Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY

Free Swimming Workouts, Sets, Ideas, and Dryland Exercises from Professional Coaches Around the World
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
A favorite way to end practice: The Guessing Game. Turn off the pace clocks and swim 100s at any pace based on feel. The group is one team, with the goal to get out of practice as soon as possible with a few fun incentive possibilities. Yes, we still had practice the next day.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We have done something very similar in the past. This was modified from other versions to include a certain number of kicks rather than a specific underwater distance. UWK = Underwater Kick. SCM.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
On the 300s, the focus was on breathing every 3 strokes and executing good turns. On the 50s, the goal was simply to be at 1650 free pace (PMile).
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
We started off with a little swimming golf (add your time and cycles, bring the total lower) just to check in with efficiency before we really got going. Blue 50s at 200 race pace with fast 75s sandwiched in the middle. We got an excellent effort on the 75s kick, and that sometimes caused the 50s at pace to be a little off. After the 3rd sandwich, the 4 x 75s kick at the bottom were a surprise (they were not written on the set originally) and a challenge. Opening up the interval a bit and challenging them to rise to the occasion worked like magic.
Gwynn Harrison, Bridgewater College
SCM
6 x 25 w/ MONOFIN – odds kick, hands at side….evens swim for form on 30
3 x 100 Fly – 75 Build to RED, 25 Free DPS on 1:40
200 IM @ RED on 3:10
6 x 25 Back – Odds kick with hand crossed in front/ Evens Extended breakouts on :30
2 x 200 – 150 Build to BLUE / 50 Free DPS on 3:10
1 x 300 IM (75 each stroke – build to FAST exchanges) on 4:45
6 x 25 w/ MONOFIN – Swim Breaststroke on :30
1 x 400 IM FAST, TIMED
100 Easy – Regroup
8 x 25 on :25 Free – Build into fast flip
2 x 100 w/ FINS + Paddles FAST on 2:00
300 Recovery – 75 Back (25DAB)75 free
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
A handful of our swimmers are preparing for an open water swim, so I included some “sighting” practice in the first part of this set. The race portion flowed well from that first part.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Our two favorite inexpensive ways to train with resistance. We use 1-gallon buckets attached to a waist belt and @aquavolo ‘s Drag Sox.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Golf= add time (in seconds) + cycles (per 50). Bring this score down.
OTB = off the blocks, fast.
All choice, but do the Golf and OTB the same stroke for each part.
Context: we are less than 48 hours after our first SCY meet of the season, where we swam a very full order of events in short sessions. We had a medium-difficulty practice yesterday. We were on fire with this today.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
This set is a spin on a classic IM set. We build up from 50 to 150 like we are getting ready for a 200 IM. Instead of a 200, the IM swim in the middle of the set is a mystery distance ranging between 100 and 1000m, to be announced just before it is swum.
We did 3 rounds as shown. The mystery distance ms we did were 300, 400, and 100m. The 100 was done FAST for time.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
3K1P = 3kicks, 1 pull
2 up/2 Down = 2 normal strokes, 2 underwater strokes
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
This freestyle set presents the challenge of descending within a set and dropping the interval. The four different columns of intervals represent different lanes within our group (this practice is in a 25m pool). We used the red sets of 50s in between as a buffer to allow us to regroup for each subsequent set. JMI = Just Make It.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY. Today’s set combined two concepts. We used Golf (time in seconds + cycles per 50, descend the total 1-3) and Eddie Reese’s Texas 25s set. The result was some fast, efficient swimming. “That was harder than I expected!” said several swimmers with a smile.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Some days I write the entire practice out for our group to see before we begin. Other days, I like to give it to them step by step or in parts. I firmly believe there is an enormous mental difference between these two methods of presentation, and each has its pros and cons.
This set was presented to the swimmers in parts. The first part was written on the board with the instructions to hold a consistent pace at each step and that we would be doing a total of four rounds, erasing one line from the set with each subsequent round and possibly changing the instructions. (JMI = Just Make It)
Round went well, so we upped the ante significantly for round 2:
Part 2 was a significant increase in challenge, leaving them wondering/guessing what part 3 would bring. Well, here it is. Not what they might have expected, but they could pretty well guess what Part 4 would be once they saw Part 3. And they stepped up with some great swims! OTB = Off the blocks (dive). FPA = Fastest Possible Average
Context: We are at the beginning of our third week of training and thus far we have done very little high intensity work for any significant distance. The swimmers who performed the set on the intervals listed have best 100-yard free times ranging from :43.8 to :47.3. We had a few other athletes with slightly slower best times performing the same set on intervals that were :05 slower for Part 1 and Part 2.
We ended up with many lifetime-best practice times and a challenging practice with a motivated group.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Fly-IM is Fly-Back-Br-Fly, which we did for the even swims on this set. The elevated interval on the evens includes the rest for each broken part of the swim.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM.
P.T. = Perfect Technique
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
This set was a good challenge for our group in the second week of practice. For backstrokers, this set was all backstroke. For IMer/Fly types, they went 50fly/50back and could choose either stroke to do for the drill.
The main idea is to have the discipline and sense of pace to successfully drop time on the 100s nine times in a row. By the end of the set, those who were diligent were cooking pretty good. Intervals were set to be moderately challenging so that swimmers could slack off completely on the first one or two 100s. 1:20/1:30/1:40 represent A/B/C intervals for three different levels of swimmers.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did this set in a pool with maximum depth of 4.5 feet. That allows for some challenging blastoffs (push vertically off the bottom in a streamline) and some good vertical turns (push off the bottom into a flip turn that happens mostly OUT of the water). We ended up doing them on 1:30 in a 25m pool.
Coach Blake Proffitt, SwimRVA, Richmond, Virginia
LCM
Instructions were to go fast on all the fly efforts…some had to build in order to finish each effort fast, others had to go shorter distances of fly
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM. On the “fast” freestyle 150, I wanted the swimmers to push themselves but with a sharper focus on the technical aspects we have been working on than usual. “Don’t just give it a good physical effort, give it a good mental effort.”
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Gave this to our team today to get the mental gears of goal-setting turning.
Coach Sarah Dombrowski
Editor: There are some good nuggets here! Enjoy!
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did this set using a few 50m lanes and a 12m diving well. The diving well has a chain link fence about 12 feet from the dive of the pool that is perfect for anchoring stretch cords. For the buckets/Sox station, we used hockey pucks on the bottom to indicate the distances.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
LCM
We needed an all-purpose practice with a little bit of everything. This set was done in a 50m pool. (Olympic course).
3 rounds:
1 x 400 Free @ 5:20 Paddles & snorkel, steady pace but sprint 2 strokes into every turn
2 x 200 IM @ 3:10 Descend 1-2
3 x 100 No Free
Rd 1 – Descend 1-3 @ 2:00
Rd 2 – 50 fast/50ez @ 2:30
Rd 3 – FPA (Fastest Possible Average) @ 3:00