Free Swimming Workouts, Sets, Ideas, and Dryland Exercises from Professional Coaches Around the World
Gwen Babcock, Dallastown Swim Club
I do a set called GI Joes. It’s like stations with dry land in between. Fun, quick yardage that is easy to get in, and it’s always changing so there is no reason to get bored. Warm up for that, could be 4×200 Swim/Drill or 3×300 Swim/drill/kick. You get the idea.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Here is a underwater kicking and sprint combo that we did recently. The part in red was done with stretch cord resistance.
After the kicking pre-set, we did the 60 x 25 set adapted from this article about Gregg Troy’s favorite sprint sets. Turned out to be an awesome day!
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Lately we haven’t had as much lane space as we are accustomed to, and one day last week we had nearly 40 high-school-aged swimmers in 4 lanes. We did the following kick stations that allowed us to put nearly 20 swimmers in one lane for the first station while spreading the other 20 out over the three remaining lanes. Turned out to be a pretty good kick set.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
FPA = Fastest Possible Average
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
HVO from dive = fast swim at ~P100
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This set is a spin-off from the 15-minute Kick for Distance Test Set from yesterday.
Use the distances achieved in that set (1/3 of total distance achieved in that set) to set a goal for this one:
3x
(5:00 kick for distance + 200 ez free) @9:00
Divide the swimmers into two teams — the team that successfully achieves their 5:00 goal the most times wins (think of a good reward for winning).
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This is one of my favorite kick sets. For each of the blue times, the swimmer is trying to kick as far as possible. I use a wrench banging on the side of the pool to tell each successive group when their time is up. When they have completed the time, they pick their head up and check their distance (I have set kickboards on the side of the pool every 5m/yards) to the nearest meter. Returning to the wall, they immediately start the 200 ez.
The goal for 2:10= 2x the achieved 1:00 Distance.
Goal for 4:30 = 2x the 2:10 distance
Goal for 4:20 = beat the 4:30 distance.
Goal for 2:00 = beat the 2:10 distance.
Goal for :50 = beat the 1:00 distance.
Total time kicked is 15:00, so we write down the distances and add them up for total distance kicked in 15:00.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This kick set worked well with the wide range of kicking speeds in our group. Swimmers aim for the fastest total 400 time (25+50+75+100+75+50+25=400), always doing a 50 easy on a :50 interval. 6 easy 50s means there is a total of 5:00 “active recovery” in the total set. Coach can start the watch and just subtract 5:00 from the total time at the end of the second 25. We had swimmers pick one kick (stroke) for the first round and then they can change for the 2nd round.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff Lynchburg YMCA
This set was a pretty aggressive combination of underwater and surface kicking. We did an extra time through the last part for good measure.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We used these two stations to measure our underwater kicking ability, keeping half of the group busy with some freestyle technique work in the meantime.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Coach Mike Cook, Mason Makos
A fun kick set we did at the end of practice recently. The kids must have liked it because they asked to do it again this morning.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did this set at the end of a long practice that included dryland that was heavy on the legs and a long kick set. The goal was to work some underwater power and then get some “lightning speed” underwater kicks at the end of each round. It worked well, with a few of our swimmers setting personal bests & team records at the 25m underwater kicking distance.
For the part written in green, one athlete wore the belt/cord and a partner stood on the deck and held the cord to provide the resistance.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff
Mike Cook, Mason Makos
This is the workout we did for 12 and unders before the last qualifier heading into JO’s. A little bit of everything. Hope it helps -Coach Mike
WARM UP
12×75 (50 free/25 back) @1:20
All open turns emphasizing throwing our hips and legs into wall fast with good head position.
12×25 kick (25 easy choice/25 fast free)@35
Main set
12×35@1:15 (all choice) start at 10 meter. Execute perfect turn 4 fast strokes out of turn. Nothing good happens near the wall if we slow down
12×15 fast free no breath
(Alternate through these)
Kick set to emphasize short bursts at end of races with partners
Go to the 10 as a group. Now go to the 15. Now to the wall
Cycle through 12 times
Repeat the main cycle but with 4 main stroke and 2 free
Repeat kick cycle 6 times but go to the 15. Than go to wall. Last one the whole 25 fast
Main set 2 racing the 100. Do with fins
3x
2×100 free @2:00
1×25 easy kick on back
Strong first 25 and race that middle 50 and get home. Don’t be afraid of the race accept the challenge
4×25 from a dive walk around. One each stroke. All out with great finishes.No fins. (Backstroke big girl/boy finishes)
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
Jeb Beaver
Monocacy Aquatic Club
Mid Distance
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
50s @ 1:10 dolphin kick on back, hands at side
100s @ 1:35 free with best underwater kicks
150s @ 2:30 backstroke best technique
200 @ 3:10 free B3, excellent turns
1 x 50
1 x 100
2 x 50
1 x 150
2 x 100
3 x 50
1 x 200
2 x 150
3 x 100
4 x 50
Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
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This set is designed to encourage swimmers to practice strong kicking through the middle and end of 200 events. Time the total round (50+75+50), with the goal being to beat one’s lifetime best 200 time. Typically, breaststrokers and flyers will have the easiest time achieving this goal.
6x through @ 4:00:
50 fast swim
:10 rest
75 fast kick with a board
:10 rest
50 fast swim
Ryan Woodruff
Follow @WoodruffRyan
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA
We don’t do a lot of kick sets in isolation as I don’t think it relates well to racing. This is one example of a set where we combined some intense kicking with race-pace swimming. We did this is a 25m pool. The 50 at 200 pace is significantly harder with fatigued legs, but this is an absolutely essential skill to swim a good 200 race. FPA = Fastest Possible Average
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