The Gift of Swimming Propulsion with Dr. Maglischo's insight
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
Release Date: 11/21/2025
Coaching Burnout and Safety: Uncovering the Hidden Crisis in Our Sports Culture
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
Survey says, 91.9% of coaches say they love what they do… so why are nearly 85% of them facing burnout and ready to quit? The Coaching Crisis is here, now. Few are talking about it — but Barry Healey of BC Canada is. A SafeSport report on its coaches survey began by exposing the hidden crisis in U.S. sports — where passion for coaching is crushed by politics, pressure, and lack of support. Parents, Politics & Pressure = Burnout The biggest burnout driver for coaches? It’s not the kids. It’s the parents, the politics, and the impossible pressure. Coaches Are Quitting in Droves...
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If you’re a new coach, this is your unfair advantage…
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
The path to elite swim coaching isn’t what you think—mentors, conversations, and unspoken rules are more powerful than any degree or software. Episode #84 of Heavy Or Not, The OG Swim Guide explores truths behind elite swim coaching with insights from a 2023 international survey of 123 top coaches. Discover how these pros actually learn, coach, and use (or ignore) technology. And, we wonder have things changed so much in the past few years. Peer‑to‑peer learning dominates – 89% say conversations with other coaches are their primary knowledge source. Mentorship matters –...
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Athletic Matrix Formulation - From General Prep to Taper
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
Heavy Or Not, The OG Swim Guide, episode #86, goes to the realm of a TRACK coach. Much of the planning is similar to swimming and other sports. Unlock the secret behind elite performance: a step‑by‑step guide to building a winning training matrix. Learn how to turn a chaotic schedule into a precise, adaptable roadmap for any athlete. The three‑tier hierarchy: training plan, program, and matrix explained Coach Jose’s 8‑week sprint matrix: phases, intensity, volume, and recovery How to progress workouts safely while boosting performance When and how to adjust the matrix for...
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AI Coaching Wizard: Grant Application for Transforming Youth Swimming into a Community‑Driven Learning Lab
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
See the proposal on the web at Reimagining Pool Coaching: AI Connects, Learns, and Empowers Young Athletes Welcome to episode 85 of Heavy Or Not, The OG Swim Guide, where we reveal a grant proposal to the to build an AI‑powered Coaching Wizard for youth swimming programs. We’ll explain the vision, the tech, the partnership model, the budget, and the roadmap to launch. The core concept: AI as a connector, not a director, to spark reflection and conversation. How the Coaching Wizard works: personalized prompts, voice/text reflections, and 3‑D avatar...
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College Football Is Broken — This Radical Fix Might Save It
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
With chaotic realignments, rigged outcomes, and rising costs — this proposal might present the best hope to save the sport we love. This episode breaks down a bold proposal to reset everything — from the playoff system to who even gets to compete. The NCAA system is broken — and Heavy Or Not, episode #83, lays out the urgent blueprint to fix it. From rigged playoff paths to disappearing rivalries, NCAA Division I football has become less about performance and more about power. In this summary of the reform proposal, we explore a bold new structure: 80 top teams, regional pods,...
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Relegation Revealed: How Promotion Can Revitalize American Sports and College Football
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
Relegation & Promotion as part of Sports Reform, especially for NCAA Football D1 Pods In Episode 82 of Heavy or Not, Mark Rauterkus and Barry Healey break down how relegation and promotion work in European soccer and why these concepts could transform American sports. They dive into the mechanics, incentives, and how a U.S. version might look. How parachute payments soften the financial blow for relegated clubs The playoff system that lets teams 3‑6 fight for promotion Real‑world examples: Wolves beating Man U, Canadian owners climbing from the bottom Why a tiered...
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Steps for Fixing NCAA DI Football: Structure Changes Begin by Blowing Up the Conferences. Return to Regional Rivals
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
College football needs a structural reset, and Mark Rauterkus lays out a clear, geography‑first plan for a top‑flight “pod” system. In this episode we break down the proposed 80‑team tier, regional pods, and how promotion and relegation would work. The 80‑team “top tier” built on performance, not brand prestige. Eight regional pods (Gridiron, Trench, Tackle, Pressure, Block, Blitz, Huddle, Grandstand) and their member schools. Promotion/relegation: yearly movement of five teams between the top tier and sub‑tiers. Preserving traditional rivalries and reducing travel through...
