March 24, 2015
Endless Swimming at the Endurance Athlete Center
Guest post by Dominic Latella, Swim Coach, The Endurance Athlete Center
As a swim coach for the past 10 years, and having been a competitive swimmer throughout high school and college, I’m always looking for new and better ways to instruct stroke development and move forward with physical therapy. Having been through surgery on both of my shoulders, and working one on one with swimmers in the Paralympic Military Program, I know that learning the proper body positioning and stroke techniques are vital to swimmers of all levels and ages. This is the main reason why I am so excited to be able to bring SwimBox to the EAC. SwimBox combines the expertise of trained swim instructors with the technology of an endless pool to bring you the newest and most efficient way to develop proper stroke technique, increased efficiency, and recover from injuries.
The endless pool boasts a 52 speed current that can be adjusted for beginners and triathletes but also reaches speeds that not even Olympic athletes could hope to achieve. It is a great simulation of an open water swimming environment, and is the perfect way for triathletes to further train for their next race. Even first time swimmers and triathletes will love the SwimBox experience because there is no threat of a deep end, like in swimming pools, and there will always be an instructor right by your side in case of any emergency.
The endless pool offers in place swimming which lends opportunities for an unparalleled coaching experience, giving the swimmer a chance to work on even the most minute details of their strokes. The proximity of instructor to swimmer allows the instructor the ability to stop the swimmer and give instant feedback. The in place swimming also takes away the disadvantage of swimming the length of a pool, which often reinforces incorrect technique and bad habits.
One of the more technologically advanced advantages to the endless pool that you will experience with SwimBox is the video analysis capability. Combining bird’s eye view and underwater cameras, the swimmer will be able to see themselves swimming from multiple angles. This provides the instructor with a clear way to pinpoint what a swimmer is doing correctly and what they need to work on, as well as allow for unlimited views without the timely process of guess and check swimmers go through when making changes to their strokes. My favorite part of the video analysis feature is that swimmers will be able to see themselves swimming in slow motion, which will allow the instructor to pinpoint exactly what needs to be focused on and corrected. Swimmers will also be able to take home the videos they produce during their SwimBox sessions, which will help to reinforce what they need to be working on to improve their stroke technique and efficiency. I can’t tell you how many times my coach would tell me to focus on one thing, but then the next time I got in the pool I couldn’t remember for the life of me what he was talking about. This feature will eliminate that problem and allow swimmers to work on their techniques out of the pool even when they’re not with a SwimBox instructor.
The endless pool at SwimBox will also be equipped with full length floor mirrors. This gives the swimmer a complete view of how their body is moving through the water and helps with implementing technique. You won’t have to guess what you look like, and this will make stroke improvement a breeze. It’s a little odd at first to be seeing yourself from that angle, but after the initial session swimmers will see how helpful the floor mirror really is. It allows for immediate review of body positioning which will eliminate the negative reinforcement of swimming incorrectly lap after lap in a swimming pool.
The immediacy of instructor feedback coupled with the advancement of the components of the endless pool allow for the most efficient way to improve stroke technique and development that we’ve ever seen. SwimBox provides a great way to prevent against injury due to incorrect body positioning and beginning swimmers who don’t exactly know what they’re doing in the water. It is by far the most advanced and efficient way to further yourself in your swimming abilities, as well as become more comfortable in the water for first timers. SwimBox will help swimmers of all abilities and is an incomparable experience that you won’t get anywhere else. Be one of the first to learn or train in our new endless pool by subscribing to our newsletter.
Dominic Latella, Swim Coach
This blog post was courtesy of The Endurance Athlete Center. To learn more about the EAC and the services they provide, please visit their website at http://enduracenter.com/.