The 21 Club

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Brian Ruffles
Head Coach & Aquatics Director
Coe College Swimming and Diving

Three Rounds of:
7 x 100 @1:10/1:05/1:00
7 x 50 @:30/:35/:40

In each round the 100s interval decrease by :05 and the 50s increase by :05.  The 50s starting interval should be challenging while the 100s are more manageable.  You can customize it in many ways.  I have done the 100s free with the 50s specially, the 100s specialty with the 50s kick, or really whatever fits the group with the time of year.  I would make sure that the last round of 100s is not the interval that is too fast for them to make as the first two rounds will take a lot out of them.  If they make the set they join the prestigious 21 club!

Editor’s note: This set was first published on this blog in October 2015

It is amazing what people can accomplish with enough motivation!!!

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

This was our finish to practice today. We have done 25s underwater pretty consistently, so every swimmer knows his or her best time. The lifetime bests were written down on a dry erase board and this challenge was thrown. If you can beat your best twice, you get to go home. Amazingly, more than half of our swimmers were able to accomplish this feat. The mind is an amazing thing!

The I.M. Merry-Go-Round

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCM. We did this IM Set recently. At the conclusion of the set I asked each swimmer two give me two scores on a scale of 1-10. The first score was for how challenging the set was (lowest score was an 8), the second was for how well they thought they did (lowest score was a 7).

Note the stroke instructions on the right were different for each of the four parts on each round. On the 16×25 of the fly round, the EZ 25 was permitted to be freestyle, but on all other rounds all 25s were of the specific stroke.

Total distance: 4,000m

Total time: 1 hour, 20 minutes

Q: Why is it called the “I.M. Merry-Go-Round”?

A: Because it looks fun, but after an hour you can’t wait for it to stop!

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30 Swim Coaching Videos You Need to Watch

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Many of these have been featured in “the wake-up swim.” Here I put them all in one spot so you can binge-watch them if you wish.  -RW

Drill Videos:

1. “Paddlehead” drill for perfecting freestyle breathing technique.

Untitled

2. Backstroke Start Progression with Georgia Davies:

3. Breaststroke Speed Drill

4. Start Drill with Tyler McGill and Brett Hawke:

5. Breaststroke Single-leg kicking

6. The “Plunge for Distance”

7. Early Vertical Forearm Drill with Beth Winkowski

8. One-arm scoop drill. Classic. Simple. Helpful.

9. Freestyle catch drill with coach Steve Jungbluth:

10. Backstroke weight drill:

11. Backstroke cues:

12. Tow-in turns:

13. Stay tight for the turns:

Motivational/Philosophical Videos:

14. The great coach-player relationship between Steve Kerr and Steph Curry:

15. WHY do you coach?

16. Billy Donovan on building the best teams:

17. David Cutcliffe on confidence:

18. How NOT to motivate the lazy athlete with Brett Bartholomew:

Example Videos (to show your swimmers great technique):

19. Butterfly technique

20. Getting tight on a freestyle flip turn:

21. Dolphin Kicking and a Backstroke breakout:

22. Breaststroke Turn example with Nic Fink:

23. Freestyle from all angles:

24. Adam Peaty breaststroke:

25. Breaststroke from a head-on angle:

26. Backstroke head-on:

27. Kim Vandenberg’s Streamline and breakout:

28. Dana Vollmer’s Butterfly:

29. Butterfly from a side angle:

30. Breaststroke, “hiding” the kick behind the body

Fast Feet to the Wall

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Mike Cook, Mason Makos

For senior prep 11-15 year olds. We notice a lack of effort with our flip turns. Knees in a ball and feet not accelerating over the top. We worked on Monday with them and put them through this set today. The whole time reminding them the focus feet over the top and accelerate into the wall.

The next issue of “the wake-up swim” is coming soon. Check out the archives here to see what you’ve missed or you can sign up here.

Speed at the Start, Speed at the Finish

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCM. We timed the first 15m from a dive with a target time from our pace cards. The next 70m was focused on good turns, breakouts, and underwaters. With 15m to go, swimmers paused and floated/sculled at the surface. When 1 swimmer in each lane was ready, a coach yelled “Go” and they commenced a sprint to the finish.

The next issue of “the wake-up swim” is coming soon. Check out the archives here to see what you’ve missed or you can sign up here.