The Pros and Cons of Modeling: Finding a Unique Formula

Recently Tim Manley posted a compelling blog- Do you have balance in your stroke?  The post has received quite a response from our readers.  One of the difficult things about dolling out advice in swimming is that a really fast swimmer always comes along and does it differently.  Does that mean we should all follow?  Not so fast.  Chris DeSantis, wrote the following article a while back.  It addresses the core issue at hand.

By Chris DeSantis

This post is inspired by a number of recent events. First, I watched Michael Phelps on 60 Minutes Sunday night. The next day, i saw an interview with the author of a recent Mark Spitz biography. Then finally, the nail in the coffin came with Darian Townsend's excellent blog about the unpredictability of training and rest.

The Phelps and Spitz interviews brought into focus a topic that has often concerned me. There is a deep tradition in our sport to want to make models out of the top athletes. The belief is that because a swimmer is a World record holder or Olympic Gold medalist, they must have the best technique/training/mentality. Phelps is the most famous and successful athlete in our sport, so he is the most often modeled. But before him it was Thorpe, and probably Popov before that and Biondi before that (with various stroke swimmers in the other strokes). I have a vivid memory of when Denis Pankratov had the "perfect" stroke.

On top of this, how many times have we heard of Phelps' yardage or gotten glimpses of workouts. What's the curiousity? People want to see how the best train. I read an article once that talked about how much Grant Hackett can bench! Also, we heard perpetually about the "surfer cool" psyche of Aaron Peirsol.

The truth is, there is a lot to admire about the best athletes in our sport. They are on top because they do all the things that go into fast swimming above average. They are exceptional in many ways. By using them for modeling, most swimmers can see some part of what made those swimmers successful and hopefully emulate it. But there's a danger to modeling. I can't tell you how many times I've heard, as I mentioned above, about the "perfect" stroke. In the interview I saw with Spitz, the author talked about Spitz going into the flume prior to his 1992 "comeback" and how the flume still had him with a "perfect" stroke. Lets roll footage:

Does that look perfect to you? Should every swimmer emulate that stroke? How about Denis Pankratov's butterfly?

A lot to admire certainly. But when Michael Klim surpassed Pankratov as world's best, was it proof that he was better in all respects? No. The sum of Michael Klim's performance was better, but the difference is so slight that I can comfortably say that there are some parts of Klim that were inferior to Pankratov. You could apply this to any of the "models".

To further complicate matters, it is likely that there exists a perfect technique/training/psyche for Phelps that is likely not to be perfect for another athlete like Thorpe. Much the same, the formula for success for any of you is likely to not be identical to Phelps. Darian Townsend talked about what he thought was an excellent training plan and well-executed taper. Then he spent some time resting far more than he would ever consider and swam faster. This is not an uncommon phenomenon in our sport.

The last point that I want to address is that of strengths and weaknesses. Often as coaches and swimmers, we can focus really intently on our weaknesses. Looking at one of these "perfect" strokes side by side with our own, you can see a lot of flaws. At the same time, you have to keep in mind that your relative level of success has come from doing a lot of things right. If I were a pessimistic coach looking at Phelps, I would have this commentary:

"Not a lot of sprint speed. Poor breaststroke kick".

Bob Bowman could spend all his time trying to make Phelps more of a sprinter and hone his breaststroke kick, but that would be ignoring some pretty obvious strengths. At the same time you are addressing weaknesses, you must keep your strengths in mind. To use another example, Aaron Peirsol was not an invincible backstroker in yards because the other swimmers of his caliber were slightly better at turns and dolphin kick. Does that mean he should spend all his time trying to make his underwater dolphin as good as Tomomi Morita or should he get even better at what he's already doing great on top of the water? The things you do best in the pool have a lot to do with your own unique talents. Imagine if they had made Albert Einstein keep repeating grade school to get it right...