Tag: Sprint

The Tennis Ball Technique Challenge Set

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

The purpose of this set was to challenge our athletes from a technical standpoint in all strokes.  For the first 75, they swam with a tennis ball in each hand.  As we have posted in the past, this essentially removes the hand as a propulsive surface, encouraging use of the forearms, the kick, and the core for propulsion.   Setting the tennis balls down, we sprinted the first 25 (on a tight interval), paying attention to our cycle count and enjoying the sensation of having use of the hands again.  We followed that up very quickly with a 25 of the same stroke, demanding excellent efficiency and stroke length by asking for the 25 to be performed with 2 fewer cycles than the previous 25.

Underwater Power and Sprint Set

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

Our club doesn’t have the luxury of having power towers to use (yet), so we substitute by having swimmers hold a stretch cord for the their teammates, giving them resistance for short sets such as the one below.  One swimmer is tethered in the water and performs this set, and then they switch roles.  No rest except where indicated.

1 x 8 all out UW kicks and then get pulled back to wall
1 x 8 all out UW kicks + 1 sprint cycle and then get pulled back to wall
1 x 8 all out UW kicks +2 sprint cycles and then get pulled back to wall
1 x 8 all out UW kicks +3 sprint cycles and then get pulled back to wall
:10-:15 rest, unhook from tether, leave on coach’s “go”:
1 x 25 all out sprint for time
1 x 25 ez swim and trade places with partner

Sprint Free Tournament

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

For the last 15 minutes of our practice, we only have 2 lanes for the 20 swimmers in our National group.  Today we had a fun “Sprint Free Tournament” in that time. Every swimmer must know his or her best 50 free time to the tenth of a second. Here’s how it works:

1. Coach selects a swimmer (or youngest can go first). This swimmer chooses a teammate to race in a 50 free.
2. The race is handicapped, meaning that if swimmer A’s best time is 24.0 and swimmer B’s best time is 25.2, swimmer A must swim a time at least 1.2 seconds faster than swimmer B to “win” the race.
3. The head to head race commences.  The winner advances to the next round. The loser is out.
4. Repeats steps 1 – 4 until all swimmers have competed once.  Continue until only 1 swimmer remains as the champ. Be sure to keep an eye on each competitor getting amounts of rest between swims to keep it fair.

Works best with 8, 16, or 32 swimmers, but can be done with any number. Enjoy!

Fun and Speed at the End of Practice

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Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

We did this set at the end of practice just for fun and to get a little speed/power set.  The relays worked really well, with teams of 2 swimmers starting from mid-pool and alternating 25s.  We got some fast quality turns that way.

A post shared by SwimmingWizard (@swimmingwizard) on Sep 18, 2017 at 11:33am PDT

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Sprint/Fartlek/Sprint

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

40 x 50 all choice (but no breast) @ 1:00
#1 – Sprint no breath until you MUST take a breath, then build to a perfect finish
#2 – 40 meters drill then 10m no breath sprint to finish
#3 – max underwater kick and then minimum cycle count
#4 – fast for time

Fins, Paddles & Snorkels
6 x 5:00 Fartlek @ 6:00 (use whistle or wrench bang on side of the pool, they can stop in the middle of the pool for the 1:00 rest and start from there on the next one)
Continuously repeating: 25 flutter kick on side/ 25 swim.  Descend the 25 swim 1 to ? (however many they do).  Descend using the power of the legs!
Diving well set (10-12m width)
20 x 50 (2 widths) @ :30
1st width fast underwater kick followed by open turn

2nd width sprint free no breath (at least 4 dolphin kicks off the wall)

Early Season Buckets Resistance Set

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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.

FunSprint Set to Finish Practice

Posted on by rdwoodruff

Ryan Woodruff
Head Coach
Lynchburg YMCA

This is a little set that we finished a long Saturday practice with.  In the outline for the workout I gave them before we started, it was called a “fun sprint set.” I think they agreed.

Swimmers teamed up with a partner to do all 18 x 25

Explanation of “partner slingshot” can be found here.

Have you checked out “One of the best ideas I ever had (or maybe stole)?”

Wolfpack Speed & Power Camp; A "Symphony of Chaos and Freakishly Fast Swimming"

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A Review by Ryan Woodruff

I spent this past weekend in Raleigh at the Wolfpack Speed & Power Camp, hoping to soak up some knowledge and tips from Coach Todd DeSorbo and the NC State coaching staff.  The camp was billed as “1.5 days of roaring explosiveness” and DeSorbo kicked it off by describing Wolfpack practice as “literally organized chaos.”  Both seemingly hyperbolic descriptions turned out to be surprisingly accurate.

Part training session and part coaching clinic, the focus was totally on sprint freestyle (as advertised).  Swimmers 13 & over were taught the drills, technical philosophy, and training philosophy that the Wolfpack has employed over the last 4+ years as they dramatically ascended the NCAA ranks. DeSorbo, Bobby Guntoro, and the rest of the staff were very interactive with the campers, who got a compressed experience of what it’s like to train in the sprint group at NC State.

As a coach, I loved learning the innovative drills, unique philosophy, and weekly training plan.  But the thing that made the most impact on me is how much this staff absolutely LOVES to coach.  Their energy and enthusiasm on deck is contagious.  After a few other coaches and I watched the campers run through their drills, we stayed and observed the college team’s practice.  After a brief team meeting, the beats started pumping and speed was all over the place — it was a symphony of chaos and freakishly fast swimming. 24 hours later I am still shaking my head about how intense, fun, and alive that workout was.

 On the second day of camp, swimmers got to train with Power Racks, Power Towers, and Drag Sox, using the same protocols that DeSorbo has concocted for the likes of recent Short Course 100 freestyle World Champion Simonas Bilis and Olympic Gold medalist Ryan Held.  The coaches got to observe a collegiate weightlifting session and had a technical Q & A with sprint whisperer Guntoro.  Camp concluded with the Raleigh Rage Shootout, an exciting tournament-style 50 free competition.

I came away with a ton of new ideas and concepts to ponder, and at a $150 price tag, the camp was a bargain.  If I can manage to incorporate even a fraction of what I learned into my program, my swimmers will be better for it.  Next year, I plan to encourage my swimmers to attend and would 100% recommend the camp to any coach interested in maximizing the sprinting ability of his athletes.

See SwimSprint.com for more information.