Category Archives: Sports

10 great fitness and weight-loss apps – The Online Mom

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Smartphones and tablet computers have opened up a whole new world of on-the-go possibilities. Nowhere is that more true than in the field of health and fitness.

No longer are we tied to a gym or a rigid workout schedule. No more waiting for a personal trainer to tell us how well – or how poorly – we are doing. Mobile devices and fitness apps put all that information right there at our fingertips.

So if you want to know how far you ran or biked today, or you want to keep tabs on how many calories you consumed, then turn your smartphone or iPad into your workout buddy. Here are 10 great apps to choose from:

Endomondo Sports Trackers Pro

Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro uses GPS tracking to let you know exactly how your workout is going. You can pre-set a time or calorie burn as your goal and Sports Tracker Pro will help you beat it. You can also challenge friends, go against their personal best times, and even get encouragement along the way. With Sports Tracker Pro, you can download or plan different routes. Add headphones and the “audio coach” will help you pace your run, bike ride, or workout.

Sports Tracker Pro is available for all popular smartphone platforms.

Platform: iPhone, iPad, Android, BlackBerry
Price: $3.99/$4.23

Fitness Buddy

Described by apptudes.com as “The Swiss Army Knife Of Fitness Apps,” Fitness Buddy features over 1,000 exercises for every part of the body. Each exercise is accompanied by detailed instructions, photos and animations, and the user-friendly interface allows you to track each exercise and know exactly how you are doing. There are also 45 full workout routines tailored to specific goals – build chest, tone butt, lose weight, etc. There are also specific routines designed for women. And you don’t need to have access to a full gym: Fitness Buddy will provide a workout routine based on the equipment that you have available.

Fitness Buddy costs just $0.99 under a limited time offer.

Platform: iPhone, iPad
Price: $0.99

Daily Burn – Calorie, Workout, and Fitness Companion

This is the companion app to Daily Burn, one of the biggest – and best – fitness communities on the Web. Once you join Daily Burn, your fitness and health goals and performance are automatically synced to the app for complete on-the-go analysis and tracking.

Daily Burn helps you find both a nutrition plan and a workout regimen to go along with it. The built-in “Foodscanner” app uses the iPhone camera to read barcodes and supply you with complete nutrition and calorie information, while the Training Plan feature helps you set goals for weight loss, cardio training, muscle building, and more.

Platform: iPhone, iPad
Price: Free

Lose It!

One of the top-rated weight-loss apps, Lose It! allows you to set goals and establish a daily calorie budget to meet them. You stay on track by logging food and exercise totals, which can be synced with a loseit.com account.

Lose It! places lots of emphasis on sharing with friends for extra support and motivation. Lose It! claims that the average user has lost more than 12lbs, and more than 85% of their active users have lost weight.

Platform: iPhone, iPad, Android
Price: Free

CardioTrainer Pro

A great app for tracking any fitness activity, including running, walking and biking. CardioTrainer uses GPS tracking to monitor workout performance, and includes voice reminders and encouragement, as well as a music player for additional motivation. CardioTrainer Pro is an add-on to the free CardioTrainer app, which needs to be installed first. The Pro version features advanced interval training and other exercises, and includes all future updates and enhancements free-of-charge. Comes with a 30-day money back guarantee.

Platform: Android
Price: $9.99

Daily Ab Workout

Daily Ab Workout is part of the Daily Workout Apps series. It contains two 5 to 10 minute daily ab routines for men and women. Each routine takes you through twenty ab-sculpting exercises. The routines are demonstrated by a certified personal trainer and target all major abdominal muscles. You can set up daily reminders and a randomize feature varies the routine so it doesn’t get monotonous.

The paid Daily Ab Workout app is ad-free and is available on both Apple iOS and Android platforms.

Platform: iPhone, iPad, Android
Price: $0.99

Nike+ GPS

A GPS tracking app for the man or woman who just likes to run. Nike+ GPS tracks your route, records your pace, and constantly pushes you to match and beat your personal best times. You can run indoor or outdoor and there are no sensors required.

Nike+ GPS allows you to broadcast your accomplishments to friends through Facebook or Twitter. You can hear cheers every time a friend “Likes” or comments on your run, or you can set up some healthy competition using the Nike+ Tag feature. The personalized PowerSong feature blasts your favorite music as you go for new time or distance records.

