Einstein’s Theory of Insanity and How it Pertains to Swimming

Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity by Carl Wilkinson (author), James Weston Lewis (illustrator)

“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” – Albert Einstein (Theoretical Physicist b1879 -d1955)

If this is so, swimmers are insane. Mental people who are also delusional.  You spend months and months, years and years swimming up and down the pool, doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. You expect your technique to improve and your times to drop. So, who is right, Einstein or you?

It’s tricky, because, like those shifty quarks in the universal sub-atomic soup, the truth, is illusive. I think the answer lies in knowing when to do something different and when to keep doing the same thing to get the results you desire. How can you know? Come take a swim with me through the murky waters of Einstein’s theory of Insanity.

What did Einstein mean by “same thing,”?

I think he meant cleaning your house with a tooth pick instead of a vacuum cleaner, or opening a door with mental telepathy instead of a key, or reducing carbon emissions while still using fossil fuels. This looks like insanity to me.

In these examples, knowing when to do something different is clearly helpful and sane. 

Get a Good Coach

Obviously, Einstein didn’t have a good coach.

A good coach will keep you sane. She will reflect back to you what you are doing in your swimming. Your coach will video you and analyse your stroke. She will tell you what you need to keep, and what you need to change. Seeing yourself swim is the best way to help you understand the truth about your swimming.

When to Keep Doing the Same thing?

When embedding new technique or building swim fitness.

That new technique you learned from your coach or online is something that needs to be practiced. This means doing the same thing over and over and getting feedback from someone in the know, preferably your coach.

Building swim fitness is all about swimming the same swim set, once a week, at your aerobic threshold pace. I won’t get into here; this topic is a blog on its own. You don’t want to swim too fast or too slow. The threshold is also called your Critical Swim Speed (CSS). It might feel like the same thing every week, but your speed will improve over time.

Consistency of performance is crucial, and this can only be achieved by doing the same good things week in and out. It’s the way modern athletes train.

When to do something Different?

When you want to change your technique. You want to have a high elbow catch; you will have to learn to let the hand lead under the water. Something different. You want to have a good push out at the back of your stroke, you will have to keep your hand facing backwards instead of turning it to your hip. Something different.

This is the moment where you have to let go of your former swimming self and re-imagine yourself in another form, another movement. Initially the result might look different to what you imagined.

Most technique changes come with having to slow down your pace. But once ingrained you will swim faster and more efficiently.

Re-phrasing Einstein’s Theory

Re-phrasing the theory brings some relief because it acknowledges our humanness and speaks more easily into our own experience. What if it said, ‘Sanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results,’ or ‘Insanity is thinking you are the same person today as you were yesterday and doing the same thing will produce the same results.’

How does that make you feel? If you have ever watched Darts or Golf, you will know that doing the same thing over and over does not necessarily bring the same result.

Why is it so hard to get the same results?  

You are not the same person day-in and day- out

Why is that? You are in constant change: physically, mentally and spiritually. Each time you come to the pool you are a changed person – not new, just changed. Your experiences between your swims will influence your results, for better or for worse.

What can change you?

1.      Change itself. On boarding of a new technique will physically change the structure of your brain.

2.      How you feel. Are your thoughts positive or negative? Life circumstances change the way we feel about the world and the training you are about to do.

3.      Health: Sickness can change our energy and motivation levels significantly and vise-versa. Sickness also has the ability to remove a certain level of fitness. Your Critical Swim Speed will go down.

4.      Where you are in your cycle. Performance, motivation and energy levels will be different depending where you are in your cycle; stronger and more motivated in the follicular phase and down on power and motivation in the luteal phase.

5.      Fitness. Your level of fitness changes how you respond to the training and what training load your body can endure.

6.      Visualisations. Seeing yourself swim correctly in your head changes how you actually swim. Watching videos of others swim helps you mimic those movements. Best you choose the right videos.

Expect Different results

Do the same things, expect different results. Be happy when the results are the same. It means that something is working well in your routine or some change is constant for that moment.

Expecting different results is not a fatalistic statement saying that things will never improve or that you won’t get better. It is a statement of truth reflecting our life journey.

I promise you that most of it will be up, but when there is a dip, or a fall in your result, it won’t crush your motivation. Analyse what changed in you to bring about that result.

Our brain has an irritating tendency to remember us at our fittest and best. It is a nice to have memory but dangerous when you are coming back from injury, the birth of a child or when you feel unprepared for an upcoming swimming event.

Motivation

There is nothing motivating in Einstein’s words. In fact, it is only demotivating. Why bother training if nothing is going to change.

Motivation is a strong indicator of swimming success, not only to improve technique but also get faster and fitter.

Einstein was not a Swimmer

Einstein could not swim. If only Einstein had been a swimmer, imagine what one-liner he would have come up with then? The quote by Einstein hurts our understanding of ourselves and the ability to grow through our constant good habits. Keep doing the same things and expect different results. Keep embracing the change in your swimming life and enjoy every moment of it, because it might stay the same.