Swim Out of the Box

Today's guest first dipped his toe into the swimming pool when he enlisted in the Marines and completed his swim test with survival backstroke. And if you can't tell by the name alone, survival backstroke isn't really what we would call a stroke...rewind a few years to when Dexter Braithwaite, today's guest, saw a triathlon on TV and thought it was so crazy and made it a goal to compete in one some day. Now Dexter trains for triathlons year round and he's definitely not swimming survival backstroke anymore. Sit back and take a listen as we get to know Dexter and his story a bit more and learn how he got to where is in his triathlon journey today.

Today we’re lucky enough to get to talk to Jamie Bennett, a local physical therapist who specializes in internal work, specifically the pelvic floor. We chat all about what parts of the body make up your pelvic floor, what signs to look for in case you’re concerned your pelvic floor needs a tune up - hint hint, it most likely doessss - a simple way to strengthen the muscles of your pelvic floor, and more. I’m a little bit of third wheel on this one, I’m not gonna lie! But you know what, I did my best. Think I should say pelvic floor one more time? Pelvic floor?

No, we’re not trying to make your swim times slower - although wouldn’t it be funny if for some reason people get so fast over the next few years that the new challenge turns into seeing who can be the slowest swimmer to get across the pool? Then the first person to finish the race would get the pity clap while we waited for the real talent in the water to continue taking their time while we ate our nachos and hot dogs as they finished up. Sigh, to dream. BUT the real meat of today’s podcast is learning how to control your pace in the water! Differentiating between paces while you’re swimming, without the aid of a clock, can be a super difficult concept to grasp. So let’s chat about it!

Slow and steady wins the race, but not when it comes to the connected movements of your freestyle! Dominic’s been noticing some sloth like movements on the left side of a lot of his clients, let’s see what he’s been having them work on to fix this!

2021 calls for some fancy technology and a great new guest! Today we talk with Sheera Goren, co-owner and CEO of Zygo, a tool used to stream audio underwater using bone conduction technology. You can even use a walkie talkie (of sorts) to talk to your swimmer while they’re swimming, and they can hear you without stopping! Who am I kidding, I can’t explain this nearly as well as Sheera, so let’s take a listen!

COVID took the wind out of our sails in terms of competing, but that doesn't mean your training should be cast aside like that pair of shoes you hate but for some reason never get rid of! Your technique and problem areas take the most time to break down and rebuild properly, so no racing means it’s more important than ever to ramp up your training.

The time has come to put the cherry on top of the Mario sundae! Today we talk with Mario and Will of Hearts of Empowerment about how Ironman Cozumel went! We can’t be grateful enough to have been given the opportunity to work with these two, let alone become friends and a part of something so special. No more here, you’ll have to listen to get all the juicy tidbits and find out how the race/trip went!

Wait, you mean there's more to swimming than freestyle? Talking breaststroke drills, some history of breaststroke, and of course a tangent or five on today's episode of Swim Out of the Box! We take one of my favorite breaststroke drills, Accordion Drill, and break it down to go over the movements and benefits of focusing on this drill and how it has a huge positive impact on the timing of your stroke.

Ola Alghazzouli joins us as the first SwimBox instructor to be featured on Swim Out of the Box! Ola’s journey is multi-faceted and comes from a deep passion to bring swimming & fitness to the women of the Muslim community. Also certified as a personal trainer Ola not only teaches lessons for us but also runs her own platform titled Befit4akhirah, which translates to Be Fit for the Afterlife. Listen as we get to know Ola a bit more and debate some swimming techniques at the same time!

Video chatting in allllll the way from North Carolina is swimmer, physical therapist, and triathlon coach Sam Ray! Currently working as a physical therapist for Upright Athlete in North Carolina, Sam also just launched Volt, an online coaching platform for performance and biomechanic analysis. Think she has enough on her plate?

Idk about you but I’m not so sure how it got to be the middle of November, but somehow here we are! But what have we been up to at SwimBox? Let’s find out!

Mario Moises Mejia and Will Reyes are back again for some pre Ironman race talks! We talk with Mario about his training journey, getting ready for Cozumel and preparing for race day and the aftermath, and what he plans to do next when it comes to being the light. We can’t thank Hearts of Empowerment enough for the opportunity to be a part of something so special and we’re so excited to continue our work with both them and Mario in the coming months.

Long time friend and triathlon coach Morgan Latimore, come on down! Morgan loves coaching his triathlon and ultra-marathon clients to help them reach those PR’s and achieve their goals. He works to mentor his athletes in both time and stress management in addition to his physical training workouts in order to help create a strong athlete-coach relationship that benefits long term achievements and goals. Listen in as Dominic chats about his own coaching styles in comparison and how each philosophy is beneficial for their athletes.

Owner of Volition Performance in Vienna, VA Vik Somal joins us to discuss how he came to start his company and what drives him to get up every day and help others with their physical limitations. His goal? To improve your quality of life in every movement that you make.