Platform: iPhone, iPad
Price: $1.99

Cyclemeter GPS Bike Computer

Similar to Nike+ GPS but for bikers! Cyclemeter GPS Bike Computer tracks everything you need to know about your bike ride, including time, location, elevation, and speed. You can map your routes, chart your times, and keep a calendar of performance over weeks, months or years.

There are up to 25 configurable announcements to help you track your ride, and you can even get audio updates of how far you are ahead or behind your friends or previous best times. A virtual map can pinpoint your progress. Fix your iPad or iPhone to the handlebars for the ultimate in-race companion!

Platform: iPhone, iPad
Price: $4.99

Ultimate Weight Watchers Diary

The perfect Android app for people following Weight Watchers programs. The Ultimate Weight Watchers Diary has a built-in points calculator, points tracker, barcode scanner, body weight and measurement tracker, activity calculator, and more. The easy-to-use graphing feature allows you to see your progress at a glance, and the export and e-mail features allow you to share the good news with friends and family.

Platform: Android
Price: $4.89

Daily Yoga

Another in the Daily Workout Apps series, this time for yoga. The app contains 20, 40 and 60 minute level one and level two yoga routines. Each pose is demonstrated by a certified personal trainer and the app includes audio instructions for the entire program.

If you can’t get to your regular class or just have time for a quick workout, then Daily Yoga is the perfect solution.

Platform: iPhone, iPad
Price: $2.99


Do you have a favorite fitness or weight-loss app? Share it with The Online Mom!

10 great fitness and weight-loss apps – The Online Mom.

Physical Fitness Gives Children Better Academic Performance

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By Dr. Mercola

If your child is struggling in school, you may want to evaluate his level of physical activity and fitness.

Researchers have repeatedly found connections between fitness and brain health, which naturally impacts all areas of brain function, such as cognitive thinking skills and memory.

According to a study from the University of North Texas, which was recently presented at the American Psychological Association’s annual convention, having a healthy heart and lungs may actually be one of the most important factors for middle school students to make good grades in math and reading.1

According to co-author Trent A. Petrie, PhD:

“Cardiorespiratory fitness was the only factor that we consistently found to have an impact on both boys’ and girls’ grades on reading and math tests… This provides more evidence that schools need to re-examine any policies that have limited students’ involvement in physical education classes.”

Indeed, there’s plenty of evidence attesting to the fact that if you value your brainpower, and that of your children, you’ll want to make certain that exercise is a regular part of your and your family’s life. Previous research has also discovered links between physical fitness and mental acuity in seniors, so it’s equally important for all age groups.

Physical Activity Could Equate to Higher Grades

A test program not too far from our Chicago-area office at Naperville Central High School in Illinois illustrated the power of exercise to boost school performance in a powerful way two years ago. Students participated in a dynamic morning exercise program at the beginning of the day, and had access to exercise bikes and balls throughout the day in their classrooms. The results were astounding. Those who participated nearly doubled their reading scores!2 Research has also shown that after 30 minutes on the treadmill, students solve problems up to 10 percent more effectively.

Another more recent review of 14 studies,3 ranging in size from as few as 50 participants to as many as 12,000, also demonstrated that the more physically active schoolchildren are, the better they do academically. According to the authors:

“Physical activity and sports are generally promoted for their positive effect on children’s physical health; regular participation in physical activity in childhood is associated with a decreased cardiovascular risk in youth and adulthood. There is also a growing body of literature suggesting that physical activity has beneficial effects on several mental health outcomes, including health-related quality of life and better mood states.

In addition… there is a strong belief that regular participation in physical activity is linked to enhancement of brain function and cognition, thereby positively influencing academic performance.”

Clearly, the importance of encouraging your child to stay active after school and on weekends in order to reap the wonderful brain-boosting benefits that exercise has to offer cannot be overstated. Even better, be a positive role model and stay active together as a family.

Ideally, you’ll want to incorporate a variety of activities, as each type of exercise may offer unique benefits for your brain health and may even help your brain to grow as you get older, rather than shrink, which is the norm. A review of more than 100 studies, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology,4 revealed that both aerobic and resistance training are equally important for maintaining brain and cognitive health.

