The Fight Against Ugly Fly

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

I like this fly set because it asks swimmers to go fast fly under general fatigue from the swims – we can fight “ugly fly” while avoiding doing any actual ugly fly. This workout is in SCM.

Make sure you are following the Swimming Wizard on Instagram and Twitter for hundreds more ideas, sets, and swim workouts from coaches all over the world.

The Guessing Game

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

We played the guessing game the other day at practice. One of my favorite conclusions to practice. On this particular day, had three athletes training long after others who were tapering were out. We did 5 x 100 before achieving the necessary 6 points for the group. One athlete guessed her time exactly to the tenth of a second. Original idea from Gregg Troy.

Make sure you are following the Swimming Wizard on Instagram and Twitter for hundreds more ideas, sets, and swim workouts from coaches all over the world.

Effective 7k Speed Practice

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Brad Herndon, Greensboro Community YMCA

Warm-Up (600):

600 – 75 Swim/25 Skull

Pre-Set (1200):

 8 x

1 x 75 flutter kick on back @ 1:15

1 x 50 Swim (IMO by rd)  @ :45

1 x 25 Dk or BR Kick @ :30

PULL SET (800):

 1 x 800 FR Pull with paddles, buoy, snorkel

Build ¾ c-up into sprint last 25 of each 100

Main Set (2100):

4 x (FINS)

8 x 25’s w/ Fins FAST @ :15 (Goal is to hold under 12 with great underwaters)

1 x 100 EZ @ 2:00

– Extra 1  x 100 without fins @ 2:00 (Prep for Sequel)

4 x (NO FINS)

6 x 25’s FAST @ :20 (Goal is to hold under 15 with good race habits)

1 x 50 EZ/Prep @ 1:00

Post Set (1500):

3x (SHORT FINS)

1 x 200 Fr w/ paddles @ 2:30

1 x 150 Skull or kick mix @ 2:30

1 x 100 Backstroke build turnover @ 1:30

1 x 50 All out anything @ 1:00

Kick-Drill-Sprint Set (700):

7 x 100’s @ 1:45

All are 1 x 50 burnout flutter with board, 25 focused drill, 25 all out sprint

Cool-Down (100):

100 EZ (minimum)

5-lane Snakes

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

As I have written about before, we have use of five 6.5-foot wide lanes in a 25m pool. This makes training butterfly a challenge, particularly for our swimmers whose wingspans are as wide as the lanes.

This set helped us get some good fly work in, allowing us to swim only one direction in a lane as we “snaked” across the 5 lanes (125=5 lengths), turning and pushing off into the next lane at each wall. The differing A, B,and C instructions were for varying skill/stamina levels specific to fly.

Do you sometimes need an idea for practice? Would you like to receive a free email to help spark your creativity? Then sign up for my e-newsletter to get a dose of information, inspiration, and innovation delivered every once in a while.

Speed, Underwater Kicking, and Fly

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

Little bit of speed, underwater kicking, and fly. Dirty 20 = 10m no breath free sprint, flip, and dolphin kick back to the wall. B3 = breathe every 3 strokes.

Make sure you are following the Swimming Wizard on Instagram and Twitter for hundreds more ideas, sets, and swim workouts from coaches all over the world.

UCLA Tough Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Karissa Kruszewski, UCLA Assistant Coach

This one gets a little tougher at the end as you go!

Do you sometimes need an idea for practice? Would you like to receive a free email to help spark your creativity? Then sign up for my e-newsletter to get a dose of information, inspiration, and innovation delivered every once in a while.