Mario Mejia’s BACK for more! This time around we touch base on how his training with us is going and how it compares to what he thought he was getting into in terms of “swim lessons.” Think it’s weird to have swim lessons on land where you only work on breathing for 20 minutes? We don’t.

Training for an Ironman is a big commitment. Now take that commitment and add in getting sober and getting your life on track to the table, sound a bit more difficult? Not if you’re Mario Mejia it’s not. Listen while we continue our discussion with Will from Hearts of Empowerment and turn the focus to Mario’s story and his training for his upcoming race in November.

Co-Founder Will Reyes joins us to discuss his local charity Hearts of Empowerment, an nonprofit organization that supports other nonprofits with their missions, bringing funding and awareness to their causes. We also have Mario Mejia with us, Hearts of Empowerment’s current Ironman athlete whom we’re also working with on his swimming. Ohh, did we mention banana bread? It’s not important, we just talk about it a lot for no apparent reason…

Kim Fischer Key is back to settle the sandwich debate! We also go more deeply into decompression techniques, foam rolling, most commonly seen injuries and how to work through them, and the occasional soon to be beaten into the ground food joke.

Justine Trolle’s back to talk with us about the current state of Triathlon Pre-Season and how it’s affecting his athlete’s training approaches. Justin is a USAT Level 3 Certified Triathlon Coach and Mentor to beginning triathlon coaches. Dominic and Justin discuss the current state of training, how athletes are currently working out/training, and how it’s affecting their and their upcoming races.

Kim Fischer Key is back to answer your burning question: what’s her favorite thing on toast?! We also discuss common swimmer issues, frozen shoulder, more myofascial decompression, and (everyone’s favorite phrase) much more!

Local Stretch Coach Kaleb Rutledge joins us for another remote podcast this week! Talking about the differences between flexibility and mobility as well as what he does with clients to help them facilitate movements you didn’t know your body was even able to make. We like to think of your body and it’s abilities like a puzzle, and this is definitely a piece I didn’t know anything about until now!

Our guest today is one of our close friends and body movement expert Kim Fischer Key! Kim works with clients to break old habits causing physical pain and discomfort by using multiple brain-body techniques to create new patterns to help you move more freely and efficiently. Having shared many clients we discuss different ideas about certain swimmer issues and go over how Kim uses myofascial decompression in her sessions. We also talk about food, but at this point you know that goes without saying.

Swimming drills might seem boring to those of us who would rather just get in a good workout every once and a while (don’t worry, I’m 100% one of those people, you’re not alone). But when you break them down, drills are a whole lot more than what they seem on the surface, which makes working on them not nearly as bad as you might think. Take One Arm Freestyle Drill for example, did you know it has over 4 variations? That all work on different things? Today we’re taking a look into each variation, explaining what they work on, and why it’s important.

Perfection is something we're taught to seek at a young age (thanks for the complex you gave me about my skin back in 7th grade Karen, thanks a lot), but what does it really mean in terms of swimming? And how do we get there? We're breaking down what "perfect" swimming means and how it applies to you, me, and everyone else under the sun.

Dan Lesniak, client and friend, has been ever so kind to grace us with his presence on the podcast today! Dan trains for Ironman Competitions year round and still finds the time to own and run Orange Line Living, the most widely used real estate company in Arlington's popular Orange Line Corridor. He manages all of this through certain self disciplines that might surprise you...

In case you missed it, April is National Adult Learn to Swim Month! We wanted to take a minute to bring awareness to the month, as well as the subject as a whole. Learning to swim as an adult can be a daunting task, but you’re not alone!

We’re back at it talking about freestyle kick! Being able to understand the terminology behind the action, as well as why certain aspects of your kick are important/good/bad, are a few ways you can work on your kick OUTSIDE of the water, as well as better know why you should be moving a certain way in the water.

Setting goals and to-do lists are a great way to stay motivated and work towards something new and exciting. Goals are great!…right? Listen as we talk about how we used to set goals, how incentives affected us as kids, and what we do now to help set goals properly and actually achieve them without getting disheartened along the way.

You asked, we're answering! We've taken some of the most common questions you've asked and discussed answers to help best explain the information you're looking for.

Our guest today is a Level 3 USAT Triathlon Coach and has over 25 years of triathlon coaching experience with great insights into off season training. Guest Justin Trolle chats with Dominic about why not all off season training is the same and how to make sure you're getting the most out of yours.

All of the pieces of all four strokes work together to make up the entirety of the swimming pie. Your propulsive phase is important not only to propelling you through the water, but also because it sets up your recovery. And your recovery sets up your catch, but also needs to be done properly to prevent shoulder injuries. I can go on and on....and on, so let's just leave it at that and let you get to listening!

Today’s guest hails from Louisville, Kentucky and is out first Skype interview! Host Dominic chats with Abbie Fish about how she came to start her career as a swim coach and their different philosophies when it comes to freestyle technique.Abbi’s links are below if you want to take a look at her social media!www.swimlikeafish.orgwww.instagram.com/theafish1www.facebook.com/fishswimfasterwww.twitter.com/afish1

Straight arm freestyle sounds like you should be swimming with your elbows locked, whipping through the water without bending, sort of like a windmill slices through the air…right? Think again, because this type of freestyle is more nuanced than first meets the eye.

