PowerStarts - Training System

Master the PowerStarts^® Technique^TM, and you will be swimming faster than world record times. (At least for the first ten to fifteen meters.)

The more you practice the better it gets is not necessarily true. "Practice does not guarantee skill. There is merit in repetitive ritualized work, but, like the guy who keeps on doing the same dive over and over, repetition alone does not guarantee performance improvement."

Guided practice and training is necessary to improve the different combinations of arm, head, body and leg action that makes a difference in a powerful-start. Proper practice and guidance will ultimately reap the benefits of improving your times.

Skill tests must include an analysis of form. Consistency of good form is one factor in developing expertise. (See Ashy, M. H., Landin, D. K., & Lee, A. M., "Relationship of practice using correct technique to achievement in a motor skill", Journal of Teaching in Physical Education, 7, 1988, pp115-120).

1. The total number of practice trials was NOT related to achievement.
2. The total number of correct trials was related to achievement.

Implication: Performing practice trials without attention to correct technique does not improve skill acquisition as well as correct performance. The best route for skill enhancement would be to increase the number of properly executed practice trials.

When learning, errors and incorrect trials should be minimized. Incorrect trials are a waste of time.

Practiced long enough, a bad start becomes almost immune to change the conventional way. Not so with the PowerStarts^® Training System^TM. With the PowerStarts^® Training System^TM the swimmer sees and feels the results of improper execution. The swimmer is challenged to change immediately.

The PowerStarts^® Training System^TM works by greatly shortening the learning curve for the swimmer. Successful training techniques must inform the swimmer not only of where he/she is, but more importantly where he/she should be. The Training System^TM accomplishes this by providing:

Within three dives using the PowerStarts^® Training System^TM, the body is making extensive corrections. Corrections powerful enough to break that cycle because they're disguised. Different enough from your normal motion that your muscles don't "recognize" the movement and try to do it in the same old way. You practice new skills on a neuromuscular "blank slate," without having to erase anything first.

Using conventional methods, coaches can only teach "bite-size" skills. Because the whole start technique is made up of so many finely coordinated parts, it's impossible to teach or describe the whole thing without making a huge investment in time. You can't concentrate on and improve it all at once using conventional methods.

The PowerStarts^®Training System^TM feeds the mind and body with new stimuli and enables swimmers to quickly master complicated movements no matter what athletic abilities the swimmer brings with them. The results are amazing. The PowerStarts^® Training System^TM automatically assembles the building blocks of the many finely coordinated parts of the start technique into a new, more efficient start. Instead of trial-and-error, it's trial-and-success.

There are a lot of things that are missed with just the human eye and mental retention. There are at least 50 Components to look for in less than three seconds. Yet those three seconds can make a difference of two-to-five meters improvement in leading a race without exerting any additional energy. In fact, quite possibly exerting less energy.

Teaching starts has not been easy for swim coaches. The coach knows what he wants to see but just explaining with words does not always get through to the swimmer. What the mind perceives and what the body’s muscles accomplish are often quite different than what the coach is verbalizing.

If you want to improve your start, you need a coach to help you and a training-aid such as the PowerStarts^® Training System^TM.

And you need to know the 50 Secrets to a Powerful Racing Start.

With a properly executed PowerStarts^® Technique^TM, the swimmer will take fewer strokes, anywhere from five-to-ten strokes less than a poorly executed start.

The first stage of executing a PowerStarts^® Technique^TMis knowing the Secrets. Initial motor skill is cognitive. You must know what to do. You must have knowledge of what is the most efficient technique. Knowledge is critical in the early stages of motor learning.

The second stage is refining the skill, so the facts and knowing the facts about effective and efficient movement are critical. In the second stage the learner learns how to detect errors and correct them. Those who become experts move through this stage. The non-experts do not.

The third stage is automatic. The learner no longer has to think about the performance of the skill itself and can concentrate on strategy, effort and similar items.

It has been stated that the object of a competitive swimming start is to get the longest possible glide before the stroke begins.

"Starts are all from a standing or forward leaning position, the object being to get the longest possible glide before the stroke begins.”