Showing posts with label Gator Swim Club. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gator Swim Club. Show all posts

Thursday, April 23, 2020

KAATSU Aqua On SwimShare

For who? Swimmers, triathletes
For what? KAATSU Aqua, recovery



Courtesy of SwimShare.

This episode on KAATSU the original BFR and KAATSU Aqua is brought together by SwimShare, an easy-to-use, quick and intuitive workout planning, tracking and sharing app for swimmers and coaches made by ClubAssistant.

Gators Swim Club head coach Chris Morgan (swam at UC Davis), International Marathon Swimming Hall of Famer Steven Munatones (swam at Harvard), and retired Navy SEAL Captain John Doolittle (swam at Air Force Academy) explain KAATSU and its applications to the swimming community.

Various KAATSU Aqua applications for competitive aquatic athletes are demonstrated below:









Copyright © 2014 - 2020 by KAATSU Global

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Chris Morgan On KAATSU Aqua

For who? Swimmers, water polo players, divers, triathletes
For what? Functional movement, strength, flexibility, mobility, KAATSU Aqua, recovery, rehabilitation



Olympic swim coach Chris Morgan is the head coach of Gator Swim Club located in Massachusetts. During these times of lockdowns, quarantines, and shelter-in-place and stay-at-home ordinances, Morgan gives backyard pool swimming workouts, Zoom dryland training, and KAATSU Aqua workouts to his 300+ member team.

Morgan discussed in detail how he incorporates KAATSU the original BFR in his pool workouts and how he uses KAATSU equipment at competitive swim meets in this speciality KAATSU interview. He provided examples of specific sets and drills that help his athletes develop their speed, stamina and technical skills in the pool.

1. Specific KAATSU Aqua sets for sprint middle distance and distance freestylers
2. Specific KAATSU Aqua sets for butterflyers backstrokers and breaststrokers
3. Specific drills for starts and turns
4. Specific KAATSU recovery protocols between races and between prelims and finals



Copyright © 2014 - 2020 by KAATSU Global

Tuesday, April 7, 2020

Backyard Pool Workout For Water Polo Players

For who? Swimmers, triathletes, water polo playerss
For what? Functional movement, strength, Endless Pool workouts

In these trying times, many athletes are stuck at home during the coronavirus pandemic. They have no access to gyms, pools and in some cases, even their nearby beaches, tracks, fields and parks. But a few lucky athletes - especially those who play water polo or swim competitively - have backyard pools (either in-ground or above ground). They can very effectively and efficiently use 8-12 meter small home pools to maintain their strength, speed and stamina with KAATSU Aqua Bands and elastic bands [see photos on left].

Olympic swim team coach Chris Morgan who also played and coaches water polo developed the following backyard pool drills and workout for those aquatic athletes who are under quarantine at their home. This specific workout is designed for players with a backyard pool and a tether of some sorts similar to the ones shown on left:

Warm-up:
• with water polo ball and “untethered”
[8x]
• hold ball like kickboard / kick against 1 wall for :20 seconds
• switch to holding ball against wall with feet / reverse sculling face down ~:20 seconds until breath
• :20 shallow water eggbeater while juggling ball left to right hand
• :20 seconds rest then repeat 6x

Main-set #1
• tethered pole [8x]
• 20 super slow freestyle cycles (1 left + 1 right = 1 cycle)
• all out flutter kick with face down until breath is needed
• :15 seconds rest

Main-set #2
• tethered pole [8x]
• ~20 seconds all out front sculling with WP ball between knees
• grab water polo ball
• ~20 sec easy breast kick or eggbeater while “resting” on water polo ball

Main-set #3 - more swim specific
• tethered swim
• 5 minutes continuous (:45 second moderate freestyle / :15 second easy sculling)
• 5 minutes continuous (:45 second moderate freestyle / :15 second NO breath flutter kick)
• 5 minutes continuous (:45 second moderate freestyle / :15 head-up long-arm dog paddle)

Cool-down
• untethered with water polo ball
• while standing on bottom of pool, walk around perimeter of pool (~2 feet from wall) and “dribble” against the side
• 2-3 tours clockwise and then 2-3 tours counterclockwise

Upper photo shows Jack Butera in a home pool in Florida. Lower photo shows Annabelle Paterson in New Zealand.

Coach Morgan also incorporates KAATSU the original BFR into his backyard pool workouts.

