Copyright Notice Mullen Physical Therapy, INC. All rights reserved.

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2 Copyright Notice 2016 Mullen Physical Therapy, INC. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized use, sharing, reproduction or distribution of these materials by any means, electronic, mechanical, or otherwise is strictly prohibited. No portion of these materials may be reproduced in any manner whatsoever, without the express written consent of the publisher. Mullen Physical Therapy, INC

3 About the Author John Mullen Every week, for more than a decade, 100s of people have consulted John Mullen looking for answers to concerning questions about swimming faster and improving their swimming performance. John is now a trusted health advisor to Swimming World, the Philippines Sports Commission. John Mullen works with swimmers daily, is involved in the research of swimming, writes about swimming in his columns in Breaking Muscle and continues to lecture extensively on the topic throughout the US. John previously worked with Stanford University, helping their sports team stay healthy and strong. He is the owner of COR Elite Physical Therapy and Personal Training in Santa Clara, CA. Introduction In this Special Report on 7 small tips for improved swimming performance I share with you 7 very powerful principles and strategies you can make-work for you some over time and others almost instantly. They re in no order, and they all have only one thing in common: They all work. There s a great saying that goes: Small hinges swing big doors. And it s often the simplest advice that wins in the end. Truth is, without knowing your swimming or your history intimately, I cannot tell you which of these will work best for you. And even if I did know the root impairment of your swimming pain, there are no guarantees that any one single strategy will work. But over the last decade, I ve been able to narrow down what really does and doesn t work when it comes to easing swimming. And the 7 principles you re about to read are included in that. But imagine this how great it would be if you try just one of these tips every day within a few weeks you could have all 7 of these incredibly powerful strategies for improving swimming. So, here s my challenge to you now that you have this knowledge in your hands, take time every day to try out at least one of these 7 strategies. It really won t take long and most of them won t cost you anything but a few minutes of your time.

4 I think you ll be pleasantly surprised by how much better and healthier you will feel for doing so.

5 The 7 Small Swimming Tips for Improved Swimming Performance to Overcome Plateaus and Get Faster 1. Sleep! There is no doubt that proper rest is tied to performance in the pool. So why not make the easiest thing in the world to do to improve your performance a priority? While we are sleeping we are not only fantasizing about mountains of pasta and surfing, but our bodies are hurrying to repair themselves. Your body will pump out growth hormone while you are sleeping (especially during deep sleep), but if your sleep is delayed (read: you get to bed late) than peak growth hormone secretion is shortened, robbing you of some nice, effort-free recovery time. Set a sleep schedule, be aggressive with managing your time, and create pre-bed rituals to get you into sleepy mode regularly. 2. Proper Nutrition Get into the habit of bringing snacks and a post-workout shake with you to workout so that you can kickstart the process of recovery moments after you get out of the water. Not only will your muscles thank you, but you will bounce back faster. Aim to ingest some carbs and protein within 30 minutes of getting out of the water. While this doesn t seem to make such a difference when you are doing one-a-days, you want to be especially sure that you are refueling ASAP when you are training again later in the day, or again early the following morning. A rough rule of thumb for athletes is consuming ~ g/kg of body weight. So if you weigh 150 lbs. You should have grams of protein per day. 3. Focus on One Thing! We all have it. The weak spot in our swimming that we avoid at all costs during practice. For some swimmers it was their kick. For others, pull. Or breaststroke kick. And for others, it s the stroke of butterfly (and by others I clearly mean a whole bunch of others). Each session take ten minutes to work on it. If that means doing 5 minutes of vertical kicking after practice so be it. Or doing butterfly during warm-up. Or using pull sets as an opportunity to swim with killer technique. 4. Continually Work on Turns! Cal s Tom Shields, who has one of the deadliest underwater dolphin kicks on the planet, related this fairly boring reason for why he has such an awesome fly kick he starts off every workout doing 15m/y underwater for the entire warm up.

