a mentor, or using knowledge and study to grow his or her base of clients. The goal of any dedicated coach is to accumulate thousands of hours. Hours spent not just actively coaching, but reading, studying, and developing the skills, knowledge, and expertise necessary to make people more proficient over time. 

Communication 

Strong communication skills are also essential to be an effective teacher. The ability to get your client to understand and correctly perform the necessary movements depends on your ability to communicate. Positive commands, application of the growth mindset, and proper encouragement techniques are all vital to good communication. Finally, after the movement pattern is taught, cues are employed to perfect the execution of the movement as it is performed. 

“The coach’s cue is some form of communication that the coach employs during a lift, or part of a lift, that is designed to produce a physical response from the lifter, usually in the form of an adjustment or correction to the lifter’s movement.” – Starting Strength

For barbell work, utilizing the Starting Strenth method (currently offered as a training program by One with the Water), these are primarily in the form of verbal communication but can be visual and tactile. Starting Strength offers a theoretical approach to developing the coach’s cue, from both the lifter and the coach’s perspective. Effective cues come from both the strength coach and the lifter’s shared understanding of the lift, knowledge that comes from training, experience, and trust. As a lifter, make sure you choose coaches (not trainers) that exercise an in-depth comprehension of appropriate cues, used in a manner that effectively supports the lifter.

In the end, knowledgeable, experienced coaches will always find ways to make the process simpler rather than more complex for the trainee. This approach, in particular, is a telltale mark of a great coach and his or her willingness to pursue professional development. 

Besides offering premium swim lessons to the greater LA community, Coach Rippetoe is also a strength training coach, utilizing the Starting Strength method to help clients become fitter, stronger, and faster. If you are interested in safe, professional one on one coaching, contact us today. 

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post What are the qualities of a good coach? appeared first on One with the Water.

“As a coach, teaching a lifter to perform potentially complex, multi-joint exercises correctly and consistently is a skill.”

Besides offering premium swim lessons to the greater LA community, Coach Rippetoe is also a strength training coach, utilizing the Starting Strength method to help clients become fitter, stronger, and faster.

We’ve discussed Starting Strength methods many times before on the blog, but if you aren’t familiar with the tenets of the program, here is a quick refresher.

“Starting Strength System makes use of the most basic movement patterns that work the entire body as a coordinated system, gradually increasing loads that make the whole body stronger, in a logical, understandable, time-tested manner – the way athletes have gotten stronger for millennia.” – About Starting Strength

The foundational exercises of Starting Strength are the Squat, Deadlift, Press, Bench Press, and Power Clean/Power Snatch. (Below is a list of articles on our blog discussing the various exercises and proper techniques). Unfortunately, if these exercises are not done correctly, you can end up with injuries, muscle imbalance, and loss of flexibility.

Are you squatting correctly? 
How to train for a chin-up?
The number one way to burn fat faster. 
Wonder Women Strength Training. 
From Weight to Weightlessness. 

“The coach’s cue is some form of communication that the coach employs during a lift, or part of a lift, that is designed to produce a physical response from the lifter, usually in the form of an adjustment or correction to the lifter’s movement.” – Starting Strength

These are primarily in the form of verbal communications but can be visual and tactile as well. Starting Strength offers a theoretical approach to developing the coach’s cue, from both the lifter and the coach’s perspective. Effective cues come from both the strength coach and the lifter’s shared understanding of the lift, knowledge that comes from training, experience, and trust. As a lifter, make sure you choose coaches (not trainers) that exercise an in-depth comprehension of appropriate cues, used in a manner designed to support the lifter effectively.

Coaching requires building a program that will accomplish a fitness goal. The best way to do that is to use a proven system used for over 40 years. Build your strength, and you’ll meet your goals. Use the Starting Strength system, and you’ll build your strength. Call Coach Rippetoe to schedule your first lifting session.

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post Does your strength coach communicate effectively? appeared first on One with the Water.

The simple truth is, strength training is the number one way to increase metabolism and burn more fat. Increasing muscle mass is the ticket to losing fat. Metabolically speaking, muscle tissue burns calories by using the energy produced through contraction – i.e., strength training, using barbells, specifically.

Strength Training to Burn Fat

Barbell strength training provides you with the most efficient way to gain strength, lose fat, and increase your conditioning. For beginners using Starting Strength, the method we coach, with just three exercises, you can work the body’s most muscle mass at one time per exercise. Learn to use your body as the beautiful system it was created to be, and effectively burn fat in the process.

