Free Swimming Workouts, Sets, Ideas, and Dryland Exercises from Professional Coaches Around the World
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
Set a Tempo Trainer for 0.20 slower than your threshold tempo (find your Threshold Tempo here).
4 x 400 @ :20 rest
50 fly, back, or free at tempo
50 smooth free B3
Should give the neuromuscular system a decent challenge while keeping the athlete’s heart rate in an aerobic range.
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
Try this set for a little tempo and technique work. Tempos should work well for free, back, or fly.
4 x 25 at threshold tempo @ :10 rest
100 ez swim at normal cycle count
4 x 50 at threshold tempo +0.20 @ :15 rest
100 ez swim at normal cycle count
4 x 75 at threshold tempo +0.30 @ :20 rest
100 ez swim at normal cycle count
4 z 100 – 25 at threshold tempo/50 at cycle count/25 at threshold tempo @ :20 rest
Ryan Woodruff
Lynchburg YMCA
Did this one the other day. It really seemed to set the kids up for success (swimming at P200). Works for any stroke.
60 x 50 SCY @ :50
done as 6x
1 easy choice
2 at P200 +2 seconds or faster
3 at P200 +1 second or faster
4 at P200 or faster
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
The repeat 400 IMs are the bruise – they’ll put the fatigue in you. The 100s descend to P400IM are the cruise – go fast! Look back at your lifetime best 400IM to get your splits before you start.
1 x 400 IM @ best time + 1:20
3 x 100 Fly descend to P400IM @ 2:00
2 x 400 IM @ best time +1:10
3 x 100 Back descend to P400IM @ 2:00
3 x 400 IM @ best time +1:00
3 x 100 Breast descend to P400IM @ 2:00
3 x 400 IM @ best time +:50
3 x 100 Free descend to P400IM @ 2:00
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
“At Christmas, train hard with vigor and cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year.”
– Anonymous swim coach
This workout takes approximately 2 hours and 45 minutes
1 X 900 WARMUP CHOICE – OPEN TURNS, 4+ D-KICKS EVERY WALL @ 13:00
2 X 25 @ :50 at P100
3 X 700 FREE PULL-300 B3/100 B7/300 B3 @ 8:10 8:30 8:50
(PADDLES, BUOY)
4 x 25 @ :50 at P100
5 x 500 IM @ 6:40 7:00 7:20
(#1- 200 FLY, #2-200 BACK, #3-200 BREAST, #4 – 200 FREE, #5 – STRAIGHT IM)
6 x 25 @ :50 at P100
7 x 300 FREE ODD — 100 6-3-6/100 CATCHUP/100 OVERKICK @ 3:50 4:05 4:20
EVEN — DESCEND @ 3:30 3:40 3:50
8 x 25 @ :50 at P100
9 x 100 @ PRIME 1-3 BY 5+ SECONDS FLY & BK @ 1:25, BREAST @ 1:30
10 X 25 @ :50 at P100
11 x 50 @ 1:00 CHOICE – FAST TURNS & PERFECT FINISHES
12 X 25 @ :50 at P100
10,050y
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
We did the blastoffs (streamline push off the bottom and explosive dolphin kick to the surface) in the 7-foot shallow end of our pool. Works beautifully for 5 to 6-foot-tall senior swimmers. Have swimmers strive for 4+ dolphin kicks during each blastoff. All kick is choice without a board. Use a board on the 300.
:25 blastoffs @ :30
75 fast kick + 25 ez swim @ 2:00
:25 blastoffs @ :30
125 fast kick + 25 ez swim @ 3:00
:25 blastoffs @ :30
175 fast kick + 25 ez swim @ 4:00
300 kick for time
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
2x:
Round 1 – Swim
Round 2 – Pull with , make all P1650-based swims 2 seconds faster
300 free @ 4:00 Beat 1/3 of your best 1,000 free time
5 x 100 free @ 1:20 Beat P1650 + 4
600 free @ 8:00 Beat 2/3 of your best 1,000 free time
5 x 100 free @ 1:20 Beat P1650 + 2
900 free @ 12:00 Beat your best 1,000 free time
5 x 100 free @ 1:20 Beat P1650
300 EZ Backstroke swim
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
Here’s a challenging set we did Thursday that a few swimmers said they enjoyed.
25 x 50 yard
1 – EZ swim @ :40
1 – at P200 @ :40
1 – EZ swim @ :40
2 – at P200 @ :45
1 – EZ swim @ :40
3 – at P200 @ :50
1 – EZ swim @ :40
4 – at P200 @ :55
1 – EZ swim @ :45
5 – at P200 @ 1:00
1:00 rest
5 – Fastest possible average @ 1:00
All 50s at P200 are choice. IMers can do the 1 fly, the 2 fly/bk, the 3 fly/bk/br, the 4 fly/bk/br/fr, and the 5 fly/bk/br/fr + weak stroke.
