Dragon Flags
Tornado Ball
“The best oblique ab workout I’ve ever had,” said one of our swimmers after trying this exercise for 20 seconds.
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High Intensity Plyometrics
The Swimming Workout Wizard is on vacation this week. Enjoy some more videos from around the web.
Backstroke Race Pace and Drill
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
Here is a set designed for 200 backstrokers. Distances listed for even 25s, 50s, and 75s are for underwater kicking
12 x 25 backstroke @ :40
odd at P200
even kick, 5m+ on #2, 10m+ on #4, 15m- on #6
3 x 100 backstroke drill @ :10 rest
6 x 50 backstroke @ 1:00
odd at P200
even kick, 5m+ on #2, 10m+ on #4, 15m- on #6
3 x 100 backstroke drill @ :10 rest
4 x 75 backstroke @ 1:20
odd at P200
even kick, 10m+ on #2, 15m- on #4
3 x 100 backstroke drill @ :10 rest
Double UW 50s
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
LCM
Use Streamline Sticks at 10m distance from each wall. Put two at each location, effectively blocking off the entire lane. Swimmers have to kick out 10m off the wall, swim 30m, and then kick the final 10m underwater. Do an open turn and do it again! Feel free to change up the underwater distance for a more or less challenging set.
More Partner Pushups
The Partner Pushup
Teamwork and strength, all in one exercise!
Killer Pushup Circuit
This could be awesome for chest and shoulder strength.
Core Burpees
Check out the single-leg burpees with a push-up and jump. Interesting series of exercises here.
Core Training and Scapular Strength
This an interesting series of exercises. Be careful with the first movement that he performs, as I think it might be a little risky for swimmers with loose shoulder joints.
The Superdog
Over the next week or two, we’ll be highlighting a few videos of some terrific dryland exercises we found on the web. Here’s the first in the series.
Mile Pace Mania
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
40 x 25 at P mile @ :20
100 easy swim
30 x 50 at P mile @ :40
100 easy swim
20 X 75 at P mile @ 1:00
100 easy swim
The Tag Relay
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
The Tag Relay is a fun challenge for your team that can help develop teamwork and flat-out speed.
If you are in a SCY pool, space out 4 to 8 swimmers along the lane in a circle-swimming pattern. For LCM you will need a few more (maybe 12-18). The first person will dive in, sprint to tag swimmer #2, who sprints to tag swimmer #3, and so on. You can do this for any distance and any stroke. Try having them go in medley order for fun. You will be surprised at how fast they can go when they touch hand-to-foot and get to practice it a few times. Try to break the national age group, American, or World records.
Distance Tempo Trainer + Kicking
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
Here’s another way to use a Tempo Trainer for a distance set. Set your Tempo Trainer for an appropriate tempo for the following aerobic set. This should be significantly slower than your Threshold Tempo. Do as many as you want, and experiment with different tempos to change up the intensity.
‘?’ x 300 freestyle
1st 100 – Swim at tempo
2nd 100 – 5 cycles swim at tempo/5 cycles streamline kick (6 beats per cycle) at tempo
3rd 100 – Swim at tempo
Breaking Down the IM
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
This IM set should be quite challenging. It can help develop a sense of pace for the 400 IM as well as improve fitness and stamina.
1 x 100 fly at P400IM @ :10 rest
1 x 300 back/breast/free by 100, 50 drill/50 swim @ :20 rest
1 x 400 IM @ :30 rest
1 x 100 back at P400IM @ :10 rest
1 x 200 breast/free by 100, 50 drill/50 swim @ :20 rest
1 x 400 IM @ :30 rest
1 x 100 breast at P400IM @ :10 rest
1 x 100 free easy @ :20 rest
1 z 400 IM @ :30 rest
1 x 100 free at P400IM @ :10 rest
1 x 400 IM @ :30 rest
Descend the 400 IMs to all out on the last one. The 300, 200, and 100 following the P400IM are intended to be active recovery. Give them some bonus rest before the last one if you want to see them really go for it.
