Meet Alex:
I help swimmers go from being frustrated and in pain to feeling empowered and confident in the pool again.
I have been exactly where you are…
During my sophomore year of college, my performance took a nosedive. Butterfly was my signature stroke, but suddenly, I found myself swimming times slower than I did in my freshman year of high school.
The summer after my freshman year of college, I thought losing some weight would boost my performance. At first, it seemed like it was helping. So, I kept pushing to shed even more pounds.
However, I couldn’t ignore the signs – I was always cold, moody, and constantly craving food. But I convinced myself it was all for the sake of my swimming. Little did I know, it was one of the worst things I could have done for my performance.
My first meet back as a sophomore in college was a disaster. I struggled to finish races, and it was clear that something had to change. So, I began to eat more and slowly started feeling like my normal self, except for one thing – my butterfly.
It never quite bounced back.
It was perplexing, frustrating, and disheartening. I went from making top 8 in my freshman year in the 200 fly to not even making finals. It felt like I had lost all the strength and power in my butterfly.
To make matters worse, I began experiencing shoulder pain that started really mess with my swimming. I felt totally lost. I started to lose my passion for the sport I had always loved. Thankfully, I found an amazing physical therapist who helped me start making progress with my butterfly as I prepared for my junior year.
I sought the help of another physical therapist/trainer once I got back to school that fall, driven by my determination to regain speed and power in butterfly.
However, things took a turn for the worse again. I wasn’t getting the attention I needed and was given generic exercises that didn’t address my swimming-specific concerns. It was frustrating.
My fly never fully recovered, but from this experience, I discovered my mission – to assist swimmers get back to swimming pain free and to give swimmer’s around the world have access to quality care.
Let’s saddle up, because there is a lot of work to be done.
As Featured In…
A Little Bit More Information
I started swimming when I was 8 years old at a local summer pool and fell in love with swimming instantly. Soon after, I began year-round swimming for a local club team and then eventually joined Eagle Swim Team.
At Eagles, my passion for swimming took off. I was obsessed with swimming. With any free time, I was looking at the latest swimming news, looking up swimming results, and trying to find any information I could on how the top swimmers trained. My club coach once told my mom that he looked at swimswam every day before practice to be prepared in case I asked him about any recent events in the swimming world.
I went on to swim at Boston University and served as captain my senior year. During summers, I would coach summer swimming and really enjoyed the process of helping swimmers reach their goals. It was then I decided to combine my passion for movement science and swimming, and to become a physical therapist that specialized in the treatment of swimmers, triathletes, other endurance athletes.
Since finishing my swimming career I have started racing triathlons. I have had tremendous success applying what I have learned from swimming to other endurance sports as well as applying what I have learned from biking/running to swim. I currently treat patients in person at Life Strength Physical Therapy in Towson, Maryland.