For instance, aerobic exercise has been found to improve your ability to coordinate multiple tasks – a skill needed for most people in today’s fast-paced world. It can also improve your ability to stay on task for extended periods. Resistance training, on the other hand, appears to improve your ability to focus amid distractions. Overall, exercise tends to improve the ability of different parts of your brain to work together. Effects such as these are thought to be due to changes in the prefrontal and temporal lobes, caused by exercise.

Your Brain “on Exercise”

Exercise encourages your brain to work at optimum capacity by causing nerve cells to multiply, strengthening their interconnections and protecting them from damage. Animal tests have illustrated that during exercise, their nerve cells release proteins known as neurotrophic factors. One in particular, called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), triggers numerous other chemicals that promote neural health, and has a direct benefit on brain functions, including learning. Further, exercise provides protective effects to your brain through:

  • Greater blood and oxygen flow to your brain
  • The production of nerve-protecting compounds and growth factors that help create new nerve cells and support synaptic plasticity
  • Improved development and survival of neurons

Increased levels of norepinephrine and endorphins resulting in a reduction of stress and an improvement of mood

A 2010 study5 on primates published in the journal Neuroscience also revealed that regular exercise not only improved blood flow to the brain, but also helped the monkeys learn new tasks twice as quickly as non-exercising monkeys – a benefit the researchers believe would hold true for people as well.

Kids Benefit From Exercise in Many Ways

There’s absolutely no doubt that kids need exercise, and that most aren’t getting enough. Less than one-third of children aged 6 to 17 get at least 20 minutes of daily exercise in one form or another. This is tragic, considering the multitude of short- and long-term health benefits your child can gain from a regular exercise regimen, including:

Reduced risk of diabetes and pre-diabetes Improved sleep Stronger bones Reduced restlessness or hyperactivity; helps decrease symptoms of ADHD
Improved immune system function Improved mood Weight loss Increased energy levels

How to Get Your Kids Moving

First, it’s imperative to limit the amount of time your child spends watching TV, or playing computer and video games, and to replace some of these sedentary activities with exercise. There are plenty of physical activities to choose from, from sports and dance classes to gymnastics, bike riding and playing tag with friends. Allow your child to choose activities that appeal to them, and which are age appropriate.

Remember that the trick to getting kids interested in exercise at a young age is to keep it fun. Also keep in mind that short, spontaneous bouts of exercise throughout the day is actually the ideal way of doing it.

This is the way your body was designed to operate, and it’s what you’re mimicking when doing high-intensity interval training – i.e. short bursts of activity with periods of rest in between. Kids will typically fall into this behavior quite spontaneously, as long as they’re outdoors, and not cooped up in front of a TV or computer screen. Like adults, kids also need variety in their exercise routines to reap the greatest rewards, so be sure your child is getting:

This may sound daunting, but if your child participates in a gymnastics class, sprints around the backyard after the dog often and rides his bike after school, he’s covered. Also remember that acting as a role model by staying active yourself is one of the best ways to motivate and inspire your kids. If your child sees you embracing exercise as a positive and important part of your lifestyle, they will naturally follow suit. Plus, it’s easy to plan active activities that involve the whole family and double up as fun ways to spend time together. Hiking, bike riding, canoeing, swimming and sports are all great options.

Peak Fitness for Kids

As I mentioned earlier, intermittent bouts of exercise is actually the ideal form of exercise and is a key component of my comprehensive Peak Fitness program. While it may appear to be extreme to some, this type of short burst-type exercise is perhaps the most natural of all exercises for children!

Humans were simply not designed to run at a steady pace for extended periods of time, and you almost never see that type of behavior in the wild either. The research is so clear about the superior benefits of this type of exercise – which mimics natural behavior – that the American Heart Association and the American College of Sports Medicine have now changed their exercise cardio guidelines from slow but steady aerobic cardio to high-intensity interval training.

Benefits of high-intensity interval training include:

Significantly improving your insulin sensitivity, especially if you’re on a low-processed-food, low-sugar or low-grain diet Optimizing your cholesterol ratios, when combined with a proper diet Boosting fat metabolism and optimizing your body fat percentage (as a result of improved conservation of sugar and glycogen in your muscles)
Virtually eliminating type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure Naturally boosting your levels of human growth hormone (HGH) Increasing your aerobic capacity

Peak Fitness Instructions

A key component is to raise your heart rate up to your anaerobic threshold (220 minus your age) for 20 to 30 seconds, followed by a 90-second recovery period. Depending on your child’s current level of fitness, he may need to work his way up to eight cycles. I recommend starting with two to four cycles, and gradually increasing to eight. There are no rules for the specific manner in which this is achieved – your child could do this running in the backyard, or using a treadmill, elliptical machine, or recumbent bike (provided your child is old enough to use such machines safely, of course), or they could do it bicycling outdoors.

