Don’t knock it until  you’ve tried it, says Jason Blackburn, owner and Facility Director of  Advanced Sports Kinetics (ASK) in Minot, ND, a proud member of Athletic  Republic. And Jason should know—he’s been training Dagny Knutson since she was 12 years old. Dagny recently  set a couple of national records at the North Dakota High School State  Championships, and is currently competing at the U.S. Short Course Nationals–in fact, she set a Championship Record in the 200 yard IM just last night.

Don’t misunderstand, Dagny  swims plenty of yards (miles) in the pool every day, under the guidance of her  swimming coach. But the training she and many other young swimmers do with  Blackburn at ASK certainly strays from the norm.

As Blackburn says,  this training is as unconventional as it is simple. Everything we do  at ASK is to prepare the athlete to succeed. The better conditioned an athlete  is, the greater the chance that athlete will swim at his or her optimal speed  more frequently.

The workouts Blackburn prescribes for Knutson  heavily incorporate the Super Treadmill, both as a finishing tool and for  power development. I know that when Dagny can run 20 miles per hour on that  treadmill, she’s going to be fast, Blackburn said.

Congratulations to Dagny for the national high school records she set earlier this fall. And good luck in upcoming events at the U.S. Short Course Championships.

PS: Dagny cleaned up at the U.S. Short Course Swimming Championships, setting three meet records and an American Record, taking 14 and 1/2 seconds off her previous best to set the American Record in the 400 yard IM. Read all about her success here.