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Cal Baptist Cuts Men’s Swim & Dive Team: A Costly Consequence of Division I Ambitions
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
From NAIA Champions to Elimination: The Rise and Fall of CBU Men’s Swimming Coach Steve Friederang Speaks Out on Lost Opportunities for Male Swimmers at CBU The Cal Baptist men’s swim team has been cut, sparking debate over Division I moves, Title IX, and the future of smaller collegiate sports. Hear coach Steve break down what went wrong and why it matters. In this episode you’ll learn: The history of Cal Baptist’s swim program from NAIA champs to Division I. How facility decisions and budgeting errors contributed to the cut. The impact of Title IX and NCAA...
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School Sports Saved -- past position paper turned the tide of massive cuts
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
In episode #79 of Heavy Or Not, The OG Swim Guide, we break down a prior war with the Pittsburgh school‑district’s Superintendent of Schools. She had a proposal to slash $600 K in sports programs and the comprehensive counter‑proposal helped keep those programs alive. It wasn’t a victory, but it wasn’t a defeat. Coach Mark walks through the financial, strategic, and community arguments that turned a budget cut into a reform opportunity. The district’s cut list (high‑school swimming, tennis, golf; middle‑school volleyball, wrestling; all intramurals) and the $600 K savings...
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Level 1 Swim Secrets from Suriname and Coach Yash
Heavy Or Not - The O.G. Swim Guide
Coach Yash Daryanani shares his Goldwater Sports coaching system, from philosophy to day‑to‑day session management. Learn the core principles that helped him build national teams and clinics. What you’ll learn in this episode, #78 of Heavy Or Not, The OG Swim Guide: Coaching philosophy: discipline, patience, and individual attention as the foundation for swimmer development. Essential safety & pool‑management practices (pre‑session checks, shadowing, emergency preparedness). Setting clear parent‑coach boundaries and communication rules. Teaching fundamentals for...
info_outlineSwimming Mechanics: Heavy Or Not, The OG Swim Guide
The Science of Speed: Unpacking Resistance and Propulsion in Elite Swimming
Doctor Ernie Maglischo is an ISCA & ASCA Hall of Fame Coach and still updating his most recent ebooks. Understand the biomechanics of swimming and explore how elite athletes generate propulsive force and minimize water resistance in the pool.
Drawing on expert analysis, we examine the fundamental characteristics of water flow, classifying water as a semi-solid whose density is over 800 times greater than air. Learn how competitive swimmers battle resistive drag—including form drag (profile drag) and lateral form drag—by maintaining laminar flow and optimal horizontal alignment.
This analysis confronts common misconceptions in stroke mechanics:
• Is Hip Rotation Propulsive? We challenge the popular notion that hip rotation is a source of propulsion in long-axis strokes (like the front crawl), arguing instead that it primarily serves to reduce water resistance and increase the effectiveness of arm and leg propulsion.
• The Best Arm Stroke: Compare the controversial deep-catch, straight-back pull (which some researchers suggest is superior for generating propulsive thrust) with the widely preferred curvilinear stroking and shoulder adduction used by the majority of elite swimmers in all four competitive strokes. We explore why the shoulder-adducting style may be universally used in longer events, while the deep catch may be superior for sprints (50m/yd).
Discover the true sources of speed:
• Vortex Theory: Understand how swimmers create vortices and a pressure differential to propel themselves forward. Propulsive thrust is generated because the pressure on the palm side of the hand is higher relative to the dorsal side, where pressure decreases due to vortex formation.
• The Catch: Learn why elite swimmers intentionally decelerate their hand speed to near zero during the crucial catch phase, positioning the arm backward before applying propulsive force.
• Wave Propulsion: Investigate unique propulsive concepts like wave propulsion (or “body wave”) and the importance of undulation in short-axis strokes (butterfly and breaststroke). See how breaststrokers like Mike Barrowman utilize streamlined positioning during the arm recovery to benefit from this wave phase, accelerating continuously for a short time.
The analysis in the ebook uses visualizations, including actual photographs of elite swimmers like Grant Hackett, Martin Lopez-Zubero, Mary T. Meagher, and video simulations/CFD renderings of water flow around limbs.
Get the ebook from the link at SwimISCA.com.