Tag: Breaststroke

Breaststroke Arms Progression

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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.

Breaststroke Set #1

Posted on by rdwoodruff

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

The Near-Race-Pace Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

This set is designed for the swimmers to achieve near-race-pace speeds and progress in intensity through the set.

4 x 175 @ 3:30 Beat your best 200 time
400 ez swim
6 x 90 (float the last 10)@ 3:00 Beat your best 100 time
400 ez swim
8 x 50 @ 2:30 Be within 2.0 sec of your best 50 free time or within 1.0 of your dive P100 time (see the Race Pace Calculator to determine this time).

Done correctly, the athlete will be swimming at 88% of 200 race pace on the 175s, at 90% of 100 race pace on the 90s, and at least 90% OF 100 race pace on the 50s.

Negative Split Work

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Greg Johnson, CCA Marlins

 
Here is a set we did focusing on negative splitting.  To get good quality negative splitting, we did these broken so the kids could read the clock and make sure they are hitting the split goals.  I set the intervals somewhat loose to give them rest and allow them to read the clock.  It really helped motivate them to swim fast.  I saw some good splits.  We did round 1 freestyle and round 2 prime stroke (+10 on the swim and 15 on the pull). 
 
2 x
 
    4 x 150 NEG SPLIT WITHIN 3 sec.  broken 10 sec at the 75 @  2:00  2:10
 
    P 1 X 200  BP 5  @  2’40  2’50
 
    4 X 100 NEG SPLIT WITHIN 2 sec.  broken 5 sec at the 50  @ 1’20  1’30
 
    P 2 X 100 BP 5/7 BY 50  @  1:20  1:25
 
   4 x 50 NEG WITHIN 1 sec broken 5 sec at the 25  @  55
 
    P 6 x 50  dec. 1–> 3 BP 7   @ 50
 

The ? Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

Here’s a workout for when you only have 30 minutes.

300 smooth swim for warmup

? x 50 @ :50
Using a dry-erase board, give the swimmers a different set of instructions for every 50, erasing the old instructions and writing the new one while they swim. Mix it up, changing speeds, strokes, drills, breathing patterns, etc. Don’t let the swimmers know what is coming beyond the next 50. All swims are choice unless the stroke is specified. Here’s an example:
#1- P200+5
#2- P200+3
#3- P200+1
#4- P200-1
#5- EZ free B3
#6- Free B5
#7- Free B7
#8- At count
#9- Race!
#10- At cycle count -1
#11- 25 underwater dolphin kick/ 25 sprint
#12- 25 sprint/25 underwater dolphin kick
#13- 25 race/25 ez kick
#14- Fly B 1 up/1 down
#15- Fly B 1 up/2 down
#16- Fly B 1 up/3 down
#17- Fast fly
#18- EZ breaststroke
#19- Race!
#20- At cycle count -2
#21- 12.5 fast/12.5 ez of same stroke as #20
#22- At cycle count
#23- Breast with dolphin kick
#24- Backstroke 12.5 spin drill/12.5 swim
#25- P1650
…
The set could go on for as long as you like. The changing up speeds and instructions every 50 keeps the swimmers alert and the set fresh and interesting. What other interesting instructions can you come up with?

The I.M. Bruise & Cruise

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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

The 12 Sets of Christmas

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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

Shallow End Kick Set

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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

25 x 50 Challenge Set

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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.

Hypoxic from Utah

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Dani Caldwell
St. George, Utah

 
Here is one of our favorite hypoxic workouts — it’s not much yardage, but it does the job and the kids like it.
 

4 x 25 FR @:45 – NO BREATHERS

4 x 75 FR @2:15, taking two breaths per length, at same locations each 25 (helps if you do kick counts and SL!)

4 x 25 CH @:45 – NO BREATHERS (No Backstroke, for obvious reasons)

4 x 75 CH @2:15, taking two breaths per length (3 for BR), at same locations

4 x 25 FR @:30 – NO BREATHERS

 
 

Twenty Ways to Do 20 x 25 – #13

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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.