The Chunker
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
LCM
18 x 15 meter sprint @ 2:00
#1 – from a start
#2 – 7.5m in and out of a turn
#3 – from mid-pool into a finish
All start and turn sprints are timed to the head crossing the line. Swim easy between the repeats. Use this chart to see how fast your 15m “chunks” need to be based on your best time.
Race-Ready Legs
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
Here’s a set to help your athletes sustain that killer kick you are looking for at the end of the race. We performed it 6x at 6:00 per round:
3 x 50 swim at P200
#1 @ 1:00
#2 @ :50
#3 @ :40
1 x 75 all out kick w/ board for time
1 x 125 easy swim with perfect technique
Power Towers
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
One of my favorite pieces of training equipment is the Power Tower. It’s a terrific tool for making your athletes stronger in the water. In order to keep our swimmers’ shoulders safe, we never load it up to see how much we can do. In order to determine proper levels of resistance for training, we gradually increase the resistance by pouring water into the bucket to find the maximum volume at which the athlete can hold a normal cycle count. Other teams put discrete amounts of weight into the buckets using water jugs, lead weights etc. We prefer to just use water and measure the amount using a yardstick. Any great Power Tower sets out there?
Here is on of ours:
20 x 50 @ 1:00 SCY
25 against the resistance fast, 5 each stroke in IM order
25 freestyle assisted, 1 breath max
The 8 x 50s Set
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
This set mimics late race fatigue. Each set is 8 x 50 all out effort from a dive and has a slightly different feel due to the varied intervals. Holding technique under the duress of fatigue should be a priority.
Set #1:
4 @ 2:00
2 @ 1:30
2 @ 1:00
Set #2:
2 @ 2:00
2 @ 1:30
2 @ 1:00
2 @ 2:00
Set #3:
2 @ 1:00
2 @ 1:30
4 @ 2:00
The Million Yard Club
This motivational idea comes from the Panama City Swim Team and Coach Jonathan Kaplan. Check it out on the PCST website.
The premise: Simply count daily yards for all of the swimmers on your team. Use an excel spreadsheet to make it simple to count up the running total. Recognize those swimmers who achieve milestones – 1 million, 2 million, 3 million, 4 million (!?!) yards. Post a weekly running total in a visible place at your facility. This exercise encourages attendance and becomes a good measuring stick for who “has been putting in the work.” Jonathan’s swimmers at PCST were able to achieve a million yards on mostly single practices, with doubles only in the summer months.
Back and Free Tempo Set
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
This set can be done backstroke or freestyle, and is meant to challenge the athlete’s ability to hold tempo. Use a Tempo Trainer and be sure to establish your Threshold Tempo (TT) first.
5 x 100 @ :20 rest (includes time to adjust your tempo trainer)
#1 – Hold TT + .30 for as long as possible, then swim perfect technique for the remainder
#2 – Hold TT + .20…
#3 – Hold TT + .10…
#4 – Hold TT…
#5 – Smooth perfect technique (recovery)
Perform multiple rounds if desired.
After the set, use The Swimming Calculator and your Cycle Count to determine what a reasonable time goal you could achieve if you were able to sustain your tempo longer than you did on the above set.
Breaststroke Arms Progression
Ryan Woodruff
Here’s a brief progression to help your swimmer practice keeping the breaststroke arm stroke out in front of the body, avoiding pulling too far back underneath the chest.
4x:
4 x 25 breast drill
100 breaststroke swim on your back
Round 1: 25s are breaststroke kick with thumbs locked in front and the breath taking place just prior to the feet reaching the anchor point of the kick.
Round 2: Straight arm breaststroke – do not bend the elbows. This forces the athlete to do a small “scoop-and-shoot” using only the hands and wrists.
Round 3: Half-stroke breaststroke – press outward with the palms, and begin to catch with high elbows, but release the water with your hands early and shoot forward into the glide phase.
Round 4: Full-stroke breaststroke – just proceed a bit further than in Round 3, consistently keeping the hand in front of the vertical chin line.