For a demonstration of the core principles, and important safety tips, please see the following video. It also includes a demonstration of proper warm-up. While this video is primarily directed to adults, as opposed to children engaged in spontaneous high-intensity play, it can still give you some helpful pointers to keep in mind when you’re coaching your kids.

Here are the core principles:

  • Warm up for three minutes
  • Then, go all out, as hard as you can for 30 seconds
  • Recover at a moderate pace for 90 seconds
  • Repeat 7 more times, for a total of 8 repetitions
  • Cool down for a few minutes afterwards by cutting down your intensity by 50-80 percent

For even more in-depth information, please review this previous article.

Know that high-intensity interval training has a number of health benefits that you simply cannot achieve with any other type of exercise. For adults over 30, the most important of these is the natural production of human growth hormone (HGH), which is essential for strength, overall fitness, and longevity. Naturally, children and teens don’t need to worry too much about producing HGH, but high-intensity interval training can still provide magnificent benefits for this age group, as it can dramatically improve fat loss and helps build muscle. It also dramatically improves athletic speed and performance, which can greatly benefit aspiring youth athletes.

Overall, this type of exercise will allow your child (and you!) to achieve her fitness goals much faster.

Physical Fitness Gives Children Better Academic Performance.

Exercise Mental Benefits: How Workouts Boost Brain Power

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We all know that regular exercise is a major player in our ability to achieve a healthy weight, a longer life expectancy and a reduced risk of chronic diseases — from cancers to heart disease to diabetes. And, as you’ve likely discovered, it makes you look good too. But when you hit the gym, your biceps and lats aren’t the only muscles you’re working. Mounting research shows that aerobic activity may be one of the most important factors in maintaining a sharp brain.

Just last week, a study revealed that exercise helped a group of men learn a new skill through enhanced “motor memory.” But that’s not the first or last word in the brawn-brain connection. Here are seven ways that getting your blood pumping is the best chance for gaining mental power too:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/01/exercise-mental-benefits-_n_1923739.html?utm_hp_ref=healthy-living&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

 

J is for Juggling by AIMEE KIMBALL, PhD

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This weeks ABC’s of swimming: J is for Juggling

BY AIMEE KIMBALL, PhD//Sport Psychologist

Athletes are dedicated. They are committed. They are willing to make sacrifices in their lives to help their sport performance. However, when you take this commitment to their sport and add a similar level of commitment to their academics, social lives, work and family, it can lead to a very difficult juggling act.

Take “Christina” for example. She is an athlete whom I work with that did not play well partly because she had done poorly on a paper and was stressed about it and partly because she didn’t get a chance to eat before her game and instead had taken a nap.

She was so tired because she was up until 1 a.m. finishing a paper. She was up so late because she had procrastinated and did not manage her time well. She had known about the paper for a week, but said that it wasn’t really that long or difficult of an assignment. She even admitted she could have done a better job managing her time because she probably didn’t haveto watch “Grey’s Anatomy” (which took longer for her to watch than it did to actually complete the paper).

She also said her friend had a bad day, so she spent almost an hour on the phone talking to her. Because she waited until the last minute, waited until she was totally exhausted, and did not prioritize well, she not only did poorly on her paper she also did poorly in her game. Juggling her fun time, with her friend time, with her sport and academics proved to be too overwhelming. However, if she had thought it through and worked to manage her time and energy better, she could have been more successful in both her academic and athletic performance.

Unfortunately, I’m sure many of you can relate to Christina and are wondering how committed athletes who look for success in all areas of their lives juggle everything. Here are some suggestions to help you juggle your many demands successfully:

Recognize it’s hard to give 100% to everything all the time

You’re not a superhero. At some point something has to give, and that’s OKAY. It’s fantastic to strive to be perfect, but it’s unrealistic to expect it all the time in everything you do. Do what you can, the best you can, with what you have at that moment.

