The Science of Winning Quotes

“Once again, to achieve the best possible performance in competition, the aerobic and anaerobic capacity must both be well-balanced. The idea “the more the better” is not valid with respect to the anaerobic capacity.”
― Jan Olbrecht, The Science of Winning: Planning, Periodizing and Optimizing Swim Training

“Considering the time necessary for the effects to show up, we, by analogy with other physiological literature, have observed “conditioning” improvements after a very short training period (1-2 weeks). These short-term changes are rather due to a better neuromuscular and vascular control (a more efficient metabolism, blood flow distribution and use of muscle fibers) than to changes in the muscle structure and will therefore be lost quickly with inactivity. Stable or longer lasting adaptations involve the remodeling of the muscle, such as the enhancement of the mitochondria content or an increase of capillaries, and require, therefore, much longer and continuous training periods.”
― Jan Olbrecht, The Science of Winning: Planning, Periodizing and Optimizing Swim Training

“in swimmers with a moderate anaerobic capacity, the effects of this training will be clearly noticeable after about 10-17 days. In swimmers with a strong anaerobic capacity, on the other hand, the full effect will be reached after 4 weeks focused on the anaerobic power training followed by 2 to 3 weeks of tapering.”
― Jan Olbrecht, The Science of Winning: Planning, Periodizing and Optimizing Swim Training

“Besides, it is advisable to grant the swimmer a complete day of rest (a day with no training) each week, but never the day after a competition.”
― Jan Olbrecht, The Science of Winning: Planning, Periodizing and Optimizing Swim Training

“Studies show that the training intensity can be calculated more precisely based on a percentage of the best times than on the heart rate (Olbrecht 1997).”
― Jan Olbrecht, The Science of Winning: Planning, Periodizing and Optimizing Swim Training

“Too much variation in stroke or type of motion (e.g. alternating freestyle and backstroke or alternating freestyle pulling (arms alone) and then kicking) reduces the benefit of the aerobic capacity training.”
― Jan Olbrecht, The Science of Winning: Planning, Periodizing and Optimizing Swim Training