{"id":196406,"date":"2016-04-18T18:00:49","date_gmt":"2016-04-19T01:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=196406"},"modified":"2016-04-18T11:00:37","modified_gmt":"2016-04-18T18:00:37","slug":"music-that-moves-us-the-importance-of-beats-in-swimming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/music-that-moves-us-the-importance-of-beats-in-swimming\/","title":{"rendered":"Music That Moves Us: The Importance of Beats in Swimming"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Abby Bergman, Swimming World College Intern<\/em><\/p>\n

Out of the pool, I have almost no use for music in my everyday life. My sister will confirm that I couldn\u2019t carry a tune if it would save my life. I\u2019m not even allowed to play “Name That Tune” on car trips. However, I rely on songs in my head daily to get me through the toughest workouts and I listen to pump up music before I race. Some of my own personal favorite pump up and pacing songs include Bon Jovi\u2019s \u201cLivin’ on a Prayer\u201d and Beyonce\u2019s \u201cRun the World (Girls)\u201d.<\/p>\n

Because music is so important to my swimming, I decided to ask some other swimmers who swim in venues ranging from the college pool to the English Channel to World Championships how music plays a role in their training and competition.<\/p>\n

While some people approach meets with nervousness and a serious attitude, others choose to bring enthusiasm and goofiness onto the pool deck. One such person is Meri Millman<\/strong>, a captain on the Smith College Swimming and Diving Team, who has made a tradition out of dancing before, after, and during collegiate meets. Millman (in feature photo) credits the tense atmosphere at high school meets with giving her the idea that \u201cgetting everyone to dance and have fun would allow the team to bond together and relax a little bit. It works pretty well to get everyone involved and just have fun before any major event, and it warms you up if you\u2019ve been standing around for a long time waiting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like many sprinters, Millman also uses music to keep her focused on the work that needs to be done without overthinking her training. When asked about how music helps her daily Millman responds, \u201cI just have songs that I have listened to that day in my head, and they just help me not think about how hard the set is, and they put me into a different setting in my mind so I can just swim.\u201d Her favorite pump up songs include, \u201cThinking About You\u201d by Ke$ha and \u201cI Forgive You\u201d by Kelly Clarkson because of their powerful beats.<\/p>\n

Just as music helps swimmers prepare to be their best when competing in the pool, it can also be important for open water marathon swimmers. As a result of their characteristic length, marathon swims provide ample time for swimmers to think and sing in their heads. I spoke with Charlotte Samuels<\/a><\/strong>, the youngest person to complete the Triple Crown of Swimming and the first person to swim the 20 mile New York Bight, about how music helped her prepare for these taxing swims.<\/p>\n

\"Charlotte-Samuels-EC\"

Charlotte Samuels Swims the New York Bight, August 2015. Photo Courtesy: Samuels family<\/p><\/div>\n

The Triple Crown includes three challenging marathon swims; the Catalina Channel, the English Channel<\/a>, and the Manhattan Island Marathon Swim. Samuels recounts, \u201cbefore my channel swim we listened to \u2018Every Breath you Take\u2019 by The Police and it meant so much to me and my crew because I knew they really had my best interest in mind and they really were watching me. I thought about that every time I saw them on the deck watching me.\u201d This use of music helped Samuels feel connected to her crew, even as she technically alone in the ocean.<\/p>\n

Some swimmers prefer to use music as a training tool even though they do not rely on music at competitions. Jordan Wilimovsky<\/a><\/strong>, 2015 10K Open Water World Champion and member of the 2016 US Olympic Team, prefers music as a way to prepare for practice. Wilimovsky explains, \u201cI don’t really listen to music before I race, but I do a lot before training. I like anything from Royal Blood, The Black Keys, Arctic Monkeys, and Portugal The Man.\u201d The use of music to get excited before a practice can help energize swimmers and improve performance by increasing focus.<\/p>\n

Even coaches recognize the mental and physical benefits of music for swim training. Kim Bierwert<\/strong>, head coach\u00a0at Smith College, notes that while he does not personally care for music, he thinks it is very important for the way it allows swimmers to separate themselves \u201cfrom the pain associated with a race or training, or in some teams the drudgery of training.\u201d Bierwert, who has coached several successful English Channel swimmers, also believes that music can be useful for keeping track of and passing time during the long hours of a swim.<\/p>\n

So while my friends will be glad that I do not try to sing in our daily life, I can truly appreciate how important music is to so many of us in our workouts and competition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Abby Bergman, Swimming World College Intern Out of the pool, I have almost no use for music in my everyday life. My sister will confirm that I couldn\u2019t carry<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3462,"featured_media":196408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,17,11,7],"tags":[55240],"class_list":["post-196406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-commentary","category-open-water","category-usa","tag-abby-bergman"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nMusic That Moves Us: The Importance of Beats in Swimming<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/music-that-moves-us-the-importance-of-beats-in-swimming\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Music That Moves Us: The Importance of Beats in Swimming\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Abby Bergman, Swimming World College Intern Out of the pool, I have almost no use for music in my everyday life. 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