The squat: A compound exercise involving the bar resting parallel to the ground on your shoulders while squatting down to a set point, then rising from the squat position. The parallel back squat trains the erector spinae muscle groups, as well as the gluteal region, the hamstrings and the quadriceps. The only squat method we use and recommend is the technique outlined in the Starting Strength method.

Press/Bench Press: The bench press, another compound exercise, trains the pectoral muscles as the primary mover, but uses the triceps and deltoids as secondary muscles. The exercise as we teach it merely utilizes the bar, a flat bench, and barbell weights: no expensive gym equipment and no complicated machines.

The Deadlift: Commonly referred to as the king of weightlifting, this exercise involves lifting the loaded bar off the ground, rising to a standing position with the bar at hip level, then lowering it to the ground. It targets the largest group of muscles, including the gluteus maximus, all major muscles in your legs, your lower back (Erector Spinae), your neck, (the Trapezius muscles), and both your rectus abdominus and your obliques. To avoid injury, it is imperative that you train the exercise correctly, and for that, once again, we use the Starting Strength method.

Secondary Methods

Cardio is secondary to strength training for fat loss, but a tool nonetheless. Of course, our preferred cardio method is swimming. Because water is so much denser than air, swimming provides a full-body resistance workout, building lean muscle and burning calories. Swimming for an hour at a medium intensity or higher burns anywhere from 600-900+ calories, depending on your weight.

Additionally, swimming is kinder to your body than other traditional forms of cardio, especially your joints, with the bonus of supporting overall cardiovascular and mental health. In fact, there is scientific evidence that swimming and other aerobic activities specifically help lessen the systemic inflammation that leads to heart disease. Also, swimming can help reduce stress and alleviate symptoms of depression. Aerobic exercise relieves depression and decreases stress thanks to the rush of endorphins and other mood-lifting chemicals in the brain. Alongside the brain boost, swimming incorporates the same alternating stretches and regular breathing patterns of many yoga and other relaxation practices, creating a calming, meditative experience.

The bottom line is, if you want to burn fat, you have to get under the bar.

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post The Number One Way to Burn Fat Faster appeared first on One with the Water.

The short answer is this: It’s about keeping your spine rigid and aligned throughout the full movement. Thrusting your hips forward at the end of the exercise takes your spine out of alignment and reduces the productive work on muscle mass. The forward thrust movement creates an arch in your back, breaking the plane of your spine and making your movement inefficient and ineffective. It’s all about the angles.

Squat Mechanics

How do you keep your spine rigid and aligned? According to Starting Strength (the method in which I coach my clients), and contrary to popular opinion, the squat utilizes a non-vertical back and neck angle (generally accomplished by fixing your gaze at a natural point on the floor in front of you.) Your squat should be a hip-dominant movement, and this is only accomplished with the correct back angle. Keep the angle of your hip flexion the same as the back angle to keep the spine rigid, and your back an efficient conveyor of force.

In short,

• Use your hips when you squat. This involves a more horizontal back angle than you are probably used to using.
•  Keep your spine rigid, and aligned, not necessarily vertical.
• The angle of hip flexion has to equal your back angle to keep your spine rigid and the components working together correctly.
• An easy way to ensure correct angle is to point chest at the floor or utilize your natural gaze at a point on the floor.
• Don’t look up. You are just fighting the correct angle.
• As you come out of the squat, drive your hips up while maintaining the proper angle until about halfway up, then simply stand up straight.

Interested in learning more?  Barbell strength training provides you with the most efficient way to gain strength, lose fat, and increase your conditioning. Focused on just 5 exercises, you can work the body’s most muscle mass at one time per exercise, using your body as the beautiful system it was created to be. Sign up for your personalized fitness coaching utilizing the Starting Strength method.

Kenneth Rippetoe

Kenneth is a Life-time member of the American Swimming Coaches Association and holds certifications as a Level 4 Disability Coach & Level 3 USA Swimming as well as US Masters Coach. Coaching since 1985, Kenneth specializes in Swimming, Strength and Conditioning coaching.

The post Are you squatting correctly? appeared first on One with the Water.

Recently, one of our international Paralympic swimmers asked about ways to become a stronger swimmer, as getting under the bar isn’t an easy option. We always recommend push-ups and chin-ups. What’s the best guide on training yourself to do chin-ups? Glad you asked. There is a Starting Strength protocol for that, too! Read on for the basic exercises and a link to programs for both beginners and expert chin-up champions. 