6 Use bucket turns if you have to, or even start at 10m/y if you need to, or do it every second length. Or even just start by doing 2 kicks off of every wall, and then 3, and then 4, and so on. Like Shields simply make the underwater dolphin kick work something that is part of your swimming, and not something you only focus on during specific sets. 5. Watch Videos of Your Favorite Swimmer Growing up my parents didn't have cable and there were no live streaming swimming events. Luckily, my grandparents would VHS record the NCAA swim meet on ESPN and mail the tape. I remember watching Anthony Ervin (yes, the same one, he has been around forever) swim the 50- and 100-yard freestyle over and over. I can still picture his swimming. Research shows that we can learn skills from watching something repetitively, so go find video of your favorite swimmer and watch it everyday. Pay attention to joint angles, timing and rhyme. Check out "The Talent Code" by Daniel Coyle for more info into learning by visual aids. 6. Improve your Mental Strength It is no coincidence that top performers from every field, not just sports, are mentally tough and gritty. To play at the next level you will have to develop a higher level of toughness or you will crumble under the pressures of competition. The best way to improve your mental toughness is by repeating a positive saying in your head over and over, an incantation. Simply, create 3 short sentences to repeat in your head over and over. Use this during hard practices or when you doubt yourself. Another tip to implement, every morning when you wake up read or watch motivational material. Here are some of my favorites: Tony Robbins, Eric Thomas, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Elliott Hulse, Les Brown, Joe Rogan, Nick Vujicic and don't forget clips from Rocky! 7. Get Better with Personal Training There isn t a faster way to get faster than by going to see a personal trainer. Getting hands-on, individualized programming specifically for you makes ensures you ll improve, while minimizing the risk of injury. You can get a lot done with a personal trainer 2-3 times per week with minute session. If you combine all the tips in this Special Report with a trip to see an elite swimming personal trainer, you will see a dramatic improvement in your swimming!

7 Bonus Tips! 1. Spend Time with the Right People You are the average of the FIVE people you spend the most time with. I don't know where this statement comes from but I know it is absolutely true. Change who you are spending time with, seek out swimmers who work harder than you or anyone who is focused on greatness. Most importantly cut the out the losers! It may be hard to understand if you are in high school but you must get rid of the losers who have no focus. What's more important, realizing your dreams or hurting someone's feelings? I know that sounds like a harsh statement but realizing goals is not always a nice. 2. Complete a Daily Mobility Routine First, mobility and flexibility are two different things. What mobility work focuses on is ensuring that muscle, fascia and other tissue is free of knots and tight spots that will restrict movement. The most popular mobility method uses self-massage with foam roller, lacrosse ball (baseball and softballs will work) and band assistance. 3. Start a Swimming Journal With today's technology many professional swimmers keep an electronic journal of their practices and notes from each meet. For you this may not be an option so I suggest keeping a physical or electronic journal of practices and what you re working, mindset tendencies and to review your races. The purpose is to think and breakdown your performance outside of the meet or practice then record so you can build on past ideas or reference experiences.

8 Conclusion So, there you have it: 7 things (plus a few big bonus tips) that you can do TODAY to improve your swimming performance. There s obviously so much you can do too, and I could go much more in- depth on ways to improve swimming other than the principles I ve given you here, but these fundamentals, if you apply them rigorously and are disciplined, will make a huge difference to the quality of your life. In the weeks ahead I ll be sending you even more tips and advice on how to improve your swimming performance and will share with you how personal training can make a huge difference to your swimming. I hope this is the beginning of a great, long-term relationship where myself and my colleagues from COR become the source of leading edge swimming advice for you and make a real difference to your life. Keep Swimming, John Mullen Santa Clara John Mullen, Swimming Specialist

9 Health Advice Disclaimer We make every effort to ensure that we accurately represent the injury advice and prognosis displayed throughout this Guide. However, examples of injuries and their prognosis are based on typical representations of those injuries that we commonly see in our physiotherapy clinics. The information given is not intended as representations of every individual s potential injury. As with any injury, each person s symptoms can vary widely and each person s recovery from injury can also vary depending upon background, genetics, previous medical history, application of exercises, posture, motivation to follow physio advice and various other physical factors. It is impossible to give a 100% complete accurate diagnosis and prognosis without a thorough physical examination and likewise the advice given for management of an injury cannot be deemed fully accurate in the absence of this examination from our clinic COR. We are able to offer you this service at a standard charge. Significant injury risk is possible if you do not follow due diligence and seek suitable professional advice about your injury. No guarantees of specific results are expressly made or implied in this report.