Know your true priorities and think long term

Make sure if you choose to sacrifice one area of your life for the benefit of another that you are not just focused on the here-and-now, that you are thinking about how prioritizing one area of your life will affect you 1, 5 and 10 years from now. For example, if you choose to put your social life first and go out with friends all night rather than working on a project or getting a good night sleep before your 6 a.m. practice, recognize that one year from now your grades might not be good enough to get you the job or get you into college, or, five years from now when your swimming career has ended you may regret not doing the little things necessary to help you to reach your fullest potential. However, when choosing your priorities, keep in mind that the odds of competing at the collegiate or Olympic level are against you. So, before you prioritize swimming over all else, make sure you don’t totally neglect the areas of your life that you have to rely on if/when competitive swimming ends. Again, think about the long-term effects of your decisions.

Know who else your decisions affect

As you are juggling the various aspects of your life, make sure you know what relationships might suffer. Whether it’s your relationship with teammates, coaches, friends, or family, when you are spending a good deal of time with one group your connection to others may begin to fade. It’s just something to consider as you try to balance your life.

Decisions don’t have to be totally wrong or totally right, they just have to be the best you can make at that time

Many people stress out because they don’t want to make the wrong decision. When several things are important to you, you are likely to feel that you are doing something wrong if you have to make a choice between two things you enjoy. When you struggle with such a decision, weigh the pros and cons, the long term effects, the people involved (including yourself), and make the best choice you can with the options available.

Balance the time and energy required for tasks

When you have lots of demands for your time, it is hard to get everything done. You can feel overwhelmed, stressed, and think that it is impossible to be you and be everywhere at once. When you have stress because of significant time demands, the best way to get control of it is to plan it out and learn to manage your time and your energy. First, get out a piece of paper and divide it into five sections. This is going to be your “to do” list.In the first column write down everything you have coming up. In the second column estimate how much time the task will take. In the third column, decide on a scale of 1-5 (1 being a little bit, 5 being a lot) how much energy the task is going to take. Then look at your list and prioritize-your fourth column is the order in which you are going to complete each task. The final column is the date or time you want to complete the task by.

To Do

Time Required

Energy Required

(1-5)

Priority

Completion Date/Time

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 
 

I suggest doing the tasks that require the most energy first, the ones that require the most time next, then, with the remaining tasks, decide which are most important. The reason you want to do the tasks that use your energy first is because you want to do them while you still have energy and you don’t want to have them hanging over your head all day. You might have to call a coach and tell him that you are going to miss practice, something you dread and know it takes a lot of your energy to do but not necessarily a lot of time. If you wait until the end of the day, you’ll have been stressing over this “energy-draining” task all day, which can distract you from all of your other tasks (causing them to take longer than needed and possibly decreasing their quality). Also, once the “energy-drainers” are completed, that sense of relief of having it done can actually bring you an energy boost.

Juggling the various aspects of your life is a skill. If you can create good time management habits, set goals to help you choose your priorities, and learn how to deal with the stress of it all, you will develop the ability to be successful in multiple areas without having to sacrifice too much in others. Sometimes, there is a lot going on and a lot being demanded of you, but the more you work at it, the more things you can juggle at once.

Make it great!

Dr. Aimee

I is for Injuries by AIMEE C. KIMBALL, PhD

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I is for Injuries – ABC’s of swimming from USA Swimming.

 

BY AIMEE C. KIMBALL, PhD//Sport Psychologist
When you work hard, push yourself to your limits and engage in physical activity, you are not only competing with other swimmers, you are also competing with your body.

If you have ever been injured, you know how stressful and life-altering it can be. Whether it’s the disappointment of having trained so hard and no longer being able to compete or the feeling of being an outsider rather than a part of the team, there are many sources of injury stress.

It is important to know how to cope with this stress and what mental skills you can use to help throughout the recovery process. This article is about how to cope with injuries so you can get back in a pool ASAP.

Relax!

When you have physical tension or mental stress, your body uses its resources to fight the stress rather than to heal your injury. Also, if you go to physical therapy, and your muscles are tense (which occurs because you are stressed) you won’t be as flexible as you do your rehab exercises. This limits the progress you can make. If you are stressed about the injury or about other things in your life and you bring this to your physical therapy sessions, your focus will be on the stressors rather than the exercises. Because of this, you may not be pushing yourself and you may not be doing the exercise correctly, both of which can keep you from progressing as quickly as possible. Thus, it is important to know how to relax and to take the time to de-stress periodically throughout the day, especially before rehab.

