Lat Importance Swimming recruits many muscles throughout the body, including the legs, hips, core, trunk and arms. All of these muscles contribute to efficient muscular movement that creates power in order to propel you through the water. However, coaches have recognized the particular importance of the latissimus dorsi (lat) muscle. This muscle is a large triangular muscle in the back. It starts at the lower half of the spine and hip and travels upwards to attach to the top of the upper arm. The lats are responsible for drawing the...

Tight Hip, Twisted Core I recently became aware of the importance of our hip flexors and how they affect the surrounding areas of the hip, lower back and even our hamstrings. Let’s understand how tight hip flexors can cause your hamstrings to feel tight ⁣⁣ The iliacus is a hip flexor muscle that lines the inside surface of your pelvic bone (or ilium) and also connects to the hip joint. When this muscle becomes tight, the ilium rotates forward into an anterior tilt position and changes the alignment of the...

Good Evening, A while back, Coach Tommy put out a great piece on the importance of improving every day. That idea falls under one of the four pillars that our staff has talked about in terms of what it will take from every person of this team to do for us to become the best team we can be. All four pillars that SMAC lives by are: Legacy - Leave it better than you found it Purpose - Work hard and have fun Belief in all- Growth mindset/Improve every day...

How to get Restorative sleep With stress running high in 2020, the importance of restful sleep is imperative for staying healthy. But just because you slept for 8 hours, doesn't mean it was restorative. In a somewhat personal experiment, I have put what I have learned into 5 different categories that I will break down in a 5-part-series. I used a sleep tracker called the Poar Vantage M to show us the results. Turns out, the amount of deep sleep and REM sleep greatly increased when we did these 5...

How to get Restorative sleep With stress running high in 2020, the importance of restful sleep is imperative for staying healthy. But just because you slept for 8 hours, doesn't mean it was restorative. In a somewhat personal experiment, I have put what I have learned into 5 different categories that I will break down in a 5-part-series. I used a sleep tracker called the Poar Vantage M to show us the results. Turns out, the amount of deep sleep and REM sleep greatly increased when we did these 5...

How to get Restorative sleep: Part II With stress running high in 2020, the importance of restful sleep is imperative for staying healthy. But just because you slept for 8 hours, doesn't mean it was restorative. In a somewhat personal experiment, I have put what I have learned into 5 different categories that I wil break down in a 5-part-series. I used a sleep tracker called the Poar Vantage M to show us the results. Turns out, the amount of deep sleep and REM sleep greatly increased when we did...

How To Get Restorative Sleep: Part I With stress running high in 2020, the importance of restful sleep is imperative for staying healthy. But just because you slept for 8 hours, doesn't mean it was restorative. In a somewhat personal experiment, I have put what I have learned into 5 different categories that I wil break down in a 5-part-series. I used a sleep tracker called the Poar Vantage M to show us the results. Turns out, the amount of deep sleep and REM sleep greatly increased when I did...

Student of the Game Lebron James was asked a question about the final play of the All-Star game five days after the event. His answer was a detailed response with no holes about the one quick play that happened at the end of the game. It had everyone buzzing over how he could remember everything in such vivid detail. Lebron has often been praised for his innate athletic ability. To be able to power through defenses just by being bigger and stronger. Is it really just how big and how...

Hold Fast, Stay True Two weekends ago, we had our first sanctioned meet since the February Divisionals down in Puyallup earlier this year. Although the weather was not inviting, it was still unbelievably refreshing to see the kids competing again. The road back to where we are now has been a long and adverse one. Before the days of GPS systems, travelers and fishermen out at sea relied on the stars to guide them to their destinations. It took a tremendous amount of experience to master this skill. This grew...

SMAC Tryout Information Come give us a look! Seattle Metropolitan Aquatic Club will be holding swimmer try outs at the following times: Dates: August 9 Evergreen Aquatic Center 12-3 PM August 14 View Ridge Pool 10:15-12:15 August 16 Evergreen Aquatic Center 12-3 PM August 23 Evergreen Aquatic Center 12-3 PM Please contact Derek to reserve a spot. CoachDerek@smac.email Before the evaluation: Families will reserve a 30 min window with Derek on one of the above dates. All evaluations will be individual unless swimmers are members of the same household. Day...