Free Swimming Workouts, Sets, Ideas, and Dryland Exercises from Professional Coaches Around the World
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did this set off the blocks, and several of our swimmers said they liked it despite the fact that it turned out to be much harder than they expected. SCM.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
On the 175s, the goal is to beat your best 200 time (should get them at least :20 rest on those).
This turned out to be a good set for us, though we ended up needing to make some modifications at the end due to time constraints.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
The goal on the 75s was just to be fast, execute excellent turns, and hold good technique.
For the 150s, we set a specific time goal based on the 75s.
For Free and Back, that goal was 2 x (best 75 time) + 6 seconds
For Breast and Fly, that goal was 2 x (best 75 time) + 10 seconds.
With those goals, we were able to get a pretty high level of effort with a high success rate.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
That is a direct quote from a swimmer.
SCY
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
We were pretty engaged and focused for this set tonight. 9 days out from our championship meet, our D free kids were especially locked in.
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Coach Ethan Leach
This set is called “Meat Grinders.” It says to do 2 rounds, but it was built to be stopped around halfway through the first round and started over, pushing the swimmers to their limit.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
The 25s were holding back just a little, aiming to let the full effort out on the 50s.
We followed this up with a surprise 4 x 100 all out off the blocks.
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Heidi Miler, West Express Swim Team
We did this Saturday to simulate some racing as we have a big meet in two weeks and many of our kids haven’t swam a meet yet coming out of HS season.
I think it went well as it raised the racing level more than we normally see doing “regular off the block sprints”
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Saturday, January 5, 2019
Sprints off blocks – simulate racing with Winter Classic Meet in two weeks
1000 Meet warm up
6 x 50 @ 50 – build through a fast turn
300 kick build by 100
6 x 50 @ 50 – build to a fast finish
300 pull
1200/ 2200
2 x 100 @ 1:40 – 50 drill/50 free – technique focus
4 x 25 @ 30 Sprint free
100 easy
2 x 100 @ 1:50 – Non free 50 drill/50 – technique focus
4 x 25 @ 30 Sprint non free
200 easy
900/3100
Point System:
Winner of each heat gets 10 points, 2nd place 5
Best time 20 points
Best time –within 1 second 10 points
Best time within 2 seconds 5 points
Best time within 3 seconds 3 points
We set up in heats of similar speed – did each of these swims on approx. 5 min with some easy swimming and point calculating in between swims
All Swims AFAP
2 x 100 Free
1 x 100 Non Free (did not score this for heat winners with too many different strokes going on)
1 x 100 IM
At end choose between 2 x 100 broken swims or 1 x 200/500 broken swim
Cool Down
Highest point scorer won a won a TYR Prize (t-shirt, goggles etc)
I printed out a sheet with each swimmers best time sheet and attached it to the table – in between rounds the swimmers calculated their points
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Coach Alex Morris, KC Blazers
Here is a set we used with our National group to reinforce technique quality and race endurance on 200s of stroke. The 25s and 75s should be primary stroke (Or 3 rounds prime, 2 rounds of a secondary stroke). The swimmers chose their intervals on the 75s based on the stroke they were doing and ability, then the rest interval at the end of each round designed to bring the whole group back together to start the next round
5 rounds:
4×25 on :30, 1 form/DPS, 1 build, 1 hold, 1 fast
4×75 hold form and stroke count @ :55/1:00/1:05
50 sprint kick @ :50 (body line kick w/snorkel)
3×50 choice ez @ :50
About 20-60sec Rest to regroup before starting next round
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Coach Todd Kramer, Columbia Swim Club
Here is our main set from last Friday 11/23. We were six days out from our mid season rest meet. We wanted to do some quality swimming after hitting them with some high intensity/short rest sets the previous couple of days. We did the OTB (off the blocks) in three heats, so swimmers ended up having about a 1:3 work to rest ratio on those. The kick intervals gave them a bit more than a 1:1 work to rest ratio. The drill/swim was recovery with a strong focus on the little details. The goal of the set was to do some high quality fast swimming followed by working the legs with the idea of helping to develop good kicking late in their races. In hindsight I would have given the kids more specific time targets on the OTB (which was choice based on their best events). A couple of kids had to be given time targets to refocus, but once we got into the workout I think it went very well.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Most of the time on this blog, I publish single sets that we do within a larger workout. Today, I am publishing the entire workout how I have it written out for my group. You may need to zoom in a bit to see it well.
