Free Swimming Workouts, Sets, Ideas, and Dryland Exercises from Professional Coaches Around the World
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did the following set to test our fitness and establish some training paces in freestyle and either backstroke or breaststroke. We had swimmers pair up to have one observer for each swimmer. This ensured we got accurate distances and also allowed us to count cycles. We will use this information in future practices.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did this one just as a post-set toward the end of practice.
Head Coach Luis Vidana, Desert Sharks Swim Club, El Paso, Texas
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We were working on the back half of the IM with this one.
FPA = Fastest Possible Average
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY. Every good IMer needs to be a breaststroker. This set worked a little of both. We started from the shallow end of our SCY pool, so the 200 breast included 20 eggbeater kicks in a vertical streamlined position in the middle of each 50 where we would have deep water.
This set was first published to this blog in May 2020.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
The first part of the set helped to reinforce good breaststroke technique, distance per stroke, etc. In the second part, we try to maintain cycle count over progressively longer distances at near race speed.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We combined this set with a cord set to make two stations 2x through.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
These non-stop 6:00 swims repeated the instructions within the 6:00. At about 5:00, coach would yell “Go!” signifying a FAST 50 breast starting immediately.
The instructions on the second round are 5 cycles kick, 4 cycles Swim, 3 cycles speed drill (head up, narrow pull, narrow kick) and repeat.
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David Orr, Cascade Swim Club
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
The 300 is done with a stretch cord with belts on both ends. Each swimmer wears a belt and hangs onto the cord about eight feet from the opposite belt end. Swimmers drag each other a 25 at a time. Follow up with the FPA (Fastest Possible Average) swims. SCM.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This set was a medium-intensity set aimed at preparing us for some good off-the-blocks efforts.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Hit 30 cycles of breaststroke on the cord. The 75s focus on dropping the sum of time and cycles (GOLF). 100s free totally focused on technique.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM. This set came in three parts and really challenged our swimmers. They could do back or breast for all three parts, and were instructed to choose the interval that made the FPA (fastest possible average) set challenging. We did 2 rounds.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Mike Cook, Mason Makos
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This one was a small twist on this set.
Several of our breaststroke swimmers had all-time best practice performances at the end of the 29 x 50s.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Swimmers could do fly or breast on this set. For fly on the Blue portions, they did 3 normal cycles/1 single arm cycle to maintain rhythm and body position through the 150. The goal on the blue parts was to hold the low cycle count as the distance increased.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
50s 5-4-3-2-1-1-2-3-4-5 = The Valley
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This set allowed us to keep the group together while some swimmers trained back and others trained breast. This was a small group at an early morning practice, so keeping the group together was helpful for keeping the energy up.
For the 50s, backstroke drills are in blue, breaststroke drills in green.
We went on the same intervals for both strokes — backstrokers did 150s and breaststrokers did 125s.
SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
