By Olivier Poirier-Leroy on SwimSwam
Ask swimmers and coaches what they think mental toughness is, and you’ll get a variety of answers.
Grit. Determination. Commitment. No quit–not today, not ever, baby!
Fundamentally, mental toughness is the ability to better cope with the demands of training and competition compared to other swimmers.
It can be natural, it can be developed, and when we have it we are determined, focused, confidant, and thrive under pressure (Jones et al., 2002).
The way that mental toughness reveals itself varies by athlete, but there is one symptom of mental toughness that rings especially true for swimmers…
How they respond to a poor swim practice.
Mental Toughness in the Pool
Researchers (Driska et al., 2012) surveyed a group of 13 elite American swimming coaches to list the behaviors that made a swimmer mentally tough. They were looking beyond the general characteristics and looking for specific actions and behaviors.
Lots of the usual answers, with things like:
Staying focused and not getting distracted by short-term gains that jeopardize long term gains Knowing when to switch on and off Not being afraid of hard work and tough sets Bringing their A-game under pressureAnd so on.
But there was one that popped up that was really relevant to the day-to-day grind of our sport:
“Retaining psychological control on poor training days.”
Basically, when a swim practice was not going their way, mentally tough swimmers could:
Find a way to keep moving toward their goals. They were persistent and adaptable. Identify something specific to work on. Instead of dwelling or throwing away the workout, they found other problems/challenges to improve.It’s no surprise that some of the best swimmers on the planet use this outlook.
On days when practice isn’t going super swimmingly, Caeleb Dressel leans on his kick count and a clean catch to find something productive to build on:
“If I’m doing super bad that day, I can at any point do five kicks off every wall. And how hard can it be to focus on the correct catch, not slipping my arm to the outside. Just two things.”And Katie Ledecky, one of the fastest and most consistent swimmers ever, also has days when things aren’t clicking:
“I try to make the good days great and take something positive from the days I’m not feeling good—work on technique or something like that.”The Bad Days Are Where Mental Toughness Matters
It’s pretty easy to be mentally tough when things are going your way.
The real test is what you do when they aren’t.
Instead of:
My stroke feels like a moldy pull-buoy and I couldn’t catch water if you paid me=Practice is ruinedIt becomes:
This practice is not going well=How can I still get better today?This little switch isn’t as obvious as gritting through a monster main set or being unflappable in finals at the Big Meet.
But it says a lot about how well you handle adversity, latch onto the things you control, and keep moving forward when the inevitable setbacks happen.
For swim coaches looking for a structured way to build mental toughness team-wide, Conquer the Pool: The Swimmer’s Ultimate Guide to a High-Performance Mindset gives you a practical blueprint to do just that. Learn more below.
ABOUT OLIVIER POIRIER-LEROY
Olivier Poirier-Leroy is a former national-level swimmer, 2x Olympic Trials qualifier, and author of Conquer the Pool: The Swimmer’s Ultimate Guide to a High-Performance Mindset.
Conquer the Pool gives competitive swimmers a practical blueprint for building confidence, setting better goals, staying focused on the process, bouncing back from setbacks, and performing under pressure.
The book combines sport psychology research, guided worksheets, and lessons from Olympic champions to help coaches make mental training a more consistent part of what their swimmers do every day.
Want to use Conquer the Pool with your team this season?
Click here to learn about team orders and get pricing for your swim club.
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