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.

1) As a swimmer, describe your sleep pattern

I sleep about 10 hours per day. Rest and recovery play a crucial part in both muscle regeneration and spiritual fitness! Part of those hours include at least one nap daily, and I start my day at 4:30 am meditating or reading.

There are necessary physiological changes that occur during sleep. First, critical hormone processes are happening during the sleep cycle, including an increase in anabolic (muscle-building) hormones, and a simultaneous lowering of catabolic (muscle-wasting) hormones. Second, irregular and unpredictable sleep patterns limit the recovery power of testosterone in your body. Moreover, while we sleep, human growth hormones are being secreted in a pattern that lasts from 1.5-3.5 hours. When our sleep is disrupted, so are the benefits of this critical anabolic hormone.

2) As a swim coach, does swimming help other people sleep better? If so, why?

The National Sleep Foundation conducted a poll and found a strong correlation between proper sleep and exercise, discovering that exercise does improve sleep, vital for health, productivity, and overall happier life. Additionally, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, stress and anxiety may cause sleeping problems or make existing problems worse. Extended aerobic swimming workouts release the natural compound endorphins, the “feel-good” chemicals produced in your brain to combat those issues. Increased endorphin levels work to lower stress, increase pleasure, and reduce or manage pain. The release of endorphins do help to significantly lower anxiety and relieve depression. However, 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.

3) How would you describe the connection between sleeping, dreaming and water?
According to Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, author of the national bestseller Blue Mind, good sleep is critical to good dreaming, and good dreaming is fundamental to creativity, learning, and memory. Studies continue to back this up, showing that REM sleep provides both the most vivid dreams and helps in the solving of complex mental and physical tasks.

When looking at those three components from the metaphysical perspective, the connection remains, albeit in a less concrete fashion. Still, as Dr. Nichols writes, “Indeed, as a spiritual element of the natural world, there seems to be something particular about water that permeates humanity’s consciousness.” (Blue Mind, pg. 235). Water continues to be one of the most common elements of the dream world with a deep connection to both emotion and the subconscious.

While dream interpretation lies somewhat outside the scope of our expertise, our organization, One With The Water, knows that mastering the water creates a transformation in the mind of our students, a shift from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset.

People with the growth mindset learn to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, and intentionally seek out new challenges. They have learned that circumstances matter less, and what they are made of matters more.

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 Connection Between Sleeping and Swimming appeared first on One with the Water.

The average American will consume a whopping 3500-4500 calories on Thanksgiving day.

So what are some ways you can combat the onslaught of unhealthy, albeit delicious calorie bombs lurking on the Thanksgiving table? Before you chow down tomorrow, consider these three simple ways to counteract the seemingly inevitable holiday weight gain.

Three ways to beat the Thanksgiving bloat.

1. If your house is anything like ours, there is a bevy of snacks set out long before the Thanksgiving meal actually begins.  Intentionally use this opportunity to choose healthy snacks. It’s so cliche, but it’s true – garbage in, garbage out. Don’t waste your Thanksgiving calories on your snack choices. Make sure you are setting your body up for success by choosing fruit, nuts, or lean meat to snack on.

2. It’s dinnertime, so now what? It seems obvious, but portion control is critical! Just because Aunt Greta brought a gallon size bucket of sweet potatoes, doesn’t mean you have to eat half of the gallon. An easy way to gauge appropriate portion sizes is using your hand.

• Your palm determines your protein portions.
• Your fist determines your vegetable portions.
• Your cupped hand determines your carb portions.
• Your thumb determines your fat portions.

Small helpings mean you can successfully enjoy everything on the table without feeling the guilt and physical discomfort of overindulging.

3. And finally, choose to #optoutside. Originally started as an ad campaign by REI a few years ago, #optoutside means just that. Instead of pounding the pavement in search of the best deals, go take a walk, a hike, or dare I say it, a swim? Regardless, get your body moving to burn off some the excess calories from the day before.

Now go eat some guilt-free turkey!

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 Kick Those Excess Thanksgiving Calories appeared first on One with the Water.

The benefits of napping.

First, let’s talk about the benefits of napping. The research is clear, and there is a lot of it.

• A quick midday nap can give you better reaction time, a higher emotional tolerance, increased alertness, and improved memory.
• A 2010 study done by UC Berkeley shows that napping can clear the brain’s short-term memory storage and make room for new information, boosting your cognitive performance post-nap.
• And finally, a new study published in 2018 shows that napping can sort through our subconscious clutter, improving our decision making processes post snooze.

The perfect length.

There is an art to the length of a nap so pay attention.

• A 10-20 minute nap leaves you feeling refreshed. (Also known as the famous power nap).
• A 45-60 minute nape means you wake up mid-sleep cycle, creating the dreaded nap hangover, and should be avoided at all costs.
• 90 minutes is ideal if you are lucky enough to have a schedule that allows you that luxury. An hour and a half carries you through one full sleep cycle from lightest to deepest back to lightest and should allow you to wake up feeling alert. Studies also show napping for this length of time can improve memory and creativity. Anything longer than an hour and a half to two hours creates the risk of disrupting your nighttime sleep patterns and throwing off your natural circadian rhythms.