The Whatchamacallit

Posted on by rdwoodruff

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

Boom Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

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

Triple Turn Drill

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Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

This post was originally published to swimtelligence.blogspot.com

This drill was recommended to me by Griff Helfrich, one of our assistant coaches. It is designed to help a swimmer set up and execute a breast or fly turn correctly with maximum rotational speed. I’ll call it Triple Turn drill.

The explanation is simple enough: when the swimmer approaches the wall, he or she executes three consecutive open turns. During the first two, the swimmer does everything but the push-off, then reloads the body for another turn. On the third one, the swimmer pushes off the wall as normal.

When executing the Triple Turn, the swimmer must pay attention to several technical elements – a strong knee drive, swift compact arm action, and driving the head straight back into an agressive streamline to depart the wall.

This drill could be performed in the middle of any breast, fly, or IM set, or could be done with the swimmer beginning from a prone kicking position and initiating the Triple Turn on command or on a whistle.

Here is a brief look at one of our swimmers, senior Bryce Mendes performing the Triple Turn during a breaststroke set.

Lemon I.M.s

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

Here’s a fun way to do some IM swims. I call them “Lemon I.M.s” because you are squeezing the strokes together.

For instance, a 200 IM could look like this:
175 fly, 8 back, 8 breast, 8 freestyle (for simplicity’s sake, we’ll equate 8 yards to 1/3 of a pool length). The swimmer simply changes strokes rapidly mid-pool.

Or a 200 IM could look like this:
8 fly, 8 back, 8 breast, 175 freestyle.

You get the idea… “Squeeze” two or three strokes together into a 25 or a 50, and leave one stroke out to swim the majority of the distance. It provides some variety for the swimmers, and those mid-pool transitions are really something to watch!

I.M. What?

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

Warmup
600 RIM 50 kick/drill/swim (RIM = Reverse I.M.)

100 IM @ 1:30
200 RIM @ 3:00
300 IM @ 4:30
200 RIM @ 3:00
100 IM @ 1:30
200 Breast, max speed holding race cycle count
100 ez freestyle @ :30 rest

100 IM @ 1:25
200 RIM @ 2:50
300 IM @ 4:15
200 RIM @ 2:50
100 IM @ 1:25
300 Breast, max speed holding race cycle count minus 1
100 ez freestyle @ :30 rest

100 IM @ 1:20
200 RIM @ 2:40
300 IM @ 4:00
200 RIM @ 2:40
100 IM @ 1:20
400 Breast, max speed holding race cycle count minus 2
100 ez freestyle @ :30 rest

Friday the 13th I.M. Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

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

Twenty Ways to Do 20 x 25 #7

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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!

Twenty Ways to Do 20 x 25 – #6

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

#6 – Improving Breaststroke Tempo

In my opinion, kicking speed (specifically the recovery portion of the kick) is the limiting factor for most swimmers when it comes to breaststroke tempo. Speeding up breaststroke tempo thus must start from the legs. This set focuses primarily on kicking foot speed, and then works briefly on the pull, then finally on overall stroke tempo.

20 x 25 @:30
Perform the following sequence 4x:
#1-3: Br kick w/board & tempo trainer at Threshold Tempo
#4; Br pull w/ flutter kick, focusing on fast arm tempo
#5: Br Speed Drill (narrow pull, narrow kick, fast hands and heels)

I.M. Set #1,364,821

Posted on by rdwoodruff

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

Stroke Sprints

Posted on by rdwoodruff
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
 
 

Short Axis Co-Training

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org

The shared short-axis rotation of breaststroke and butterfly can be co-trained by going back and forth between the two. This can help your butterflyers be better breaststrokers and vice versa.

Configure intervals to have about :10 rest after each repeat.

1 x 100 Breast kick with board
1 x 25 Fly Sprint no breath
1 x 75 Breast drill
1 x 50 Fly swim
1 x 50 Breast swim
1 x 75 Fly smooth swim
1 x 25 Breast- underwater pullouts or no breath swim
1 x 100 Fly kick on side

Then go:
2 x 100…
2 x 25…

The first round isn’t so tough, but it will get better as you go up in reps!