The Effortless Swimming Podcast

In this episode we look inside the mindset and training regime of top level sprinters.

Our first US guest is a current world record holder and backstroke champion. Peter Marshall reveals how he broke three world records in backstroke. Like a lot of age group swimmers, Peter started out doing lots of miles in the pool. He was a distance swimmer in his early years but converted to a sprinter after making some changes to his training. In the podcast he chats about what changed in his program and how his gym workouts shifted focus. We cover race routines, psychology and developing power in the water.

Wowza, what an episode! We managed to pry former world record holder and Olympic champion Michael Klim away from his busy schedule for an insight into his comeback. After a number of years out of the pool Michael decided to pull on the speedo’s for another crack at the Olympics, training for the 2012 London Olympic Games.

As you train more often you realise that injuries are common if you don’t do something to prevent them. Sports physio Justin McEvoy has been away with the Australian swim team treating elite swimmers such as Ian Thorpe, Grant Hackett, Michael Phelps, Roland Schoeman plus dozens of other high profile athletes.

Being the second female and second Australian to complete a double crossing of the English Channel, Chloe McCardel is one of Australia’s best marathon swimmers. She’s won the prestigious 46km Manhattan Island race and is now gearing up for a triple-crossing of the English Channel.

Months of hard work go towards one big race. Long hours in the pool, thousands of kilometers and tens of thousands of arm strokes…all for a few minutes of racing.

Sam Sheppard is one of Australia’s best open water competitors. Whether it’s 1km or 10km, Sam is a fierce racer and a smart swimmer.

When it comes down it, sport is more than just a physical battle. Five minutes of speaking with performance consultant Wayne Goldsmith and you get a sense of just how important the mental side of it is.

In the first episode we chat with Olympic backstroker Ashley Delaney. He reveals: How he got started in swimming by accidentThe one thing he changed in his diet to drop two kilos in weight and start swimming faster times in trainingSmall things he focuses on each lap that made him one of the best underwater kickers Australia has ever seenOne change that you can make in a race to conserve your energy and have more speed and power at the end of every race Ash and I lived together for a year when he was in his final year at high school. He then moved to the Australian Institute of Sport to train and has now moved back to Melbourne, Victoria. Ash has won medals the the Olympics and World Championships in backstroke.

Trent Grimsey is an open water swimmer, he is an Australian team member and most notably he has recently broken the English Channel world record. He went 6 hours 55 minutes, breaking the old record by 2 minutes and 50 seconds. We chat to Trent about the Channel swim but also his training, technique and how he avoids injury doing so many km’s in the pool.