The Matrix Swimming Mind

The ‘Matrix Swimming Mind’ continues to thrive because of the general  acceptance of ‘qualified coaches’ and teachers to willingly accept verbatim the 'given text' coupled with a deep-rooted reluctance to change.

It is safer to remain with the given swimming technique or starting technique text that has been promoted by swimming companies leading  to the swimmer/club or coach being conditioned to believe is the correct methodology, than to break free and explore other ways.

If we stop for a moment to consider how swimming teachers and coaches beliefs are influenced through books, journals and the numerous videos that are available it quickly becomes obvious that in many areas of swimming technique or starting technique that this belief belief is based upon the views of the swimming “expert” or swimming companies.

These “experts”, usually former swimmers are just as human as the rest of us: they have careers to follow and families to support.

The fledgling swim coach is forced very early on in their career to follow the established and recommended text as laid down by these “experts” or their awards body.

Our embryonic swim coach after paying his or her dues now becomes an “expert” in a field that has been established for decades and operates under very fixed paradigms, that has not been challenged

In each discipline of swimming - technique, starts, turns and training there exists standard texts and theories which are so entrenched that nothing is to be gained (and everything lost) by our fledgling coach if they try to change the status quo.

Progress for this coach is therefore achieved by building on top of what has already been established, and it is not a good career choice if our embryonic coach tries to tear down the existing mountain of knowledge and start again.

These established “expert” coaches who appear in the various media outlets are usually very ambitious and their “expert” status comes only from a narrow field.

In general, the mind set of coaches and swimmers revolve around areas of swimming which have been “studied” and have had a number of fixed teachings and assumptions placed around these areas.

When we place our trust in these “ traditional experts” we are placing our trust in the fixed teachings and assumptions which have shaped that “expert’s” particular field be it in technique, starts, turns etc.

There is considerable power behind the lactic acid myths in swimming, but the reality is that they are just that — myths. Let’s dispel them now.

Does lactic acid actually exist in swimmers?

According to Professor Matthew Hickey, head of the Human Performance Research Lab at Colorado State University, “The very bottom line is, NO. There is no lactic acid in swimmers.”

To explain why, a brief lesson about acid is necessary. Every acid has an alternate base form (alkaline) — a sort of yin and yang. For example, lactate is a base and lactic acid is, well, just that, an acid.

Acids and bases frequently exist as mixes and are able to change back and forth between one another.

So, how do we measure these acid/base mixes? Enter the “pH value,” which is simply a measure of acidity/alkalinity. The pH ranges on a scale from 0 to 14. So, the lower the number... the more acidic is our fluid. In this case a swimmers blood sample, for example which has a pH slightly above seven.

As the swimmers pH drops, more and more base molecules transform into acid molecules. There is a critical point at which there is a perfect 50/50 mix.

Professor Hickey points out that for lactic acid/lactate, that “occurs at a pH of 3.87." That, of course, is well below our swimmers blood pH of seven.

And, this is why our swimmer never has “lactic acid” in his or her system. According to Professor Hickey, lactic acid really does not start appearing “until the swimmer has a pH of under six,” and even then “they would have 99 percent as lactate and one percent as lactic acid.

“During intense training, a swimmer can drive their pH levels down into the high sixes. This is well above the pH required to produce true lactic acid. If our swimmer had lactic acid in their blood, they would have to have a pH under six, and they would be rushed to hospital.” Hickey stated.

Why then do coaches and swimmers still talk about lactic acid in the body? Because of “simple historical inertia,” said Hickey. “It has stuck in the minds of swim coaches and swimmers, but it is based on a misunderstanding about the chemistry.”

This then begs the question if we do not have lactic acid, then what do we have? What causes the burn? Simply put... Our muscles do produce acid, but that acid is simply the positively charged hydrogen, not lactic acid as coaches and swimmer believe.

Scientists were long fooled because hydrogen and lactate exit the cell together — in fact one cannot leave without the other. So when we measure lactate levels, it correlates with hydrogen ions.

Coaches believed they were measuring lactic acid, but it is merely a coincidence that when we measure a rise in lactate it happens to match with a rise in the very painful hydrogen ion acid levels.

Does lactate serve a purpose?

Coaches and swimmers misunderstanding about lactate gave it a bad rap. In some quarters it is still believed that lactate is just a nasty waste product that made the swimmers legs and arms scream 15 meters from the finish of their race.

In reality, lactate serves many important roles. For example, “it is the principle fuel for the heart during vigorous exercise,” Hickey went on.

And  swimmers liver can recycle it, thus, releasing a brand new glucose molecule... as if the swimmer had been drinking a sports drink.”

The reality is that as swimmers and coaches, we are constantly producing lactate in our bodies.

“There is also a misunderstanding that until you get to threshold you are not making lactate. That’s not the case,” Hickey said. “You are making lactate 24/7 all your life.”

The same goes for acid, those hydrogen ions. The reason our blood lactate levels are low most of the time is because our bodies clear and use it as quickly as we produce it.

The swimmer's lactate threshold is simply the point where the swimmer's body produces both lactate and acid faster than it can clear them.

This makes our swimmer's ability to clear lactate and acid a critical part of sustaining high-end power