Waterproof Coach

The Waterproof Coach, intended for both fitness swimmers and triathletes, is completely waterproof and can bring the book pool-side. The workouts are presented on heavyweight waterproof pages. Each page is cut into three segments–the first segment contains a warm up, the second a main set, and the third a cool down. Containing 30 pages of workouts, the book can easily be configured into over 6,700 different workouts by combining any warm up with any main set and any cool down. In other words, if the book is used three days a week, it will take over 40 years before the same workout is repeated.

The book presents three levels of workouts, from beginner to intermediate. The three segments allow swimmers to mix and match their workouts by combining any of the levels together. Swimmers can simply vary their routine by flipping the segments.

The book is written in an amusing and irreverent way. Lisa Berger, a United States Masters Swimmer and author of Feathering Your Nest, writes, “…it’s GREAT. The humor and enthusiasm are wonderfully infectious.”

The Waterproof Coach gets an underwater try out by a school of eager swimmers…

Reading aloud to two mermaids underwater.

You can use it on the pool deck too…really!

Book Reviews

 Waterproof Coach is an Ideal Training Partner

 Inside Triathlon

December 1997

The Waterproof Coach by Thomas Denes is the perfect training companion for both the beginning swimmer and the seasoned triathlete looking to jazz up a workout.

The first few pages introduce you, the reader, to The Waterproof Coach, a.k.a., the book. This Q&A section is almost like a new, patient training partner swimming alongside you. Denes defines terms every new swimmer needs to know, and questions such as “What’s a main set?”, “How long do I cool down?” and “Must I sing my favorite Carpenters’ song while flip-turning?” are not only answered, but anticipated.

The second section, “Workouts,” is perhaps the most creative and user friendly component of the book. Denes has turned his book sideways, dividing three flip-page compartments into “Warm Up,” “Main Set,” and “Cool down.” Goggle icons tell you at a glance whether a workout is basic (one goggle), intermediate (two goggles) or advanced (three goggles). And, because each page is independent of the other two, you can mix and match workouts for more than 6,700 different combinations.

The Waterproof Coach helps you keep track of how far you’ve swum with a yard tally at the bottom of each workout. Denes provides hints about stroke technique, and a closing epilogue has helpful tips about lap swimming and lane etiquette. And, with 54 waterproof, easy-to-flip pages, WPC can go with you anywhere.

The Waterproof Coach is fun to read and flip through. More important, with so many workout choices, it’s never boring. Denes, an international and national masters competitor, brings humor and enthusiasm to his book, making The Waterproof Coach the perfect training partner.

6,700 Workouts to Flip For

Fitness Swimmer

October/November 1997

The Waterproof Coach is not a life-size, inflatable doll with a whistle and stopwatch. It’s a spiral-bound workout book with waterproof pages cut into three segments, like a children’s picture flip book. Each third of a page is either a warm-up, a main set, or a warm-down, ranging from easy to advanced. You can swim the workout on a whole page or mix up the thirds, doing an easy warm-up and warm-down and a tough main set, for example. The whole workouts total anywhere from 800 to 2,500 yards, with suggested intervals and rest. And you’ll never run out of workouts. It would take you 19 years, swimming one workout a day, to swim all of the 6,700 possible variations.

The Waterproof Coach

Swim Magazine

September/October 1997

Finally–a swimming book you can take to the pool. What a great idea!

The Waterproof Coach is a book of workout that can be used on the pool deck– or even in the water. It is printed on waterproof paper in workout segments with each segment on its own set of side-by-side flip cards. Divided into warm-up, main wet and cool-down, the book enables you to create literally thousands of workouts by flipping through the cards.

The swimmer is alerted to each set’s difficulty by a cute code using different numbers of goggles. About 25 percent of the sets are easy, 50 percent are of medium difficulty and 25 percent are advanced. The easy workouts total about 800 to 1,200 yards; a medium workout is 1,700 to 2,200 yards, and an advanced workout is 3,000 to 3,300 yards. Of course, you could swim an easy warm-up, a medium main set and an advanced cool-down!

If you’re a swimmer without a coach and swim a certain number of minutes, this book would be a great way to enter the much-more-interesting world of interval swimming. Also, coached swimmers can use the book for workout ideas when training alone or away from home.

The Waterproof Coach , which offers freestyle as the dominant stroke, starts with a non-technical introduction to workout technology. The major departure from most Masters workouts is that a long cool-down rather than a sprint set follows the main set.

The author provides recommended rest intervals between each swim, a necessity since the workouts need to fit swimmers of many speeds.

Book Reviews: The Waterproof Coach

Transition Times

October 1997

I was recently given the opportunity to try out a very interesting new concept in swim workouts.   A waterproof coach. Unlike swimming with my regular coach who, when splashed, became wet and irritated, this one didn’t mind at all.   That is because this coach, ‘The Waterproof Coach,’ is a coated workout book designed for pool side use. You can splash it, dunk it and soak it and you can just dry it off with a towel.

The first section of the book carefully explains the different sets of the swim workout. This is done in a fun but informational dialogue between The Waterproof coach (WPC) and the Skeptical Swimmer (SS).

The second section is the real meat of the book. Each page is physically cut into three flipping sections. The left flap is all your warm up sets. The middle is your main sets and the right one is your cool down sets. So basically you can pick from 30 warm up sets, 30 main sets and 30 cool down sets. The best part of this book is that since each section flips independently you pick your individual sets and look all them at once. The book finishes up with some final notes, a lane etiquette section and a

more info page.

I do recommend this book since it helps motivate you into finishing your workouts.

The Waterproof Coach

Triathlete Magazine

February 1999

Need some help outside your master’s swim program? The Waterproof Coach may be the handy answer. Spiral-bound for easy flipping, its pages are divided into three segments: warm-ups, main sets and cool-downs—ranging from easy to advanced. Distances vary from 800 to 3,500 yards, with a total of 6,700 possible workout variations. According to author Tom Denes, it would take 19 years (swimming one workout a day) to swim all of the possible workouts.