End Copyright © 2020 by KAATSU Backyard Pool

Monday, April 6, 2020

KAATSU At Home - A Talk With Chris Morgan

For who? Swimmers, triathletes, student-athletes, competitive athletes
For what? Functional movement, strength, flexibility, mobility, KAATSU At Home, KAATSU Aqua





Olympic, collegiate, open water and age group swimming coach Chris Morgan has used KAATSU the original BFR since 2014 and is one of the world's most experienced KAATSU Master Specialists.

Not only does Morgan use KAATSU for the training and recovery of his competitive athletes, but he also utilizes KAATSU for rehabilitation of adult swimmers, fitness swimmers, and his own broken ribs and cracked heel.

Morgan, who has coached at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as Stanford University and Harvard University, is the featured guest on the KAATSU At Home Interview Series on Tuesday, April 7th at 9 am California time / 12 noon New York time / 5 pm GMT. His physiological knowledge is deep due to his personal use, his use with club and collegiate swimmers and water polo players, and his Masters in Sports Science & Human Movement from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland.

Rehabilitation

Broken Ribs
Morgan has exclusively used KAATSU to rehabilitate from two broken ribs and a cracked heel bone.

"I ran a Tough Mudder and broke two ribs when I dove in some shallow water," recalled Morgan. "I was coaching at Harvard at the time and went to go get an x-ray. Then I repeatedly did lots of KAATSU Cycles on the first-generation KAATSU Nano unit with Mr. Shimizu who was visiting from Tokyo. I had broken ribs before so I knew what it felt like and how long it would take to recover from the injury.

But after 3 days, I felt no pain. It was strange in a way - but great. Then after 7 days, I went back to get a follow-up x-ray and the technician told me that he saw an old rib break that had healed itself. The technician didn't know that I had just broken two ribs 7 days before. Mr. Shimizu had told me of the systemic effects of KAATSU, but this was my first 'ah-ha' moment with KAATSU
." Cracked Heel
Last year, Morgan fractured his right calcaneus bone (heel) while falling on a concrete step.

"In the emergency room, the doctor said to me, 'Oh that must be so painful. You cracked 75% of heel.' He was right. But I knew that I had to start rehabbing with KAATSU as soon as I got home," he recalled. "I did the same rehab doing KAATSU when I cracked my ribs during a mud run. The doctors and x-ray technicians at Harvard where I was coaching at the time could not believe how fast my ribs healed. Every since that time, I have been a huge KAATSU believer."

Morgan was given a boot, crunches and pain medications and told not to walk or apply pressure on the healing bone until he cleared him in some months. "It was painful and there is no way to walk on it, but I could sit up and do KAATSU on my arms and legs."

Morgan's rehabilitation includes two separate KAATSU sessions per day: a morning session and an evening session where he does several KAATSU Cycles on both his arms and legs.

Morgan explained his belief in KAATSU, "Dr. Sato [the KAATSU inventor] taught me that the more strongly muscle is exercised, the stronger the bones become. In other words, when there is less mechanical stress on our bones when you are bedridden or unable to move a body part that is in a cast or boot, the calcium that is stored in the bones is dissolved into your bloodstream, thus reducing bone strength.

We know through research that KAATSU changes - improves - levels of bone metabolic markers like BAP (bone alkali phosphatase). This research tells us that KAATSU elicits an acute response to suppress bone resorption and elicits a chronic effect in terms of encouraging bone formation - which was one reason why I believe my ribs healed so quickly and I expect my cracked heel will heal more quickly than my doctor expects.

The doctor told me to be off my injured foot for 6 weeks. I was walking within days and didn't have use for the crutch in 11 days due to KAATSU
."

Podiatrist Dr. Lyle Nalli explains, "The calcaneus is the most vascular bone in the foot and can crack easily, but with its thin cortex and sparse inner bone pattern, can heal the fastest off all the foot bones. KAATSU, as it regulates blood flow, etc., speeds up the bone's healing rate."

Morgan has helped his adult athletes, some in their late 70's, rehabilitate from all sorts of orthopedic injuries.

Recovery

Morgan uses KAATSU with his athletes when they travel to swim meets, including right after travel and between preliminary and final heats.

Athletic Performance

Morgan follows the Three P's of KAATSU that are described by former NCAA athlete and coach Chris Dahowski:

* Physical
* Physiological
* Psychological

He describes the three specific areas of advantages and benefits of KAATSU for competitive athletes:

Physical
This is defined when the athletes are wearing their KAATSU Air Bands - either on their arms or legs - and are in either the KAATSU Training or KAATSU Cycle mode.

