Book Review; Maglischo's "Swimming Fastest"

Ernest W. Maglischo's Swimming Fastest is his third iteration of the ultimate competitive swimming reference. Swimming Fastest (2003) was preceded by his Swimming Faster (1982) and his Swimming Even Faster (1993). Much like his first two books, the huge volume is broken into three parts: Technique, Training, and Racing.

In this third version Maglischo has made many updates to his previous works. Most of the changes have come in the Technique part of the book. Maglischo had promoted a theory of swimmer propulsion based on the idea that athletes were using their hands and limbs like foils, or even propellers, through the water. In Swimming Fastest, Maglischo, has modified his theory to account for recent research that suggests athletes use their limbs like paddles to push water backward, thus propelling them forward. As someone who had read Swimming Faster and Swimming Even Faster, I must say I am relieved that he has modified his stance. I never found the foil theories of lift and propulsion very intuitive. The Technique portion of the book uses the laws of physics, graphs, diagrams, and his descriptive text to throroughly cover every stroke, turn, and start.

The Training portion of Maglischo's book may be the most useful. It is filled with scientific explainations of muscle fibers, the circulatory system, and the repiratory system. It covers the effects of training and suggests methods and volumes for training the various energy systems thought to be in use during workouts and competition. It is written for the science buff and the layman alike.

The final and smallest part of the book is Racing. In Racing Maglischo covers the importants of warm-up/cool down as well as race pacing and strategy. He also covers evaluation techniques including calculating stroke rates and stroke lengths.

It is impossible to give more than a cursory overview of this all-in-one manual. It is truly a must for any coach's library. As it says on the cover of Swimming Fastest: "The essential reference on technique, training, and program design"