Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
3:00 kick is just steady pace, choice of kick. All 25s are maximum CONSISTENT underwater kicks.

Free Swimming Workouts, Sets, Ideas, and Dryland Exercises from Professional Coaches Around the World
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
3:00 kick is just steady pace, choice of kick. All 25s are maximum CONSISTENT underwater kicks.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
We have done some IM sets like this before, but this one worked well. The fly up front was just enough to establish some fatigue to make the 175s a challenge. Beating 200 IM best time on the 3rd and 6th 175 was a doable but not easy objective.
Sebastian Sieburger, SC Schaffhausen
LCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Instructions on the 400s were to keep it steady and make the interval by :10+. Intervals for 200s are a bit faster with instructions to push the pace. 25s are to maintain an underwater focus under fatigue. A,B,C intervals for 400s and 200s. For the 25s, A group does 8, B group does 6, C group does 4, allowing us to stay pretty close together on the set.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
At the beginning of my career (20+ years ago), I would have my team do a T-30 test multiple times per season. Since that time, I have gradually moved away from long steady paced swims such as that. The set below is the kind of thing I am more likely to do now. Each of the timed sets is “As Many Rounds As Possible” (AMRAP) with a set distance and rest to repeat. The amount of rest scales down with the distances, which allows for a pretty direct comparison of pace as the times decrease. We recorded each swimmer’s distances (to the nearest meter) on a dry erase board for all to see. As the time was cut in half, swimmers were urged to exceed 1/2 of their previous distance on the next swim. The 5:00 swims in between allowed for recovery and emphasis on technical reminders. Overall, it was a successful set with high levels of effort and engagement!
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
We did the 200s at the end on 3:00.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Coach Elliot Ptasnik, Aloha Aquatica Pro Group
A few terms to explain:
RI = rest jnterval
DR = drill
JS = Jump start (push off the wall on the surface directly into swimming)
P100= Race pace for the 100
SC = stroke count
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Sebastian Sieburger, Head Coach, SC Schaffhausen
LCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
After some time off and a few days back to training, we needed to do something fast(ish) not too repeatedly intense. Adding in some active recovery on a generous interval seemed to do the trick.
SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
With this set, we were aiming to repeat stroke parameters over and over at a high level: UW kicks, Cycle count, Breathing pattern, and time (around 1-2 seconds off P100).
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
I’ve posted before about The Guessing Game and The Guessing Game for Sprinters.
Tonight we tried the guessing game with a new twist: Elimination.
We had 12 swimmers in the pool near the end of practice. Everyone swam a 100 free (any speed) and immediately had to guess their times. Top 3 swimmers who guessed closest to their actual time got to climb out and go home. Everyone else swam again and repeated the process. Incredibly, in order to be in the top 3 in the first round, a swimmer had to guess within 0.8 seconds. Similar results happened in subsequent rounds as the group sharpened their skills. One swimmer managed to finish 4th in both the first and second rounds.
The final three swimmers had the task of cleaning up the deck (equipment, etc.) before leaving.
Overall, it was a fun (and agonizing for some) way to finish practice.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This one has a little bit of everything.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
The format is similar to my most recent other post, with a more aerobic focus. The intervals stay the same for each part, with the quantities at each interval shifting slightly. The effect is a set that gets steadily a bit harder, with the peak intensity coming in the final 4 x 150 at the end. FPA = Fastest Possible Average.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
I like doing sets like this for our middle-distance races. Doing just a few 50s at 500 pace doesn’t do much, but when you add some real quantity and change up the interval with short rest, you start mimicking the burn of that 4th 100 of the race. Warning: this one hurts!
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Coach Molly Hebzynski, University of Northern Colorado
We’ve done set variations of this set, but the one below is my favorite, and our swimmers too! We focus on maintaining a good body line and maximizing every catch without breathing. LB = Low buoy, NB = No Breath, the strap is a band around the ankles. On the 25s, our ultimate goal is to see how fast they can move across the pool in a 25 with no out-of-water arm recovery to check their catch efficiency.
SCY
2x
2×150 @ 2:30 50 Strap/50 Reg/50 LB (The switch at the walls is intended to be quick)
6×25 @ 1:00 NB Long Dog (Long Dog is the UW catch & pull)
R1: + LB
R2: + Strap
2×25 @ :45 Free NB @ 20 BB (20 Beats below Max HR)
1×100 @ 2:00 Reset/Recovery
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Our breaststroke group did this set using the green long belt slider from Strechcordz. The double pullout ensures that they feel resistance on all cycles 1-10. We got some excellent results on the descending 100s after the cords.
SCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Every 50 and 75 was off the blocks.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
I know we aren’t very far into the year, but this one was REALLY good.
SCY
Swimmers partnered up. The 25s and 50s were fast off the blocks for time. Half of our group swam while the other half videoed them using their phones (“peer coaching”). Swimmers gave each other feedback. I was impressed with the quality of the feedback and the amount of teaching/learning that was happening. And we swam fast too!
Swimmer A would do all three of the 25s before swimmer B did the 25s. This allows for shorter time between performance, feedback, and repetition. Coach feedback was used to supplement and guide swimmer-provided feedback.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Many breaststrokers struggle on quality sets if they haven’t had a significant amount of breaststroke-specific warmup. This one was a bit of a pre-set specifically aimed at getting the br crew going.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA