Free Swimming Workouts, Sets, Ideas, and Dryland Exercises from Professional Coaches Around the World
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
After some time off and a few days back to training, we needed to do something fast(ish) not too repeatedly intense. Adding in some active recovery on a generous interval seemed to do the trick.
SCY
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
I like doing sets like this for our middle-distance races. Doing just a few 50s at 500 pace doesn’t do much, but when you add some real quantity and change up the interval with short rest, you start mimicking the burn of that 4th 100 of the race. Warning: this one hurts!
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
For this set, our training group was organized into swimmers who specialize in 200 & down (shorter) events and those who specialize in 200 & up (longer) events. For the first two rounds, the instructions were the same. For the last two rounds, we performed the 50s slightly differently.
P200 = Race pace for a 200 yard event
P100 = Race pace for a 100 yard event
P500 = Race pace for a 500 yard event
PMile= Race pace for the 1650
EZ = Easy
The 500 served as active recovery/technique work and preparation for the following set of 50s.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM. Split the group. Everyone was one or the other.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
On the 300s, the focus was on breathing every 3 strokes and executing good turns. On the 50s, the goal was simply to be at 1650 free pace (PMile).
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
We started off with a little swimming golf (add your time and cycles, bring the total lower) just to check in with efficiency before we really got going. Blue 50s at 200 race pace with fast 75s sandwiched in the middle. We got an excellent effort on the 75s kick, and that sometimes caused the 50s at pace to be a little off. After the 3rd sandwich, the 4 x 75s kick at the bottom were a surprise (they were not written on the set originally) and a challenge. Opening up the interval a bit and challenging them to rise to the occasion worked like magic.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
A handful of our swimmers are preparing for an open water swim, so I included some “sighting” practice in the first part of this set. The race portion flowed well from that first part.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We have days where the whole group does one workout. Other times, we split by strokes. On this day, we split along distance lines. Part of the group worked around their distance race pace, while the other group did a small number of intense 50s from a dive. The sprinters also watched their 50s back on video and did some active recovery during the 6:00 interval. This workout was in LCM.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Most often, we feature single sets here. This one includes the entire workout as we laid it out for our swimmers at practice. LCM.
Coach Gwynn Harrison, Bridgewater College
Start at 200 and see how many 200’s you can hit at MILE PACE :30 RI (keep doing until you miss pace. If you miss, go 50 easy, then see how many 175’s you can hit at Mile PACE :30RI. Continue all the way down (with the 50 easy after each ‘miss):
150: 25 RI
125: 20 RI
100: 15 RI
75: 15 RI
50: :10 RI
25: :5 RI
The first time I did this set in the fall, the swimmers enjoyed the concept, but it was chaotic. The second time this week it was fantastic, with a few tweaks. Kids need a printout of each goal time and they need to be prepared to honestly keep track of their own made yardage. It also helps to have no more than 3 swimmers to a lane if possible (or start at opposite ends). It forces swimmers who never lead to take ownership of their own set, so they need to start with that fact in mind. Swimmers will go different yardage amounts in this set. When swimmers have completed their 1650, they then must actively cheer for those still finishing. It was a good galvanizing set for our distance group – and a confidence builder!
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Yesterday I posted about a set our breaststroke group did leading up to a main set.
Here is the main set that came next:
P200 = 200 yard race pace
FPA = fastest possible average
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
This race pace set is similar to many we have done, but with a twist: on the 5th 50, we drop the interval by :10 to put a little fatigue squeeze on them. It definitely added a difficulty component.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Challenged our group with this one recently. Loved the results. Putting out a high level of effort that many times requires a high degree of focus and desire, but most got it done very well.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We did this set recently to work on our top-end speed. We used our pace cards to determine our goal times for the 35m sprints. Resisted sprints and dryland exercises helped get all motor units activated for the 35s.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
We used our 1-gallon buckets pulled behind us for the first set and then hit some race pace right afterwards. The interval for the 100s was 2:00. SCM.
Elliot Ptasnik, Head Coach, University of Hawaii
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCM
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
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
This was our SCY workout this morning. The race pace set at the end came from Mike Anzano of COM Aquatics
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 pandemic 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
Do you sometimes need an idea for practice? Would you like to receive a free email to help spark your creativity? Then sign up for my e-newsletter to get a dose of information, inspiration, and innovation delivered every once in a while.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
The swimmer who this set was written for has a best time under 2:00.
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
SCY
Editor’s note: This set was originally published to this blog in January 2015
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
…but put a bunch of ’em in a set and soon you’ll be feelin’ pretty groovy.
Have you seen these 39 must-watch swimming videos?
Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA
Did some fast swimming on this one. In each set, we performed some 50s at 200 pace and then followed it up with some “all-out” 50s, unleashing our performance from the mental constraints of “race pace.”
The Swimming Wizard 