Free Swimming Workouts, Sets, Ideas, and Dryland Exercises from Professional Coaches Around the World
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This one hurts. A meat-and-potatoes kind of distance set. SCY.
P500 = 500 pace
Our crew that went on this interval has best 500 times ranging from ~4:40 to ~5:00. We didn’t make P500 the whole way, but several came close.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Our breaststroke group had a solid day with this one.
Coach Chris Brookover, MLY Phoenix
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Have you tried FARTLEKS with your squad? It’s a good way to mix up your training a bit, plus it is fun to say!
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Of course they’re not really infinite, but they might feel that way!
This one’s a mindbender. Start by doing 50s off the blocks. When coach is satisfied that the desired level of work has been achieved, the round may end and the 200 smooth commences. An even better way to end the round is to throw out a goal time for a particular swimmer to end the round for the group. Start with an outlandish number. If failure occurs, the group does another 50 and then a second swimmer gets a goal time, a bit more reasonable. Repeat until success. Carefully monitor how the team responds. Do they rally together or get negative and resentful? Use it as a team-building exercise. Coach determines how many rounds.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Each part of the set is 1,650 yards
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
This IM and Free set was a good one for us. The intervals indicated were for a portion of our group with 500 free times generally sub-5:00 and 400 IM times sub-4:20. We really tried to hit the 50s hard, with the big 1:30 interval serving as a decent mental break.
5 x 500
#1 – Free @6:00
#2 – 100 Free/100 IM @6:15
#3 – 100 IM/100 Free @6:20
#4 – 200 IM/100 Fr/200 IM @6:30
#5 – 5 x 100 IM @6:40
7 x 50 FPA (Fastest Possible Average) @1:30
Odds IM Order
Evens Transitions
#2 – Fly/Bk
#4 – Bk/Br
#6 – Br/Fr
5 x 500
Same as before but in opposite
order (finish with 500 free)
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This set was originally posted to this blog November 2, 2022
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
The purpose of this set is to refine our sense of pace and swim at a range of race speeds. SCY.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
FPA = Fastest Possible Average
On round 2, changed intervals to 2:20 for the 150s and 1:00/:50/:45 for the 50s.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Vertical kicking works great in our 9-ft deep end. :30 is done with three arms across the chest. :20 done with hands out of the water. :10 done in a streamline position. Blast-offs involve sinking to the bottom and then rocketing through the surface as high as possible. Hit the 25 underwater dolphin kick with as much effort as possible.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did this one SCM with some outstanding results. Descend the FRIM within each set.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
This was a solid quality set for us recently. Swimmers were instructed to pick a stroke and stick with it for all 7x 75s of a round. We did this in short course meters — if we were doing it in short course yards I probably would cut the intervals down to 1:10 or 1:15. The 1:20 gave most our swimmers between :25 and :40 rest on each 75. The challenge is to hold your time as the repeats increase and then go even faster off the blocks in the last one.
Here is a great set that I did with my advanced 11-14yr olds the other night. Challenged all the swimmers. I let them choose a name and they came up with a good one.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
The structure of this set allowed us to have maximum flexibility within our lanes without interval pressure causing poor technique. And we got some great results on the SURPRISE 100!!!
Coach Gwynn Harrison, Bridgewater College
SCM
For our strokers: (brick kickboards are 15 pound weighted). The idea is to get legs tired and then be able to use them to push out some times. We train SC meters – so the 75 under goal 100 time is something we use a lot. If we can consistently get 5 seconds under, thats a great set.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
We did this set recently combining kicking for set amounts of time (what I call kicking for distance) mixed with some backstroke.
UW = underwater kicks
⬇️ = descend (go farther or faster on successive repeats)
Coach Alex Muni, Nova of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
This set (SCY) offered a lot of variety to our national mid-distance group. It allowed for a freestyle mid-to-high aerobic progression and pace with the addition of some descending prime stroke work. We finished with a broken 200 OTB with 30 seconds of total rest. For the fourth week of the season, the swimmers approached this workout with impressive focus.
Coach Kip Abbott, 757Swim, Williamsburg, Virginia
Here’s an IM/Threshold Fr set 757’s top middle school group tackled last week. We had some great swims on the 2nd round of 300s!
SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
This set went well for us this week. The three columns represent an A, B, and C level within our group.
A interval swimmers generally had best times faster than :50 in the 100 free. B interval swimmers :50-55, C interval swimmers :55-:58.
The interval on #14 was a stretch for most, but we came away with a good understanding of our current fitness level.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
The Swimming Wizard 