Free Swimming Workouts, Sets, Ideas, and Dryland Exercises from Professional Coaches Around the World
Ryan Woodruff
Ryan.d.woodruff@gmail.com
Celebrating Cinco de Mayo
How many 5’s can we squeeze into one set?
500 free @ 5:55
5 x 200 prime stroke @ 2:45 Descend 1-4, hold 5
500 free @ 5:55
5 x 150 prime stroke @ 2:05 Descend 1-3, hold 4,5
500 free @ 5:55
5 x 100 prime stroke @ 1:25 Descend 1-2, hold 3,4,5
500 free @ 5:55
5 x 50 prime stroke @ :45 fastest possible average
500 free @ 5:55
Descend 500s 1-5. Kick 5 yards underwater off every wall.
Total distance = 5,000 yards
Gary Galbreath, Dayton Raiders
This set was done SC meters
400 IMer's and Distance free
Get the time on the fast swims. Be faster the second time around. The goal is to hold speed throughout the fast swims(ie: 1:05=100, 2:10=200, 3:15=300, 4:20=400), cycles are fastest enough that the can't back off the IM.
2 x
400 IM or Back @ 5:45
400 (300 IM :15 rest + 100 Free Fast) @ 5:35
400 (200 IM :15 rest + 200 Free Fast) @ 5:25
400 (100 IM :15 rest + 300 Free Fast) @ 5:15
400 Free Fast @ 5:05
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
This set is a follow-up to the I.M. Transition Set from last week. Its purpose is also to work on transitions, though it does not depend on the rest from that set’s broken swims.
6 x 100 50 fly/50 back
3 @ 1:20
2 @ 1:25
1 @ 1:30
3 x 200 IM descend @ 2:40
6 x 100 50 back/50 breast
3 @ 1:25
2 @ 1:30
1 @ 1:35
2 x 300 IM descend @ 4:00
6 x 100 50 breast/50 free
3 @ 1:25
2 @ 1:30
1 @ 1:35
1 x 600 IM all out for time
Put a strong emphasis on the final 10 yards of each stroke and the first 10 yards of the next stroke.
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
LCM
1 x 800m Free @ 12:00
1 x 35m sprint choice @ 3:00
1 x 800m Free @ 12:00
2 x 35m sprint choice @ 3:00
1 x 800m Free @ 12:00
3 x 35m sprint choice @ 3:00
1 x 800m Free @ 12:00
4 x 35m sprint choice @ 3:00
1 x 800m Free @ 12:00
5 x 35m sprint choice @ 3:00
This set takes 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete. 800s are fastest possible average, and 35m sprints are all-out timed to the head crossing the line. Record all times.
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
100 free catchup drill @ 1:20
200 strong free swim @ 2:20
2 x 25 Fly sprint, 1 breath max @ :40
100 free catchup drill @ 1:20
100 tennis ball drill @ 1:20
300 strong free swim @ 3:30
4 x 25 Fly sprint, 1 breath max @ :40
100 free catchup drill @ 1:20
100 tennis ball drill
100 6-3-6 drill
400 strong free swim @ 4:40
6 x 25 Fly sprint, 1 breath max @ :40
Coach Ryan Woodruff
How fast are you planning to be this season? Are you swimming at race pace in practice? Check out our race pace cards that can be easily individualized to each swimmer.
Here are the instructions once you have the sheet open in Excel:
1. Type the swimmer’s name where it says ‘Name here.’
2. Enter a swimmer’s goal time in the C column. Do not use any punctuation. For instance, for a goal time of 24.99 in the 50 free, type 2499. For a 2:28.50 in the 200 breast, type 22850.
3. The sheet should automatically compute pace times for you. ‘Pace’ means the swim is from a push. ‘Start’ means the swimmers goes off the blocks (or from a start for backstroke). The sheet computes different pace values for different events based on what I deemed the most useful information. For instance, a 15m start time is of little consequence in the mile, but could come in handy in the 100 fly.
4. Print out the pace card and take it to practice!
A few other notes:
* The sheet is based on the assumption that a swimmer will swim an even pace for every length after the 1st 25 (50 for LCM). For freestyle, the difference between the 1st and 2nd 25 is 1.7. For fly, the difference is 2.0, for backstroke the difference is 1.0, and for breaststroke it is 2.5 seconds.
