June 27, 2009. Second Weigh In

Starting weight: 234.6
Current weight: 224.4

Starting Belly size: 46 in
Current Belly size 42 in

Starting Neck: 20 in
Current Neck 17 in

Starting Bicep: 15
Current 14.25








I am going to let the pictures speak for themselves. Obviously the weight is the number one factor I am concerned with. In just 1 month, 15 workouts, and a little dedication to becoming healthier, we are approximately 50 percent towards our goal of losing 10 percent of his weight by the end of the summer.

This is what we did on on Monday morning, June 29.

300 Warm up

6 x 75's drill freestyle

6 x 50's freestyle, no fins on 1:20
6 x 50's freestyle, no fins on 1:15
8 x 50's freestyle, no fins on 1:10

50 warm down.

I have to say, this is the first time Chris has done a freestyle set without fins. It was pretty tough, but we are still working on his endurance. This was probably the best set we have done this year because he didn't need to use fins, and from now on, we have a base point to do freestyle sets with out fins.

June 24, Wednesday Morning

After practice today, I showed Chris how to do freestyle flip turns. He picked it up pretty easily, now he just needs to do them during practice. Like I say to the kids, "The only way to get better at flip turns is to do them all the time in practice."

Here is what we did this morning.

10 x 50's Free Odds Drill, Evens Swim

6 x 50's Free on :55
6 x 75's Free on 1:30
6 x 100's Free on 1:55
6 x 125's Free on 2:20

Chris, to my amazment, actually did pretty well. Everytime he is done completing a 50 or 75, he is breathing like he is going to die.... and I always think I am being too hard on him. But as the send off comes, he is ready to go and he completes the next interval all the time.

We will see in the next few weeks how he incorporates his flip turns.

Stay tuned, we will be taking weight measurements on Saturday.

June 19, Friday Morning

The pictures is a timeline of Chris. The picture to the right is the first picture we took, the picture to the left is the picture we took on Saturday. You can physically see Chris' improvment.

Anyways, this is what we did this morning. It was pretty intensive, but it was something we had to do to get Chris' endurance up.









For warm up: 50 free, 50 choice for a 400

6 x 100's on 2:00
5 x 100's on 2:00
4 x 100's on 1:55
3 x 100's on 1:45
2 x 100's on 1:45

After each set, we did a 50 easy and regrouped to catch our breath.

Chris did all these with a buoy and fins, to help work on his body position in the water. He looked pretty well until we dropped the send offs to 1:45. He did the last two pretty well, his time on the last 100 was 1:40.

On Saturday, we will do some breaststroke (Chris' best stroke) mixed with freestyle. We will continue to work on his stroke, and kicking with a board. The day off on Sunday should help Chris recover and he should have a little better endurance next week.

June 15, 2009 (I'm still jumping up and down!!)

Last Saturday was a great day. I haven't been jumping with this much joy in a long time; I guess it was the suspense and physically seeing results. All it took was one number as proof that my summer project is on the right path.

Before I get into specific numbers, I have to say, Chris is doing very well. His strokes are coming around quite nicely, he is working hard. I think he has even figured out to NOT put his fins by the side of the pool. The other morning, we were doing a pretty hard breaststroke/freestyle set, and I saw him just take his fins and throw them out of his sight.

The part you have all been waiting for, and for the purpose of this blog:

In Just TWO weeks of swimming, and 7 morning swim practices...

Beginning weight: 234

Current weight: 228

Beginning belly: 46 inches

Current belly: 44 inches

Beginning neck: 20 inches

Current neck: 18 inches

Beginning bicep: 15 inches

Current bicep: 13.5

So if you see Chris Behan, and you don't recognize him, there is a good reason. Just look out for the man walking around decked out in Florida Gator's apparel.

June 11, 2009

Before I start talking about what we have been practicing the past few days; We will take an official weigh in and measurements on Saturday morning. So please check on the blog, I am interested to see if any of this hard work has paid off.

Chris went on a business trip and a wedding last week, so he missed June 3, 5, and 6 (three days of swim practice). When we got back in on Monday, June 8th, he said he felt extremely horrible and out of shape. This is what happens when you do not swim for just a few days. You think it is just a few days of swimming, and it can't hurt to take a little time off.... but you are wrong.

With the Club Gators swim team (the age group team I coach at River Oaks), I stress attendance is important, but I guess what is more important is constant attendance. It doesn't do any good if swimmers come constantly for 5 weeks, but then take 3 weeks off (for whatever reason..... homework, stress), and expect to be in the same shape and/or form they were in prior to their mini break.

Each week, each practice, we build on what we learn the prior practice/week (Think school structure and the different grades for each year). Once kids start missing practice, or a week of practice, they fall further behind on the learning scale; at which I need to make a hard decision:

a. Teach the kids what we learned in the last week of their missed practices at the expense of the kids who have been coming to practice.

b. Continue to teach new things to the kids who have been consistently coming to practice and hope the other kids pickup and learn the new techniques (which never happens).

Anyways, on Wednesday, we looked at whats wrong with Chris's stroke. His breast stroke is pretty good. This is because he can keep a good straight line with his body, and his body is always 'floating' on top of the water (which means less drag).

His freestyle is another story. Chris's says he has shoulder problems, which is why his freestyle is so terrible. I think otherwise.

When Chris swims freestyle, his body is at a 45 degree angle. Chris kicks with his knees bent, which makes his body position terrible in the water. A bad body position increases drag, which makes him work harder, which makes him more tired.

We started to fix this by putting longs fins and a pull buoy between his legs. There was tremendous body position improvement (it actually looked like he was floating in the water). The buoy helps with two main things. 1. To help float the body on top of the water, and 2. Helps you kick with straight legs. Once you start kicking with a bent knee.... that buoy falls out between your legs.

For the next few practices, we will continue to swim with fins and a buoy. This should help Chris' body position in the water, and help him be more efficient in the water.

Please check back with this blog in the next few days. I will be posting measurements after Saturdays weigh in.