Showing posts with label swimmers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label swimmers. Show all posts

Sunday, June 16, 2019

How KAATSU Can Change Outcomes

For who? swimmers, student-athletes
For what? Strength, stamina, functional movement, mobility, flexibility, recovery


Michael Chadwick in lane 5 in the 100m Freestyle Final at the 2019 TYR Pro Swim Series in Clovis, California.


Michael Chadwick in lane 6 at the 100m Freestyle Final at the 2017 arena Pro Swim Series in Atlanta, Georgia.

Michael Chadwick has been a top competitive swimmer from his young teenage years in Charlotte, North Carolina to his illustrious career at the University of Missouri.

As the most decorated swimmer in the history of the Missouri swimming program with 22 All-American honors, he has his sights on competing at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

Now swimming for Team Elite Aquatics in La Jolla, California under coach Dave Marsh, Chadwick has recently started to incorporate KAATSU Cycles into his training regimen and race-day preparations.

At his first major swimming competition after starting KAATSU, the 24-year-old broke through a previous barrier. He admitted, "I always go out fast."

At the start and at the first 50 meters in the 100m freestyle, the 6'-6" (198 cm) is nearly always in first in world-class competitions. It is the last part of the race where Chadwick has not been able to close in on victory against the world's fastest swimmers.

But things have changed: compare Chadwick in lane 6 at the 2017 Pro Swim Series race above - where he was out typically fast and leading at the 50m mark compared with his victory in lange 4 at this week's Pro Swim Series - where he went out fast, led at the 50m mark, and closed the race very strongly.

Copyright © 2014-2019 by KAATSU Global

Friday, February 22, 2019

Swimming And Cycling

For who? swimmers, cyclists, student-athletes
For what? Strength, stamina, functional movement, mobility, flexibility, recovery



A growing number of athletes from professional MMA fighters to high school swimmers in Louisiana and college swimmers at the University of Alabama use KAATSU before, during and after their workouts and performances.

The KAATSU Nano offers these athletes the opportunity to safely and effectively improve blood circulation before intense competitions.

Copyright © 2014-2019 by KAATSU Global

Sunday, July 29, 2018

KAATSU Aqua Applications For Aquatic Athletes

For who? swimmers, athletes
For what? Strength, stamina, functional movement, mobility, flexibility, recovery

KAATSU users focus on three primary areas.

KAATSU protocols differ slightly for each of these 3 areas:

1. Athletic Performance: to improve speed, stamina, strength, muscle size or change BMI.
2. Rehabilitation: use together with physical therapy for people with broken bones, torn ligaments, tendons, or muscles.
3. Recovery: used for jet lag, insomnia and recovery from vigorous workouts or intense competitions.

KAATSU Aqua can be used in multiple ways before, during and after a competitive aquatic competition (swim meet or water polo tournament):

Before the Competition

KAATSU Aqua and KAATSU Cycles are used in the off-season, pre-season, mid-season and championship season throughout the year. Prior to a championship competition, KAATSU Aqua and KAATSU Cycles are continued to be used during the taper phase in the days leading up to the competition and even during the actual competition.

While the total distance and cumulative intensity of hard pool and dryland training tapers off in the weeks and days before the competition, there are distinct benefits and advantages in continuing to use the KAATSU Aqua Bands.

Before and after each training session, KAATSU Aqua Bands can be used during stretching and to help prepare physiologically for their shortened taper workouts. 2-5 KAATSU Cycles before and after the workouts are recommended.

In the water, the KAATSU Aqua Bands are recommended for use while practicing starts, turns + breakouts as well as a few strong sprints.

En route to the Competition

KAATSU Cycles can be used on the (long) drive or flight to the competition. KAATSU Cycles on the arms - and especially on the legs - will help athletes (and coaches) relax on the night before the competition and during the morning of their races. The KAATSU Cycles can be done while simply sitting and relaxing or while doing easy stretching.

Preliminary Heats / Finals Usage

2-5 KAATSU Cycles on both the arms and the legs (done separately of course) can be done before getting in for warm-up or, preferably after the pool warm-up but before the first race.

In the case of 15-year-old competitive swimmer, Sean Doolittle, he performed the following KAATSU protocols during his championship meet in Florida:

* Traditional pool warm-up of 1500-2000 meters before each session

* 20 minutes before each race during the morning preliminary heats, he did 2 x KAATSU Cycles on his arms to warm-up using a Base SKU of 15 and an Optimal SKU of 150 (over a 7-minute period). He followed his KAATSU Arm Cycles with 2 x KAATSU Leg Cycles with a Base SKU of 20 and an Optimal SKU of 200 (over a 7-minute period) on the pool deck during his wait.