Social Support

Make sure you have people you can talk to about the injury. You might find it helpful to talk to someone who has experienced a similar situation and is now back competing again. You may find just being around the team helps you, even if you are unable to swim. There are also mental training consultants and sport psychologists who understand what you are going through and who can be a “neutral” source for you to get out your thoughts and emotions and who can teach you how to refocus more positively.

Set Goals

Make sure you have goals for rehab. Most athletes set goals for improving their times or winning events. However, when injuries strike, all of those goals you were striving for change. As an athlete, you are used to working towards accomplishing something, so it’s important to channel that drive into your rehab and into goals you have in school or other areas of your life. For example, if you had shoulder surgery, make sure you talk to your surgeon and physical therapist about what the rehabilitation process is like. Have them educate you on milestones you are likely to experience throughout the recovery as well as obstacles you might face. If you can, at least once a week (if not every day) talk to your physical therapist or athletic trainer about what muscles or ligaments you are strengthening and write down goals that you want to achieve for each exercise. It’s important to recognize that with injury, small changes are big deals. Don’t just emphasize major accomplishments like the day you can swim at full speed, acknowledge range of motion improvements or increases in the number of reps you do while lifting. These goals provide you with motivation by letting you know you are getting closer to your ultimate goal and can provide that extra push on the days when you are mentally and/or physically struggling. Goals also can also help to diminish fear of reinjury when you return. Comparing what little you were able to do when you were first injured with the day you are fully cleared will give you greater confidence that you are well on your way to returning to full speed.

Keep an Injury Notebook

Some athletes find it very helpful to keep a notebook throughout their injury as a way to get their thoughts out of their heads. In this notebook, you can keep track of your goals each week. Chart what you are working on and what is improving. Make note of how your mood might be improving, what helps you to deal with pain, fatigue and stress. Take notes about what the coaches are teaching other swimmers so you can learn new things and recognize what the coaches want from their swimmers. The reason for doing this is: a) writing things down can serve as a stress reliever, b) setting goals can keep you focused during rehab and c) keeping track of improvement is a great motivator and confidence booster. This injury book can also provide encouragement after you have returned from injury. If you ever start to feel burned out you can always look at this notebook and remind yourself that you didn’t go through all of this to give up now.

Do Imagery

There is a lot of research within sport and other domains that shows how effective imagery can be in speeding up the recovery process. Some studies show that imagining yourself healing influences blood flow, optimism and sense of control, which can all help you to get back in the pool sooner. Additionally, by having vivid images in your head and essentially “feeling” yourself swimming, you keep your muscle memory in tact and your skills won’t decrease as much as if you sit around and don’t think of swimming at all.

The above suggestions are just a few ways to address the mental aspects of injury. While no one wants to get injured, it is unfortunately a part of sport. By choosing to view the injury as another challenge to overcome, you will develop a very valuable life skill-the ability to succeed in the face obstacles. You can also learn a lot about yourself and about your sport while injured. Thus, while dealing with an injury can be a very stressful experience, you can return a stronger competitor and a more mentally tough individual once you’re back in the water.

Make it great!

H is for Having Fun by AIMEE C. KIMBALL, PhD

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 H is for Having Fun

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
BY AIMEE C. KIMBALL, PhD
I agree with Abraham Lincoln, who said, “People are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

I think that having fun is, in fact, a mental skill. Most people believe having fun is as easy as getting involved in something you enjoy, which is true. However, what happens when what you enjoy also becomes a source of pressure, anxiety, fatigue and pain?

Most athletes start swimming because they love being in the water and enjoy being with their friends. When they decide to turn their “hobby” into a competitive activity is when some of the “fun” can be taken away.

That is, when you now have to practice for two hours after school and you are being asked to push your physical limits, you may start to focus on the aspects of competitive swimming that you don’t enjoy.

Focusing on your dislikes is what can make the fun disappear. Then, when you start to get good, develop high expectations for yourself, and feel pressure to drop time every meet or win every race, you may find even more things you don’t like about a sport you used to enjoy.

