Looking for the perfect gift for the elite-minded swimmer in your life? Maybe a little something-something for yourself? Here’s how Conquer the Pool will help turn their (or your) swimming up to eleven.
When you think about your swimming, it’s largely in terms of physical and measurable things:
- I want to achieve a personal best time…
- I want to place on a specific place on the podium…
- I want to be a stronger and faster swimmer.
With this goal in mind, we go into practice each day and push our bodies to the limit. We put our head down and hammer through the main sets until we are a hanging on the lane rope, a heaving and chlorinated mess.
Fast Swimming Starts with a Deadly Mindset
With a focus on pushing our physical limits we end up letting the mental aspect of the sport fall to the wayside.
At least, until things start to go wrong.
You might recognize some of the classics…
- The big meet is on the horizon, and we start feeling doubt in our training.
- We get so caught up in what others thing that it ends up affecting how we perform.
- We worry so much about the possibility of failing that we pull our punches in training.
These mental hang-ups seem like they are out of our control.
That mental toughness and the success and awesomeness that comes along with is something you either have…or don’t.
And because we don’t understand why we react to certain things in certain ways we figure, “What’s the point, bro?”
The reality is this:
If you want to train faster and more consistently…
If you want to step up on the block with confidence…
And if you want to swim like a chlorinated gangster this season you need to start working on your mindset.
Mental training made simple.
As someone who struggled with his own fair share of mental struggles I feel ya.
It sucks hitting the touch pad, looking up at the scoreboard, and feeling like a cannonball dropped in your stomach.
That awful stomach-churning of working your butt off in practice, and then not having the results to show for it when it mattered most is one of the main reasons that I wrote Conquer the Pool.
But the main goal?
To make mental training simple and clear.
To remove the confusion, so that you can swim fast when it matters most.
After all, when you think back to your best performances in the pool, what was the thing you were experiencing alongside confidence?
It was clarity.
And that’s where this book will help you crush it this year.
Some other fun facts about this bad boy:
- It was written with the input of 200+ NCAA and USA Swimming head coaches, Olympians and NCAA champions.
- It comes with a series of worksheets with each section so that you are putting the information to use in service of your goals in the pool.
- It’s 300+ pages of awesomeness that covers every aspect of mental training, from how to set goals that motivate you over the long term, why motivation matters less than you think, and how to dominate your swim practices from beginning to end (and even make them more enjoyable).
- The racing section is the one that gets the most love—it’s the one swimmers have been itching for. You will learn why you choke, what to do about it, and most importantly, build a blueprint for the emotional and mental state that consistently produces drop-dead performances in the water.
- Teams using the book include the University of Notre Dame, Auburn University, London Aquatic Club, Trident Aquatics, Indiana Hoosiers Swimming, Chatham Y Sharks Swim Team, Peters Township Swim Club, Shaker Heights Swimming, and more.
(If you are interested in picking up a team order of Conquer the Pool, we do that—including team branding and a sweet little discount with group orders. Click here for more info on that.)
Interested in hearing what people are saying about CTP?
“It is the best book I have ever seen concerning mental training.” – Ray Benecki, Head Coach, The FISH Swim Team (and world record holder and Olympian Kate Ziegler’s coach)
“I am currently using the book with my senior group. I love how it is written conversationally, but what takes the book to the next level are the interactive worksheets included. These allow swimmers to reflect and respond on a personal level to specific issues dealing with the mental aspects of swimming.” – Michael Chapman, Head Coach, Boonville Dolphins Swim Team
“I really like the layout of this book. This has become the go-to-book for my mental training sessions with swimmers I coach.” – Brian Lindsay, Head Coach, Chatham Y Sharks Swim Team
“Just got the copy and spent all evening with it! Fantastic! Well done…a great practical guide, with insights I can see athletes using as a tool to help…I particularly like the fact that the language is not over anyone’s head, the examples are appropriate and you can write some interacting thoughts while going through…I just ordered ten copies for my team to share.” – Michael Litzinger, Head Coach, Notre Dame Swimming & Diving
If you are looking for the perfect gift for the swimmer in your life…
Or you want to simply gift yourself a better mindset for 2021 and beyond…
Take a look at Conquer the Pool: The Swimmer’s Ultimate Guide to a High Performance Mindset.
Click here to learn more.
ABOUT OLIVIER POIRIER-LEROY
Olivier Poirier-Leroy is a former national level swimmer. He’s the publisher of YourSwimBook, a ten-month log book for competitive swimmers.
He’s also the author of the recently published mental training workbook for competitive swimmers, Conquer the Pool: The Swimmer’s Ultimate Guide to a High Performance Mindset.
It combines sport psychology research, worksheets, and anecdotes and examples of Olympians past and present to give swimmers everything they need to conquer the mental side of the sport.
Ready to take your mindset to the next level?