To compete within the group, have the swimmers keep track of their running total under-P200 time.
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
#14 – Fun with Streamline Sticks
You’ll need four lanes to do this. Position one set of Streamline Sticks in each lane in such a way that the swimmers swim a “snake” pattern – down the pool in lane 1, back in lane 2, down in lane 3, back in lane 4.
Lane 1 – Streamline Sticks at 5 yds
Lane 2 – Streamline Sticks at near 15 m mark (about 7.5 yards from the wall)
Lane 3 – Streamline Sticks at 12.5 yards
Lane 4 – Streamline Sticks at 15 m
20 x 25 @ :30
Do freestyle, backstroke, or freestyle in groups of 4 x 25 at a time. Descend 1-4.
#1 – in lane 1
#2 – in lane 2
#3 – in lane 3
#4 – all out fast in lane 4
After #4, take an additional 30 seconds rest to migrate back to Lane 1.
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
#13 – The Cookie Cutter Set
? x 25 Any stroke @ :30
Keep doing them until you achieve 20 in five successful sets of 4. The coach times each 25 to the tenth of a second. To perform a successful set of 4, all swims must be in a range of .2 seconds. Try to do everything the same each time – same streamline, same underwater kicks, breakout, cycles, and finish. If one of your 4 swims falls outside the range, those do not count. Start a new set of 4. You are done when you have achieved five sets of four.
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
#12 – I.M. Sprints
20 x 25
16 @ :25
last 4 @ :10 rest
4 descend fly
1 fast backstroke
3 descend fly
1 fast backstroke
1 fast breaststroke
2 descend fly
1 fast backstroke
1 fast breaststroke
1 fast freestyle
1 ez freestyle
last 4 as a broken 100 IM – 1 fly, 1 back, 1 breast, 1 free
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
1000 warmup – 150 free/100 no free
2 x 500 free pull B3 @ 5:50
5 x 200 free swim
#1@ 2:20
#2 @ 2:30
#3 @ 2:10
#4 @ 2:30
#5 @ 2:00
20 x 25 @ :30 prime stroke w/ Tempo Trainer
odd – build to Threshold Tempo
even – ez kick
5 x 200 @ 2:40, middle 50 is fast prime, the rest is ez free
2 x 500 @ 6:15, middle 100 is fast prime
1 x 1000 middle 200 is fast prime
12 x 50 @ 1:30
#1 – 35 m fast, then ez
#2 – 25 y UW kick fast then ez
#3 – 15m fast then ez
#4 – all ez
by Louis C. Cavadini
Ryan: First off I must say that your blog is great….keeping the
swimmers interested in what they are doing in practice is the number
one way to keep people happy and in the pool at the same time. I also
used your blind goal set this week in high school practice. Total
psychological set! After the first 100s, they saw that I wasn’t
playing around with the times. Then they started to go fast and get
them. It was great to see them come out of their comfort zone at
5:30am. So since I took a set, here is one for the blog.
I wrote it at 2am, its the hardest practice I’ve given out, and out of
30 high school kids only one person finished it. 8500 total, with
2200 fly.
400S, 300P, 200K
20×25 drill @ :35, 4 fist, 4 horns, 4 okay, 4 regular, 4 fast
base :45
100: 75 fr @ 1:10 + 25 br @ :30
200: 150 fr @ 2:15 + 50 br @ 1:00
300: 200 fr @ 3:00 + 100 br @ 2:00
base :40
100: 75 fr @ 1:00 + 25 bk @ :30
200: 150 fr @ 2:00 + 50 bk @ 1:00
300: 200 fr @ 2:40 + 100 bk @ 2:00
base :35
100: 75 fr @ :55 + 25 fly @ :30
200: 150 fr @ 1:45 + 50 fly @ 1:00
300: 200 fr @ 2:20 + 100 fly @ 2:00
…might as well keep going…..continue of free base :35
400: 250 fr @ 2:55 + 150 fly @ 3:00
500: 300 fr @ 3:30 + 200 fly @ 4:00
600: 350 fr @ 4:05 + 250 fly @ 5:00
700: 400 fr @ 4:40 + 300 fly @ 6:00
800: 450 fr @ 5:15 + 350 fly @ 7:00
900: 500 fr @ 5:50 + 400 fly @ 8:00
1000: 550 fr @ 6:15 + 450 fly @ 9:00
no break in-between sets. total = 8500
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
#11 – Dolphin Sprint Cycles
20 x 25 back, fly, or free @ :30
4x:
#1 – 4+ dolphin kicks and sprint 1 cycle
#2 – 6+ dolphin kicks and sprint 2 cycles
#3 – 8+ dolphin kicks and sprint 3 cycles
#4 – 6+ dolphin kicks and sprint 4 cycles
#5 – 4+ dolphin kicks and sprint 5 cycles
Click below to see previous posts from this series:
#10 – The Race Pace Spectrum
#9 – Hypoxic Freestyle Speed
#8 – Backstroke Tempo & Kick
#7 – Individual Medley Speed
#6 – Improving Breaststroke Tempo
#5 – Dryland Strength and Aquatic Speed
#4 – Developing Devastating Underwater Kicks
#3 – Improving Breaststroke Distance Per Cycle
#2 – Race-pace Swimming for the 500
#1 – Improving Attention to Underwater Kicks
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
Focusing on good IM efforts interspersed with aggressive freestyle swims. Everything in the main set is descend, then working specific underwater skills in the second set.