If you take it to the next level and start swimming to possibly get or keep a college scholarship and your whole reason for swimming is based on the belief that you HAVE to swim well or you will lose this opportunity, then even more anxiety occurs.

Basically, the higher the level at which you compete, the more potential there is for you to find things you don’t like about swimming, and thus, swimming becomes less fun.

Don’t worry though, just because you are now competing doesn’t mean swimming has to cease being fun.As I said before, you control your own happiness.

Here are some things you can do to make sure you can still have fun while swimming competitively:

Focus on the positive
Like anything else in life, the more you focus on what you enjoy, the happier you will be. It is easy to go to practice focusing on how much you don’t want to be there, how tired you are going to be, or how much you hate when your coach yells at you. However, if you accept that all of those things are part of your reality and instead change your focus to what you are going to get out of the day, you’ll find it a lot more enjoyable. So, before heading to meets or practice, remind yourself what you are looking forward to while you are there, rather than what you’re dreading.

Remember the good stuff
If you are ever struggling and feel like some of the fun of the sport has been lost, pull out a picture of yourself from when you were really young. Maybe it’s from the first race you ever entered or from a day where you were just with your friends practicing your cannonballs. The picture should put a smile on your face and remind you that you chose to swim because of how happy being in the water makes you.

Embrace the pressure
The pressure you feel and the anxiety you experience don’t have to be detrimental. Instead of perceiving your expectations for yourself as a negative, recognize that it means you have confidence in your ability. If you didn’t know you were good, you wouldn’t have such high standards for yourself. Experiencing pressure just means you’ve created an opportunity for yourself to reach a higher level of success. That you’ve proven you are good enough to be in this situation should bring satisfaction rather than worry. Also, choose to view meets and difficult practices as small challenges that you are going to work through to overcome. A sense of pride should come from knowing you are working your hardest to achieve something meaningful to you.

Swim for the sake of swimming
While it’s easy to get caught up in external rewards such as medals, records and scholarships, you must keep in mind these are not the reasons why you swim. First and foremost you swim because it’s a sport you enjoy. The accolades are just a by-product of your hard work. We lose the fun when we think we are swimming to get something out of it. Make sure you remind yourself that you swim for enjoyment, for improvement and to be with friends. Then, by being involved in something you find inherently fun and putting forth the effort to see how good you can be at that activity, you are setting yourself up to enjoy the processof achieving success – not just for success itself.

Remember, having fun is up to you. No matter how hard practice is, no matter how “serious” the meet is, you can enjoy competition and all that it brings with it. It’s up to you to decide that your passion for the sport and everything you love about swimming are much more important than the aspects you don’t like. So next time you head to the pool, jump right in and have some fun!

Make it great!

Dr. Aimee

G is for Goal Setting by Aimee C. Kimball, PhD

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Hello Everyone,

This weeks topic for the ABC’s of swimming is Goal Setting. This is an  important topic for every swimmer, since their goals are unique to them. We hope you enjoy this article.

G is for Goal Setting

Every athlete has a goal. Whether it’s to win races, achieve a personal best, or simply make it through a grueling practice, the goals we set undoubtedly exert influence on our performance.

However, there’s a lot more to goal setting than just stating what it is you ultimately want to achieve. To get the motivational support and performance boost that goals can provide, athletes must set goals systematically and have various types of goals.

This article will lead you through steps to setting goals so that your performance, satisfaction and quality of practice can all be enhanced. While this article is geared to your sport-related goals, the same steps can and should be used to set goals for all areas of your life.

Step 1: Know where you are headed

Five years from now, what do you want to be doing? One year from now? At the end of this season, what do you want to have achieved? All of these long-term goals are important to sit and write down because they give you something to commit to. It is also important to identify why you want to achieve these goals. This “why” should be something that is valuable to you more than it is to others. Once you identify your goals, close your eyes and picture yourself achieving them. Try to experience the feelings you expect to have when you achieve these goals.

On a weekly basis, reexamine your end-of-season goal. It is okay if you need to adjust it and make it more challenging or more realistic based on your circumstance. Make sure you keep your season goal in mind as you practice so you are aware that what you do today connects you to what you want to achieve in the future. At the end of each season, re-visit your yearly goal and at least once a month imagine yourself achieving your 5-year goal.

