How I Slashed My 100m Freestyle Time to

In this podcast episode, we hear from Jay Mueller ‪@jaymueller2418‬ an emergency doctor who started swimming 16 months ago after injuries led him to take up the sport, as he could no longer run or ride. When Jay first started, he was averaging 2:15-2:30/100m and finding he was exhausted after a few hundred meters. Fast forward to today, where he is consistently swimming between 1:20-1:30 in training, with a personal best of 1:06 in the 100m freestyle. Tune in to learn about his transformation and the lessons he has learned along the way.
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[@jaymueller2418]

Hey Brenton, thanks for having me. It has been a really interesting journey and it’s so satisfying to continue to progress. Not just speed, but in connecting to the water and finding a rhythm that was at first so difficult (sometimes even anxiety producing) and now sometimes really does feel effortless. Hopefully I’ll catch up with you in Brisbane again. Happy swimming, everyone. Be really consistent, turn the words off, visualise yourself high and comfortable in the water, and the gains will come.

[@jrm5650]

Great interview, Jay!!!

[@jrm5650]

Great interview, Jay!

[@sedgieroobets]

Hi Jay and Brendan, inspiring video! I'm a 58yo AG triathlete doing well in UK. Took up the sport in lockdown and qualified for Team GB last year. However my swimming is stuck! Went from 2:00/100m to 1:45 in 18 months and now don't know what to do next! Jay, how many hours or km do you do per week to make such gains? Because I'm still working, I can only manage 2-3 sessions or about 5km per week. Is this enough to improve significantly?

[@sedgieroobets]

Apologies, Brenton, not Brendan!

[@jaymueller2418]

@@sedgieroobetsThat’s more volume than I do. Also, 1:45 is legit. Everybody is different (overused saying but true). I am lucky in that Inhave a lifetime base of aerobic capacity i’ve held onto since I was 11. To be honest it’s sticking to one source for teaching and checking back in with the progress repeatedly. Drills are important but you need to understand the feel. Imagine learning to dance the tango, but forgetting to feel the music. You’d be a robot! Swimming is the same, you have to learn to feel your position in the water. I find doing floating planks helps keep me really high up. Good luck! Post your progress if you have time.

[@gowesnanjak]

Love to watch 2 smart guy in one frame😍

[@danjamieson7451]

This is such a good watch. I can be so hit and miss, some days I can knock out 1:38 for 100, but most days I will be 1:50-1:55. Some days my stroke feels so natural and I don't know why, most days I can feel brief moments when it is right. I will spend more time 'feeling' and less time aiming for a time. Thank you Gentlemen 🙏

[@jc10747]

As a masters coach, I encounter the difficulty of inefficiency when learning a new technique all the time….and the non-receptive or stubborn nature of former swim athletes or Tri athletes to going slower, doing drills, or applying new concepts to swimming. “Work harder” is/was the norm when these swimmers were younger, and their key to their success….but that naturally led to marginal gains, injury prone, and frankly, depression. Changing the mindset and approach is just as hard for the coach as changing the technique itself! That 02 saturation is quite hard to lower in healthy people is a new insight for swim coaches, I believe. We’ve heard of forced exhalation to remove C02 before, but not this natural safety feature of the body to have good reserves of 02 at all times. “Drag limited”, “flow state”, speed related to connection to water, no watch (triathletes always laugh at me when I ask them to do this), drill drill drill for first year , long dog….this interview is golden!

[@louisjs544]

that's why I always have a second watch in my bum crack just in case coach says no device

[@jaymueller2418]

😀😀😀

[@jaymueller2418]

@@louisjs544We know what makes you tick, I guess!

[@Cachoeira1986]

Fantastic episode, Brendton and Jay, thank you for the insights!

[@ThePoitivient]

Great video!

[@HandsomeRabbit8]

Great episode and great guest! Thanks!

[@rickrwbarnes]

I'd love to hear more about the shoulder exercises that have helped reduce shoulder pain.

[@jaymueller2418]

Hey, Rick. Static hangs to create space under the acromion to reduce the likelihood of impingement. Scapular stabilisation with any of the exercises you’ll find on Sports Injury Physio or Bob & Brad’s youtube channel. Rotator cuff strengthening but in a position of function and lots of work on strengthening the external rotators. And then being careful that your recovery is ABduction based and you aren’t crowding the subacromial space and impinging. Hope this helps.

[@shortreed]

Great conversation. Thanks for posting. Some helpful principles in there, and well articulated.

[@notmyrealname6272]

Wowzers. Amazing interview. I’m going to listen to this again and again. So many takeaways. ❤

[@dpmcmanus50]

Thanks!

[@EffortlessSwimming]

Thank you 🙏

[@stuartgray467]

Thanks

[@EffortlessSwimming]

Thank you!

[@princethumper]

The last comment on being kind to yourself is brilliant, way too easy to beat yourself up over swimming

[@jaymueller2418]

The constant internal dialog is tough to turn off. It was probably the most important thing I did to bed the changes in technique into neuromuscular memory. Best of luck.

[@EffortlessSwimming]

Amen to that

[@stuartgray467]

gold

[@YellowJello57]

I would love some more information on the technique Jay used to deal with rhomboid pain. I get pain in my left rhomboid very often

[@majedalizadeh6416]

I want to attend an amatuer 100m freestyle competition. I have a speedo square leg boom logo short. Does it differs if I get a brief speedo? My current time is under 2min.

[@funkyfinnegan]

Training time(how many swims per week) required to go from 2:15(thats me...)to 1:40 for 1500 meters? Thx!

[@louisjs544]

somewhere in the vicinity of 3x1h / week for 6-9 months could do

[@jaymueller2418]

Hey! A swim coach might answer better but I’d say the most important thing is being consistent when you start and not tiring yourself out. If you’re totally smoked from doing a big session then you get back into the pool, you won’t make gains in technique. You’ll have wobbly form, and then train yourself to keep the wobbly form. My philosophy is that most of the stimulus for aerobic fitness and muscle adaptation occurs in the first 15-20 minutes of an exercise. So if you have a choice between 3 x 30 minute swims a week and 2 x 45 minute swims, I’d take the 3 x 30 from a fatigue, fitness and neuromuscular adaptation standpoint. That’s only from my reading, a dedicated sports physiologist might have more salient advice. Cheers!

[@allydea]

For me it's 3 sessions per week to maintain and maybe slightly improve. Probably 4 would be a good number to see some actual progress every week.

[@thesea4120]

My PB is 1:09 I just want to get close to or under a minute