(For a quick reference on the chin-up versus the pull-up, check out this video from Starting Strength founder Coach Mark Rippetoe.)

Starting Strength Chin Up Training 

Before starting your training, there are a few key points to remember. 

• First, your progression looks different than it will using a bar. Because you are lifting your body weight against an external immovable object, and your bodyweight fluctuates, you won’t be starting every workout with the same weight. 
• And second, the programs linked to below assume that you are regularly lifting weight from the floor – i.e. – deadlifts, power cleans, or the barbell row. The chin-up exercises should come at the end of your regular workout or on a rest day. 
• And third, because most dryland exercises for kids are a waste of their time and ours, we recommend doing chin-ups to become stronger when getting under the bar isn’t an option or if your child is too young to lift. Scroll down on this website to find out when they can start lifting. (https://startingstrengthonlinecoaching.com/online-coaching/)

Whether you can do an unassisted body weight chin up or you can barely hang from the bar, there are three primary exercises used in various combinations to develop your strength, and these particular exercises were chosen because they offer a complete, consistent range of motion when done properly. 

1. The band assisted chin-up:

“Start by standing on a box or a bench close enough to the chin-up bar that you don’t have to jump to it. Loop the band into itself around the chin-up bar. Place the band under the arch of one of your feet. Grab the chin-up bar with one hand on either side of the band and hang off the bar with straight arms. Straighten both legs and cross your other leg over the banded leg to keep the band in place. Pull yourself up to the bar”

2. Negatives. (Essentially the second half of a chin up.) Stand on a box, holding onto the bar with straight arms, and jump up to get your chin up over the bar. Then slowly lower yourself down to the standing position.

3. Lateral pull downs. These are standard lateral pull downs on a machine, using your chin up grip.

If you are starting at zero, unable to do a single unassisted body weight chin up, then these three exercises will constitute the base of your chin-up training. For more details on the full programs to add into your existing workout, check out the links below!

https://startingstrength.com/training/training-the-chin-up (For the beginner.) 

https://startingstrength.com/training/training-the-chin-up-pt-2 (Start here if you can already do an unassisted bodyweight chin up.)

For more questions, nutritional tips, and strength training wisdom, give us a shout and Coach Rippetoe will help you out!

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post How to Train for a Chin-Up appeared first on One with the Water.

First, any movement is better than no movement at all. At One with the Water, we try to get our clients started by simply moving. Sometimes it’s from the phone to the pool, other times, it’s going a few yards farther than the last swim. There are, however, several exercises that will make you feel like you’re working out, but you’re just sweating, elevating your heart rate, gasping for air, and ultimately cheating your body.

5 Exercises that cheat your workout.

Exercise 1 – Nautilus or other brands of a pulley and weight system machine: the majority of the population that uses exercise weight machines to workout are cheating themselves from becoming as strong as they could be, and they are very likely to cheat the process by not including weight increases. They will get on the machine and just do a set with enough weight that requires a little effort and therefore that they’re working out. Isolating muscles groups only builds that muscle group, but it doesn’t make you stronger overall. It can even be dangerous to do this if your body is not properly adapted to the exercise.

Exercise 2 – Cycling/Spin Class, elliptical machines, walking, running, jogging – When you go out for a run, or go to a spin class, how do you know if you’re really benefiting from the exercise? Yes, your heart rate increases because you’re moving more than just walking through the grocery store, but is it really building your cardiovascular system and conditioning healthily? You’re probably not doing anything more than breaking a sweat. These exercises directly compete for the muscle resources to maintain size and strength.

Exercise 3 – Yoga and Pilates. I cringe every time I hear someone say that they go to yoga because it makes them stronger. Why? No matter what exercise you’re doing, whether it be running, swimming, playing tennis, yoga, basketball, etc., it’s not going to make you stronger. It’s literally going to make you weaker. Your body will adapt so quickly to these exercises that you’re only going to be as strong as it takes to swim across the pool, run around the block, or hold a pose for two breaths. The good thing about yoga, pilates, and swimming is that at least your body is actively moving while reaching farther and elongating your body.

Exercise 4 – Stretching. Tendons and ligaments do not stretch. It’s been proven that stretching is like pulling a rubber band and letting go – it comes right back to the shape it was before. This is probably the easiest way to injure yourself and cheat your workout. Stretching before a workout will not do anything to prevent soreness and stretching after a workout will not alleviate soreness. The vast majority of studies on stretching not only support this but also indicate that stretching prior to either training or performance produces a significant decrease in power production.

