Australian swimmer Jack McLoughlin tapping into his subconscious to ensure best performance

BEEP … beep … beep. Like a fridge with a door left open, an annoying sound to a normal person is actually a formula to make Jack McLoughlin swim to victory.

Jack Mcloughlin has adopted an intriguing practice to ensure he’s at his peak

THE secret to Jack McLoughlin’s rise from obscurity to Olympic 1500m freestyler is the song that is permanently stuck in his head.

It’s not just any old song or lyrics though. McLoughlin listens to a permanent beep … beep … beep sound that he deliberately forced into his subconscious via a metronome he created himself.

Like a fridge with a door left open, an annoying sound to a normal person is actually a formula to make the Brisbane 21-year-old swim fast.

It’s pretty much exactly the same (as having a song stuck in your head) and it just keeps going. It was one of my tricks I like to use to make sure I hold my same stroke rate.

Jack McLoughlin

McLoughlin knows for him to swim the perfect 1500m race and reach his potential, he must stick to a certain stroke rate. And the rhythm of that stroke rate is the beep … beep … beep he has stored on his phone that he will play all day and night before a race.

It was how the engineering university student posted a stunning 14:48.60 swim at the trials to go from nowhere to the fourth fastest Australian of all-time.

“When you get it in your head you can’t really let it go and it just helps me keep it going,” McLoughlin said.

“It just beeps every time you need to take an arm stroke.

“We use it in training quite a bit, (before selection trials) I had it playing in my room and when I slept so when I got to the final subconsciously I still had that beep, beep, beep in my head so I could just keep up with it.

Chandler swim club member Jack McLoughlin. Picture: Renae Droop

“It’s pretty much exactly the same (as having a song stuck in your head) and it just keeps going. It was one of my tricks I like to use to make sure I hold my same stroke rate.”

McLoughlin’s rise to swim team rookie is stunning for the fact Australia’s selection criteria was so tight he needed a time good enough to make last year’s world titles final just to make the team.

His time would not have only made the final, it would’ve won him a bronze medal.

He will now head to the Rio Olympic Games determined to first reach the final where he knows “anything can happen.”

McLoughlin, who is an ambassador for Funky Trunks swim wear, has plotted his race meticulously and just has to get to Rio and execute under pressure.

“I am quite a nut about it, I make sure I know every split I need to be holding,” he said.

“At the moment I’ve got a race model up for Rio and I’m just making sure I look at the times here and there and know how I have to swim it if I want to make that final.”

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Originally published as Australian swimmer Jack McLoughlin tapping into his subconscious to ensure best performance