Tag: Resistance Training

Blasting Buckets and Sox

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

LCM. This set makes use of the 12m diving well that sits alongside the 50m lanes we use. In order to maximize our space with our entire team practicing at once, we occasionally use it this way. For ease of communication, we call one width of the diving well a “25.”

We used 1-gallon buckets tied to waist belts for the set of 8 x50, timing each 25 and emphasizing racing a teammate.

For the diving well set, we used the aquavolo drag sox. The contrast between resisted kicking and non-resisted (when we take the Sox off) leads to some excellent speedy UW kicking.

Bucket Power!

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

SCM. Pick a stroke and stick with it for a round. Count cycles on the 3 x 25, strive to maintain that cycle count through the 2×50 and 1x 75. After the 10×25, go faster on the way down than on the way up.

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Butterfly Power Stations

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

Each station takes around 9:00. We did each station 2x, doing the fly set at the bottom after each station (4x total).

“Buddy cords” refers to a stretch cord with a belt at both ends. Swimmer 1 pushes off and swims a 25 fly while swimmer 2 stays at the wall providing resistance for the 1st 10 cycles of fly. After the 10th cycle, swimmer 2 pushes off the wall and swims easy free following swimmer 1 who completes the 25 fly.

For the Drag Sox, the Set utilizes the Sox worn in two different ways. Sox at the ankles provides high resistance to the kick. Moving them up to the calves provides a little less. Taking the Sox gives the swimmers the boost of a fully involved kick for the last 2×25.

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Breaststroke Deep-Water Speed and Power Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff, Lynchburg YMCA

We recently did this set in our approximately 10m-wide diving well. Our breaststroke group was nearly unanimous in their enthusiasm for this set, despite the dog-tired looks on their faces when they finished it.

3 rounds:

10 x 10m widths @:10 1 pullout and 1 cycle breast to make it to the other side.

:20 rest

1:00 vertical eggbeater kick, hands and elbows out of the water.

1:00 rest, hook up to stretch cordz

6 x 4 cycles cord-resisted sprint (no pullouts) and float back to the wall @ ~1:00

1:00 rest

For the cord-resisted sprints, we had a cord anchored to a chain link fence about 10 feet from the edge of the pool. This wasn’t quite enough resistance, so a coach held the cord to get enough tension so that the swimmers were only barely moving forward on the 3rd and 4th cycles sprint.

Underwater Kicking Power & Lightning Speed Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

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.

Booming Buckets and Underwater Kicking

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

For this set we used our 2-gallon buckets pulled behind via a rope attached to a stretch-cord belt.  We increased the sprint distances on the red 25s and then tried to really hammer the purple 25s.

For the 50s kick, we used a Finis Tempo Trainer to set a fairly aggressive tempo for the 8 underwater kicks off every wall.

All in all, the set worked pretty well.

Early Season Buckets Resistance Set

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

This was our first resistance set of a new season.  We stuck to 25s with our 1-gallon buckets on an interval that provided an approximately 2:3 work:rest ratio.  Once we have a little more training behind us, we will tighten the interval and lengthen the distance a bit.  Swimmers chose their strokes, but were instructed to keep it consistent throughout the set.  We got some very good times on the final 50 at the end of the set, which was without a bucket.

Three 9:00 Stations

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

Three 9-minute stations: Resistance, Race Pace, and Cord-assisted Sprints. We used 1-gallon buckets on the first station to provide resistance. The second station was 18 x 25 performed differently for distance, middle distance, and sprint. The third station used cords to assist at race speed into a fast turn.