Jumps Squats

One of the easiest exercised to learn yet one of the most important exercises for swimmers. Jump squats are designed to build strength in swimmers legs and also work on reaction time. Two of the most important parts of a swimmers race are the start and turns, these points will break or make a race.

The squat jump consists of combining the traditional squat exercise, bending knees at a 90 degree angle while pressing your butt out and not letting your knees go over your feet, with the exercise of quick jumps to work calf muscles. For this exercise you will have a bar with whatever weight you feel comfortable with , for me it 20 lbs. on each side of the bar. You will put the bar on the top of your back and then go into the squat position. From this position you will jump up from your toes and then come back down into the squat position. Do three sets of 15 and you will be able to feel the burn and get in a good workout.

When it comes to swimming being able to power off your start and turn will be highly beneficial to your races. This exercise is designed to build up your legs strength so when you are completely exhausted on the last 50 a a 200 Free you will still be able to have fast and powerful turns to finish the race.

This is personally one of my favorite exercises to do for swimming. It's fast and you defiantly feel the burn. I have also noticed in most of my races that my turns are getting more powerful and for the beginning of the season that is very important.

Natalie is gone

Last night on Dancing with the Stars, Olympic Swimmer, Natalie Coughlin was eliminated from the show. This is a huge let down for the swimming community. She was a great ambassador for the sport to a larger audience that swimming does not usually get.

Overall though I do think that she deserved to go home. She is not the best dancer out there. Her dances feel stiff and not genuine. She did not feel completely comfortable dancing , which i feel is a huge part of dancing. If she could not completely let go then she just looked awkward the entire time.

I absolutely love Natalie as a swimmer, every time a met her at meets she was always super sweet and nice. But as a competitor on this show i felt like that might have been her downfall. She did not have the personality for this show to win.

So goodbye Natalie we will miss you on DWTS...

Rocky Mountain Invite

This past weekend was CU Swim and Dives second meet of the season. We had some outstanding swims, with one guy going a 20.67 in his 50 and another almost breaking the pool record at Mines in the 1650.

CU had a small squad at this meet because of parent's weekend but still managed to make our presence known.

As for me, after seven years of not competing in Breaststroke, I managed to complete the 200 Breast and swim onto the third breaststroke position on the team. I had ACL surgery years ago and until recently have not even trained breaststroke because of my knee. Now I am excited for this new endeavor in the sport.

Jammer Suite = Ugly Suite

Michael Phelps announced that he will be wearing a jammer suite at up coming World Cup Meets. This comes after the decision by the swimming council that performance suites such as the Lazar, Blue Seventy, and leg suites were banned.

Jammer suites are by far the most unflattering men's suites ever. They go down to an awkward length on the legs and make men look like boys.

I feel like Michael Phelps is wearing this jammer suite to make a point about the suite ban. The ruling eliminated a majority of the high performance suites that in my opinion did not need to be banned.

These meets will be interesting to to what happens.

First Meet

So the CU swim team had our first meet of the season and we completely dominated the meet. At this meet were the teams from Mines, Adams State, Mesa State, and Metro State. Being the only club team there we were seen as the underdogs.

One thing about our club is that we are 100 strong, roughly 50 compete, and are 4 times Club National Champs. With that being said I wasn't surprised at all that we did so well at the meet. Over all we won a handful of relays and had top three finishes in every event. But the most exciting race as the women's 400 Free relay. It was the last race of the night and CU was up against division school Mesa State, who were expected to dominate that event. The entire race both teams were side by side and CU touched out Mesa State. Their team was surprised that they just lost and it just proved that swimming for a club team does not mean that you are not good at the sport.

Our club team is full of diverse swimmers and we have the best time together. This win at our first meet with division teams just proves that our team is just as competitive as others.

2016 Olymics

Rio got the bid for the 2016 Olympics and I couldn't be happier. Sorry for all fans of Chicago, and yes I know it would boost our economy, but Rio is the best place for the sport of swimming. Rio loves swimming and Speedo is basically part of the locals everyday attire.

Also Brazil will now be taken more seriously on an international sporting level. At the moment they have Cesar Cielo, the world's fastest man in the water in the 50. and in seven years we should expect the Brazilian team to be putting out even more top sprinters.

Chicago's lost is Rio's gain and it will be one big celebration.

Outcome on suite controversy

So the final word is in, the official legal competition suites list is posted on usaswimming.org. With this list now confirmed the swimmers can now get down to business on training.

For all of the swimmers out there that have purchased a LAZAR suit or a Blue 70 I apologize to you for wasting your money. But for the record spending $500 on a suite that will only last you a couple of races is just not worth it to me. Unless you are breaking world records those type of suites are just pointless to me.

Natalie on DWTS

Natalie Coughlin is doing a fantastic job representing the swimming community on such a popular show, Dancing with the Stars!

To be honest I am pretty surprised, not due to her skill level but just that she had enough fans to vote for her. Yes, everyone in the swimming world loves her but do they watch DWTS? Also the community is so small compared to the other "celebrities" on the show that I am surprised she gets enough votes to stay on.

Maybe it is just her presence that is winning over more than just the swimming community and hopefully this will lead to popularizing the sport . I know Im rooting for her.