The lactate build-up that inevitably comes with movement while the KAATSU Air Bands are on literally kickstarts the natural biochemical process in the body. When this movement becomes technically flawless with the KAATSU Air Bands on, this is the optimal way to start preparing the athlete for performance gains.

After the athlete trains with technically flawless technique and builds that perfect movement into their muscle memory, even if they are not going all-out or at highly intense levels, this is the first part of our KAATSU protocol.

Then, we ask the athletes to take off their KAATSU Air Bands and then replicate their technically flawless technique while working intensely and going all-out.

This can be done while improving free throws with a basketball player, swinging a golf club or baseball bat, or trying to improve times for an Olympic runner, swimmer or rower.

The raw use of the KAATSU Air Bands during technically flawless athletic movements, even without intensity of all-out exercise is the catalyst for improvement in speed, stamina, or strength. KAATSU introduces physiological changes in the body, a natural adaptation, while the mind-body connection is being refined.

Physiological
This is defined when the athletes are wearing their KAATSU Air Bands - either on their arms or legs - and are in either the KAATSU Training mode and going close to or at race pain or at their highest level of intensity and focus.

When the athletes start to feel the discomfort of their lactate levels increasing as they start to train faster and more intensely, profound changes in their neuromuscular system, vascular system and endocrinology system have already begun. Increases in endothelial cells and IGF-1, and significant release of nitric oxide and human growth hormone, occur naturally and enable the athlete to improve physiologically.

This is especially true if the athlete does KAATSU Cycles before and after each workout, and KAATSU Training within each workout.

Psychological
Coaches understand that their athletes' mindset is absolutely critical for self-confidence and positivity. If the athlete's mind is in the right place, then all their training and preparation will lead to improvement and achievement of their goals.

Instead of "race pace", Morgan tells his athletes that they must become comfortable with "race pain". At every aerobically-based competition - whether it is swimming, running, rowing, or cycling - there comes a point where fatigue and discomfort come into play. The athletes feel that discomfort - or as they describe it as pain - and start to slow down and adjust their pace...downwards.

But with daily use of KAATSU Air Bands, they can become much more familiar with that race pain. With familiarity comes acclimatization and they learn how to deal with it psychologically.



Morgan explained KAATSU Aqua in an interview with Brent Rutemiller of Swimming World Magazine at the 2017 American Swimming Coaches Association World Clinic in Washington D.C. [see above]

Morgan was the guest on KAATSU At Home - A Zoom Talk With Chris Morgan on April 7th.

Morgan is the world's foremost KAATSU Aqua Specialist with experience in water polo, competitive swimming, fitness swimming, aqua therapy, masters swimming, open water swimming, and fin swimming, and Olympic swimming. Various KAATSU Aqua topics are covered here:

* Olympic Coach's Journey To KAATSU
* Details And Differences Between KAATSU And KAATSU Aqua
* KAATSU Aqua Strength & Speed Drills
* Olympic Swim Coach On His Use Of KAATSU Aqua
* Déjà Vu, Training Of Misty Hyman Redux
* How North Shore Lifeguards Train With KAATSU
* KAATSU Aqua Bands - How To Use In Pool
* KAATSU Aqua Burpees
* KAATSU Aqua Applications For Aquatic Athletes
* KAATSU Aqua Exercises
* Aquatic Equivalents Of Brutal Dryland Workouts
* KAATSU Aqua For Recovery
* KAATSU Aqua For Breaststrokers & Water Polo Players
* Training With KAATSU Aqua Bands In The Water
* When Swimmers Cannot Swim During Shelter-in-Place Quarantines
* No Big Pool, No Problem
* KAATSU User Michael Andrew Wins First World Title
* Coaching With KAATSU Aqua
* Core Work In The Water With KAATSU Aqua
* KAATSU Aqua Core And Shoulder Work
* KAATSU Leads To Decreased CRP Levels
* How KAATSU Can Change Outcomes
* Kicking with KAATSU Aqua
* Yuko Matsuzaki Sets Guinness World Record In Endless Pool
* Swimming Helped Me Survive, KAATSU Enabled Me To Thrive
* Dr. Cory Doing KAATSU Aqua
* Dr. Cory on KAATSU Aqua with a Noodle
* Dr. Cory on KAATSU Aqua Legs in Deep Water
* Dr. Cory On KAATSU Aqua Arms
* Dr. Cory on KAATSU Aqua Arms in Deep Water
* Dr. Cory On Shallow Water KAATSU Aqua

Copyright © 2014 - 2020 by KAATSU Global