* After each preliminary race, he did a traditional easy swimming warm-down of ~600 meters.

* 15 minutes after his first race and warm-down and approximately 15 minutes before his second race of the day, he repeated the same KAATSU Cycle warm-up which also served as a warm-down from the previous race: 2 x KAATSU Arm Cycles with a Base SKU of 15 and an Optimal SKU of 150, followed by 2 x leg KAATSU Cycles with a Base SKU of 20 and an Optimal SKU of 200.

* He returned home and rested before the final events in the evening.

* For finals, he repeated the same KAATSU Cycle warm-up and warm-down protocols.

* Throughout the 4-day meet, he did several lifetime bests, dropping time in each of his races. His most significant performance was in the 200-meter butterfly which he swam his best time of 2:14.48, a decrease of almost 8 seconds from his previous lifetime best of 2:22.30.

Evening Usage

Even with a long warm-down after finals, he did 2-5 KAATSU Cycles on his arms and his legs (done separately) in the evening upon returning home. This use of evening KAATSU usage at one's home or in the hotel will help the athlete recover physiologically during a multi-day competition.

In the case of Sean, he came home at night and performed 3 x KAATSU Arm Cycles and 3 x KAATSU Leg Cycles while eating and watching TV.

Like many other athletes, his KAATSU Cycle pressures were higher in the evening session compared with his in-competition warm-up / warm-down KAATSU pressures: 3 x KAATSU Arm Cycles with a Base SKU of 18 and an Optimal SKU of 200 (over a 10-minute duration) followed by 3 x KAATSU L Cycles with a Base SKU of 25 and an Optimal SKU of 300 (over a 10-minute duration for 20 minutes total).

Similar Applications in Other Sports

These same protocols can be used before, during and after volleyball tournaments, tennis tournaments, basketball tournaments, football games, ice hockey games, water polo tournaments, ski competitions, track & fields meets, baseball games and workouts.

Copyright © 2016-2018 by KAATSU Global

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

KAATSU Users Among The World's Most Extreme Athletes

For who? athletes
For what? Strength, stamina, functional movement, mobility, flexibility, recovery






















































Photos courtesy of Kelvin Trautman, English Channel, UK.

KAATSU users come from all walks of life from youth to people as old as 104. But KAATSU users also include plenty of outliers from big-wave tow-in surfers and mountaineers to channel swimmers and Olympians. These extreme athletes use KAATSU for athletic performance, rehabilitation from injury, and recovery from intense workouts.

One KAATSU user - a famed British ice swimmer who lives in South Africa - lives a life on the extremes.

In 2017, Lewis Pugh was named SAB Environmentalist of the Year, included in The Sunday Times Alternative Rich List for people who represent the most inspiring side of humanity, and appointed as an Adjunct Professor of International Law at the University of Cape Town.

In 2015, he received a Doctor of Science (honoris causa) from Plymouth University, was selected by Men's Journal as one of 50 Most Adventurous Men in the World, was named as one of the Greatest Watermen in Open Water Swimming History by the World Open Water Swimming Association and National Geographic Adventurer of the Year.

In 2013, he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, was appointed as the United Nations Patron of the Oceans, was inducted in the International Marathon Swimming Hall of Fame, and became an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.

In 2011, he became a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London and received the President's Award from the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Previously, he was appointed as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum, awarded the highest honor in South Africa – the Order of Ikhamanga (Gold Class) for his exceptional sporting triumphs, humanitarian feats and creating consciousness about the negative effects of global warming, received the Best Project for the Environment by Beyond Sport Awards, named the Out There Adventurer of the Year, became a Fellow of The Explorers Club in New York, received Sports Adventurer of the Year Award by the French Sports Academy.

In the ocean, he swam 1 km without a wetsuit across the North Pole to highlight the melting of the Arctic sea ice. Up on Mount Everest at 5,300 meter altitude in 2°C water, he swam 1 km across a glacial lake without a wetsuit to draw attention to the melting of the glaciers in the Himalayas. He swam a number of unprecedented swim in the Ross Sea off Antarctica and helped establish the largest marine reserve in the world by melding consensus among 24 nations and the European Union. He has also swum from Robben Island in South Africa, across the English Channel, around Cape Agulhas (the southernmost point in Africa), the Cape of Good Hope, the Cape Peninsula (a 100 km swim from Cape Town to Muizenberg), Lake Malawi in Africa, North Cape (the northernmost point in Europe), 204 km down Norway's Sognefjord, a 1 km at 80° North around Verlegenhuken, a 1 km swim at 65° South at Petermann Island off the Antarctic Peninsula, 325 km down the length of the River Thames, 140 km across the width of the Maldives, and won the 500m race at the 2006 World Winter Swimming Championships in Finland.

