Roland Schoeman

In sprinting, there is usually a strong look on people's faces as they are psyching themselves up. To create an environment that makes me comfortable and thrive, I look to my teammates in the ready room to provide a sense of ease.
 
Transcript: "Hey, Kim. In the world of sprinting, there aren't too many people loosening you up, or you're trying to create an environment that's fun. I look back to the many finals and semi-finals that I've raced in, and there really is a very strong look on most people's faces where they are-- they're psyching themselves up. And it was never a question of them trying to aid in and providing an environment that allowed me to thrive. I think for me the great thing was when I was in the ready room with a close friend, a teammate from Arizona or South Africa, because by virtue of that, we were able to speak to each other and kind of make things a little bit more calm for each other. So whenever I had a teammate, that was really what allowed me in many ways to feel an additional sense of ease."

VO2 max is the maximum amount of oxygen our body can use during a specific exercise in swimming. Breathing mechanics and breath work are important for improving our ability to get in oxygen and maintain an effort for longer. Testing and retesting at the beginning and end of a season is key for measuring if VO2 max levels are increasing.
 
Transcript: "Hey Colin. One thing to remember is VO2, max is literally the maximum amount of oxygen. Our body can use during a specific exercise in swimming. It's obviously different. We have limited capacity in which we breathe in a 50. There is very little breathing that going that goes on 0, breath one, breath to breath. Maybe in the hundred. It's other every stroke or every other stroke. So our Ability to to get in oxygen, is somewhat limited by virtue of the fact that we are in a swimming pool. If somebody's breathing mechanics aren't amazing, the breath work or the breath. Mechanic issue, May override what VO2, you know, quote-unquote. VO2, max level. We already have so finding ways to to elevate that or help that through Proving breathing mechanics, improving breathing strength, you know, inhalation strength, exhalation strength. That's going to go a long way to, you know, helping our ability within a swimming pool within our medium to be able to sustain an effort for longer. But also in terms of vo2max sets, an important thing with VO2 max is we need a baseline at least in my opinion. So getting tested at the beginning of a season, Then, you know, and then being able to go through various workouts throughout the year and at the end of the year, being able to go and retest to see if that Baseline has improved or not because I know they're going to. You know, that that's ultimately the goal in my eyes that we do work out. We do training throughout the year with the goal of improving our capacity, with improving our Taylor on the tolerance. So if there are ways in which we can make, Measure that start of a season end of the season and we can plan based on that. I think there's a huge benefit to that as opposed to prescribing what we believe to be vo2max sets. May be seeing a bit of a correlation at the end of a season where performances are increased or best times or swamp but we really don't know if it what we're doing is actually improving somebody's VO2 max capacity and ability. So Breathwork mechanics being able to ensure that we can utilize or get in the most amount of oxygen. We can per stroke is hugely important for me than testing and retesting to determine if our vo2max levels are, in fact, increasing throughout. The season are just really two important components."

There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to how much sex someone should have before a competition. It's up to the individual to decide what works best for them.
 
Transcript: "Hey, Maria. I think this is highly individualized. I know that there were-- I think Muhammad Ali used to say that he wouldn't have sex for three months before his fights. And that just made him or he felt like he was in a better position to perform that way. I don't think there's a right or wrong, I think it's whatever anybody feels to be the best for themselves."

I really enjoyed the sets Coley Stickles would come up with, which consisted of multiple rounds of swimming between 75-125 yards. They were dynamic and engaging as we would do dives, skull against resistance, swim freestyle, do backflips, etc.
 
Transcript: "Henry, some of my favorite sets were the sets I did with Coley stickles. Just sort of a mad scientist when it came to things like that. We do multiple rounds of between 75 125 yards of total swimming and it would be broken down, like dive 25 underwater on a stretch cord all out. When you get to the wall, you go back to just underneath the flags. You skull against the resistance, you finish, you know, on the whistle, you swim into the wall and you finish strong. Let go of the stretch cord, put Tolls on, then you'll go 35 freestyle, all out. Then from the Midway of the pool. You will do a skull on your back into a front flip into another 35 or out. You take all your equipment off, you hop up onto the blocks and you dive at 25 or our stuff like that. You continuously moving your. You're changing up the dynamic continuously it. It's just different to the You know, the 5/100 or the 1050 is, or whatever it is. It was just a different way. That kept me engaged that I really really liked."

When looking at the recovery component of the butterfly stroke, it is important to determine if it is a strength issue or a joint limitation. If you are limited, it might be necessary to foam roll and do shoulder exercises to loosen up the muscles. Additionally, doing exercises alternating from side to side can help build strength in the posterior shoulders.
 
Transcript: "Hey, Jude, all right. Now I'm not taking a nap. That is comfy down here, though. Couple considerations, when we're looking at the recovery component of the butterfly stroke. We need to determine if it is a strength issue. Or if we're looking at a movement capacity issue or a joint limitation, so things you can practice our, you know, just a simple as Getting your head down in a position like this and try to understand. If you can, in fact, you know, all you limited by what your muscles can do. If you find like you have, you know, we obviously we don't want to be a having the chest get into extension. We want to be able to see if we can maintain our chest on the floor and what our level of flexibility looks like through that movement. If we are really limited and we're forcing to get into thoracic extension. Well, then we have to start looking at Loosening the muscles. So we might have to actively foam roll through Peck, start loosening up in here as well as looking at loosening up your shoulder exercises to help. Then would be, you know, strengthening through that posterior shoulder of yours. That's a, that's a first part, you know, sort of point that you can start looking at, at least that's my recommendation. when you've gone past that, you can look at at exercises, that will help any pushing movement through the side through the back and then allowing that recovery, but in honestly, all in honesty being able to practice just exercises where you sort of alternating from here, slowly being able to Work. Through the strength, through your posterior shoulders. Either single arm like that or going double. I'm back and forth slowly as you get more proficient in that you can add, you know, lighter weights to your hand, but I think that's a good place to start. Let me know what you come up with."

Dr. Russell was extremely arrogant and suggested that every single swimmer in the 50 freestyle at the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games would be usrpt trained athletes, which is not necessarily true as there are many successful coaches who incorporate usrpt into their holistic workouts.
 
Transcript: "This is a great question. I engaged with dr. Russell, quite some time ago, about usrpt and What an extremely arrogant human being. I'm just going to say that right? From the very GetGo, still have his emails. He essentially said that every single swimmer in the 50 freestyle at the 2016 and 2020 Olympic Games would be usrpt trained athletes. And when you have somebody that is created a methodology and is absolutely that arrogant about something. That says that says, a lot about the individual in my opinion, there are amazing coaches out there than incorporate usrpt, Ultra short, race Based, training sets into their holistic workouts. But to suggest that one specific method over the next is far superior, and the only way to do it, I don't necessarily agree with that in any way, shape, or form."