Breaststroke swim on the back is exactly as it sounds. Athlete initiates the pull underwater above his head and pulls out and towards his feet until reaching shoulder level, at which point the hands are lifted out of the water and pushed forward over the face to the starting position. This drill helps the athlete become more aware of the position of his hands relative to his torso.
Friday Fly Day
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
100 LAST 25 IS FLY @ 1:10
300 LAST 50 IS FLY @ 3:30
500 LAST 100 IS FLY @ 5:50
700 LAST 200 IS FLY @ 8:10
800 FIRST AND LAST 100 ARE FLY, MAKE LAST ONE FASTER @ 9:40
600 FIRST AND LAST 100 ARE FLY, MAKE LAST ONE FASTER @ 7:20
400 FIRST AND LAST 100 ARE FLY, MAKE LAST ONE FASTER @ 5:00
200 BUTTERFLY SWIM FAST
Breaststroke Set #1
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
Here’s a breaststroke set emphasizing kicking and tempo
200 scull w snorkel and pull buoy (face in water, elbows high, fingertips down, no kicking) @ :20 rest
6 x 50 breast @ :50
#1- kick w/board – focus on fast heels-to-butt recovery
#2- swim, build tempo
#3- 25 strong swim/25 speed drill (UP TEMPO!)
:20 vertical eggbeater kick with 10 lb rubber brick, arms straight
100 ez backstroke w/ 4 + dolphin kicks off each wall
—
200 same
6×50 same
:40 vertical kick same
100 ez same
—-
200 same
6×50 same
1:00 vertical kick same
100 ez same
MoCo 50s
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
SCY
MoCo 50 = MOmentum COnservation 50
A MoCo 50 is an exercise in body position, streamlining, and efficiency. The idea is to conserve your momentum (keep it for as long as you can!) by using terrific body position. Here’s how to perform a MoCo 50:
1. Dive off the blocks with your best streamline.
2. Glide until you come to a stop (no kicking).
3. Immediately sprint into the wall and turn at full speed.
4. Streamline and glide until you come to a complete stop.
5. Immediately sprint into the wall with a perfect finish.
6. Slowest time and/or least distance swum wins!
The Perfect MoCo 50 = 1 stroke swum into the turn and 1 stroke swum into the finish).
Can you do it?
Specific Warm-Up
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
What does your team do during specific warm-up? What are your race-pace sets?
Vertical Kick + Power Tower
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
Some vertical kicking and Power Tower work to get you going:
1:00 vertical kick arms across chest
100 drill @ 2:00
8 x 25 Power Tower odd sprint/even EZ @ :40
:40 vertical kick with weight belt in front of chest
100 drill @ 2:00
6 x 25 Power Tower same as above
:20 vertical kick with weight belt held overhead
100 drill @ 2:00
4 x 25 Power Tower same as above
Carmel Combos
Chris Plumb, Carmel Swim Club
chris@carmelswimclub.com
Here is a set we did this morning with kick-out bouys in past the flags
2 x 7 x 150
The 150 is always on a total of 2:00
#1: 50 on :30 100 on 1:30
#2: 50 on :35 100 on 1:25
#3: 50 on :40 100 on 1:20
#4: 50 on :45 100 on 1:15
#5: 50 on :50 100 on 1:10
#6: 50 on :55 100 on 1:05
#7: 50 on :60 100 on 1:00
Rest :60
For the second round, go backwards through set, starting with 100 on 1:00 etc.
Related Posts:
Yota Kick-Out Sticks
More Kick-out sticks
Twenty Ways to Do 20 x 25 #14
Streamline Sticks Progression
Late-Season Quality Set
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
Testing our ability to hold race pace:
4 x 200 75@P200 + 50 ez + 75@P200 @ 4:00
8 x 100 Descend 1-4 and 5-8 to P500 or P400IM or P200+5 @ 1:30
12 x 50 odd ez even @P200 @ 1:00
16 x 25 odd ez even @ P100 to a foot touch
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