Exercise 5 – Any cardio for an extended period. Corporations, like Coca-Cola, or a company that sells exercise equipment such as treadmills, elliptical or Stairmaster machines, pay for studies to tell you that you’re only going to build cardio by elevating your heart rate for an extended period of time. That’s dead wrong. The heart is a muscle, and the more you stress it, the weaker it will become. This is why we teach all of our clients the “Invincible Athlete” conditioning program. It allows you to perform cardiovascular-stressing activities over an extended period while maintaining the lowest heart rate you possibly can. It’s the safest way to breath while exercising. Doing any cardio for an extended period leads to tendonitis and other repetitive motion injuries. It’s the entire reason that “Sports Medicine” exists.

Here are a few more tips as to what else might constitute as cheating in workouts and why it happens:

Cheat 1 – If the force required to complete a run or weight set isn’t increasing, you’re cheating yourself. If you’re too tired mentally or physically, listen to your body, you might need a day of recovery.

Cheat 2 – If you’re not adding barbell training into your cardio workout routine, you’re cheating yourself. Having incorrect information has led to the fact that people are afraid to get stronger. Measure your results. If what you’re doing isn’t measurable, you might be simply going to through the motions and cheating your workout.

Strength Training 

We recommend the Coach Rippetoe Barbell Training program. Strength training builds strength. It builds your cardiovascular system because of the breathing technique required to lift. Your balance, coordination, and agility are a function of your ability to control your body weight. All increase as you become stronger. Increasing your strength increases your ability in just about everything. Your physical and mental well-being are greatly enhanced through strength training, and you will see an increase in your personal confidence and changing into a growth mindset, allowing you to achieve your goals and face all challenges.

Kenneth Rippetoe

Kenneth is a Life-time member of the American Swimming Coaches Association and holds certifications as a Level 4 Disability Coach & Level 3 USA Swimming as well as US Masters Coach. Coaching since 1985, Kenneth specializes in Swimming, Strength and Conditioning coaching.

The post Are You Cheating Yourself When You Workout? appeared first on One with the Water.

One of my clients transferred to a personal trainer for 6 months. She started with me to learn the lifts in the Starting Strength Barbell Training Program and stayed for two months and then decided to start training at one of those fancy cross-fit places. (To learn more about Cross-Fit, read this article: https://startingstrength.com/article/strength-training-crossfit-and-functional-training).

They had better time options that fit her schedule. She sent me a photo of her squatting and kept telling me her new trainer said, “Whoever trained you on technical aspects of the lifts did an excellent job!” That’s because I attended the Starting Strength seminar twice, and have read the book multiple times. The other Coach Rippetoe knows what he’s talking about!

Starting Strength

I took her from squatting 30 lbs to 70 lbs in two months, deadlifting 55 lbs to 110 lbs. It’s always great to be a novice because the linear progression looks great on a chart, and it builds your confidence like nothing else will. (https://startingstrength.com/article/programming/who_wants_to_be_a_novice_you_do).

So, after a hiatus from July 2017 to December 2017, she comes back in for a technical tune-up. No problem. I am always happy to make sure clients continue to lift safely and efficiently. I figured she would be capable of lifting much more after 6 months. Per the program, we start her on squatting. She was able to do 15lbs more than when she left, that’s at least an improvement, albeit a small one. And it wasn’t easy for her as she came really close to failure. We went on to press; that was only a 5 lb increase from when she left. Still an improvement. And then the deadlift. We had to go backwards, a 5lb decrease which should have been more but I wouldn’t let her get away with it. After all, she told me she had implemented Power Cleans, the 5th exercise, into the program, usually brought into the workout rotation once a lifter is able to deadlift their own bodyweight, so I figured she could deadlift her body weight at least. I was “dead-lift” wrong.

What was this Cross-Fit trainer doing with her? She knew a new squat style – Sumo Wrestler stance, and after hearing that I didn’t care to know any more. But I think what’s more important here is that a trainer isn’t a coach and has very little education and next to no experience in coaching. Coaching requires thinking, planning and developing a plan that will achieve a goal. Granted, maintaining a healthy lifestyle is a great goal if you are predominately a couch potato. But this client swims multiple times a week, walks her dogs multiple times a day, and has to appear on the Hollywood red carpet several times a year. She can’t just be maintaining, she has to look great and be thin for the cameras! Trainers just aren’t going to be able to do that long-term, maybe for 6 months or less, but after that you’re most likely starving your body of nutrients or you’ll start to see that fat creep back into your arms, usually in your triceps area, and around your thighs. Two places which you don’t want the camera to see. The fashion industry just loves making clothing to hide those two areas.