* The C column is cross-hatched and the goal time is in gray in order to keep the swimmer’s focus on the race pace rather than her goal time.
Enjoy – let me know how it goes!
Click here or on the top menu to go to our “Tools for Coaches” page to see other useful tools
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
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
WARMUP
400 FREE SMOOTH SWIM
4 X 100 IM DRILL OR SWIM @ :10 REST
4 X 50 KICK WITH A BOARD DESCEND 1-4
600 PULL BREATHING 3/5 BY 100, DESCEND YOUR 200s
9 X 200 @ 3:30 WORKING ON COMING-HOME-SPEED FOR FREESTYLE
#1 & #7 – 175 SMOOTH@ :10 REST, 1 X 25 SPRINT
#2 & #6 – 150 SMOOTH @ :10 REST, 1 X 50 SPRINT
#3 & #5 – 125 SMOOTH @ :10 REST, 1 X 75 SPRINT
#4 – 100 SMOOTH @ :10 REST, 1 X 100 SPRINT @ 1:15
# 8 – ALL SMOOTH
#9 – FAST FOR TIME
12 x 50 @ 1:00 ANYTHING BUT FREE SPRINT 1 CYCLE ON #1 ( 2 CYCLES ON #2, UP TO 6 ON #6) OFF BOTH WALLS GET YOUR HEART RATE UP BRIEFLY HERE TO ENHANCE THE RECOVERY EFFECT
200 EZ SWIM DOWN
4200 YARDS
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
The swimmers decide when it is over. Well, sort of.
? x 500 Free @ 6:00 (Interval should be 1:00 to 1:30 from swimmer’s best time)
Lifetime best time = Get out and go home!
1 – 10 sec off of lifetime best time = 5 points
11 – 20 sec off of lifetime best time = 3 points
21 – 30 sec off of lifetime best tiem = 2 points
31 – 40 sec off of lifetime best time = 1 points
41 – 60 sec off of lifetime best time = 0 points
61 seconds or more off of lifetime best time = -1 point
Each swimmer keeps going until he or she achieves 30 points or goes a lifetime best time. Of course, if a swimmer is really up against a wall on the set, deals can be made with the coach for extra points (i.e. negative splitting by a certain amount, dolphin kicking further off the wall consistently, etc.)
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
Warmup
400 free swim
4 x 100 RIM Drill
4 x 50 4 sprint cycles off both walls all @ :10 rest
Main set:
7x through @ 11:00
Rounds 1-4 are free, rounds 5-7 no free
400 for time
6 x 50 descend cycle count 1-3 @ :50
Kick set:
? x 50 kick w snorkel1 @ :50
1 @ :48
1 @ :50
1 @ :46
1 @ :50
1 @ :44
and so on, until you miss the interval, then go:
1 x 100 all out for time
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
SCY A pretty straight-forward I.M. workout. With all of the fun and interesting sprint sets, there are some things you still have to do.
1 x 800 IM @ 11:20 (1:25 base)
200 Free pull B3 @ 2:30
2 x 400 IM descend @ 5:40
200 Free pull B3 @ 2:30
8 x 100 IM descend 1-4 @ 1:25
200 Free pull B3 @ 2:30
2 x 400 IM descend, faster than previous ones @ 5:40
200 Free pull B3 @ 2:30
1 x 800 IM Fast @ 11:20
200 Free pull B3 @ 2:30
5,000 yards, 1 hour, 10 minutes
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
We did this set recently just to wake everyone up, get some good aerobic yardage in, and get the juices flowing for an agressive end-of-practice kick set.
1000 free swim B3 @ 12:30 (1:15 base)
100 free pull B3 @ 1:15
800 free swim B3 @ 10:00
300 free pull B3-5-3 by 100 @ 3:45
600 free swim B3 @ 7:30
500 free pull B3-5-7-5-3 by 100 @ 6:15
400 free swim B3 @ 5:00
700 free pull B3-5-7-9-7-5-3 by 100 @ 8:45
200 free swim B3 @ 2:30
900 free pull B3-5-7-9-3-9-7-5-3 by 100 @ 11:15
5500 yards, 1 hour, 9 minutes
Gary Galbreath, Assistant Senior Coach, Dayton Raiders
Here’s a set I use to do with milers a couple times a month. Usually on Thursdays on weeks when we didn’t have a meet. I could predict almost to the second how fast they would be on their upcoming 1650. It didn’t work as well for LCM. On the 1st 15 Pace 100’s you want them to have 4-8 sec. rest. On the last 15 fast 100s they need to go near 500 Speed! Make sure they have a good warm-up and have their heart rates up when they start.
1 x 100 @ 1:05 Mile Pace or Faster
1 x 100 EZ @ 1:30
2 x 100 @ 1:05 Mile Pace or Faster
1 x 100 EZ @ 1:30
3 x 100 @ 1:05 Mile Pace or Faster
1 x 100 EZ @ 1:30
4 x 100 @ 1:05 Mile Pace or Faster
1 x 100 EZ @ 1:30
5 x 100 @ 1:05 Mile Pace or Faster
1 x 100 EZ @ 1:30
5 x 100 Fast @ 1:30 Try to hit 500 Goal Pace
1 x 100 EZ @ 1:30
4 x 100 Fast @ 1:30 Try to hit 500 Goal Pace
1 x 100 EZ @ 1:30
3 x 100 Fast @ 1:30 Try to hit 500 Goal Pace
1 x 100 EZ @ 1:30
2 x 100 Fast @ 1:30 Try to hit 500 Goal Pace
1 x 100 EZ @ 1:30
1 x 100 Fast @ 1:30 Try to hit 500 Goal Pace
1 x 100 EZ @ 1:30
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
Here’s a solid distance free set:
20 x 300
#1-5 Swim free, descend @ 3:40
#6-10 Pull free with paddles & buoy, descend @ 3:40
#11 – Strong swim @ 3:25
#12 – Smooth, Negative split @ 3:40
#13 – Strong swim @ 3:20
#14 – Smooth, Negative split @ 3:40
#15 – Strong swim @ 3:15
#16 – Smooth, Negative split @ 3:40
#17 – Strong swim @ 3:10
#18 – Smooth, Negative split @ 3:40
#19 – Strong swim @ 3:05
#20 – Smooth, Negative split @ 3:40
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
3 x 400 descend 3-5 seconds each 400 to a strong effort on #3. Remember your times.
3 x 100 descend 1-2 seconds each 100 to a strong effort on #3. Start at least as fast as your pace from the 400s. Remember your times.
3 x 50 fastest possible average. Start at least as fast as half of your fastest 100 from above. Make sure your last one is your best one and ends with a great finish.
Add up your times
400+400+400+100+100+100+50+50+50 = 1,650 yards.
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
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, Lynchburg YMCA
This set is useful for helping distance freestylers refine a sense of pace.
? x 100 freestyle @ coach’s send off
Continue until you achieve 3 points.
Earn 1 point by guessing your time correctly within .5 seconds
Earn 2 points by guessing your time exactly to the tenth of a second
Earn 3 points by guessing your time exactly to the hundredth of a second
Swimmers may swim whatever speed they wish.
I like to use the Guessing Game during taper, typically at the end of practice. Once a swimmer achieves his three points, he warms down and is done with practice.
Tip: Be sure to turn off your pace clock or have the swimmers turn away from the clock when you send them off. You don’t want them looking at it – there won’t be a pace clock at the meet!