3 x 200 IM descend @ 2:30
4 x 75 free descend @:55
3 x 200 IM descend @ 2:35
3 x 75 free descend @ :50
3 x 200 IM descend @ 2:40
2 x 75 free descend @ :45
3 x 200 IM descend @ 2:45
1 x 75 free @:40 MAKE IT!
500 Free pull B 3-5-7-5-3
1 x 100 fly @ 1:10
1 x 25 all out backstroke, UW kick to 15m @ 1:00
1 x 100 back @ 1:10
1 x 25 all out breaststroke w/ double pullout @ 1:00
1 x 100 breast @ 1:20
1 x 25 all out freestyle, UW kick to 15m @ 1:00
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
#7 – Individual Medley Speed
20 x 25
#1-4 Descend butterfly @:30,:25,:20,:15
#5 Max speed backstroke @ :30
#6-9 Descend backstroke @:30,:25,:20,:15
#10 Max speed breaststroke @:30
#11-14 Descend breaststroke @:35,:30,:25,:20
#15 Max speed freestyle @:30
#16-19 Descend freestyle @:30,:25,:20,:15
#20 Max speed butterfly NO BREATH & RACE!!!
Try repeating this set with fins on and drop the intervals by 5 seconds. Yes, that means you have a 25 fly, back and free @:10. Do it!
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
In order to do this set, you should have already established your Threshold Tempo. This set will help you train your neuromuscular abilities while enhancing your overall aerobic fitness. For your “prime stroke,” choose whichever stroke you would like to work. I particularly recommend this workout for backstroke, freestyle, and butterfly.
T-Tempo=Threshold Tempo
6 x 600 @ :20 rest
#1,3,5 – 25 prime stroke at T-Tempo/25 prime stroke drill/50 ez freestyle swim
#2,4,6 – 25 prime stroke smooth swim/25 prime stroke at T-Tempo/50 ez freestyle swim
This set requires significant discipline on the part of the athlete to hold the tempo under fatigue.
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
100 IM
3 x 150 Prime stroke descend to fast
100 IM
2 x 150 Prime stroke descend to fast
100 IM
1 x 150 Prime stroke descend to fast
200 IM
3 x 100 Prime stroke descend to fast
200 IM
2 x 100 Prime stroke descend to fast
200 IM
1 x 100 Prime stroke descend to fast
300 IM
3 x 50 Prime stroke descend to fast
300 IM
2 x 50 Prime stroke descend to fast
300 IM
1 x 50 Prime stroke descend to fast
Arena Club Aquatics: Harford County, Maryland 3 X 100 Stroke/Free by 25 on 1:30 1 X 75 Free Breath every 5th (6 Fly kicks Under H2O) on 1:15 3 X 25 Stroke FAST on :40 1 X 50 easy on 1:15 3 X 100 Stroke/Free/Free/Stroke by 25 on 1:30 1 X 75 Free Breath every 5th (6 Fly kicks Under H2O) on 1:15 3 X 25 Stroke FAST on :40 1 X 50 easy on 1:15 2 X 200 Stroke/Free by 50 on 3:00 2 X 200 Stroke/Free/Free/Stroke by 50 on 3:00 150 Free Breath every 5th (4 Fly kicks Under H2O) on 2:15 3 X 50 Stroke FAST on 1:15 Total- 2100 |
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
Every set has a different purpose.
SET #1 – Improving Attention to Underwater Kicks
This set could be done backstroke, butterfly, freestyle, or any combination thereof, but stick with one stroke for at least 10×25.
1-10 @ :30
11-20 @ :20
#1 >1 dolphin kick off the wall
#2 >2 dolphin kicks off the wall
…
#10 >10 dolphin kicks off the wall
repeat for second set of ten on a faster interval.
Always make the breakout cycle aggressive to avoid sloppiness.
The Swimming Wizard 