Biology of Swimming Contents

Part One: How the Swimming Machine Works

• Muscle- How it Works
• Sarcomeres: The Base Unit of Muscle
• Myosin Heads: The Movers
• Swimming Long is Against Biology
• Muscle Damage: Explaining Soreness
• Energy Systems- The Ultimate Hybrid
• ATP:Pure Energy
• Phosphagen system: The Energy Already Sitting Around
• Glycolysis: Burning sugar
• Aerobic: Efficient Burning
• The Race Chooses the Engine.
• Fuel for each Engine
• Muscle Types- Sprinter vs. Miler
• The Spectrum: Fast vs. Slow Twitch Fibers
• Number of Fibers vs. Size of Fibers
• Changing-ish your Muscle

• Sprinters in the Mile and Milers in the 50

• The Motor Unit- The Basics of Control
• The Nerve Highway
• Motor units Big and Small
• Different Strokes Means Different Motor Units
• Unlocking your Nerve Potential
• Cardio- The Pump that Never Stops
• The Circuit: A Pump and the Blood Highway
• VO2: How big is your Fire?
• Cardiac Output: How the Pump Works

• Explaining all your Worst Feelings

• Lungs- Breathing and Acid Control
• Getting the Air next to the Blood
• Why do we Feel Air Hungry?
• Dealing with Acid:  Lactate and CO2 in the Blood
• Lung Capacity and Breathing Muscles
• Lactate Threshold- The Ultimate Endurance Test
• Following the Acid: Creation to Elimination
• What is the Lactate Threshold?
• How to Test the Threshold
• Lactate Threshold Graphs for Sprinters and Milers

• Hormones-  Masters of the Machine
• Training Hormones: Maintaining Sugars and Pressures
• Recovery Hormones: Refuel, Rebuild, and Rehydrate

Part Two: How the Swimming Machine Adapts

• The Basics- What's the best workout? 
• Science studies in swimming: tough to generalize
• Specificity: Get better by Doing
• Playing the physics game vs. the biology game
• Elite athletes: their start point and maximum ability to train

• Endurance Training- Laying a foundation
• Aerobic Power: VO2max Training
• Aerobic Endurance: Mitochondrial Training
• Sprint Training- Top speed that lasts
• Speed Training: Nerves and Muscle Angles
• Lactate Tolerance: Buffering and Hypertrophy

• Motor Learning- Cementing habits

• Motor Pattern: Technique
• Motor Learning: Writing Motor Pattern Programs

• Taper- Super Compensating
• Day by Day Changes during Taper
• Types of Taper: Minor, Major, Retaper

• Overtraining- Too Much of a Good Thing 
• Over-reaching vs. Overtraining
• What does Overtraining Look Like and How to Test for it
• How to fix Overtraining and Stop it from Happening Again

• Dryland/Lifting- Building In-Water Power... Out of the Water
• How Dryland Helps You Swim Faster
• Circuit, Strength, Power and Speed Training
• Flexibility: Increasing Power and Decreasing Drag

Part Three: How the Swimming Machine is Perfected (on the way!)

• Physics
• Power to Drag ratio
• Bernoulli vs. Newton
• Drag in the water
• Shaving
• H2O dynamics
• Body shape
• Nutrition
• Training
• Meet Day
• Controlling body weight- Put good in, get good out
• Supplements- Optimizing training and recovery
• Cheating- Understanding super-biology helps understand everyday biology
• Injury
• Common Injuries
• Prevention
• Rehab
• Psychology
• Getting psyched: the balance between emotion and focus
• Sleep
• Motivation
• Visualizing- linking the body and the mind
• How reflexes/instincts get in the way (drowning, righting reflex, parachute reflex)