I usually start with a quote — sometimes we discuss it, sometimes we just get right in. Today we did our “Standard Warmup,” which we probably do for 80% of our practices. Our standard warmup is:
400 smooth swim choice @:20 rest
4 x 150 choice kick/drill/build by 50 @:20 rest
4 x 50 choice sprint any 20 of the 50 @:20 rest
Total: 1200m, ~18-20 min
For this workout, we combined 3 power stations with a set of 6 x 50 off the blocks. We did it three times through, meaning each swimmer did each station once and the 6x 50s set three times. It was a good day for us — team energy and spirits were high, performances were good, and we spent time during our subsequent dryland discussing the previous weekend’s meet.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We split the group in two for this workout, and both sets went well. The mid/sprint set allowed enough time for some real technical focus. The distance set kept our guys “in the groove” for some very good 100s.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Our swimmers had been asking for a set where there was some sort of group incentive or group goal. I was happy to oblige with the set below (SCM).
The idea is this: we are doing 50s off the blocks until we score 400 points. Swimmers would score 1 point for the team if they beat their 1st 50 time for their best 200. 2 points were scored if they beat their 1st 50 time for their best 100. If they were able to beat the 1st 50 time for their GOAL time, they scored 3 points for the group.
Time goals were derived from the pace cards available on our Tools for Coaches page.
At random times in the set, we would do a 100 instead of a 50 with the stated goals.
As we started the set, I was concerned that it might take us a LONG time to get to the 400 goal. We got to 100 points relative ease, then to 200 it took a bit longer. As fatigue began to build (even with an ez 100 thrown in), the points started coming a bit more slowly, though the team stayed positive and supportive. After about 50 minutes and just shy of 300 points, I offered “get out swims” to 3 swimmers. We ended up with some phenomenal get-out swim 100s, and concluded the set. If I would do this set again, I might structure the points system slightly differently, but I was still pleased with the effort and the results we got.
Alex Morris, Kansas City Blazers
Looking to build speed on the stroke 50s throughout the set, work on closing speed in a 200 race
2 rounds, can change stroke between rounds
100 free @ 1:45
2×50 stroke @ :50 – 200RP +1
100 Free @ 1:45
4×50 @ 1:00 – @ 200RP
100 free @ 1:45
6×50 @ 1:10 – 200RP -1
300 ez – 50 kick/50 scull/50 drill
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
The following is a quality set that we performed well on earlier this week.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
2 x through:
6 x 100 all out from start
2 @ 5:00 (with a 100 ez)
2 @ 4:00 (with a 50 ez)
2 @ 3:00
200 easy swim
Swimmers had two options for strokes. They could either pick a stroke and stick with it for one round (6x100s). Alternatively, they could choose the “IM option,” doing all four strokes in IM order but tripling up on their best individual stroke.
This was a great set for us, with excellent esprit de corps and some pretty good results for early in the season.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This was a good challenging set for us in our first SCY practice of the new season (We have been LCM for the first 3.5 weeks).
We did the odd 75s from a dive and the even ones from a push… the goal was to keep the even ones within the amount of time listed for each stroke relative to the odds.
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Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We have the good fortune of being able to still train LCM. This is a quality set we did recently. All red swims were of the blocks. I liked how the 35s primed them for fast swimming, and then we raised the challenge by asking for more distance.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
LCM. The intervals for the longer swims were pretty loose on this set, and we got some good results out of the dive 100s, particularly for early in the season. On the black sets, swimmers could pick the freestyle or FRIM (IM with free instead of fly) track. On the purple 100s, the instructions were to pick one stroke and stick with it or go in IM order.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Everything is from a start
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did this set recently and had a great day. I call it the Half Ellie, because the “Full Ellie” is 10 x 400 with active recovery, named after a swimmer who loves that set.
Coach Brad Robbins
This one was just dynamite for us tonight (July 1)
Dive swims we’re focused on front end speed. Push swims were geared toward the middle/back end finishes. Lots of active recovery to give them just enough to get up and go again!
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
LCM
We did this quality set interspersed with some stretch cord work today.
The goal on the 35 and 65 was to get a total time faster than your best 100.
Goal on the 85 was to beat best 100 time by 4 seconds.
Goal on the 100 was simply AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.
I really liked how it demanded flat-out speed early on and then encouraged them to hold it for longer.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This set consists of two stations done twice through. This allowed us to have half of the group doing the set while the other half is doing the 50s with a specific technical focus.
The purpose of the 100s was to help the swimmers get in a groove during the first three (build it up!!!) and then be BLAZING FAST (burn it down!!!) the last three. We got some lifetime-best practice times with this set. FPA = Fastest Possible Average.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
LCM