The ideal nap time.

It turns out there is, in fact, a perfect napping window. A large body of research shows that 2-3 in the afternoon is prime nap time. This specific window is tied to your circadian rhythms, early enough that you don’t interfere with your evening sleep habits, and right in the middle of the post-lunch haze. And finally, keep your sleep environment the same as if you were going to bed, dark, quiet, and cool.

Happy napping, friends!

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 To nap or not to nap? That is the question. appeared first on One with the Water.

There are a myriad of benefits to breaking out of a fitness rut, both mentally and physically. Part of applying the growth mindset to our fitness routine is understanding that learning and growth happen on a continuum. It’s good for our body and brain to continue to learn. In fact, studies show that learning a new skill later in life can actually increase our cognitive function.  Adding in a new activity like swimming works across the full spectrum to improve our mental and physical well being.

Why Swimming?

I’ve chosen to focus on swimming because that’s what we do here at One with the Water. But more importantly, the health benefits of swimming are well known and can even help add years to your life. Countless studies outline the many ways swimming has a positive impact on your health. Here are just a few, among many. 

• Improves cardio function without the stress of impact sports.
• Helps maintain a healthy weight.
• Improves endurance.
• Tones muscle and builds strength.
• Alleviates stress and can help in reducing depression and anxiety.

Aside from the benefits listed above, swimming is a low impact, naturally resistant way to work your whole body for any fitness level. Besides what we listed above, swimming three times a week can help to increase the size of the hippocampus region in the brain, improving cognition, and assisting with activities like planning, scheduling, multitasking, and memory. 

Swimming works in all kinds of ways for all types of personalities. For introverts, the pool creates a quiet stress-relieving environment that can be private and controlled. For the extrovert, there is a world of classes to choose from that engage both the social and physical centers of your brain. In fact, research done by the University of California found that people who exercise with a partner enjoy it more.

So where do I begin?

If you are a weak swimmer or perhaps have never learned, start with aerobics classes, jogging in the shallow end, or even go out on a limb and take adult swim lessons. It’s incredibly empowering to conquer your fear, embarrassment, or any other emotions holding you back from something like learning to swim. When you adopt a growth mindset to overcome fear, you are operating with the understanding that your abilities are flexible, rather than fixed. 

For the more competitive, experienced swimmer, challenge yourself by joining a Master’s Swim Club. Change your environment by taking your swim to the open water.  Swimming in open water offers increased resistance when swimming in currents, is gentler on skin and hair then harsh chlorine, and for many, it is mentally and physically refreshing to experience the changing environment.

Regardless of how you do it, whether you swim walk or crawl your way out, breaking out of your fitness rut may be just what your body and brain need to jumpstart your wellbeing.

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 Swim Your Way Out of a Fitness Rut 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.

It’s pretty clear that jumping rope can provide a fun, effective cardio workout. Try jumping rope for ten minutes … it can feel like 30! And we all know the proven benefits of getting your heart rate up for an extended period every day (improved cardiovascular fitness, plus a mood lift and so much more). But let’s talk about some of the lesser known benefits when it comes to jumping rope. (Besides the ear-worm rhymes that come with it!)

Benefits of Jumping Rope

Here’s what’s happening to your body while you are jumping rope. Much like swimming, this exercise requires a synchronized effort involving both upper and lower body movements. Your arms rotate the rope while your legs are constantly moving through landing and take-off. Now it gets tricky. In order to jump rope without falling on your face, your body has to re-establish balance and lift-off force in the previously mentioned synchronized effort. 

So it would make sense that the first lesser known benefit is that including jumping rope as part of a regular training program can improve motor coordination and balance by as much as 10%, as well as improving joint repositioning. (Based on multiple studies conducted on young athletes). Another study of elite track athletes found that using jump rope as a warm-up increased performance levels in other (horizontal) jumping tasks. Either way, dust off those rhymes and start skipping for a positive increase in balance and overall motor skills. 

The other surprising benefit of jumping rope has clear ramifications for younger women as they start to age. Because jumping rope is a weight bearing exercise, it means you are increasing the load on your bones. The good news? The more you increase weight bearing exercise, the more you increase your bone mass – meaning you can help increase bone density and prevent degenerative bone disease like osteoporosis. In fact, Japanese researchers found that incorporating a high impact jump routine increased bone mass density at specific sites in young woman around the age of 30. It’s good for your heart, it’s good for your balance, and it’s good for your bones. 

Like any exercise program, the only potential negative inherent in jump roping is overuse. Any activity that gets overdone puts you at risk for injury. Exercise common sense and jumping rope offers a ton of benefits for beginning athletes all the way up to elite performers. Bottom line? Working out IS fun, whether in the water or skipping rope to the tune of your childhood.

Share the Love

Maybe you’ve fallen in love with an exercise like swimming? How about sharing the love? When you donate to One with the Water, you help us serve the community with swim lessons for low income families and children with special needs. Be a hero TODAY and help reduce the risk of drowning for children by up to 88%!

*Sources:

• http://www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00666.2005
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/
• pmc/articles/PMC4657422/,https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21681154

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 Do You Love Your Workout? 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.