Step 2: Know how to get there

Ever get lost on the way to a meet? If you have, typically you knew where you were supposed to end up, you just didn’t have a very accurate map of how to get there. Having a path towards your long-term goals is extremely important because what you want to achieve weeks, months, or years from now can only happen if you take the opportunity each day to make progress towards your longer-term goals. Each day ask yourself, “What can I do today to get myself one step closer to where I want to be?”Make sure you always have a short-term, specific goal you are working on. Whether it’s a technique goal, a mental goal, or a nutritional goal, keep focused on your daily and weekly objectives so you can give yourself the best chance to reach your ultimate goals.

Step 3: Identify milestones of success

Having intermediate markers of success can help enhance motivation (ex., swimming a PR, qualifying for a specific meet, mastering a fundamental skill). These markers serve as points on your goal route that are important to you and are achievements you will be proud of. These milestones provide set standards so you know you are progressing along your goal path. They let you know that your hard work is paying off and give you confidence, encouragement, and enhance your commitment.

Step 4: Identify obstacles

Reaching long term goals is a very challenging process and there are a lot of uncontrollable factors that may keep you from reaching these goals. Look at your long term and short term goals and identify obstacles that may prevent you from reaching these goals. Injury, strength of the competition, and burnout are common obstacles swimmers face when trying to win meets, improve time, or work their hardest. If you list an obstacle you can’t control, cross it off your list (if you don’t control it, don’t worry about it). If it is something you do control, make a plan for dealing with it when it comes up. By identifying obstacles and being prepared to overcome them, you are helping to ensure obstacles do not become excuses.

Step 5: Create a system

Everyone is a little bit different in how they set goals. Some set daily goals while others focus on what they want to accomplish on a monthly basis. Create a system that you can stick to that allows you to: a) Set specific, challenging goals, b) Measure progress towards these goals, c) Gain motivation and encouragement from your goals, and d) Focus on these goals every practice.

I suggest setting, at minimum, weekly goals. Maybe every Sunday write three specific areas you want to improve on. Share these goals with coaches, parents, and/or teammates so you have someone to hold you accountable to working on these goals and who can recognize when you achieve your goals. Each day before practice review your goals and remind yourself what you are working on and how this week’s goals connect to your goals for the season. At the end of the week, assesswhether or not you achieved your goals. If you didn’t accomplish what you set out to do, make sure you honestly figure out why you fell short and try to control what you can in the future. If you did achieve even some of your goals, take a moment to reward yourself and feel proud that your hard work paid off.

Step 6: Set different types of goals

One of the biggest mistakes athletes make is setting goals focused only on the results of meets. While these outcome-oriented goals are important, they are often out of your control. Therefore, it is essential to set process and performance goals as well.

Process goals-fundamentals totally under your control (stroke, turns, attitude)

  • Performance goals-“statistics” based on individual improvement (drop time, increase in sets)
  • Outcome goals-focus is on comparisons to others (winning races, being the best)

Ultimately, you want to focus on your process goals since the more of the fundamentals you master, the more likely you are to reach your performance goals (good technique + good mentality=better time). When you reach your performance goals, you give yourself a better chance of achieving your outcome goals (you don’t control if you win, you only control if you swim your best). By focusing on the process and what you control, you are trusting that the way you swim will lead to the performance you want.

Process ⇒ Performance ⇒ Outcome

Summary

Whether you are 14 or 41, goals are vital in providing direction, creating motivation, and enhancing commitment. Some people shy away from setting goals because they are afraid of being disappointed if they fall short. Other swimmers only set goals for meets or for their careers. It is important not to see goals as the ultimate indication of success or failure; rather they provide you with guidance so that you can stretch your abilities as far as possible. Very few people achieve every goal they set; therefore it is the progress you make towards these goals and the effort you exert in their pursuit that is the determinant of your success. If every day you get a little bit closer to where you want to be, consider that to be a successful day.

GOAL SETTING EXERCISE

My strengths are:

  • My plan for using and building upon these strengths:

Areas I can improve (mental, technique, fitness, nutritional…):

  • Actions I will take to improve on these areas:

My goal for the season/week/month is:

  • What will I do to achieve this?
  • What obstacles might I face and how will I overcome them?
  • What will result when I achieve this goal?

Written by Aimee C. Kimball, PhD