The Program Works

I guarantee my female clients that they’ll lose weight, rid their bodies of fat in those two places (and just about everywhere else) if they stay on the program. Leave for 6 months though, and all guarantees are null and void.

Trainers are great at watching you and cheering for you as you do the exercises they pull out of a hat for that day – “What should we do today to make you sweat?” Coaching on the other hand, requires building a program that will accomplish a fitness goal. And the best way to do that is to use a proven system used on a multitude of people for over 40 years. Build their strength and they’ll meet their goals. Use the Starting Strength system and they’ll build their strength.

Kenneth Rippetoe

Kenneth is a Life-time member of the American Swimming Coaches Association and holds certifications as a Level 4 Disability Coach & Level 3 USA Swimming as well as US Masters Coach. Coaching since 1985, Kenneth specializes in Swimming, Strength and Conditioning coaching.

The post The Difference in a Coach vs. a Trainer appeared first on One with the Water.

Fitness begins and ends with your state of mind. I start my day at 4:30 am meditating or reading. My days are filled with things that give me joy and create positive physical and mental growth. Fitness shouldn’t be a chore as it is a lifestyle.

A Day in the Life of a Strength Coach

At 7:00 am, I walk the dogs. I start my day walking around the block with my dogs, about 1100 steps each time. I do that every 2-3 hours all day. Researchers from St. George University in London found in one 2015 study that just 25 minutes of energetic walking can add up to 7 years of life and slow the aging process in our bodies. Walking is a great way to get started on your fitness journey, and it doesn’t feel like a workout!

After a mid-morning dog walk, I go into my Starting Strength Gym and barbell train 2 to 3 days per week, about an hour a session. It may surprise you, but barbell training, along with swimming, are the two best physical exercises to help you become consciously aware of your body, utilizing the same practices of concentration, breath control, and focused body positioning, as meditation.

At high noon, it’s time to swim! It is what we do, after all! I swim about 4 days a week for at least 1 hour, about 2 miles, then it’s back to walk the dogs. They need their exercise, too. Do you really know everything swimming can do? We’ve talked about it at length but it bears repeating. Swimming is low impact and combines upper and lower body workouts at the same time. It’s also a great form of exercise for people with injuries, range of motion difficulties, and limitations due to weight. Swimming regularly can increase core strength and create better balance. Swimming between 30 minutes to 1 hour 3-4 times weekly can lower the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes, plus help lower bad cholesterol and blood pressure.

And finally, swimming can act as a natural anti-depressant by increasing endorphins and can even help you live longer. Researchers at the University of South Carolina studied over 40,000 men ranging in age from 20-90 for a span of 30 years. Even when considering various health and age-related factors, they found regular swimmers were half as likely to die during the study (50%). Swimmers were living longer than runners, walkers, and non-exercisers. 

After a nap, either before or after lunch, my afternoon varies. Sometimes I am hard at work on the administrative side of One with the Water, other times I am coaching our incredible clients (YOU!). I sleep about 10 hours per day. Rest and recovery plays a key part in both muscle regeneration and spiritual fitness!

In the evening, I walk the dogs a few more times. I end up walking about 10,000 steps every day, which is about a little over 2 miles, plus swimming 2 miles, and the barbell training. All fitness activities combined, I burn about 3000 calories a day without spending hours in the gym. Instead, I am doing it with the ones I love in the way that I enjoy the most.

It’s not rocket science, friends, just a commitment to living our best lives. Start your journey today, with barbell training, adult swim lessons, or a brisk walk around the block. But please, just start.

Molly Huggins

Molly is a member of our creative team, mom of four water-loving babies, and a fierce advocate for CPR training and really early swim instruction.

The post A Day in the Life of a Strength Coach (and his furry friends!) appeared first on One with the Water.

In the Speedo commercial, they say, “Even if you can’t swim, you can do this.” That’s probably true, and the fact that they’re mixing these dryland exercises with the water accomplishes several positive things:

• Creates a unique resistance on the movements,
• Changes the pull of gravity on your body and the toy, giving you a different perspective,
• Keeps your body cooler while working out, which is better for your body, as it burns more calories than any hot-room workout (hot yoga = heat exhaustion) that just makes you sweat, and
• Puts you into a medium that makes you “happier, healthier, and more connected…”

Ah ha! More connected and better at what you do, as Dr. Nichols would say. And in fact, my cousin, world-renowned coach and founder of Starting Strength, Mark Rippetoe, says the same thing about barbell training, well at least the part about being “better at what you do.”

