Are you a dog?

[Zenturtle]

http://tv.swimmingworldmagazine.com/...os/tagged/5976
I am pretty sure I am 90% cat, only a slow old one that misses the mouse regularly.

[CoachBobM]

This should probably have been posted in the "Links and References" section.

I'm not sure that I agree with Boomer's assertion that some swimmers are dogs and some are cats. And I'm not sure he agrees with it, either, since, when he was asked to classify some of the most famous swimmers of the past few decades (Gary Hall, Jr., Dara Torres, Janet Evans, Mark Spitz, and Michael Phelps), he seemed to classify all of them as being primarily cats, and differed in his evaluation of them primarily in terms of what type of cat he thought each of them is.

I really think that swimming is an inherently catish sport, combining both physical ability (cardiovascular/muscular) with mental ability (skill). And one of the problems that many triathletes have is that they are used to training like dogs for biking and running and have little experience training like cats.

Thanks for sharing!


Bob

[CoachStuartMcDougal]

I've see that video too Bob, and have to agree with you. I think it's Boomer's way of gently telling swimmers and coaches (for dogs and those trained like dogs over the years) is to start tapping into their inner cat, or better, it's ok to discover your inner cat regardless of the way you've dog trained over the years. As for Cat, I fall under the leopard more than the cheetah (I like those characterizations as well).

Stuart

[CharlesCouturier]

I'm experiencing this distinction applied to swimming here (and which makes a lot of sense) to other sports, such as cycling/triathlon with very high level athletes. This even has a considerable impact in the way I coach (for best I hope).

In total agreement with Stuart and Bob as well. After all, we're humans first and foremost, i.e. more complex spiritually/psychologically. So these analogies have their limits. I'd say that as a coach, it becomes a matter of serving the right food to the right "inner" specie, keeping in mind that as humans, we hold both species within ourselves. There's nothing wrong in feeding a mostly "inner" dog with a bit of cat food, and a mostly "inner" cat with a bit of dog food.

What I'm discovering that said is that it's important to respect the dominant specie of every individual. Don't feed a mostly cat with too much dog food, or else Boomer is totally right in stating that this mostly cat may quit sports!

Thanks Zenturtle, as always. And for what it's worth, as a swimmer, I'm 99% cat, so much so that I barely get into the water LOL