Free Swimming Workouts, Sets, Ideas, and Dryland Exercises from Professional Coaches Around the World
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM. This IM set turned out to be a good challenging one for our group. The 150s IM were done with 50m of 2 strokes and 25m of the other two strokes, with the assignments rotating each rep. For example, #1 was 50 fly/50back/25 breast/25 free. We used 4 different intervals for our group in a 25m pool.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This set was done a day after a very intense quality set of 50s. The aim was to be a bit less intense while covering some distance, then hitting a leg-heavy backstroke set. SCY.
Coach Mike Cook, Mason Makos
Good IM day leading into IMX this weekend.
Green smooth 60%
Yellow hard 70-80
Blue fast 80-90
Red fast all out
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Our pool has been a little fuller the last few days with college swimmers coming home to train. This means having to consider our space a little differently when creating workouts.
This one was a good one-size-fits-all for us today. Some speed, some endurance, a little racing, some equipment, and some underwater work.
They are “Christmas 25s” because 12 x 25. For the 2nd round, we pulled 1-gallon buckets, and if swimmers went fr or fly, they were to hold their breathe for last 8m. The fourth round we did the even ones fast from a dive (HVO)
All around a solid day.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Yep, that was the feedback I got on this one. They like that the fast IM parts got smaller through the rounds. I probably should have made the 50 free parts some specific technical work or made them shrink like the 75-50-25s.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
A fartlek is a continuous swim for time with vary speeds or instructions. I like to use them on lower-intensity days or as a pre-set for something fast. This version served as some good technique work for all four strokes.
Coach Mike Cook, Mason Makos
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
The instructions for the 3 x 50 are listed at right.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
LCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did this IM set LCM. It got a little hairy/confusing in the second round when we went 200 to 50 instead of 50 to 200.
The 50s in between were best non-free (for non-IMers) or worst non-free (for IMers). The IMers were thus working on their weakness. Being able to go best stroke allowed the non-IMers to make the set a little more relevant for them.
Chris Brookover, MLY Phoenix, Greater Philadelphia YMCA
This set was really good, an actual “fail” set only 3 of the 9 A+ made it. (A+, A/B, C refer to different interval groups)
A+
6 x 25 @ :40 – Fly – One Lane / One Direction
4 x 200 @ 3:00 – 100 BK / 100 BR
Rest :30
6 x 25 @ :40 – Fly – One Lane / One Direction
4 x 200 @ 2:45 – 25 FR / 75 BK / 75 BR / 25 FR
Rest :30
6 x 25 @ :40 – Fly – One Lane / One Direction
4 x 200 @ 2:35 – 50 FR / 50 BK / 50 BR / 50 FR
Rest :40
6 x 25 @ :40 – Fly – One Lane / One Direction
4 x 200 @ 2:25 75 FR / 25 BK / 25 FR / 75 FR
A / B
6 x 25 @ :40 – Fly – One Lane / One Direction
4 x 200 @ 3:15 – 100 BK / 100 BR
Rest :30
6 x 25 @ :40 – Fly – One Lane / One Direction
4 x 200 @ 3:00 – 25 FR / 75 BK / 75 BR / 25 FR
Rest :30
6 x 25 @ :40 – Fly – One Lane / One Direction
4 x 200 @ 2:50 – 50 FR / 50 BK / 50 BR / 50 FR
Rest :40
6 x 25 @ :40 – Fly – One Lane / One Direction
3 x 200 @ 2:40 75 FR / 25 BK / 25 FR / 75 FR
C
6 x 25 @ :40 – Fly – One Lane / One Direction
3 x 200 @ 3:30 – 100 BK / 100 BR
Rest :30
6 x 25 @ :40 – Fly – One Lane / One Direction
4 x 200 @ 3:15 – 25 FR / 75 BK / 75 BR / 25 FR
Rest :30
6 x 25 @ :40 – Fly – One Lane / One Direction
3 x 200 @ 3:10 – 50 FR / 50 BK / 50 BR / 50 FR
Rest :30
6 x 25 @ :40 – Fly – One Lane / One Direction
3 x 200 @ 3:00 75 FR / 25 BK / 25 FR / 75 FR
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
That’s an exact quote from one of our swimmers upon seeing this workout. They did a nice job with this one. SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Elliot Ptasnik, Head Coach, University of Hawaii
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
David Laudati, Head Age Group Coach YMCA Westside Silver Fins Goodyear, AZ
Here is a great set that I did with my advanced 11-14yr olds the other night. Challenged all the swimmers. I let them choose a name and they came up with a good one.
Elliot Ptasnik, Head Coach, University of Hawaii
LOCO = Locomotive (pattern as described)
DKOB = Dolphin Kick On Back
NS = Negative Split
Mike Cook, Mason Makos
We did this today with senior prep (11-15)
Mixture of pulling kicking and IM. Lot of attention to details
Brad Herndon, Greensboro Community YMCA
This set worked real well for some fast 200 free and 100 Stroke times this weekend, takes 44 minutes, 11 mins a round, they did this 2 weeks out and were right on their 200 FR and 100 stroke goal times:
4x
3 x 175 FR @ 2:20 (hold goal 200 Fr time)
1 x 75 Stroke Fast @ 1:00
1 x 50 Stroke Fast @ 1:00
1 x 25 Stroke Fast @ 1:00
1 x 25 EZ @ 1:00 (start early after the 25 stroke fast)
Stroke = Swimmer chooses OR some did IMO by Round, but 4th Round = Fly-Back-Breast on the 75, then drop down by choice to finish with 25 of your best stroke (other than fr)
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
IMO = IM order
Transitions: #2 fly- bk #4 bk-br #6 br-fr
Coach Alex Morris, Kansas City Blazers, Shawnee Mission North
This is the second of a couple of sets (see the first one here) that went really well for us over the last week or so. We are still not back to full training capacity yet.
4 rounds:
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY. We are currently swimming 4 swimmers per lane with 2 at each end of the pool. Some of the instructions reflect this arrangement.
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
In the past, we have often done a “standard warmup” 90+% of all practices. We have a good routine and it has served us well.
As we come back from the pandemic, I am no longer doing standard warmup (for now).We have shorter practices and I don’t want us to fall into any routine — I want to keep everyone on their toes. Here was our warmup preparing for today’s IM set.
This blog has always been and will continue to be a FREE resource for the global coaching community. As for many coaches, the COVID-19 has had a significant negative financial impact for my family.
If the Swimming Wizard has provided value to you and you have the means, donations are gratefully accepted via PayPal and Venmo.
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
This pre-set led us to some pretty good performances on the “long quality” 6 x 300s.
This post was originally published to this blog in April 2018
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM. This set worked well for us, meaning we got some excellent efforts and good times at the end of the set.
The instructions matched the intervals – the IM swims descend to an all-out 400 IM. The freestyles start off with a very strong 400 free and ascend to a smooth 100.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM. This set worked really well for us. With a full pool, it allowed everyone to get some good aerobic swimming accomplished while also achieving some fast IM swimming without stroke technique decline.
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