The fact is, being stronger will make you better at doing literally everything. I don’t recommend doing it underwater for many reasons, finding a facility would be very difficult, and although we hold our breath while lifting, being under water would make it more difficult to do the repetitions properly with a breath after each lift, thereby ineffectively administering your program. It just makes it annoying after being entertaining for a few weeks.

One of my barbell strength clients commented to me just a few weeks after starting, “Hey, my briefcase feels lighter and I didn’t decrease the contents.” That’s how it starts. You get under the bar and within a few weeks it’s easier to walk, stand, sit, and carry your plate to the table. It’s easier to bend down to get that dessert off the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. I workout just so I can eat dessert.

Strength is not the only benefit of Barbell Training

There’s a hint of spirituality about being under the barbell and under water. After taking a few months off from my personal barbell training, I started back last week and realized that being under the bar requires more than just the right equipment. It requires, more than anything besides prayer and meditation, complete concentration and presence. When lifting a barbell, whether it be any one of the 5 exercises associated with the Starting Strength Barbell program: Squat, Press, Bench Press, Deadlift, and Power Clean, you have to fully concentrate on the lift while doing it. Concentration is required to perform a technically-correct and safe lift.

“The Starting Strength System makes use of the body’s most basic movement patterns – barbell exercises that involve all of the body’s muscle mass – utilized over the longest effective range of motion and loaded progressively, to force the adaptations necessary for increased strength.”

In addition to the concentration, much like meditation, you also have to control your breathing. In barbell training, the breath control valsalva manoeuvre is used to keep a rigid spine and apply pressure inside your body. That form of breath is the exact same used to achieve a level of subconscious meditation and if done properly, is held for a few seconds just like in barbell training. And this same breath technique is used while swimming! When swimming, you should be holding your abdominal muscles tight in order to produce power in your stroke. This is the number one skill new swimmers have to be taught because most people had no idea that was happening. Just take a look at the bodies of the Olympic athletes – their abs are very well defined and this is why! When we take a deep breath our sacrum slightly flexes backwards. (Becoming Supernatural, by Dr. Joe Dispenza. Page 126). This is another reason that when lifting we have to consciously reverse that effect, while holding your breath. Additionally, “your isometric contraction around the spine is what locks the back rigid and aligns it with the pelvis. This is what protects the spine, not a vertical back angle.”

“When done correctly, the squat is the only exercise in the weight room that trains the recruitment of the entire posterior chain in a way that is progressively improvable.”

In order to produce a more effective mediation, it might be said that one should also train with barbells, just to reach your full potential.

You can find the only expert source on squatting mechanics at StartingStrength.

What it Means to be One with the Water

Swimming is more than just a fitness activity or sport. Swimming is also a spiritual experience. When I am swimming, it is meditation as well as exercise. I completely shut off my thoughts and the outside world and I become one with the water by focusing inward. Yes, in the dream I had of myself swimming in the ocean as a dolphin, the dolphin as part of the wave being one with the water, that is how I came up with our name and logo; the movements of my arms and legs are secondary activities, like a natural instinct, one that I can observe myself doing. This level of meditation, where you observe yourself swimming, happens to me a lot when I am in the pool. My first experience was in college, at a U.S. national qualifying meet, while I was swimming the 100 backstroke. After the start, as I flew through the air, I felt like my spirit left my body and I watched myself swim the race. And I qualified for nationals! It was very surreal, having this experience, and a memory that I hope to never forget.

Swimming and barbell training are the two best physical exercises to help you become consciously aware of your body and self. And the recovery period is great for keeping you grounded in the present. For those of you that have “restarted” your program, you know what I mean.

In the words of a dear friend and colleague, Erik Hochstein, medal winner for the 1988 West Germany Olympic team in the 4×200 FR,

“If you want to swim fast, just swim. Oh, and do weights.” Erik Hochstein

I have twice completed the Starting Strength barbell training seminar and I currently practice and coach swimmers and lifters in Los Angeles, California. I have private clients for both barbell training and swimming.

Kenneth Rippetoe

Kenneth is a Life-time member of the American Swimming Coaches Association and holds certifications as a Level 4 Disability Coach & Level 3 USA Swimming as well as US Masters Coach. Coaching since 1985, Kenneth specializes in Swimming, Strength and Conditioning coaching.

The post Weight to Weightlessness with Barbell Training appeared first on One with the Water.