Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM. Our group responded really well to this set.

This set was originally published here in May 2018
Free Swimming Workouts, Sets, Ideas, and Dryland Exercises from Professional Coaches Around the World
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM. Our group responded really well to this set.
This set was originally published here in May 2018
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM. Pick a stroke and stick with it for a round. Count cycles on the 3 x 25, strive to maintain that cycle count through the 2×50 and 1x 75. After the 10×25, go faster on the way down than on the way up.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We used 1-gallon buckets and Aquavolo drag sox for this one.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This was in a 25m pool. The goal on the 85s was to beat your best 100y time.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
The first set was just a little cycle count/technique work, setting up for resisted swimming with buckets. Each round finished with a FAAAASST 50!
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
OTB = off the blocks
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did the fartlek set followed by 4 rotations of the stations below. The diving well underwater kicks were done hooked to a stretch cord anchored to a nearby fence for resistance.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We don’t have enough buckets or drag sox for our whole group, so we split the group and did them separately. 2x each station with a quality set after each station.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did the 25s with a bucket and then took it off for the 50.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Not going fast helped us feel the strokes a little more effectively. Paying attention to cycle count rather than time.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
I frequently post sets where we use buckets and I get some questions about what kinds of buckets we are using. Here is what we use:
It is a simple 1-gallon “paint bucket” from Home Depot. We string some paracord through the handle holes and then connect the bucket to a belt by a rope about 6 feet in length. The beats we use are recycled from old stretch cords.
This set worked well today. The broken 200 was challenging but the :10 rest allowed them to hold their stroke technique. The interval on the broken 200 and 100 allowed them to really get up and go on the 3 x 25. We cycled through 2 rotations of this station and some drag sox work.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Have you seen our free e-book “The Quotable Swimming Coach”? Preview and download it for FREE here.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This was an early season resistance set for us. The aim of the bucket set was to establish some baseline values for resisted sprint 25s, to be used throughout the season. We did a round of each stroke on the buckets, starting with each swimmer’s best stroke and progressing to his worst stroke.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This was our speed set for the week. At over an hour in length, it was pretty intense. Our kids did well.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Our sprinters did this one the other day. We got some pretty good times on the 50.
Gordy Westerberg
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We use 1-gallon buckets as a means of creating some drag for power training. Here is a set we did just before taper to work on our power using these buckets.