The 80's Pop Culture Aggression Scale

 Today while swimming I was pondering last night's meet.  To be honest it was slightly disappointing with the number of PRs that were made.  I still have to process all the videos and go through them, but my initial impression was that many swims were simply not aggressive enough.  I always like to do similarities in concepts.  So the concept I came up with is common 80's characters that relate to an "Aggressive, Competitive, and Toughness" scale (ACT).  The scale goes from 1 to 10.

Here is what I came up with:

1 - Mr Rogers.  He doesn't have an aggressive bone in his body.  Don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy and teaches kids about love, acceptance, and being happy with yourself.  But not in how to be aggressive, or desirous of greater physical strength or domination.  Bluntly, he's a total weakling and the kind of person who would easily be bullied in school, and would just sing a song about it when he got home. 

3 - Ferris Bueller.  Someone who is "chill", and is laid back, but also shows a little more interest in just going with the flow. He sluffs school and tries to hide it, as his ultimate goal is to just have fun with as little energy spent as possible. Not really a go-getter and is somewhat lazy.  He definitely isn't a physical threat in any way.

Daniel nervously biting his nails

5 - Daniel Larusso, "The Karate Kid" - kind of a wimp, but has enough drive to do something about it.  But still, gets his butt kicked in the tournament and cries about it in the locker room.  Luckily he had a coach perform a miraculous clap massage to get him off the padded table. He didn't give up, and still won with a fancy unconventional crane kick. Earning his "5" on the scale.

8 - Rocky Balboa - Rocky is determined, works hard, and doesn't give up.  He isn't the brightest guy in the world, but this scale isn't about smarts. He gets an 8 because he still has some work to do in being more consistently aggressive. In Rocky III, he starts out at a 7, and when he comes back to beat Clubber Lane, he is more of a 9.  But overall, he averages out at an 8.

10 Ultimate Warrior - I can't think of anyone more chaotically aggressive than the Ultimate Warrior from WWE.  He was so wild and ferocious, that he came across as frankly psycho.  Everything about his personality and the way he conducted himself came across as over-the-top energized.  Almost as if he were crazy.  To the point of making him entertaining to watch.

What number on the ACT scale above, should you be in a swim meet at an event?  Well, a lot of it is determined by what event you are swimming.  In my opinion, a 50 should be a 10.  A 100 should be a 9 or 10.  A 200 should be an 8. 500 should be a 6 or 7 for the first 300 and then after that progressively kicking it up to 10 on the last 50 yards.  It's about pacing yourself.  For most people, If you do a 10 in the 1650, you won't last.  

While swimming in practice, you need to often be able to demonstrate you can "flip the switch" to a 10.  That you are physically used to exerting yourself to that level and maintaining it.   If you express a 10 on aggression at the start of a race, but physically aren't able to maintain that level, that too is a problem.  It isn't all about how psyched up you can get.  

But in terms of pure mental aggression which can reveal itself in physical ways, you need to be able to demonstrate you can perform at a 10 on the ACT scale.

Anyway, this morning's workout consisted of:

Warmup: 

• 300 Warmup - Bilateral Breathing
• 400 Kick with fins

Main Set:

• 6 x 100's 
• Odd Free Build
• Even Stroke Build (Back, Breast Free)
• 800 - 4 x 200's pull on 2:30
• 1000 Snorkel Free
• 600 - 12 x 50's IM order on 1:00
• 400 Kick with fins

Cooldown:

• 200 IM easy
• 100 Free 

4,400 yards total