Swimming Mantras: Improving Performance

Last Updated on November 26, 2022 by admin

**Many top swimmers adopt several mantras to help them during different situations to help provide them with a range of psychological benefits.**

In this article, we’ll provide advice, hacks and tips on why adopting swimming mantras can help improve a swimmer’s performance.

Competitive swimming is often as much about the psychological (mental) as it is about the physical.

Psychological techniques for swimmers

Many of the world’s top swimmers use a variety of psychological techniques to give them a competitive advantage.

Types of Psychological techniques

These include techniques such as self-talk and visualisation.

A key element in both of these techniques is the use of swimming mantras.

What is a swimming mantra?

A swimming mantra is either a short saying, a word or a slogan.

Adopting swimming mantras

Many top swimmers adopt several mantras to help them during different situations to help provide them with a range of psychological benefits. These include,

Reducing or overcoming anxiety

Some swimmers use mantras as a part of their swimming self-talk to help them to reduce their stress and anxiety levels, particularly before a competition.

What is swimming self-talk?

Self-talk is a psychological technique that works by a swimmer adopting some self-motivating or inspirational slogans or mantras, in order to self-coach themselves during certain swimming situations.

For example, to increase a swimmer’s confidence or to help them learn a new skill or drill. Self-talk can also be used to overcome anxiety during competition.

Helping a swimmer improve their technique

Sometimes swimmers adopt a mantra to help them improve their swimming technique.

These mantras are usually short technical instructions from their coach, for example ‘stroke, glide and hold’.

Adding that extra motivation

Swimmers can find mantras really useful when they need that extra bit of motivation.

For example, getting out of bed early for morning training.

Reinforce their focus

Many swimmers find mantras useful for helping them focus and to concentrate in pressurised situations.

For example, before a competition, a swimmer might use a mantra like ‘fast in and fast out’ to focus on the speed of their turns,

Increasing confidence and self-belief

**Swimmers can sometimes need reassurance in a number of pressurised swimming situations**

One of the most common uses of mantras is to improve a swimmer’s confidence and self-belief.

Swimmers can sometimes need reassurance in a number of pressurised swimming situations.
For example, at a swimming championship, a simple ‘come on, you’ve got this’ can do wonders for their confidence.

Helps a swimmer to relax

Many swimmers use swimming mantras to help them relax.

For example, some swimmers use mantras to help them relax while performing yoga or swimming visualisation.

What is swimming visualisation?

Swimming visualisation is mental imagery, mental rehearsal and meditation techniques, used by most of the world’s top swimmers, to condition their brain to help them become faster.

Our favourite swimming mantras

Competitive swimmers have used mantras and slogans as motivational tools for many years.

Our swimmers make their favourite swimming mantras visible throughout the day.
They put copies in places like their swimming logbooks, on their pool drinks bottles, on their fridge and on their bedroom wall.

Listed below are examples of some of our favourite swimming mantras and slogans, which we have used over the years with our swimmers whenever the goings got tough.

Actions speak louder than coaches. (Speedo)

All it takes is all you got

Do not dwell on your losses but concentrate upon the part of your performance that limited your excellence.

Don’t count the lengths, make the lengths count.

Dreams don’t work unless you do (TYR)

Excellence is an attitude

Good enough often isn’t.

How are you going to train today?

I have no life, my kids swim

I swim therefore I.M.

If swimming wasn’t tough, they’d call it football.

If you do not consciously form good habits, you will unconsciously form bad ones.

It’s easy to train hard when you’re feeling great. Training hard when you’re not feeling great will bring you to a new level.

It’s not the best person that wins, it’s the best-trained person.

Life is simple. Eat. Sleep. Swim (Coach)

Look in the mirror. That’s your competition

No coach ever won a swim meet for what they know! Wins only come from what swimmers learn.

Nobody is born with a gold medal hanging around their neck. Your coaches, teammates, competition and idols can push you, but eventually, it will come down to you and your dreams. Be the dreams of gold or dreams of water, they’re yours. It’s personal. (TYR)

No one ever got stronger by working less

Obstacles are what you see when you take your eyes off the goal.

People who feel good about themselves produce good results.

Practice & hard work pays off when you touch that wall.

Practice does not make perfect, only perfect practice makes perfect and perfect practise equals perfect performance.

Seven Days Without Swimming makes one WEAK

Start Hard, Turn Smart, Finish Fast.

Success is different for everyone. Keep a proper perspective and do your personal best. (Speedo)

Swimmers who are willing to work out close to racing speed will ultimately swim faster when it counts.

That you may fail, is not sufficient reason for not trying.

The key to better swimming is swimming better.

The pride you gain is worth the pain.

The road to success is always under construction.

Train like an athlete, eat like a nutritionist, sleep like a baby, win like a champion

We don’t stop swimming because we get old, we get old because we stop swimming.

Work hard – rest hard.

You can always breathe later

Takeaways