After graduating at the top of his Masters class at the University of Cape Town, he read International Law at Jesus College in Cambridge and worked as a maritime lawyer in the City of London while serving in the British Special Air Service. He later spoke twice at the TED Global Conference as a master storyteller and addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos and wrote two books: 'Achieving the Impossible' and '21 Yaks and a Speedo'.

In 2003, Pugh left his maritime law practice to campaign full-time for the protection of the oceans. He often addresses Heads of State and business leaders on the topics of climate change, overfishing and pollution and the need for Marine Protected Areas and low carbon economies. Pugh is currently considered one of the world's most influential individuals tackling plastic pollution - and his influence may increase with his latest exploit - an unprecedented 560 km swim along the length of the English Channel.

Pugh's stage swim is scheduled to start in July and may take up to 50 days to complete.

"We’re drowning in commitments; it is high-time for action,” said Pugh. “I am embarking on this swim to highlight importance of proper marine protected areas – areas where human activity such as fishing, drilling, shipping, gunnery practice and disputing marine life is restricted and/or prohibited.

The totality of UK waters include 750,000 square kilometers, but only 7 square kilometers are fully protected marine reserve. It within the southernmost coastline where Pugh will conduct his stage swim as a plea to create additional marine protected areas that offer one of the best options to maintain ocean health and avoid further degradation, especially when developed as part of a wider management solution.

Pugh is swimsourcing his Channel swim. “I want politicians, mums, children, businessmen, anyone to join me for any section of the swim. There is nothing better than seeing the impact of our wrongdoing with your own two eyes."

He plans on 10+ km swims per day, but that distance will be dependent upon the conditions that will range from enjoyably tranquil to turbulent.

Surfers Against Sewage, a grass-roots organization engaged in cleaning up beaches in the UK with 75,000 volunteers will support Pugh’s effort.

We must stop the plastic from entering our rivers and seas. And we must create a series of marine reserves around the UK,” says Pugh who plans to take his swimsourcing campaigns to other shores around the world in the future. "Anyone is welcome to join me for any section of this swim."




























The Channel Swimming Association will observe and officially ratify the unprecedented swim.

For more information, follow Pugh here.

Copyright © 2014-2018 by KAATSU Global

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

KAATSU Aqua Exercises

For who? swimmers, Baby Boomers, retirees, student-athletes
For what? Strength, stamina, functional movement, mobility, flexibility, recovery



For competitive swimmers for are working on leg, core and upper body strength, as well as for aging Baby Boomers who are undergoing aqua therapy.

Copyright © 2014-2018 by KAATSU Global

Friday, June 16, 2017

KAATSU Aqua Burpees

For who? water athletes, Baby Boomers, retirees, student-athletes
For what? Strength, stamina, functional movement, mobility, flexibility, recovery



The KAATSU Aqua Burpees (arms) can include any number of swims and exercises to maximize intensity in the water.

One version is shown above with a 54-year-old swimmer doing the following Burpee:

1st lap = 25 yards of butterfly + pull-ups off the diving board performed to muscular failure
2nd lap = 25 yards of freestyle
3rd lap = 25 yards of butterfly + push-ups on deck performed to muscular failure
4th lap = 25 yards of freestyle

This KAATSU Aqua Arm Burpees set with the pneumatic KAATSU Aqua Bands includes 100 yards of swimming (with hand paddles to increase intensity) + a maximum number of pull-ups and push-ups performed to muscular failure.

3-4 sets of these KAATSU Aqua Arm Burpees with 1-2 minute rest between each set is plenty for a thoroughly exhausting workout for all levels of lifeguards, swimmers, water polo players, triathletes, military special operators, CrossFit athletes, surfers, surf lifesavers and other types of watermen and water women.

The total arm workout time would be between 10-15 minutes total.

KAATSU Aqua Leg Burpees can include a combination of eggbeatering (treading water) with your hands and elbows out of the water + non-lock (partial extension) squats on deck performed to muscular failure + vertical kicking with a medicine ball and kicking with a kickboard to muscular failure.

An example could be: 1st lap = 25 yards of kicking with a kickboard + vertical kicking with a medicine ball to muscular failure
2nd lap = 25 yards of kicking with a kickboard
3rd lap = 25 yards of eggbeater + non-lock squats on deck performed to muscular failure
4th lap = 25 yards of sprint kicking with a kickboard

Kicking can be done with or without fins.

The total leg workout time would be between 10-15 minutes total.

Copyright © 2014 - 2017 by KAATSU Global