Free Swimming Workouts, Sets, Ideas, and Dryland Exercises from Professional Coaches Around the World
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.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
The swimmer who this set was written for has a best time under 2:00.
Coach Neno, Team SESI, Brazil
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Editor’s note: This set was originally published to the blog in 2014.
Greg Johnson, Greater Pensacola Aquatic Club
Editor’s note: This post was originally published on this blog in November 2012.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM. We did this IM Set recently. At the conclusion of the set I asked each swimmer two give me two scores on a scale of 1-10. The first score was for how challenging the set was (lowest score was an 8), the second was for how well they thought they did (lowest score was a 7).
Note the stroke instructions on the right were different for each of the four parts on each round. On the 16×25 of the fly round, the EZ 25 was permitted to be freestyle, but on all other rounds all 25s were of the specific stroke.
Total distance: 4,000m
Total time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
Q: Why is it called the “I.M. Merry-Go-Round”?
A: Because it looks fun, but after an hour you can’t wait for it to stop!
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Mike Cook, Mason Makos
12 & Under Age Group workout trying to get them to understand how to race the IM.
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Chris Schlegel, Head Age Group Coach, All Star Aquatics
“Another practice pre-IMX meet. Definitely challenged the top end today. Pre-Set was working UWD focusing on the power & speed you need to breakout properly. Most did 6-8 UWD focusing on the last 2-4 faster & harder in both directions.”
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Jake Lichter, Assistant Men’s Swim Coach, Cornell University
This was a great workout because our guys attacked the first 200 like it was the only one. We had a hand full of swimmers go sub 2:00 with the fastest guy going 1:55.8. It was a challenge for them to maintain the effort as they Ascended because we limited by how much they could slow down. By the time they got to #8 & #9 they were able to recover enough to be able to give a best effort on the final 200 free with most guys under 1:50 and a 1:43.4 as the fastest. OTB = Off the blocks
15:00 Dynamic Dryland
Warmup:
400 Fr-IM
4 x 100 IMO Drill on 1:30
8 x 50 on :50
fly/back
back/breast
breast/free
free/back
16 x 25 IMO Dec 1-4 on :30
20 x 50 kick on 1:00
4 hard 4 ez
3 harder 3 ez
2 harder 2 ez
1 hardest 1 ez
6 x 75 on 1:10
fly/back/breast
back/breast/free
free
10 x 200 on 3:00
Odd: IM Ascend 1-5
#1: OTB For Time #2: No more than 10 seconds Slower #3: No more than 5 seconds slower
Even: Free Descend 1-5
#10: OTB for Time
200 loosen
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
The first 50 is always strong to simulate some IM fatigue… and descend the last 100s 1-3. Intervals were for our squad in SCM.
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Chris Schlegel, Head Age Group Coach, All Star Aquatics
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Karissa Kruszewski, UCLA Swimming
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Morgan Cordle, 757 Swim
Jonathan Kaplan, Chris Bushelman, Jessica Laird, and Steve Medei, SwimRVA
This past Saturday, we brought our three teams together in Richmond, VA for a combined long course practice. We had three groups (Sprint, IM/Stroke, and Distance).
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Chris Bushelman led the warmup, which allowed everyone to make a new friend and get to know each other:
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Coach Morgan Cordle led the IM/Stroke Group:
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Coach Jonathan Kaplan led the Sprint Group:
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Initial Speed for 50 free
4 x HVOs
4 x Dive 30m sprint w specific breath placement
*count breaths to come on bottom
*150 easy after each and rest 1:30-2:00
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Sustained Speed for 50 free
(Cone at approx 20m)
With fins, Swim medium tempo no breath to the cone, take a breath, and then sprint 10 cycles no breath, take a breath then finish to the wall. 150 easy after each and rest 1:30-2:00
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100 Finish Speed and Tempo
3 rounds of Countdown Sprints w/Fins
followed by 4 x 25 breath restrictions (breath count goes lower each round)
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Coach Ryan Woodruff led the distance group:
After the workout, we had breakfast together at the pool and had some time for socializing.
Thank you SwimRVA for hosting us all! This was a great idea.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Mike Cook, Mason Makos
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
1 x 600 IM/Bk/IM/Br/IM/Fr by 100 @8:30
1 x 400 free steady w snorkels, optional paddles @5:30
1 x 400 IM/Bk/IM/Br by 100 @5:40
1 x 400 Free same as above
1 x 200 IM @2:50 Goal is to be within :30 of best SCY time )swimming in SCM)
1 x 400 free same as above
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did this one recently to get some swimming done and hit a little of each stroke before doing some quality swims off the block.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM. This one took an old concept of building up the distance to a 200 IM and added a few descending 200 IMs to finish with a punch!
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This set was a lead-in for our main quality set — just a chance to work some technique and make sure every stroke was ready to go.
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Mike Cook, Mason Makos
1 of our favorite ways to start practice is w/ a good quote. Here’s a bunch to try, conveniently divided by the occasion in which you might want to use them: https://swimmingwizard.com/e-books/
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
6,400 SCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
9 x 400 IM done as…(SCM)
#1
12 x 25 fast @:30 (4 each fly/bk/br)
1 x 100 free strong & steady @1:20
#2
4 x 100 IM @ 1:30 Descend 1-4
#3
1 x 400 IM @6:30 (descend #3-6-9)
#4
8 x 25 fast @:30 (4 each fly/bk)
1 x 100 breast strong & steady @1:30
1 x 100 free strong & steady @1:20
#5
2 x 200 IM @3:00 descend
#6
1 x 400 IM @6:30
#7
4 x 25 fast fly @:30
1 x 100 strong & steady bk @1:25
1 x 100 strong & steady br @1:30
1 x 100 strong & steady fr @1:20
#8
1 x 400 IM ez @6:30
#9
1 x 400 IM fast
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Fun challenge set combining a little technique work, quality, and some underwater kicking across our 6 lane pool.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This set was originally published to the blog in 2017.