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
For distance freestylers:
Descend the 500s, shoot for all fast swims at P500
Optional – use paddles and buoys on all 500s
500 free @ 6:15
20 x 25 @ :20 odd fast, even ez
500 free @ 6:15
10 x 50 @ :40 odd fast, even ez
500 free @ 6:15
5 x 100 @ 1:20 odd fast, even ez
500 free @ 6:15
4 x 125 @ 1:40 odd fast, even ez
500 free @ 6:15 all out for time
4500 yards
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
LCM
WARMUP
400 FREE B3, 4+ DOLPHIN KICKS OFF EVERY WALL @ 6:40
200 IM 25 DRILL/25 SPRINT
KICK SET
3 X 150 CHOICE KICK W/ FINS & SNORKEL GO BEST 200 SWIM TIME ON #1 AND DESCEND FROM THERE @ 3:30
(BREASTSTROKERS CAN GO WITHOUT FINS, BUT LOCK FINGERS UP FRONT)
150 EZ SWIM
MAIN SET “DOUBLING DOWN”- 3x THROUGH
800 FREESTYLE SWIM STRONG @ 10:40 (1:20) 11:00 (1:22) 11:30 (1:25)
3 X 50 CHOICE FASTEST POSSIBLE AVERAGE @ :50
400 FREESTYLE – BEAT ½ OF 800 TIME BY 10s @ 5:30 (1:22) 5:40 (1:25) 5:50 (1:27)
2 X 50 CHOICE FASTEST POSSIBLE AVERAGE @ :55
200 FREESTYLE – BEAT ½ OF 400 TIME BY 8s @ 2:50 (1:25) 2:55 (1:27) 3:00 (1:30)
1 x 50 CHOICE ALL OUT SPRINT @ 1:00
100 EZ
12 X 50 @ 1:00 “SWIMMING GOLF” – THE OBJECT IS THE LOWEST SCORE
ON 50 #1 – GET TIME AND COUNT CYCLES – ADD THESE TWO NUMBERS TOGETHER – THIS IS “PAR” FOR YOU
ON #2- AIM FOR 2 UNDER PAR
ON #3 – AIM FOR 4 UNDER PAR
ON #4 – AIM FOR 6 UNDER PAR
REPEAT, DOING A DIFFERENT STROKE
LOOSEN DOWN
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
The following is a butterfly workout intended to improve all aspects of the stroke. As always, intervals depend on the level of swimmer being trained. In this instance, the intervals on the fly swims were intended to give the swimmers plenty of rest to facilitate proper technique and eliminate “butter-struggle.”
4 X 25 FLY KICK W/SNORKEL @:30
2 X 50 CLAP DRILL FLY @:50
1 X 100 SWIM FLY @1:25/1:30/1:35
4 X 50 FLY KICK W/SNORKEL @1:00
2 X 100 3-3-3 DRILL FLY @1:30/1:35/1:40
1 X 200 SWIM FLY @3:00/3:10/3:20
4 X 75 FLY KICK W/SNORKEL @1:30
2 X 150 TRIPLE KICK DRILL FLY @2:15/2:25/2:35
1 X 300 SWIM FLY @4:30/4:45/5:00
4 X 100 FLY KICK W/SNORKEL @2:00
2 X 200 4 FLY/4 BREAST @3:00/3:15/3:30
1 X 400 SWIM FLY @FAST
NO “BROKEN STROKES!!!”
FLIP ALL TURNS DURING FLY DRILLS
YOU MAY DOLPHIN KICK ON YOUR SIDE WITHOUT A SNORKEL IF YOU CHOOSE
Ryan Woodruff, North Carolina Aquatic Club
coachryan@ncacswim.org
I am a fan of sets that give swimmers specific objectives to achieve. This one uses a swimmer's lifetime best 500 time. This means you could have every swimmer on a different interval for the main set, but this can also promote responsibility and good clock awareness.
Warm-up
4 X 300 FREE
#1 – 25 KICK/25 SWIM @ 5:00
#2 – 25 6-3-6/25 SWIM @ 4:30
#3- 25 SIX-COUNT HIGH ARCHER/25 SWIM @4:10
#4 – 25 CATCHUP/25 SWIM @ 3:50
1:00 REST
“BEST 500” = YOUR BEST TIME ROUNDED UP TO NEAREST 5 SEC MARK
ROUND 1 – SWIM NO EQUIP
ROUND 2 – PULL (BUOY OPTIONAL)
ROUND 3 – PULL OR SWIM (YOUR CHOICE)
———-
1 X 400 @ “BEST 500”
3X 1 X 425 @ “BEST 500
1 X 450 @ “BEST 500”
1 X 125 SMOOTH BACK AND REGROUP FOR NEXT ROUND
———
1 x 475 All out Goal: Beat your best 500 time
Warm-down set
9 X 50 @ 1:00 12.5 SCULL / 12.5 BUILD TO FAST TURN / 25 SMOOTH SWIM
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