Swim Workouts:

Stroke and Speed

Efficiency

Efficiency and Distance

Efficiency and Speed

Distance

Distance

Endurance

Endurance

Endurance and Distance

Speed

Speed

Speed

Speed and Distance

Speed and Distance

Speed and Efficiency

Speed and Efficiency

Speed and Efficiency

Speed and Endurance

Some tips about posture: Correct swimming posture starts with alignment. Your head should be in a neutral position, with no tension in the front or back of your neck, as if there is a pole through your spine and out the crown of your head. Maintain this head position for every stroke. Your core should ALWAYS be tightened while you are swimming to keep your body rotating uniformly tuck your belly button in and upwards to engage your lower, middle and upper abdominals. To straighten your lower back, tuck your sacrum down to tilt your pelvis forward, which should flatten out and engage your lumbar. Remember when you are swimming to keep even length on all sides of your body, you don’t want any crunching.

KEY TERMS:

5-4-3-2-1 – This is short for 500 – 400 – 300 – 200 – 100
Breathe 3-5-7-9 by 100 – This means you breathe every three strokes you take for a whole 100yds. Then the next 100yds you breathe every five strokes…and so on. The purpose of this is to train your body that you don’t need as much oxygen as you think you need.
aka -Lungbuster: breathe 3-5-7-9- . . . . to your limit by 100 yard increments. See how high you can go and maintain a consistent stroke for the remainder of the 500/400.
Build – In building you get faster as the distance you are swimming gets longer. For example the first ¼ of a 50 is at 60%, the second ¼ of a 50 is 70%, the third ¼ of a 50 is 80%, and the fourth ¼ of a 50 is 90%. The next 50 you would start all over again and start at 60% and end at 90%. Just get faster within the 50 or 100 or whatever you are swimming.
Descending: Get faster by 3-5 seconds every 50. Descending / Ascending – Descending means you get faster and faster the more you do in a set. For example 5-4-3-2-1, you would swim the 500 at 70% / 400 at 75% / 300 at 80% / 200 at 85% / 100 at 90 %. Ascending is just descending backwards. Start with a 500 at 90% and then so on.
DPS – Distance Per Stroke is very important in swimming. Count your strokes each lap. Depending on the skill level of the swimmer should be between 10 – 40 strokes. The least amount of strokes is best. While swimming think about stretching out your stroke…think someone is holding a hundred dollar bill right in front of you and if you pull just a little bit farther you can get it. The only possible way to reach the hundred dollar bill is to ROLL on your side. Also work on finishing your stroke. Make sure your hand comes all the way back to your upper thigh. The longer you make your stroke the more efficient you will be in the water.
Evolution free: Start swimming the 25 head high then slowly lower it until neck is in proper spinal alignment for the last 5 yards or so. Feel the efficiency!
Head High Free: Swim with your EYES out of the water facing forward like you are spoting in a triathlon open water swim. I don’t want the entire head out of the water, which includes the mouth because it drops the hips too low…screwing up your stroke. Therefore when you need to breathe turn your head to the side and take a breath then go back to looking forward. Head High Scull (HHS): with a LIGHT flutter kick and your head high, extend arms in front of you, and scull with bent wrists and straight elbows. Think about this motion with respect to your initial catch in all the strokes. Keep a strong core like you are doing plank.
Kick (on side) aka KOS – One arm ahead, one at side. Rotating 12 kicks or 6 kicks. While kicking on your side make sure you are completely on your side with your shoulders perpendicular to the bottom of the pool. Keep your head faced straight to the bottom of the pool with your nose in your arm pit. When you need to breath rotate your head for a quick breath…don’t look at the ceiling for a while. Also while kicking do NOT bend your knees, kick from your hips. Imagine that when you kick you have to keep your feet in a small box. Touching the sides of the box is BAD. A short fast kick just under the surface of the water is a lot faster than a huge kick the splashes everyone. This will all make you more efficient and therefor faster in the water.
Kick w/O board: No board. You may kick on front or back using whatever means to breathe. No board means proper alignment and practice applying efficient swimming posture.
OFs/IFs: Short for out fast and in fast. So for the first 50, do the first 25 100% effort all out and then the second 50 come back easy …but still make the send off. Second 50, do the first 25 easy and then the second 25 is all out 100% effort. Then the third 50 do all out 100% for the entire 50. Then the fourth 50 do easy the entire 50 (still make the send off!). Finally cycle through that until you have finished the set.
Redley Mile: First of all lengths are 25 yards. So you start with 11 lengths then 15 seconds rest. Next 10 lengths then 15 seconds rest. Then 9 lengths and so on until you do one length. As the lengths get shorter try to increase your speed.
Storm Swim – 75 kick 75 pull 75 free
Stroke – Any stroke that you want to work on. Could be breastroke, backstroke, butterfly, or freestyle.
Super500 – 25/25/50/75/25/50/50/25/75/50/25/25. Note that if you cut a super500 in half it the same just backwards. Super500 are meant to get you faster with little rest. You should really push each 25/50/75.
Swim- whatever gets you warmed up. Could be kick, freestyle, backstroke, drills, whatever