Your internal thoughts affect the way you train, compete, and enjoy your sport. Making sure these thoughts support you, as opposed to hurt you, is the goal.

Is it better to breathe only to one side in freestyle? Or breathe to both sides? And what are the affects of doing both?

Gliding is a term that seems to have a mixed bag of positive and negative connotations in the swimming world. We talk about what gliding is, as well as whether you should be doing it or not during your swim.

Today we have guest Lou Tharp with us! Lou is the Executive Director for Global Healthy Living Foundation and used to be the head coach for West Point's Triathlon Swimming.

Not gonna lie, there isn’t too much swim talk going on in this one. Dominic is GONE for this episode, so I decided to chat with our good friend Bill Brenner, COO of US Masters Swimming, about my all time favorite topic: FOOD! We talk about what we like to eat before and after swim workouts and basically just food in general. Ugh, I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

Corkscrew, Pole Vault, Kayak, Windmill, I could go on and on about weirdly named freestyle drills, but what's my absolute favorite? Listen as we discuss our favorite freestyle drills and least favorite drills and why!

We're talking with one of our close friends and owner of Tri Swim Coach, Kevin Koskella! He recently completed a 6.5K open water swim and we're talking with him about the race itself and his training leading up to it. Also discussing personal motivation and what lead him back to this type of race.

Let’s talk about NOT pulling and why we’re steering away from using that word altogether in swimming terms. Listen as we break down why using the term “pull” can lead to incorrect movements and injury, and what we’re calling it instead and why.

We’re back with the second half of our butterfly talk! Talking about additional concepts of when to add and work on your breath, proper breath technique, and when to work on your kick.

A big welcome to one of our closest friends in the swimming world, COO of US Masters Swimming (USMS), Bill Brenner! Listen in as Dominic talks with Bill about the process of teaching and learning the sport/skill of swimming. Bill is the creator of USMS’s certification classes, and he and Dominic travel around the US teaching people how to be swim coaches and how to be USMS Certified learn-to-swim instructors.

The movement of your arms in butterfly is what propels you through the water. How? And what are the movements you need to be making to keep yourself injury free and your stroke strong? Listen to find out!

FINALLY I get to talk about food! Except, not really, but at least the name of a food is in the title, right? This episode talks about drafting in swimming and how it can be achieved in the pool and the open water. What is drafting? I’ve been swimming for over 26 years and it took me about half that time to find out, yikes. But fear not, we’re here to inform you! Chances are you’ve drafted before and just haven’t realized it. And more than likely you’ve been drafted off of, which we also touch base on. This is a great skill to help you improve in your open water races without having to do any extra training, as well as helps you better understand the mechanics of how to make the best of your situation in crowded waters.

What is pacing? I can tell you one thing, I definitely had ZERO CLUE as to what it was when I was younger. Learning about it now I wish I had been better informed (my fault? my coach’s fault? nobody knows…probably mine) so I could have trained better. But that’s exactly why we’re talking about it, so you can avoid my terrible past and train better now! Listen as we explain what pace work is, how to best achieve it, why it’s important in pool and open water swimming, and how best to implement it into your training.

Open water swimming is a wild beast to tame, and you won’t always be successful in your attempts. Why? Because there are so many unknowns that you can never fully prepare for. But something you can always do? Sight in order to make sure you know where you’re going, what’s ahead of you, and how to best prepare for the conditions you’re swimming through without veering off course and adding 758432 minutes to your time. Listen as we talk about why sighting is crucial to open water swimming success, how to go about it, and specific drills that work on perfecting this swimming skill.

When working on your freestyle swim the things that go on above the water can sometimes fall to the wayside. But they shouldn’t! Your freestyle recovery - the part of your stroke after you’ve finishing your propulsive phase and are bringing your arm back around to enter the water and start your catch - has just as much impact on your freestyle efficiency as what’s going on under the water after your hand has entered. Two-fold, the propulsive phase - from the start of your catch all the way through to the finish of your stroke - is the key component to your efficiency, power, AND stability. Let’s see why!

No matter whether you’ve been swimming since you popped out of the womb or if you started later in life, everyone needs to work on their breathing in freestyle. The timing, head position, where your eyes are looking, the amount of air you take in, even the position of your head while you’re turning to breathe, are all things that can fall out of line the more comfortable you get in the water with other aspects of your stroke. Let’s take a step back and see what we need to be focusing on to have a refresher course in a proper freestyle breath.

It might not seem like it, but your hips are an integral part of your freestyle. Proper rotation and movement affect the timing of your kick, catch, propulsive phase, AND recovery. If the rotation of your hips is off, too much, or too little, all of those other parts of your stroke are affected and can be thrown out of whack. How do we work to have proper hip rotation? Let’s find out!

Back at it again with the freestyle technique talk. Today we discuss kicking in freestyle and what you want to avoid in order to help keep your stroke efficient and streamline.