What Is 3S?

Coaches are always asking us, "Exactly what do you have to offer?" Unfortunately, as sports scientists we don't always explain it as well as we would like, but recently we received a letter from Matt Barany that sums things up pretty well from a coach's perspective.

3S For DUMMIES

In a nutshell…   Super Sport Systems (3S), created by Dr. Sergei Beliaev and his counterparts, is an online training tool for national, collegiate, age group, and recreational coaches and athletes. It is a tool that enables coaches to better plan their daily, weekly, and season training plans. It does not replace the coach, nor does it interfere with the relationship between the coach and his athletes. In fact it actually enhances both.

What do I get?   3S is a web-based suite of coaching tools. To get started 3S collects biographical information on each athlete (or group) to create an online profile. This profile uses vitals like gender, birth date, height, and weight in conjunction with the swimmer’s best distance, current best time, and the swimmer’s (and coach’s) goal time for that season. Using this information along with your meet schedule, the 3S program builds daily training plans for your athletes over the course of the season. But even after a coach starts to use the 3S System, he is not permanently locked into the training program 3S provides. A coach is always able to manipulate the suggested plan throughout the season, if conditions warrant. For instance a coach may want to change some parameters of training due to illness or an injury. However, steering too far from the suggested 3S training plan will jeopardize the planned results at season’s end.       

How do I use it?   After you create profiles for your athletes, you will be able to interact with the website and its numerous tools. The jumping-off-spot is the “Training Control Center.” This page is your gateway to the 3S training program. On this page alone the coach can see the suggested work-outs for that day as well as total volume for the week, planned result on “best” distance for the week, links to a weekly planner, a result analyzer, a season volume adjuster, energy zone descriptions, intensity level charts, and more! The suggested daily workout supplies general guidance as to how much volume should be done that day and at what rate (speed, power, and heart rate) this work should be done. All of this information is very useful, and following these suggestions does not restrict the coach’s authority in any way. The coach still has jurisdiction over technique, efficiency, motivation, etc. This system is a great tool for coaches. It was never intended to replace the coach!

Why is 3S so important?   3S is important because it offers coaches the tools they need to help their athletes reach their potential. It not only plans the training season towards the desired results, but it also offers tools that will enable you to evaluate your athletes’ performance and monitor their progress with scientific precision throughout the season. I really don’t know of anything else that does so much, or works nearly as well.

Why should I use it?    Because it works! All the time with swimmers of all abilities. For experienced coaches 3S offers the reassurance that what you are doing is scientifically sound, and provides an array of tools that will allow you to experiment intelligently with training plans, season planning, and the design of daily workouts. For eager coaches 3S will give you insight into planning a season, perhaps more detailed than you have been able to do before. It also presents new methodology, like the way it introduces speed training and parametric training.

The bottom line…    Guaranteed results. Lots of career and personal best times. Record-breaking seasons. Coaching knowledge I can’t get anywhere else. All for around $10 a month for each registered athlete! I can’t think of a better investment.

Matt Barany

Head Swim Coach, University of Richmond